Grumblevolcano

@Kaloudz If Square Enix are serious about their multiplatform comments, I think the most likely announcement time for Series X|S ports for the rest of PS exclusive FF is April 2nd. Announce the games for Switch 2 in the Switch 2 Direct and announce Xbox versions at the same time outside the Direct.

I think it'll be:

• March - South of Midnight
• April - Expedition 33 (making room for the Xbox 1st party April release being Indiana Jones for PS5)
• May - DOOM The Dark Ages
• June - Surprise 4th game

If the case, I think it's going to be an Xbox studio making a game for a non-gaming IP so like if Bethesda were to make a Godzilla game. There's already a 3rd party game in the event (Expedition 33) so it would be odd if half the Direct was 3rd party games.

While it does seem pretty much guaranteed they'd come at some point considering Square Enix's updated multiplatform strategy. I don't believe they'll be announced here, it doesn't fit the nature of what Developer Direct is about.

I think it's more likely what happened for FF in September 2018 with Switch 1 is repeated. They'll be announced for Switch 2 in a Nintendo video (Switch 2 reveal or Nintendo Direct) and then get confirmation of Xbox port afterwards.

Surprise location makes me think Forza Horizon 6 (they do the reveal in the country where the game takes place) but surely Microsoft would save Forza Horizon 6 for next gen if there is actually a next gen.

Considering how many XGS games that were announced in 2019 - 2021 ended up reappearing for the first time in 2024, it feels a safe guess that Everwild and Contraband reappear in 2025.

I could see it appearing as a result of the new 3rd party mindset. As a 3rd party publisher, Microsoft would see that Oblivion (a game previously playable on PS) isn't playable on PS5 because there's no PS3 backwards compatibility and so a remake has an opportunity for huge sales. Also Nintendo hardware has never had the game and Skyrim did well on Switch.

It's probably on about stuff like FFXVI, Silent Hill 2 Remake, MGS4, etc.

My guess is Fable (swapping an RPG for another RPG).

@Fiendish-Beaver @BacklogBrad While I think a Playstation PC launcher is believable and likely considering how fast Sony are porting their games to PC, I don't believe that cross-purchase would apply to every 3rd party game. Xbox Play Anywhere has been around for 8 years now and 3rd party support for it is still limited.

Considering this is the first big event since the "no red lines" comment and "This is an Xbox" campaign, I think Xbox's big presence here will be PS5 ports and "This is an Xbox" ads.

Then they do a Developer Direct in January to cover Avowed, DOOM The Dark Ages, Fable, South of Midnight and 1-2 other games.

I wonder what happens with the PS5 ports (and Switch 2 ports whenever that console arrives). Like we know the Xbox version of Indiana Jones is code in box but will the PS5 version be a proper disc version because it fits more with PS user habits?

The wording of the announcement makes it seem like they have to get permission from 3rd parties (like they did with the Xbox/Xbox 360 backwards compatibility program) to allow games to be streamable.

@somnambulance Looking back it turns out that Game Awards 2019 nominees were announced on November 19th (the show aired December 12th).

Taking into considering that 2020 onwards had the deadline be the Friday after the nominees are announced, it seems like they're waiting for some sort of shadow drop or they're waiting for Flight Sim 2024/Stalker 2.

@somnambulance @Decimateh It would explain why the Game Awards nominees haven't been announced yet. If Silksong was to shadow drop this week, it would likely be nominated for several awards.

May be about Ubisoft, they own the cloud streaming rights for Activision and there's been plenty of articles posted about the recent state of Ubisoft.

Microsoft seems to want parity between console and cloud when it comes to 1st party releases which means Ubisoft problems are also Microsoft problems.

I wonder if the 1st half of 2025 for Xbox multiplatform releases is something like this:

• February - Fallout 3 (PS4/PS5/Switch)
• March - Oblivion (PS4/PS5/Switch)
• April - Indiana Jones (PS5)
• May - DOOM The Dark Ages (PS5)
• June - Flight Sim 2024 (PS5)

It would be a way in which it would appear things are slowing regarding Xbox exclusives to PS (only 1 more game to announce that hasn't previously been on PS) but the reasoning being a lot more believable (that they're choosing to port some games that are currently trapped on PS3 if you're not a Xbox player) and it ramps back up again in the 2nd half of 2025.

The very small difference in price between the old 1TB disc Series X and the new 1TB digital Series X makes it seem like they're going to discontinue the old models such that the new 2TB model is the only disc one.

I think each multiplatform announcement this year has been presented in such a way to get people gradually used to that even bigger stuff is going multiplatform in the future.

They went from announcing 2 in a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase to the initial 4 for PS5 in random trailers later that day.

Then DOOM day 1 on PS5 happened but the PS5 announcement wasn't in the Xbox showcase, it was a random trailer after the event.

Finally Indiana Jones on PS5 which not only was announced before the Xbox version released but also was treated as the "one more thing" gigantic announcement of the event it was in.

So yes, I do believe that Halo is coming to PS5. As for a fitting announcement timing, maybe the Game Awards as it's the 10th anniversary of the event?

I think this increases the possibility of that rumoured Halo 1 remake for PS5 being real.

@IOI Judging by how they handled MW3 (2023), I think Game Pass will see:

• September 30th - October 18th will be relatively normal for Game Pass
• After that, Black Ops 6 is the only release for PC/Ultimate until November 5th
• In the timespan where Black Ops 6 is the only addition for PC/Ultimate, maybe Standard gets some legacy titles that are already in PC/Ultimate

I wonder if this means Avowed will be delayed again considering it was delayed because the holiday season was so packed and now February's looking even more packed.

@themightyant I'm thinking Early 2026 or sometime in 2027 (leaning towards former). They didn't give a release year which I think rules out 2025. But Fall/Holiday 2026 is already taken up by annual CoD and Halo 25th anniversary.

I think Foamstars and Forspoken are pretty much guarantees. Former is going FTP in October so they'd release on Xbox to try and increase the playerbase. Meanwhile the latter's exclusivity ends in January 2025 and sounds like the kind of situation where Game Pass may give the game a second wind.

@SleeplessKnight I think it might be that they wanted day 1 on PS5 (like DOOM The Dark Ages) but the only way to achieve this would've been to delay the PC/Xbox version to Spring 2025, hence they settled for PC/Xbox timed exclusivity.

@x3King84 The Forza forums has this official post about a new game mode:

"FH5 at Gamescom 2024
See you at Gamescom!

Our booth will be showing a completely new, exciting game mode inspired by our community and their creations.

Plus, we will also be showing our latest in-game partnership!

Visit us at Gamescom and stay tuned to our official channels for more announcements happening at the event.

Tune in August 21 for FH5 on the Xbox @ gamescom Livestream"

https://forums.forza.net/t/fh5-at-gamescom-2024-new-game-mode-tba/727847

The game probably will come to PS5 at some point but unlikely to be announced this week.

It got delisted from the XB1/Series X|S store around the same time it got delisted from the 360 store.

@themightyant I figure things will change from parity clauses to the handheld just not running more demanding games well as that's what is expected on the PC side of things.

@InvaderFromSpace GTA6 is likely going to cause complete chaos with release schedules. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Game Pass gets another price increase in September 2025 but the only 1st party game for the rest of that year is CoD 2025.

Considering Activision always gave Geoff a long gameplay demo of CoD's campaign for Opening Night Live, I figure the tease is about Black Ops 6's campaign.

@somnambulance Shattered Space DLC, Avowed and Indiana Jones have stage presentations on the show floor. You just can't play it yourself much like Starfield couldn't be played last Gamescom.

@NEStalgia @HonestHick Microsoft's outdated controller decisions are also holding back PS. Like the gyro situation, gyro in shooters is expected by the Switch audience thanks to the gigantic success of the Splatoon franchise and 3rd parties usually deliver but gyro support rarely happens on PS because of parity with Xbox controllers.

@Markatron84 They wouldn't be consoles though.

@Markatron84 The comments still fit if future Xbox hardware is just a line of PCs.

When a release year isn't given, that has always meant 2+ years away in the past so I figure this'll be a next gen launch title alongside FH6.

@smoreon Naughty Dog remastered TLoU for PS4 which was playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility and then did a $70 PS5 version with no upgrade path. I figure if this rumour is true, it would be something like that.

@NEStalgia It's an honest comment. If Operation Latitude is real, it makes sense to just put PS5 logos next to the games that are coming to PS5. Announcement after the event only really makes sense if there's only a few multiplatform 1st party games.

As for the hardware, I've said previously about how I think Xbox's future is a PC that can run Xbox games in the cloud. It would explain the teases about the subsidized model not working and PC stores on Xbox, fit in with the already announced announcement of all owned games playable in the cloud later this year and make the jump to ARM easier.

Native support for Xbox console games on ARM devices sounds like a licensing nightmare.

@NEStalgia It's an easy setup regarding appearance in the showcase, the handheld gets used to explain the multiplatform strategy. You have lots of PS5 logos in the showcase and then the Xbox handheld is revealed to be a PC (including access to the multiple launchers like Steam and EGS) that can also play your Xbox console library via the cloud.

Then whenever Switch 2 is announced, those games coming to PS5 are also coming to Switch 2.

Xbox being present is probably about CoD this time as that franchise commonly appears at Geoff's events.

@NEStalgia I think they'll approach it that the yearly CoD releases from now on are just paid DLC for Warzone (like what Ubisoft does with Just Dance). That voids the whole day 1 on Game Pass argument considering Game Pass doesn't get Forza expansions, Starfield Shattered Space, etc.

People really need to stop standing up for Phil Spencer, this is the same person that wanted to use share manipulation via a former Microsoft board member to force Nintendo into being acquired. He is a vile person and the sooner he's fired the better.

This trailer reminds me of when 343 ended Halo 5 support to return to MCC. I feel they'll try to revive Halo by bringing MCC to PS/Nintendo.

Horrific that this keeps happening and this case in particular is no doubt a result of Microsoft being allowed to acquire Activision. Phil Spencer gets his growth from CoD/WoW/Candy Crush so everything else rots away.

@HonestHick The impression I got was that the future of Xbox console is PC. You get a Xbox branded handheld that's basically the ROG Ally with the Xbox logo on the device and some Xbox branded desktop PC that's super powerful and expensive. If you want your Xbox library, you can play it via the cloud but you can also play PC games natively via Steam/Microsoft Store/Epic Games Store.

It would be nice if they gave some updates on the games they announced in 2019/2020.

If you look very closely at the image (the large version on Xbox Wire is easiest to see), the second redacted part says Black Ops.

Interesting about the hardware side of things, they predicted that hardware would decrease for January - March back in January which naturally turned to be a result of the multiplatform rumours and announcement. Further decrease in April - June makes it seem like the next batch of multiplatform games will be announced in May/June.

@GamingFan4Lyf Revitalizing the multiplayer. There's very few people around in the 360 originals (mostly bot only lobbies) and if you do find larger lobbies, there's usually a cheater problem (360 online in general has a problem with cheaters nowadays).

The Coalition's announcement timing in the past was announce at E3, release during the Fall the following year. Gears of War 4 was announced at E3 2015 and released in October 2016 meanwhile Gears 5 was announced at E3 2018 with September 2019 release date.

So this timeline would suggest that Gears 6 releases Fall 2025. Maybe there's some truth to the 2026 next gen rumours considering Gears 5 acted as the final major release before Series X|S.

I wonder if this will be able to play games. From what I recall, the last limited edition Xbox branded hardware that could play games was the Halo Infinite Series X in 2021.