FraserG

@Fiendish-Beaver I don't know the official answer on that, but my guess is that they consider it to be third-party handheld.

I don't think we're looking at the same situation with Helix here in any case. They're making a point of saying "first-party" over and over again, whereas they weren't with the Ally.

@betterthings You may very well be right.

@Bob_Tempura You'll still be able to redeem for gift cards / pre-paid cards as always (unless I'm very much mistaken).

They haven't gone into detail about anything else yet. If a game is 10 dollars on the store, it should theoretically cost as many points as redeeming a 10 dollar Xbox Gift Card.

@ValentineMeikin This'll just be using the standard Microsoft Rewards / Xbox Rewards system as it exists today.

It's confusing because Microsoft calls it "Microsoft Rewards" and Xbox calls it "Rewards with Xbox", but for all intents and purposes they're the same thing.

@Lup We've only used it a couple of times before, but we'll use it all the time going forward (as long as we don't forget!)

@ZeD Damn, that's a shame! If it's any consolation, they'll likely drop to these prices again soon — probably in the summer sale.

@PartyMarty Yep! Haha

@Fishysensei Not sure on the answer to that — your best bet would be to reach out to Eden Marie (Xbox Engineer) on Twitter:

https://x.com/neonepiphany

@Nightcrawler71

"Quick Resume is one of the most loved features on Xbox, but we’ve heard that for certain games it doesn’t always deliver the experience you expect, especially after long periods of inactivity. With this update, you can disable Quick Resume on a per-game basis to ensure those games always launch fresh.

You can find this option by opening the More options menu on a game tile and selecting the Manage Quick Resume option, or by going to Manage game & add-on > Quick Resume Settings."

@Fiendish-Beaver They should show up when you open your profile or someone else's!

"Now, when you open your own profile or view another player’s profile in the Guide, you’ll now see their five most recently unlocked badges, making them easier to spot while browsing profiles."

@Celestial_Keyblade @JON22 Yes, this is indeed part of it:

"Hey Xbox, one other thing: if you've been having issues with checking for game updates not working in my games & apps, that should also be fixed with the April update."

https://x.com/neonepiphany/status/2044598847570325559?s=20

@CallMeDuraSouka Thank you very much!

@CallMeDuraSouka The Xbox app on mobile doesn't actually have an "Offers and Credits" section - if you hit redeem code on the Gift Card message, it takes you to the Xbox Cloud Gaming website (www.xbox.com/play). Once you're there, you can hit your profile icon and then Offers & Credits should appear.

In other words, you'll have to go into a browser, log into the xCloud site, and do it that way. Only the console dashboard and Xbox PC app have native Offers & Credits tabs.

@crippyd If you've got access to your console, follow the instructions above and you should find it.

If not, let me know if you need some PC / mobile instructions 👍

Update: Much more added to the list:

Beast Quest (April 9) (Now delisted)
Star Trek: Resurgence (April 14) (Delisted without warning)
Boss 101 (April TBD) (Set to be delisted, but could yet survive)
Zazmo Arcade Pack (April TBD) (Set to be delisted, but could yet survive)
Fortnite Ballistic (April 16, 2026)
Fortnite Festival Battle Stage (April 16, 2026)
Pinball FX: World Cup Soccer & Pinball FX3 (April 30-early May)
Two PowerWash Simulator DLC Packs for Tomb Raider + Midgar (May 19)
Battlefield Hardline (May 22)

Big day for Game Pass! Hades 2 and Replaced for me (still need to finish the first Hades though...)

@MisterBigMack Thank you very much! Your support is much appreciated

@jesse_dylan @MisterBigMack Yeah, this is part of it — third-party reviews are covered by everyone, so they inevitibly get lost in the mix a little bit when we do them. It's not like they perform terribly, but they don't really justify grinding 20+, 30+, 40+ hours with a game in such a short space of time pre-release.

@MinervaX76 No word on Play Anywhere yet — Resi Evil Requiem wasn't XPA, so I assume Pragmata won't be either unfortunately. In terms of your suggestions, I like your idea about cross-platform reviews and it's something I'll bring up when I'm next with the Nintendo Life and Push Square teams, but there might be a few logistical challenges to consider... food for thought though! I hear you on PC as well, and I'm hopeful there will be news to share on that front soon...

And by the way, just in general, I don't want anyone thinking that Pure Xbox is suddenly in trouble because we're not doing third-party reviews! The website is in a good place right now thanks to your support, and we're just prioritising as best we can to ensure it's around (and thriving) for a long time to come

@MisterBigMack We're doing less reviews these days as we're a smaller team than Nintendo Life and Push Square and unfortunately a lot of our third-party reviews weren't getting enough interest to make them worth the time and effort.

We'll still do them occasionally (like we did with Resident Evil Requiem), but the timing for Pragmata just didn't work out.

Xbox first-party reviews will continue as normal though - Forza Horizon 6 is the next big one, hoping to review Kiln too.

In all other cases, we'll be sure to do these review roundups where possible, along with coverage of how the games perform on Xbox Series X and S, Talking Points and Polls where you can provide your own thoughts on them, and various other things

Thanks for your kind feedback, everyone!

@themightyant I'm excited for Helix. As I say, the Ally has opened up the possibilities in terms of what I can play and what I can do with an "Xbox" device, but I do expect the console side of things to be much improved compared to just turning on the ROG Ally and loading into the Xbox PC app.

I hate to say it, but if GTA releases this November, it makes no sense to put Fable out in 2026 unless you can go September or earlier (which probably isn't a good idea).

@Pigrotto Thank you!

@kanedase7en We do, but Xbox has its own PR team that deals with press requests and things of that nature, so those are the people we talk to directly. They give us access to games, set up preview opportunities, they've given us a couple of exclusive reveals in the past, etc. We have a good relationship with them.

Beyond that though, I'm honestly not sure whether someone like Asha Sharma is aware of us yet. That's on my to-do list for the next few months - try and make ourselves known to the new Xbox boss!

@PartyMarty It's hard to say, Xbox Insider updates can roll out within days, weeks or months to the wider public.

My guess would be either this month or next month though.

@Korekiyo Updated, thank you!

@Fiendish-Beaver That's essentially what they're trying to do with the Xbox Insider program. Asking for feedback on updates and new features, hosting communities where Insiders can discuss things... that's their main avenue of taking requests, but it's generally more for quality-of-life features rather than anything major.

I believe they still pay attention to everything else — articles, forums, social media (this seems to be a big one) — but the Insider program allows them to curate the kind of feedback they receive.

@Fiendish-Beaver Not really to be honest! Hasn't been made clear.

They do seem to be very engaged with Xbox Insider members though and the feedback that they provide. I would hope they're scanning Pure Xbox from time to time for feedback as well (along with other Xbox-related communities).

@PROPS We're not doing many reviews these days on Pure Xbox for a few reasons - mainly because we're a small team and they've historically never performed that well. In cases where we don't review a game, we often do review roundups like this one, or we share some "Hands On" impressions.

The next major review we're planning on is Forza Horizon 6, although we're hoping to cover Kiln as well - the new Xbox first-party game from Double Fine.

@Tasuki June 1st! We'll mention it on the next one.

Update: Two more games to add to the list! Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and the PC version of DayZ are joining Xbox Game Pass Essential on April 8, 2026.

@Elbow You're welcome!

@shiningpikablu252 Apologies, the list was originally going to be made up of "lowest price ever" and joint-lowest, so there would have been an extra column (but ultimately, "lowest price ever" commanded a list all of its own).

That note was just a leftover that was mistakenly left in 👍

@TheGameThrifter Yeah, I totally understand your point there. That's more of an issue with Xbox's discoverability tools in general though — the great games exist in droves, but trying to sort through them all on a weekly/monthly basis can be difficult and time-consuming.

As you say, Xbox Live Arcade did a great job of highlighting the top quality stuff, and that's something I'd love to see ID@Xbox focusing on more. There are a few sections on the Microsoft Store with categories like "Indie Selects", but I feel like Xbox could do even more work to make these games stand out.

@tigersden98 You're welcome, thank you for the compliment!

@Lup I don't believe you do. There's customisation in terms of the bookshop itself, but not the main character as far as I'm aware.

@fatpunkslim Looking into it a bit further, I'm not 100% sure on the VRR thing and how it works on PS5 Pro, so I've taken that specific line out. I was just going off the Digital Foundry mention:

"The highest overall frame-rate is delivered by PlayStation 5 Pro, but to be honest, I'd still prefer Series X: Xbox's system-level VRR works on back-compat games where PS5 does not. "

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm glad to hear it! It's one of those things I rarely interact with.

@fatpunkslim The Xbox PC app does the job, but this new one is more visually appealing IMO. Will be interesting to see if it transitions to the Xbox app at some point.

@Jenkinss I'm going to have to get it! Never played it before, but always been intrigued.

There IS a more modern release of the Dragon's Lair Trilogy on the Xbox Store, but it's much more expensive at the moment and not included in the Spring Sale.

@Tasuki It's an extended version of the sale from last week. They've added around 1000 extra games to it, but the stuff from last week is still there too.

@Gabrie The store page lists:

Xbox achievements
Xbox presence
Xbox cloud saves

No idea what "Xbox presence" means

Hello everyone! This feature has now been updated for April.

The old comments are still here for now... they're not something I can easily archive myself, but if enough people really want us to get rid of them, I'll ensure it happens in the near future.

@Pigrotto You're welcome!

We might have to start extending them to 20... there are just far too many great Xbox indie games being released every month.

@Globo Haha, that's very optimistic thinking, but I like it

@Fiendish-Beaver Haha, fair enough! Yep, the announcement just fell during our lunch break - it's up now.

@BaldB3lper78 Thank you very much!

@Fiendish-Beaver @fatpunkslim Yes, I agree with you both! I didn't mention about exclusives because I don't really think they're going to address that properly this year, but I'm sure they're having discussions behind the scenes about it at least.

@Fiendish-Beaver Admit it, we'll all be playing Barbie Horse Trails later this week

@Fiendish-Beaver Unfortunately not! I believe Square Enix was disappointed with the initial sales, so not sure if we'll get another one.

Cool picks @Kezelpaso! Some interesting games here I wouldn't have considered buying. Get Even sounds great, RAD seems worth a play, and I know that Split Fiction is an amazing buy if you have someone to play it with.

I have to give a shoutout to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy as well - it's on sale all the time these days, but the price is ridiculous at £8.99 / $8.99 for such a great game.

@VeganH There's no Xbox One version unfortunately. There is for Mega Man, but not for Marvel.

@Millionski Every single game in the show is an Xbox Play Anywhere title except Vaunted.