EvenStephen7

This game was excellent, and pretty much made me into a FF fan. But if you're a RPG fan or a Final Fantasy fan, you probably already own a PS5. Still, games getting a wider audience and not being behind one console is always good.

I just want to say I appreciate these GwG posts. While they're surely easy to put together, I'm aware they probably don't get the most clicks. But it always reminds me to go into the store and grab them - so thank you!

Also the PS+ news today actually surpassed my expectations. So here's hoping this is both a great PS5 service and drives more competition/doesn't let Xbox rest on its laurels for Gamepass. Consumers win.

A great addition to the new PS+ tier. I don't think it hurts Gamepass necessarily, but it's yet ANOTHER reminder that it's best to own both consoles if you can afford it (or all if you don't have a Switch).

@Bdbrady 100% agree. I don't get what's going on with project management. 343 has consistently dropped the ball. The Initiative has been having all kinds of problems with Perfect Dark, from high turnover to delayed projects to outside help being brought in. Rare has been having issues with Everwild, rebooting the game mid-development already and pushing back release dates. Now this.

That's a lot of devs that are struggling, and last year Xbox acquired Bethesda and all their studios...and they're about to acquire Activision Blizzard and all of theirs on top of it. I don't even know how many studios that is but it's huge...and makes me concerned it's going to get worse if a plan isn't put in place.

I understand game dev is difficult, and pandemics make it harder, but it feels like something's up. I don't want crunch, but there's also something to be said for project management and mid-project goal lines. Either studios leads are too nervous to go back to Microsoft and ask for help — maybe because of increasing competition for resources and attention as more studios get acquired — or maybe project management at Xbox under Matt Booty are strained. Or maybe Xbox has just kept a pretty hands-off approach but that's starting to negatively impact development.

As someone who works in advertising, I can attest that us creatives need a long leash — but also guardrails to not go completely off the map. I hope this can get sorted out, especially before even more studios are heaped on.

Between my SX and my PS5, the latter is getting more play overall because of the exclusives (though man I love me some Forza Horizon 5). Aside from exclusives, Sony stumbled out the gate a little with bad optics, some questionable choices, the inability to make consoles fast enough, and no Gamepass competitor. This should have been MS's time to strike with just a nonstop barrage of games that made them the console to get.

Does anyone know what game that is in the featured image above?

While the media keeps drumming this up as a “Gamepass competitor” it’s clearly going to be its own kind of service. But as a owner of both consoles I’m excited - this could be a great service for PS5 and competition will drive MS to keep improving Gamepass. Everyone wins, especially if you’re a multi-platform gamer.

Selfishly I kind of like the cadence — Sony has the first half of the year covered with exclusives and Xbox has the back half. Spring and summer I play my PS5 and barely turn on my Series X; fall and winter all the Xbox exclusives hit and I barely touch my PS5.

That said Xbox has been stepping it up. They’re already miles ahead of where they launched this generation, when it almost looked like they were unprepared due to lack of exclusives. Looking forward to seeing this momentum continuing to build, even if it means I have to start using both consoles year-round.

Eh. Another good (tiny) step in the right direction but I’ve long since deleted Halo Infinite off my Xbox….something I didn’t expect to have done already.

It's an interesting move coming on the heels of Sony announcing Destiny will remain on Xbox.

I genuinely don't understand why anyone here is upset about this — this is good for gamers. Xbox gamers get the game Day 1 on Gamepass, Playstation gamers still get access, and those of us with access to all the consoles get to pick and choose where we want to play.

I think a lot of people want to have their cake and eat it too: it's good when Destiny stays on Xbox, but somehow bad when Xbox reciprocates the same gesture with Call of Duty.

Don't worry about Microsoft. They're going to be just fine. And with this move, millions of gamers are going to be fine too. I hope this friendlier approach between companies continues.

I think a lot of people forget that GwG was Microsoft following Sony's PS+ model and trying to dampen the sting of paying for online. Now that they've iterated on it with Gamepass, it just feels like a relic from yesteryear.

Gamepass sub prices will rise sooner than later anyway. Just cut Gold now, tell everyone that online is free, then make up the costs by raising GPU prices in a year or two. They'll look like heroes by doing something Nintendo and Playstation can't. Then they can quietly make back the money.

As others have said, I'm not happy that the industry continues to consolidate — and I don't really care that a bunch of rich executives just got richer. On the plus side, it'll provide more value to Gamepass (though at this point there are more games than I have time, at least at this point in my life).

What I find mostly interesting is how muted the reaction has been compared to Bethesda, despite it being a "bigger" deal. Playstation and Nintendo fans obviously have reason to be disappointed, but even Xbox personalities and podcasts have been MUCH less excited. It seems to be a mix: less enthusiasm for Activision's lineup, the Bethesda deal was more exciting because it came first, and (surprisingly) a lot of vocal concern about just how consolidated the industry is becoming. Even Podcast Unlocked started to trend towards a "Uh, okay, this is making us nervous" line.

At the end of the day, Microsoft is a business that's sole focus is making money. But I'm curious if this kind of reaction might influence how they handle these games going forward.

Probably going to get flak for this, but I hate that these offers are always tied to the caveat that you must be a new subscriber. Especially since Sony is giving a year of AppleTV+ for both existing and current users.

I don’t have a problem with it necessarily, but I wish there were more Xbox next-gen only exclusives. There are not many on PS5 but there are a few, and I’m wanting a chance to really put the power of my XSX to the test/see what it can do.

@papahefe Fanboys are the absolute worst. Smile when they get put in their place? Good for the soul?

We’re talking about videogames. Get some perspective.

Also there wasn’t a lot of people bragging about Oddworld exclusivity. The excitement came from it being a day one game on PS Plus.

@Dezzy70 Agreed. I can’t remember where I heard it, but I was listening to an Xbox podcast recently where they pointed out that Halo Infinite’s delay gets blamed a lot, but even if it came out on time we’d be done with the campaign now and still waiting around for more games. They argued that there was really no excuse to have such a barren slate of exclusives for the first year, and I have to agree.

I like my Series X and I’m hopeful for the future, but it almost feels like Microsoft was not as ready for next gen as Sony. It was a little quiet near the end of the One too; I assumed that this meant they were holding a lot back of games for Series X but I guess not. Thank God for Gamepass, but just what have these studios been doing all this time? I feel like MS gets off a little too easy in this regard.