HonestHick

@themightyant Phil has already stated that he would like choice and other stores on the Xbox tho. Granted he mentioned Epic in that case. But the Steam rumors on Xbox just keep heating up, and no one at Steam nor MS has shut it down yet. I think by 2030 the whole industry outside of Nintendo and maybe PS will be playing everywhere. I don’t think we will see to much more timed deals on 3rd party. The money is everywhere, exclusives don’t make sense in today’s market if you are trying to make profits and keep your game played against the likes of a COD, Fortnite, Apex, Roblox etc etc A good example i seen the other day was Killzone. Everyone knows PS gamers prefer single player games. Imagine if a Killzone was on PC and Xbox? Maybe it would have found the players on those platforms and Sony would have a successful IP there instead of one that is now dead. To me that is how IP’s and dev teams are going to stay in business and not go away against the likes of the big every month hitters. 😊

@LogicStrikesAgain Anything is possible. I don’t see Sony being ok with Xbox players being able to play their PC ports and not having their say and cut in it. But that is all paperwork behind the scenes out of my wheelhouse. All i know is Steam and other store fronts are coming, Xbox is going to be a open PC with the new Xbox OS that they intend to license out to handhelds and other OEM’s wanting to build Xbox’s. They are for sure going to change it up in a big way with the next Xbox, Phil is leaving us breads crumbs to that all the time. 😊

@Kaloudz yeah the rules and paper work on Steam coming to Xbox is far ahead of my pay scale. But it’s coming. As for the court case on the 30% cut, i couldn’t even begin to say i know what that looks like either. But it’s things to consider and believe me Sony, MS, Google and Apple are all very interested in that case as it’s a major deal for them.

To your Ecosystem point, thanks s=for sharing that as i have been saying for years, the free cloud saves, Backwards compatibility, controller layout, friends list etc etc is why i love my Xbox. Is it perfect? No! Nothing is. But i truly enjoy it. It’s where i buy all my games outside of Nintendo and PS exclusives. I am all for the amazing games n the lineup. I am a HUGE Gears of War fan. E-Day is my most wanted title in over a decade. So again we fans have the right to spend our money where and how we like. But Xbox is like a small family to me over the last 20 years. All of you on here whether you agree or disagree with me are Xbox players and a part of something i like to share my thoughts, excitement and joy of the entertainment of Xbox. I simply ain’t walking away from it.

@Cakefish Sony is not one to allow anyone to play their games without their cut. So again i don’t even pretend to say i know the deals, rules and layout of what steam will look like on Xbox. But i am still betting my house and dog it is coming. The next Xbox will be a PC and be very open from the bread crumbs Phil is dropping us.

@fatpunkslim i will have to go back and watch, i watched it in bed a night or two ago. But it is worth your time to see my point in real time. 😊

@Millionski i can’t say i disagree cause at the current moment it seems odd. But we don’t know what they are working on behind the scenes. Likely the rumored Xbox is, that they license out to handhelds and even others that want to make a Xbox/ PC box. Things are changing in a big way on how MS will do Hardware, they are telling us indifferently every time they speak.i can’t say what you are saying is wrong in 2025, but with the next gen i am still betting my house and dog on Steam on Xbox. The bread crumbs for it keep getting laid.

@themightyant yeah i don’t even try to pretend i know what courts will rule. So i like everyone else have to sit back and watch it unfold. However Sony with the Pro is not losing money and MS is looking to not lose money on the next Xbox. Especially if they allow others to product Xbox’s which is also heavily rumored. MS was losing around $200 on Series X and $100 ish on S and Phil spoke to that not being the case going forward. We all know MS is going to build a Xbox OS and license it out to handhelds and likely others making Xbox’s. They are looking to go software first and Hardware second, which for Sony its pumping out the hardware to see bigger numbers come in on the software. I really like the change of pace MS is heading, sure it will be met with uncertainty and complaints and it’s breaking tradition of over 20 years of business strategy. But that’s ok with me and i think will really open eyes up to loads of dev teams saying we are not locking any software down to just one platform. Sort of like we are seeing with Square. Destin asked about Steam and Phil said they are our friends right down the road from us and they do some really great things using Windows. Then at the end Destin said so it’s confirmed Steam is coming to Xbox and Phil laughed and didn’t deny it. It’s coming, what it will look like and the business angle behind the scenes, i have zero clue. But it’s coming to Xbox!

@LogicStrikesAgain @Kaloudz @themightyant @Cakefish @Fiendish-Beaver

Before we go all in on Sony won’t bring games to other platforms. Keep 2 things in mind that are going on behind the scenes. The first is the biggest elephant in the room. In Europe it is already scheduled to go to court over the 30 % cut Apple, Google, PS, Xbox take from 3rd parties. IF and it’s a BIG IF. That goes down to say 20 or even 15%, there goes PS advantage of making all that 3rd party money. That is something to keep an eye on. I forgot if it’s to start the case in 2025 or 2026. Number 2 and less likely to move Sony but for sure be interesting is a little service you all might have heard of called Steam. It’s coming to Xbox. I will bet my dog and house on it. When that i don’t know but it’s coming. On the Destin podcast with Phil this week it was basically confirmed as Phil just laughed and didn’t answer. Destin laughed and they went to the next topic. Well that would make Sony have to do a whole separate launcher if they don’t want Xbox players playing PS games on Steam and i am not sure if that would even work. So before we say the industry isn’t changing even for Sony with good hardware numbers. I would stop and play the wait and see game.

@LogicStrikesAgain i was replying to your points. All is good 😊

@K1LLEGAL 100% and as for sticking up for Xbox, i always rip them when they do something wrong. It’s the way it should be but they don’t like that on the other website. Sony share holders need to ask why did you put a single player studio known for remasters and remakes on a live service single player game? That is bozo the clown management stuff there.

@Sol4ris thank you buddy, that was my part of my point for sure. We the gamers always say show us the games. Nintendo plans to do that soon with the upcoming launch of switch 2. MS keeps doing it and Sony hasn’t. This ain’t fan boy stuff, this is a concern and maybe they should write more articles on that. Along with hey GP is looking solid early in 2025. 😊

@Moby very very well said. It takes time to win back gamers but slowly the difference is starting to show.

@LogicStrikesAgain not to many if you followed my list of sales that flop this year including a GOY multiple award winner! To a crowd asking for smaller scale games at that.

I too buy most of my games and just try things on GP, but the GP discount for the games i buy is close to a free monthly try. Some months that is. I did however play and beat Indiana Jones on GP and won’t buy it cause it has little replay value for me.

@LogicStrikesAgain so spend money on games to take games away from other platforms only to sell less than what they dev could have made on PS, Xbox and PC? How long will that last. Well Square Enix say’s no longer. How much money does Sony have left to burn on titles that don’t perform. Remember before this it was Ghostwire Tokyo and deathloop. I think that is going to dry up, as Dev’s see more money being everywhere. What games does Sony have? Most of their big studio have all had games cancelled, sure we have intergalactic, thats a 2026 titles at the earliest. I stick to Wolverine and GOT. What else is there? Hoping MS gives them a ton of newer games for their players to spend $70 dollars on while GP players eat. Maybe buy a $700 dollar Pro console to get 3-5 more FPS on Doom? I mean look i love my PS5, this is just me being honest with where Sony is cause that story isn’t all that much told online seeing as they sell a lot of hardware units. Have a great past with PS4. Cool, i get it. But they have been a mess these last 2 years. They are lost on how to make a game that has reoccurring cash flows. Give them credit for trying but Bluepoint making a GOW live service is embarrassingly bad. While MS shows off ton’s of nice games with loads more waiting to reveal more footage in June! Just seems like this month was a start of a major flip. Don’t forget, if you want more PS single player game to buy your remasters and remakes. That is tight up there with if you don’t have internet just buy a 360!

@LogicStrikesAgain I am not trying to be hard on you, but i disagree PS is always secretive with their roadmap. PS4 announced games 2-4 years before we ever got to play them. They are now cause they have nothing in pipeline ready to show. Saying they didn’t sell well is a direct reply to Xbox gamers don’t buy games, which sometimes isn’t a lie, but how is 1.5 million for Astro bot and other titles they bought such as stellar Blade a better example? As for the it’s only natural for Xbox to grow its pipeline and it not being a surprise, i totally agree, it’s what we all been saying since they did it. However that didn’t stop countless people talking mess about it. Today and i would imagine in June is going to further show how important and necessary a move it was. I don’t believe you will get a roadmap for PS cause they have countless studios starting over. We will see Wolverine and GOT at some point, other than that????????

@Sol4ris absolutely, all the GP hate, Xbox is dead hate. Look at week Sony has had. 3 cancelled games. There are studios of PS’s now that we will very very likely not see until PS6. All the websites saying MS was foolish for spending 100 billion on all those studios etc etc. look at their ROADMAP for GP growing and growing by each show and again they still have the blockbuster June showcase to go. Owning all those studios year after year after year, GP is going to be a major industry force. But it takes time to grow. But the other websites now writes more articles on full price ports of games that Xbox players can get on a subscription than they do their own 1st party games cause Sony asked Bluepoint of all studios to make a GOW live service game. Then had a Sony ex say if you want more single player games than buy more remakes and remasters. Call me names if anyone on here wants to but i see a big DIFFERENCE starting. anyone else seeing better Value in Sony’s service plan?

@PsBoxSwitchOwner its not console wars i make enough money to own all 3 and do so to fully support the industry and this hobby. However all the sites that bash Xbox and say they kill studios and don’t have vision etc etc. eat a little crow today. This was a great showing and we still have the big blockbuster June event to go. What is Sony going to show? Other than they can’t make a live service game and certain studios of theirs won’t be seen until PS6, so maybe one of us has to say who is ruining their studio’s with their agendas now? Someone outside of me and @Banjo has to stick up for Xbox a little bit especially after the month Sony has had. Hey it’s all in fun, we all own multiple consoles. Speaking for myself i want them all to be good, but this site rarely bashes their competition. Can you safely say that for the other website?

I’m good with a 2026 holiday release, that would be a 6 year console cycle, only one year shorter than PS4 and Xbox One. So i say bring it on. Announce it in early 2026 and have it hit in time for the holiday’s. Looking forward to learning more on it.

Heck I’d pay $100 for a RDR2 edition that had 60 fps and some next gen upgrades. GTA6 will be a 10 year plus supported games. Rockstar CEO hinted towards GTA and RDR being far and few release but huge on arrival. But i ain’t paying $100 for most games, heck most of them don’t even work on launch. Fix that and we can talk.

@Millionski yeah those will be great games. I think we might get a few upgrades to older games that struggled. It would be nice. I want the Zelda wind waker HD game to come to it. I loved that game and only beat it once.

@Coletrain its called cloud. I seen a guy saying Nintendo and Geforce now might do a deal with each other. So i think it’s possible some of the heavy hitters the system can’t run will maybe run on cloud. GeForce now is pretty good already, in another few years it should only continue to get better. Thats just a guess, but for the future i just want to see a new Mario and Mario Kart. 😊

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah i play all the game modes but most of that is PVP. I loved Gears 5 PVP and Horde. The campaign was just so so. Which is why i am so happy for E-day and of course the often rumored collection that per the sources should have been here 2 -3 years ago.trying not to fall for that again but i want it so bad.

@Fiendish-Beaver i like your idea better than theirs haha! Yeah i got 2000 ish hours with most of it in the multiplayer. Beat the single campaigns a 100 times. I would take the collection without the multiplayer player ready at launch but it would be weird and i am not sure they would do that. His channel was the first i heard that from. It’s likely not going to happen that way. A shadow drop of that collection would be a big boost of excitement for not only Gears of War but Xbox in general. Sure hope we hear more soon.

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah and i agree with you on that. But yet so many Gears of War followers that i listen to seem to say it’s coming in 2025. But i am like you i am just not sure this time. NOW…. If and it’s a huge if cause i have been let down 5 times on the Gears of War collection but i could see that being in 2025 if it’s even real and then E-day in 2026. One guy i heard whom has a good track record said he heard the collection is real and might launch without the multiplayer and just story and then added in later. I don’t know how much I believe that but as a Gears fanatic i hold out hope, right buddy? Haha 😊

If it ain’t Castlevania i am not sure i care. Well sort of. I don’t play much Japanese titles. But i am excited for fans that will hopefully be jazzed for whatever it is. But for real tho, can us Castlevania fan’s get some love? A nice inexpensive 2D game on current gen consoles. That would be a day 1.

@Lup every gears game from the first to the last was announced and released the year after. If they continue that trend it would be in 2025. I sure hope it does and if so, there goes all my free time. It’s my favorite IP in the world.

I would love to see MS and Nintendo team up. Not going to happen but that would be really cool. Switch 2 is going to be a much welcomed upgrade. The Switch is a dinosaur in tech. It’s time, or shall i say past due. Would be nice to see some Xbox games running on it to go along with a new Mario Kart.

@RiverGenie I welcome negative reviews on games people are interested in and those games didn’t live up to the expectations. Cause that is informative. Not seeing someone say they have no interest in any of the games. Kind of made no sense to me i suppose

@RiverGenie Can we have a not excited for any option please?

We do, it’s called ignore the article cause you aren’t excited for it.

@Cakefish yeah i think that will be the plan, lot’s of Spring and Summer releases. Then wait until Rockstar say’s when GTA 6 is coming out. We know COD will be in October or early November. I am sure GTA 6 will get 60fps modes on PC, and next gen consoles. But i would imagine we are at 30 fps for the console release. Unless some voodoo is worked on the PS5 Pro. I am still waiting on RDR2 to get 60fps on console.

@Dimey that one disappoints me cause i am seeing that as no Gears of War collection 1-3 coming out. If it was seems like they would just wait to release that and then have E-day hit. I really really want Gears of war collection with 1-3 running on Unreal Engine 5.

@GuyinPA75 i am not much of a IGN guy. So i didn’t hear it there. It’s common sense more than anything but i have heard others not named IGN saying all the devs are tip toeing around GTA6 and for good reason. That game will sell millions in 24 hours and be all the talk and mind share of the gaming world. I want Fable and other titles to get their time to be seen for what they are, now i just hope that they are actually good!

Since the way it was written in the Doom article, leads me to think it’s from that studio so as much as i have been wrong and waiting i might as well be wrong again and say it’s the Quake Reboot! Gears of War Collection and a Quake reboot is my 2 most wanted games on Xbox and they could be pipe dreams for all i know. But there is some bread crumbs to follow on them so i won’t stop dreaming!

DO NOT and i repeat DO NOT release Fable anywhere near GTA6. Fable has been a long time in the making for a return. They have been making this game for 6-7 years now if memory serves me right. Let it launch in a time to itself to shine some and get players excited around the IP again. No 3rd party titles have release dates on them beyond a certain point and for good reason. No one wants to launch late fall around GTA 6. Only COD can do that.

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah I agree summer June showcase will be E-Day’s time to shine. I am not sure if it will only be on Prime or not. I mean that would be cool for sure. A true system seller for Xbox fans for sure. We think we know it’s coming to PS5 but is it day and date? Seems like a throw away of console sales if they did that. But i am excited about it. It’s my most wanted game for sure. Over GTA 6 and even over a Red Dead 3 if that was a thing nearing release but it’s not, i just used that as an example as to how much i want this title. Gears fan for life and i know you are to my friend!

@Fiendish-Beaver i am guessing we will see more of Gears in the June showcase. Maybe even get the release date if we are lucky. As for that collection. I still hope it’s real. It makes so much sense and I would play E-day -3 over and over and over. I figured E-day would be June showcase. Seeing as it’s not near a release as these other titles.

Anything 360 related i would snag in a hurry. Hope they do something for it.

@Coletrain Yeah i mean spot on, brilliant reply. I think we need the extra horsepower to take advantage of whats capable. We all know console are well optimized for and get more bang for the buck than any other hardware. But it has limitations. A new gen will fix some of these. That was my point. But you are spot on. Take into account ray tracing and other taxing effects and i think 2026 is about right. I didn’t like gen’s that went past 6 years. I think 7-8 is too long with console tech. Maybe i am being greedy but i want better performance without buying a PC so here i am wishing for newer hardware 6 years later which i still think is fair.

@Coletrain a more powerful console that we can see the results will always have a draw with consumers. CPU was the missing piece in the Xbox One and PS4 and to a lesser extent still the hold back on the current models. Take GTA 6 for example, thats a heavy CPU bound game. Look at the Pro struggling still with Alan Wake 2. Sure the AI up scalers will be a nice addition to the weaker CPU’s. But i only singled out the CPU as one of my requested upgrades i will be excited for in the new consoles. Of course we will get better memory and GPU’s. I merely used that one metric as something that i think every 5-6 years starts to show its age the quickest in the consoles as they start the cycle with outdated tech there. This gen promised 60fps, the reason we aren’t seeing it as much isn’t from the GPU side it’s the CPU side more times than not. In closing i am excited for the new Prime and PS6 consoles. They will be nice upgrades and allow devs more optimization options then they currently have. Unreal Engine 5 is a monster, it wants and needs more power.

@Banjo- yeah Xbox Hardware just needs a slight boost, they aren’t going to outsell Sony worldwide. That would be like Reebok all of a sudden outselling Nike. Not going to happen. But i would like to see the Xbox hardware do a tad better. Still won’t matter much as they are still going to bring games to PS and other platforms. But as long as Xbox is in the hardware game i will be on it. I love the controller. Enjoy my friends list Etc etc. also there has been a rumor for a while now that Xbox will get rid of the paywall for online gaming next gen. That would be so so nice. I really want to see the next machine knock the Ui out of the park as i am tired of looking at this one since Xbox one. We know the new controller is coming, so thats exciting. Plenty to look forward to with the new console. Sony will continue to sell well. But they aren’t doing great as a company money wise. To many more failed software titles and they will really be penny pinching us gamers.

@themightyant it;s true that most games are GPU bound but the bottle to the GPU is still the CPU. Get a 4090 graphics care and slap in a mid CPU and watch the performance crumble. The next Xbox should be nice upgrades all the way around is my point and i welcome them all. The handheld should be cool, of course it will be scaled down software but on a smaller screen it should be nice looking. I’d welcome that. I’m not sure about the name Prime, i sort of like it. Not sure why haha. Maybe cause new console hardware always excites me. At any rate i think things are bright for them, Hardware will be the struggle, but from a software side they will have loads of games coming out. 2025 and 2026 is stacked and there is some to still be announced would be my guess, at least for 2026. The only game i care about is Gears of War E-Day. I will play that game for years on end! I had over 2000 hours in Gears 5 multiplayer.

@themightyant sure but take Indy for an example. It runs decent on the series S, but look at the PC version. So while it was meant to run on lower spec consoles that doesn’t hurt the higher spec machine at all. Speaking of Series S the faster MS can get that behind them the better for devs. 10 GB of Ram isn’t great. Also i like the name Prime cause it tells me one console. Not a Prime S and Prime X. That too will make games coming to it a tad easier. Excited to see whats to come, but i never lean on the side of newer better hardware isn’t a pro vs a con.

@Banjo- i do like the name. Sad to read they were outsold 15 million to 4 million by PS5 in 2024. But we knew it was bad. As long as they have a console. I am here to support them. They have the most games i am interested in playing in 2025. Just hope the Prime gathers more mainstream appeal and helps them on the console side enough. PS5 Pro’s biggest mistake tho they sort of had to do it was sticking with that CPU. It bottle necks a lot of what the improvement to the GPU can do. Now once PSSR get’s a little better maybe they can achieve a little more out of it. Some games really do run better on it. Others need way more optimization time then devs are willing to give it. At $700 it’s a pass for me unless all games start to really shine above what is available on Series X and Base PS5. Which i own.

@IOI spot on . As a 20 year Mac user, i remember Steve Ballmer running around stage with this tongue out sweating his shirt off laughing at the $600 price iPhone. Saying no one wants that. Only for Apple to be worth 4 trillion now, the first ever company to hit that mark. Steve Jobs always said MS don’t have a creative workforce and it showed early in the years of Xbox. They had no 1st party output. Other than a few they bought and sure they were awesome games and i loved them. But now it seems like what you said is once again being the elephant in the room and MS is once again clinging to a market that the market is slowly rejecting their products. Sucks cause i love Xbox and will support them in anyway they are around. But what you said is very very true.

@FraserG @themightyant the reason you (Fraser) aren’t seeing a huge performance gap in PS5 Pro from Series X is they both have roughly the same CPU. The Xbox Prime would not only gain a huge update over Series X in CPU but it would help that CPU by have AI up scaler software. Of course the graphic would be better but not sure we will see night and day difference. However physics and lighting along with other things current console struggle with, think Alan Wake 2 will now be smooth and more normal for more devs to take advantage of. I am all for new hardware about every 5-6 years as the tech inside the consoles at launch is already a few years old to begin with. Let’s hope this console has more mainstream appeal as we have read today on here that they got outsold by the PS5 15 million to 4 million in 2024 alone and as we knew is trending behind the Xbox One.

@MrMagic he said games like Starfield wasn’t coming and to my knowledge it hasn’t. I think he was trying to slow down the whole lot is coming to PS cause i think he knew even MS wasn’t sure what was or wasn’t and when. For all this every Xbox game is on PS. I still only see the 4. Now i do think they will make their way over. Likely even Halo, Gears and Forza but when is the question? Jez’s latest leak was MS needs more dev’s to port the games to PS is the only reason we haven’t seen more. I believe him when he wrote that.

@OldGamer999 they may have rode some of that into the next gen and got off to a great start. Especially if they would launch the next Xbox with Gears E-Day. Thats a lot of momentum on their side. Sure they would lose a good amount in software sales rebuilding that customer base. But in time gamers will follow the games. They always have. PS2 sold a ton and 360 did just fine. But MS after spending billions isn’t looking to lose money on software for another 3-4 years to build its hardware back up. Sad really cause i agree with you and others that that is the competition the console space needs. At the moment it looks like Sony can just sit back and collect 30% off MS without spending a dime outside of pushing PS5 and PS6 hardware.

@cburg Thank you so very much! That means a lot to me. Happy new years to you and yours as well. Wishing you all the best in health and happiness.

Yeah i try and be reasonable. I mean i like console gaming and have since i was a kid. Of course i want to see PS and Xbox do well. MS is just in a weird place right now saying this and that is an Xbox. A PC isn’t a Xbox cause a lot of the games don’t play on PC like it does a Xbox. PS5 isn’t a Xbox cause it has like 4 games from MS. So the only thing at the moment that is an Xbox is a Xbox. They would have a lot of compatibility and licensing work to do to truly move everyone’s Xbox- Series X libraries over to all these devices. Even if they pull that off that still beg’s the question as to how that helps their hardware. Software isn’t the problem after buying 2 large publishers and all the others. Time will tell, but Sony can sit back and collect 30% off MS games doing no work other than selling hardware. I’d like to think that’s a good spot to be in currently. Thanks again for the nice reply, it was really nice to read. I felt that one friend 😊