@dskatter Amazingly they confirmed it has cross saves, so my plan is to start it on Xbox with Game Pass for a month or two and just buy it for PS5 Pro whenever it launches there, FH5 does look significantly better from what I’ve seen.
The first step in resolving a problem is acknowledging it, however I do not envy her position, she has a borderline impossible job, how to grow the business/platform when even a multiplatform push didn’t work and resulted in less revenue than before?
Becoming multiplatform for all games was a mistake there might not be a coming back from, people who moved on from Xbox just won’t be coming back, PS players aren’t buying Xbox games in droves, the only real success has been FH5 on PS5 and still wasn’t enough to offset a loss in revenue, regaining consumers’ trust is going to be a long endeavor to make us invest in Helix, buying games on MS Store or subscribing to Game Pass, I still want her to succeed and take the brand to heights we haven’t seen for almost 20 years, but it’s increasingly looking like an impossible task.
@Banjo- Exactly, all this talk about the return of Xbox but there isn’t even an Xbox in most store shelves, I have a friend at retail and he says there’s still some people asking for Xbox consoles even with the price hike but it’s been months since Microsoft last supplied them.
Let it sink in than even after going multiplatform for all games revenue has gone down for 2 quarters in a row with previous minimal growth for over 2 years.
These numbers are inexcusably bad and hence why so many (needed) U-turns at Xbox, yes FH5 might have sold 5 million copies since PS5 launch last year and yet Xbox keeps shrinking more and more and it’s obvious why, they keep stating Xbox has more users than ever, but for all we know even a CoD player on PS5 or a Candy Crush player can be counted as an Xbox user now, however players on the actual Xbox console are either leaving or spending significantly less than before, I myself went from buying all third-party games on Xbox to not a single one since 2024, which is why now the mission is to “recommit” to all of us who actually spent on their platform and a big chunk of their revenue was coming from, it’s been a good start for Asha but at least for me until I see more concrete action I’ll keep holding on investing in Xbox games, subs and hardware.
@Kaloudz I lost hope for that a while ago, some areas look a bit modernized like the Home Screen, Guide and My Games & Apps but almost everything else is such a mess, some modern UI blended with Windows 8 minimalism and convoluted menus, features like Captures remain virtually unchanged from 2013, even the format to export video captures is really old and heavy, I’ll be very, even extremely surprised if they actually get to work on that after neglecting it for 13+ years.
Been saying that subs like EA Play, Ubisoft+ and Fortnite Crew should be removed but they could also greatly work as additional add-ons, having a good discount for Game Pass members who actually care for those benefits while having a cheaper entry price for people who only care about Xbox’ catalogue and day one games.
Wow, honestly didn’t expected them to backtrack this fast, Game Pass may be worth it again for many people, in particular PC Game Pass’ value is unbeatable.
I’d have removed Fortnite Crew from Ultimate and drop the price $3-5 even further.
It’s funny how all those Xbox creators who spent years defending the multiplatform approach repeating “when everybody plays we all win” BS now are cheering at the mere prospect of exclusives coming back…
A $20 Ultimate tier with day one games but Fortnite crew removed and no Call of Duty at launch would be good enough imo.
Also they need to drop the requirement for online play and make the service attractive even on the cheapest tiers, like the rumor of having a tier of only first-party games would be nice to substitute current Essential tier, that way both the platform and the service become immediately more attractive.
Remove ads from dashboard, allow us to install Xbox One X versions instead of Series X to save SSD space, and revamp entirely the captures system so that we can record for more than 1 minute in a modern format, what we have currently is virtually unchanged from 2013, and overall just modernize many features and the UI as some areas still try to look like Windows 8 from 2012.
They finally allow us to hide games! New visuals look cool however I’d have liked a separate list for DLC and a special achievement for 100% a game (a platinum trophy equivalent).
Most importantly it really seems new leadership at Xbox is really listening and finally doing things the last administration neglected for whatever reason.
It was the first genuinely impressive hardware from Xbox since the very first one (love the 360 but hardware and performance-wise it was a mess), it felt like the first console from the Phil Spencer era, had 4K Blu-Ray playblack when not even the PS4 Pro had it, plays most optimized games for it at native 4K, has backwards compatibility with every generation of Xbox, some Xbox and 360 games were even upscaled to 4K for free, all while still is able to play most modern games quite well and stablished the base for the Series X which is still an impressive piece of hardware.
@Balie3000 It’s because Xbox One X versions, most enhanced games like AC Odyssey and Origins play at native 4K while the PS4 Pro around 1440p for most, with newer patches they just unlock the framerate and resolution stays the same hence why it looks much sharper on Xbox for all One X games.
@Weebleman This exactly, I want all companies to be successful and competitive with each other because I very much enjoy a good game whether it comes from Nintendo, Xbox, Sony or any western or Asian studio, there’s lots to love from every platform yet some choose to marry one as if it was a life commitment.
@fatpunkslim The PS5 Pro is a scam because XSX can run last gen games better? That was already the case with the base PS5 as backwards compatibility is just better built on Xbox.
If you actually had the console the main or perhaps only reason is to play newer games as best as possible without jumping to PC, the list of PS5 Pro optimized games is not big but as an owner of both a PS5 Pro and Series X the difference in those optimized games is pretty dramatic specially with the latest PSSR update, there’s now better looking games in performance mode than on base PS5/XSX at quality mode, I’m currently playing Crimson Desert on the Pro and for that alone it was worth the price I paid for it, but nowadays at $899 it’s impossible to recommend.
@FraserG That’s because Xbox implemented VRR way sooner, since the Xbox One S if I’m not mistaken, so on top that the feature itself is better built it just has been officially supported and optimized for way longer, which is bearing fruit as many backward compatible games do run better on Xbox than PS5.
I remember back at launch PS5 didn’t even have a VRR and it arrived months later with an update with lots of bugs and still isn’t entirely fixed.
@shiny-enzo It was a success but in my conservative opinion Forza should’ve never launched on PlayStation, neither Halo or Gears (which sold poorly on PS5) and it’s the same equation as for Sony, while you might get more immediate revenue from porting games elsewhere you also lose relevance and revenue from your own platform, that’s what happening with Xbox, even with Forza’s success their revenue didn’t grow by that much in the quarter it released and it’s shrunk a couple of quarters since, so sales from porting games might be getting offset by less engagement and spending from Xbox users, or even losing users altogether.
@fatpunkslim I actually agree, so far she’s been taking all the right decisions, the most important thing in my opinion is the return of exclusives for Xbox/PC, maybe Switch 2 but no PlayStation publishing, if Sony is doing a 180° I think Microsoft can and must do it too, but should be very clear and transparent about it, I would do away with timed exclusives entirely, because most games releasing months or years later almost never sell as well, either release it everywhere day one or be clear about a permanent exclusivity.
I’d keep all Xbox Game Studios titles exclusives and release most if not all Activision and Bethesda game on every platform, but again, messaging is key and it’s not about shutting out PS players but having more competition which is desperately needed in this market amongst today news from Sony.
@Globo Yeah on that I do remember how many fanboys were celebrating Xbox’ demise just last year and so far this year has been as brutal for PlayStation, 2 studios closed, more games getting cancelled and a severe price hike in less than a couple of months, you can bet they’re not gloating now, which is why I wouldn’t gloat about this, things for both can always get worse.
But as a console fan, owner of a Series X, PS5 Pro and Switch 2 I’m very worried for the sustainability of this whole market, it really feels we’re already living through a crash and it’s bound to get worse, they’re pricing out younger generations from gaming altogether and the industry cannot be sustained by the same players with no growth, next generation will look absurd with a $999 PS6 and a $1299 Xbox (being optimistic).
@Globo You better not gloat on it as MS might just increase prices again for all that’s worth.
I don’t see the “funny” at all here, it’s not like because Sony increased prices now it’s fine Xbox did so as well, they’ll both get deservedly crucified for it as they’re pricing out people from gaming, it’s such a grim outlook for both brands and I’m feeling Nintendo is next with a Switch 2 price bump.
27% are in for a major disappointment, I don’t see any way this has a UHD Blu-Ray built in, it’s not part of their business and Microsoft has to pay a license just to use a Blu-Ray drive, best case scenario is they sell an optional drive but I heavily doubt it.
@shiny-enzo Most complaints from crashes come from people using the Xbox PC app, and sorry but that app is subpar to both the Xbox console experience and Steam, you can find comments saying everything works fine but can also find tons and tons of comments of weird bugs, glitches, crashes and features missing from the Xbox PC app, I wish it’d allow to change a games’ language instead of having to change it for the whole PC, and the worst bug I’ve experienced is when I had my Rog Ally (the first one) it refused to start any game from the Xbox app, I literally had to reinstall Windows, that just cannot happen on the premium PC/console ‘Helix’ device, if the Xbox PC app will essentially become the core of Xbox it MUST get substantially better.
And no they still haven’t released the update for Xbox, Epic and Mac, only Steam and PlayStation currently, that’s because updates overall are generally slower on Xbox (both PC app and console) simply because the process of submitting it and getting approved is slower than both Steam’s and Sony’s, it always happens when updates are released ASAP and not timed to match every platform, you can check out tons of developers complaining about the more strict process Microsoft has for submitting updates, which again, should be looked into to further improve the Xbox PC app experience.
@fatpunkslim Saw an article on Windows Central on how the Xbox PC version is particularly broken right now, and it’s baffling since both the Xbox console and Steam versions have no crashing issues.
It’s not the first time a game runs worse on the Xbox PC app than Steam, also pushing updates is way slower than both Steam and PS5, Microsoft really needs to focus on making their launcher substantially better because otherwise it’s going to be a poor experience with the Xbox Helix since all new games will be PC games.
Shocking to see Microsoft attempting to sell Xbox hardware, we literally haven’t seen a deal for consoles since 2023, it’s a great first step, next they need to have more units available at different retailers worldwide and expand this deals to everyone in Black Friday.
Impossible to put a grade on it just yet but so far it’s been genuinely fun, even as I kept reading the first 8-10 hours were bad I’ve been enjoying it a lot and it does feel like the game is just opening up, this is definitely among the feels of exploring BoTW or Death Stranding with a slow-paced world waiting to be explored, and of course it ain’t perfect, controls are definitely a learning curve and story so far is bizarre but in a silly fun way.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner And so far it’s been genuinely fun, I’d say if you have an even mild interest in this after watching gameplays just try it out and don’t let the hate mob stop you from forming your own opinions.
@Fiendish-Beaver Could be, but that’d also mean that those features and updates were just sitting there for a while until someone cared to push then forward and the credit still goes to Asha.
Whatever the case may be I see this as a good move and a good start for Asha as we had gone months without any update on the console side, remembering they have a console is the first step lol
@fatpunkslim I often only play single-player games which makes it more frustrating, the last time was just a few weeks ago with Half on Life 2 so I'm actually very thankful for this update for letting us disable it lol
@fatpunkslim I also avoid using Quick Resume and I'd disable it altogether, on paper its a very nice feature but it has always been broken for me, most of the time when I relied on it games just wouldn't load, had weird bugs or got entirely restarted, even just suspending the Xbox with an open game is unreliable as it often closes the game so I just use it as an old-school console, saving game, exiting to main menu, closing game and turning off the console.
Just terrible, I can’t believe the praise I’ve been reading for this blatant AI Slop, this is Nvidia saying “f*ck artstyles, here’s some slop” and the worst of this is that it’s being endorsed by this companies like Bethesda which only will result in more poor looking games and worse performance since they’ll become reliant on that AI slop filter instead of proper optimization.
Xbox (2027) — Or whatever year it ends up releasing.
Since it’ll be a PC now I doubt they’ll stick to generations so there’s little sense to have a generation name per se, just stick with the X-box and the release year.
Not from Game Pass but I just recently replayed it for the first time since launch and I enjoyed it waaay more, I’d give it a 9/10, main story and specially Phantom Liberty is amazing, my main criticism are side quests or side jobs, some are very good like Panam’s but most are mid or miss, however it blows my mind how in just 6 years since launch we’re so terrifyingly closer to that distopian future where a few corporations rule the world after a cybernetic war against AIs 😶
Hardware does seems exciting, every console under Jason Ronald has been remarkable and this seems like the ultimate prebuilt PC, plus the way they’re doing backwards compatibility seems the perfect way to do it with an actual preservation path.
Software however is a big concern to me, it’s a given it’s going to run full Windows 11 and it’s been confirmed there’s no “Xbox version” of any next-gen game moving forward, all new games will just be PC games, meaning you’ll have to tinker with the system, games, OS, and launcher to be able to play correctly, deal with driver updates, bugs, and lack of optimization from developers, so even if hardware is a powerhouse some games might end up performing worse than a PS6 or similarly priced PCs with Nvidia GPUs.
As a console player this is all the sort of things I don’t want to deal with hence why I’m still a console player, not a PC one.
@fatpunkslim Agreed with many points but this just isn’t another traditional console, if it ends up having third-party stores the whole business model is upended, as they cannot longer rely on recouping the loss on hardware by people spending on the MS Store because they might not spend their money there.
In my very case if I end up buying this device I would exclusively buy any new games on Steam simply because it’s a better and more solid platform than MS Store (often cheaper too), and this is exactly the kind of audience they’re targeting this device, they know it won’t be sold to the masses but PC enthusiasts who might buy it won’t leave Steam for anything in the world, so then what does Microsoft gains by selling hardware at a loss if they won’t get money from software?
This is the very question I’ve been asking since the beginning alongside how will console games run on PC, hope we get some answers or tips at GDC because those are the most important aspects of this device, however you can’t dismiss the RAM crisis because Microsoft is a huge company, recent reports said Apple, the biggest consumer hardware company in the world with the biggest leverage in the industry, agreed to pay 100% premium for DRAM from Samsung, it’s a huge problem that might even bleed into current-gen consoles.
@Millionski I like what we’ve been hearing from Asha, so far she’s been saying all the good things and I do root for her, as I said before it’s fair to give her a chance and it’s unrealistic to expect that she’ll solve all of Xbox issues in a month, but it’s also imposible for me to feel optimistic until I see clear actions taken instead of fancy statements.
Satya however, I want him as far from Xbox as possible, as successful Microsoft has been with shareholders since he’s been CEO, he just doesn’t understand customer products, or customers at all, it’s why every single product and service from Microsoft has gotten noticeably worse and many like Windows Phone or Skype just ceased to exist, so now to stand by him and claim Xbox is back cause’ he said some nice things is just way too much imo.
@fatpunkslim They are selling $650 consoles from 2020, which are currently subsidized by having a closed ecosystem getting more revenue from people spending on Xbox.
How exactly will Microsoft be able to price this ‘premium’ PC open-ecosystem device for less than $1000 amidst a global RAM crisis when they can’t subsidize it? That device must sell at a profit to make sense and economics simply don’t work below that $1000 threshold, not even for a trillion dollar corporation.
It’s either funny or sad how some still believe or want to believe in this man after all the times he’s straight up lied to our faces, it’s good to still be optimistic but championing this guy’s words? Really?
@BacklogBrad @fatpunkslim Yeah because corporations and specially its CEO always tell the truth right? Such as “only 4 games” being ported right?
And no Xbox is not dead, it is living through an unstoppable spiral of death where it’s bleeding players to other platforms as their own has no incentive at all, no exclusives, high prices with less value, a $30/monthly subscription and so on, which in turn is making many developers to just ignore the Xbox platform altogether, resulting in more players leaving an so on…
I’d like to see if you can dispute this, I warned this would happen ever since the “only 4 games” were announced and I remember you claiming MS was telling the truth, have you learned nothing?
It’s sad how after all these years of MS straight up lying to our faces you still use Nadella’s words to champion “the return of Xbox”, he sees Xbox as a software seller, not as a platform, I don’t even know how you could spin this corpo hollow-talk into “exclusives are back”, it ain’t gonna happen.
And careful with championing Nadella’s statements, he said back in November 2016 they were ‘fully committed’ to Windows Phone, a year later the platform didn’t exist anymore.
I mean, if a $299 Xbox didn’t appeal to the casual masses it’s hard to imagine a ~$1,299 Xbox will.
If they kept their games exclusive to Xbox/PC and kept pricing to max $799 I think this device could’ve had a chance to at least appeal to all of us 35M who already own an Xbox and perhaps more from both the console and PC enthusiasts, still not the masses, but that scenario seems borderline unrealistic at this point, the damage is done releasing every game on competing platforms down to the sacred exclusives from the brand, and the way MS is already squeezing Xbox with $650 consoles and $30 monthly subscription it’s hard to imagine this device (that can’t be subsidized) isn’t $1000+ in this economy, plus the software side on Windows 11 I dare say has never been worst and many of the PC people they’re trying to appeal are flocking to SteamOS and Linux.
The tech behind it intrigues me for sure, but the software is the major hurdle, I really don’t want to deal with Windows 11 at all no matter the price.
We’re back at the Project Scorpio/Scarlett stage lol
At least we got a confirmation that PC is the way they’re moving forward, still not sure how to feel about that but looking forward for the many details that should come out in GDC as I have soooo many questions for this.
Comments 769
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Download Sizes Revealed On Xbox & PC, And They're Huge
@dskatter Amazingly they confirmed it has cross saves, so my plan is to start it on Xbox with Game Pass for a month or two and just buy it for PS5 Pro whenever it launches there, FH5 does look significantly better from what I’ve seen.
Re: Asha Sharma Comments On Xbox Revenue Loss For Q3 2026
The first step in resolving a problem is acknowledging it, however I do not envy her position, she has a borderline impossible job, how to grow the business/platform when even a multiplatform push didn’t work and resulted in less revenue than before?
Becoming multiplatform for all games was a mistake there might not be a coming back from, people who moved on from Xbox just won’t be coming back, PS players aren’t buying Xbox games in droves, the only real success has been FH5 on PS5 and still wasn’t enough to offset a loss in revenue, regaining consumers’ trust is going to be a long endeavor to make us invest in Helix, buying games on MS Store or subscribing to Game Pass, I still want her to succeed and take the brand to heights we haven’t seen for almost 20 years, but it’s increasingly looking like an impossible task.
Re: Asha Sharma Comments On Xbox Revenue Loss For Q3 2026
@Banjo- Exactly, all this talk about the return of Xbox but there isn’t even an Xbox in most store shelves, I have a friend at retail and he says there’s still some people asking for Xbox consoles even with the price hike but it’s been months since Microsoft last supplied them.
Re: Microsoft CEO Says Xbox Is 'Recommitting To Our Core Fans' As Revenue Falls In FY26 Q3
Let it sink in than even after going multiplatform for all games revenue has gone down for 2 quarters in a row with previous minimal growth for over 2 years.
These numbers are inexcusably bad and hence why so many (needed) U-turns at Xbox, yes FH5 might have sold 5 million copies since PS5 launch last year and yet Xbox keeps shrinking more and more and it’s obvious why, they keep stating Xbox has more users than ever, but for all we know even a CoD player on PS5 or a Candy Crush player can be counted as an Xbox user now, however players on the actual Xbox console are either leaving or spending significantly less than before, I myself went from buying all third-party games on Xbox to not a single one since 2024, which is why now the mission is to “recommit” to all of us who actually spent on their platform and a big chunk of their revenue was coming from, it’s been a good start for Asha but at least for me until I see more concrete action I’ll keep holding on investing in Xbox games, subs and hardware.
Re: Asha Sharma Explains Why Xbox Isn't 'Ready' To Share A Release Timeline For Project Helix
I hope both next-gen consoles launch not before 2028, it just feels too soon and conditions are not favorable at all for new hardware.
Re: Asha Sharma Says Xbox Is Investing To Make Series X|S Consoles A 'First-Class Experience Again'
@Kaloudz I lost hope for that a while ago, some areas look a bit modernized like the Home Screen, Guide and My Games & Apps but almost everything else is such a mess, some modern UI blended with Windows 8 minimalism and convoluted menus, features like Captures remain virtually unchanged from 2013, even the format to export video captures is really old and heavy, I’ll be very, even extremely surprised if they actually get to work on that after neglecting it for 13+ years.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Might Introduce Customisable Plans For Game Pass In The Future
Been saying that subs like EA Play, Ubisoft+ and Fortnite Crew should be removed but they could also greatly work as additional add-ons, having a good discount for Game Pass members who actually care for those benefits while having a cheaper entry price for people who only care about Xbox’ catalogue and day one games.
Re: Xbox Announces Price Reductions For Game Pass Ultimate & PC Game Pass
Wow, honestly didn’t expected them to backtrack this fast, Game Pass may be worth it again for many people, in particular PC Game Pass’ value is unbeatable.
I’d have removed Fortnite Crew from Ultimate and drop the price $3-5 even further.
Re: Xbox Raises Eyebrows By Mentioning 'Exclusives' On The Series X|S Dashboard
It’s funny how all those Xbox creators who spent years defending the multiplatform approach repeating “when everybody plays we all win” BS now are cheering at the mere prospect of exclusives coming back…
Re: Xbox Boss Declares Game Pass Is 'Too Expensive' And Needs A 'Better Value Equation'
A $20 Ultimate tier with day one games but Fortnite crew removed and no Call of Duty at launch would be good enough imo.
Also they need to drop the requirement for online play and make the service attractive even on the cheapest tiers, like the rumor of having a tier of only first-party games would be nice to substitute current Essential tier, that way both the platform and the service become immediately more attractive.
Re: 'What Do You Want Added?' - Xbox Engineer Requests Ideas For New Console Features
Remove ads from dashboard, allow us to install Xbox One X versions instead of Series X to save SSD space, and revamp entirely the captures system so that we can record for more than 1 minute in a modern format, what we have currently is virtually unchanged from 2013, and overall just modernize many features and the UI as some areas still try to look like Windows 8 from 2012.
Re: Rumour: Xbox To Release Halo: Campaign Evolved In July 2026, Early Access Included
@oopsiezz I’m betting one (most likely Fable) gets delayed to 2027.
Re: Xbox Achievements Are Getting A 'Refresh' With Multiple New Improvements
@Tasuki You can set up all notifications to appear on any corner, it’s been an option ever since the Xbox One days.
Re: Xbox Achievements Are Getting A 'Refresh' With Multiple New Improvements
They finally allow us to hide games! New visuals look cool however I’d have liked a separate list for DLC and a special achievement for 100% a game (a platinum trophy equivalent).
Most importantly it really seems new leadership at Xbox is really listening and finally doing things the last administration neglected for whatever reason.
Re: Talking Point: Which Xbox Console Do You Think Has Aged The Best?
Xbox One X by a long shot.
It was the first genuinely impressive hardware from Xbox since the very first one (love the 360 but hardware and performance-wise it was a mess), it felt like the first console from the Phil Spencer era, had 4K Blu-Ray playblack when not even the PS4 Pro had it, plays most optimized games for it at native 4K, has backwards compatibility with every generation of Xbox, some Xbox and 360 games were even upscaled to 4K for free, all while still is able to play most modern games quite well and stablished the base for the Series X which is still an impressive piece of hardware.
Re: Xbox Series X Is Even Better Than PS5 Pro For Assassin's Creed Unity, Suggests Report
@Balie3000 It’s because Xbox One X versions, most enhanced games like AC Odyssey and Origins play at native 4K while the PS4 Pro around 1440p for most, with newer patches they just unlock the framerate and resolution stays the same hence why it looks much sharper on Xbox for all One X games.
Re: Xbox Series X Is Even Better Than PS5 Pro For Assassin's Creed Unity, Suggests Report
@Weebleman This exactly, I want all companies to be successful and competitive with each other because I very much enjoy a good game whether it comes from Nintendo, Xbox, Sony or any western or Asian studio, there’s lots to love from every platform yet some choose to marry one as if it was a life commitment.
Re: Xbox Series X Is Even Better Than PS5 Pro For Assassin's Creed Unity, Suggests Report
@fatpunkslim The PS5 Pro is a scam because XSX can run last gen games better? That was already the case with the base PS5 as backwards compatibility is just better built on Xbox.
If you actually had the console the main or perhaps only reason is to play newer games as best as possible without jumping to PC, the list of PS5 Pro optimized games is not big but as an owner of both a PS5 Pro and Series X the difference in those optimized games is pretty dramatic specially with the latest PSSR update, there’s now better looking games in performance mode than on base PS5/XSX at quality mode, I’m currently playing Crimson Desert on the Pro and for that alone it was worth the price I paid for it, but nowadays at $899 it’s impossible to recommend.
Re: Xbox Series X Is Even Better Than PS5 Pro For Assassin's Creed Unity, Suggests Report
@FraserG That’s because Xbox implemented VRR way sooner, since the Xbox One S if I’m not mistaken, so on top that the feature itself is better built it just has been officially supported and optimized for way longer, which is bearing fruit as many backward compatible games do run better on Xbox than PS5.
I remember back at launch PS5 didn’t even have a VRR and it arrived months later with an update with lots of bugs and still isn’t entirely fixed.
Re: Microsoft Issues Statement On Why 'This Is An Xbox' Campaign Has Been Retired
@shiny-enzo It was a success but in my conservative opinion Forza should’ve never launched on PlayStation, neither Halo or Gears (which sold poorly on PS5) and it’s the same equation as for Sony, while you might get more immediate revenue from porting games elsewhere you also lose relevance and revenue from your own platform, that’s what happening with Xbox, even with Forza’s success their revenue didn’t grow by that much in the quarter it released and it’s shrunk a couple of quarters since, so sales from porting games might be getting offset by less engagement and spending from Xbox users, or even losing users altogether.
Re: Microsoft Issues Statement On Why 'This Is An Xbox' Campaign Has Been Retired
@fatpunkslim I actually agree, so far she’s been taking all the right decisions, the most important thing in my opinion is the return of exclusives for Xbox/PC, maybe Switch 2 but no PlayStation publishing, if Sony is doing a 180° I think Microsoft can and must do it too, but should be very clear and transparent about it, I would do away with timed exclusives entirely, because most games releasing months or years later almost never sell as well, either release it everywhere day one or be clear about a permanent exclusivity.
I’d keep all Xbox Game Studios titles exclusives and release most if not all Activision and Bethesda game on every platform, but again, messaging is key and it’s not about shutting out PS players but having more competition which is desperately needed in this market amongst today news from Sony.
Re: Sony Announces Major PS5 Price Hikes, Here's How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S
@Globo Yeah on that I do remember how many fanboys were celebrating Xbox’ demise just last year and so far this year has been as brutal for PlayStation, 2 studios closed, more games getting cancelled and a severe price hike in less than a couple of months, you can bet they’re not gloating now, which is why I wouldn’t gloat about this, things for both can always get worse.
But as a console fan, owner of a Series X, PS5 Pro and Switch 2 I’m very worried for the sustainability of this whole market, it really feels we’re already living through a crash and it’s bound to get worse, they’re pricing out younger generations from gaming altogether and the industry cannot be sustained by the same players with no growth, next generation will look absurd with a $999 PS6 and a $1299 Xbox (being optimistic).
Re: Sony Announces Major PS5 Price Hikes, Here's How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S
@Globo You better not gloat on it as MS might just increase prices again for all that’s worth.
I don’t see the “funny” at all here, it’s not like because Sony increased prices now it’s fine Xbox did so as well, they’ll both get deservedly crucified for it as they’re pricing out people from gaming, it’s such a grim outlook for both brands and I’m feeling Nintendo is next with a Switch 2 price bump.
Re: Two Of 2025's Best Games Are Finally Getting Xbox Versions Soon
@Banjo- I wouldn’t say at no extra cost as it’s only coming to Ultimate, one month costs the same as the full game lol
Re: Microsoft Beats Out Sony & Nintendo In Metacritic's 2026 Game Publisher Rankings
It’s really a shame that just when Xbox started to have a consistent output of great games they decided to not make any exclusive…
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think Project Helix Will Support Physical Xbox Games?
27% are in for a major disappointment, I don’t see any way this has a UHD Blu-Ray built in, it’s not part of their business and Microsoft has to pay a license just to use a Blu-Ray drive, best case scenario is they sell an optional drive but I heavily doubt it.
Re: Crimson Desert Patch 1.03 Is Making Major Improvements On Xbox & PC
@shiny-enzo Most complaints from crashes come from people using the Xbox PC app, and sorry but that app is subpar to both the Xbox console experience and Steam, you can find comments saying everything works fine but can also find tons and tons of comments of weird bugs, glitches, crashes and features missing from the Xbox PC app, I wish it’d allow to change a games’ language instead of having to change it for the whole PC, and the worst bug I’ve experienced is when I had my Rog Ally (the first one) it refused to start any game from the Xbox app, I literally had to reinstall Windows, that just cannot happen on the premium PC/console ‘Helix’ device, if the Xbox PC app will essentially become the core of Xbox it MUST get substantially better.
And no they still haven’t released the update for Xbox, Epic and Mac, only Steam and PlayStation currently, that’s because updates overall are generally slower on Xbox (both PC app and console) simply because the process of submitting it and getting approved is slower than both Steam’s and Sony’s, it always happens when updates are released ASAP and not timed to match every platform, you can check out tons of developers complaining about the more strict process Microsoft has for submitting updates, which again, should be looked into to further improve the Xbox PC app experience.
Re: Crimson Desert Patch 1.03 Is Making Major Improvements On Xbox & PC
@fatpunkslim Saw an article on Windows Central on how the Xbox PC version is particularly broken right now, and it’s baffling since both the Xbox console and Steam versions have no crashing issues.
It’s not the first time a game runs worse on the Xbox PC app than Steam, also pushing updates is way slower than both Steam and PS5, Microsoft really needs to focus on making their launcher substantially better because otherwise it’s going to be a poor experience with the Xbox Helix since all new games will be PC games.
Re: Xbox Series X Gets Major 'Just For You' Discount On The Microsoft Store
Shocking to see Microsoft attempting to sell Xbox hardware, we literally haven’t seen a deal for consoles since 2023, it’s a great first step, next they need to have more units available at different retailers worldwide and expand this deals to everyone in Black Friday.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your First Impressions Of Crimson Desert On Xbox?
Impossible to put a grade on it just yet but so far it’s been genuinely fun, even as I kept reading the first 8-10 hours were bad I’ve been enjoying it a lot and it does feel like the game is just opening up, this is definitely among the feels of exploring BoTW or Death Stranding with a slow-paced world waiting to be explored, and of course it ain’t perfect, controls are definitely a learning curve and story so far is bizarre but in a silly fun way.
Re: Xbox 'Copilot' Demonstration Hints At How It'll Work On Your Series X|S
@Lup Microsoft has a habit of making optional things VERY obnoxious…
Re: Crimson Desert Comparison Shows Difference Between Xbox Series X And Series S
@PsBoxSwitchOwner And so far it’s been genuinely fun, I’d say if you have an even mild interest in this after watching gameplays just try it out and don’t let the hate mob stop you from forming your own opinions.
Re: 'Keep The Feedback Coming' - Xbox Boss Says New Console Features Were Built Two Weeks Ago
@Fiendish-Beaver Could be, but that’d also mean that those features and updates were just sitting there for a while until someone cared to push then forward and the credit still goes to Asha.
Whatever the case may be I see this as a good move and a good start for Asha as we had gone months without any update on the console side, remembering they have a console is the first step lol
Re: Xbox Series X|S Is Getting Its First Dashboard Update In Ages, Quick Resume Upgrade Included
@fatpunkslim I often only play single-player games which makes it more frustrating, the last time was just a few weeks ago with Half on Life 2 so I'm actually very thankful for this update for letting us disable it lol
Re: Xbox Series X|S Is Getting Its First Dashboard Update In Ages, Quick Resume Upgrade Included
@fatpunkslim I also avoid using Quick Resume and I'd disable it altogether, on paper its a very nice feature but it has always been broken for me, most of the time when I relied on it games just wouldn't load, had weird bugs or got entirely restarted, even just suspending the Xbox with an open game is unreliable as it often closes the game so I just use it as an old-school console, saving game, exiting to main menu, closing game and turning off the console.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Is Getting Its First Dashboard Update In Ages, Quick Resume Upgrade Included
Finally some updates for the consoles and FINALLY I can choose a color other than their terrible selection lol
I hope they fixed a bug where my Xbox refuses to look for updates and only updates games when I try to play them.
Re: Bethesda Says Starfield Looks 'Amazing' With Nvidia's DLSS 5, But Don't Expect It On Xbox
Just terrible, I can’t believe the praise I’ve been reading for this blatant AI Slop, this is Nvidia saying “f*ck artstyles, here’s some slop” and the worst of this is that it’s being endorsed by this companies like Bethesda which only will result in more poor looking games and worse performance since they’ll become reliant on that AI slop filter instead of proper optimization.
How have you fallen from grace Todd…
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
Xbox (2027) — Or whatever year it ends up releasing.
Since it’ll be a PC now I doubt they’ll stick to generations so there’s little sense to have a generation name per se, just stick with the X-box and the release year.
Re: Talking Point: Xbox Game Pass Players, What Do You Think Of Cyberpunk 2077?
Not from Game Pass but I just recently replayed it for the first time since launch and I enjoyed it waaay more, I’d give it a 9/10, main story and specially Phantom Liberty is amazing, my main criticism are side quests or side jobs, some are very good like Panam’s but most are mid or miss, however it blows my mind how in just 6 years since launch we’re so terrifyingly closer to that distopian future where a few corporations rule the world after a cybernetic war against AIs 😶
Re: Microsoft's 'This Is An Xbox' Post Taken Down As Fans Wonder If The Controversial Ad Is No More
Biggest marketing failure since the Xbox One launch imo, complete nonsense from the start.
Re: Xbox Reveals New Details On 'Project Helix' Next-Gen Console, Says Devs Will Get It In 2027
Hardware does seems exciting, every console under Jason Ronald has been remarkable and this seems like the ultimate prebuilt PC, plus the way they’re doing backwards compatibility seems the perfect way to do it with an actual preservation path.
Software however is a big concern to me, it’s a given it’s going to run full Windows 11 and it’s been confirmed there’s no “Xbox version” of any next-gen game moving forward, all new games will just be PC games, meaning you’ll have to tinker with the system, games, OS, and launcher to be able to play correctly, deal with driver updates, bugs, and lack of optimization from developers, so even if hardware is a powerhouse some games might end up performing worse than a PS6 or similarly priced PCs with Nvidia GPUs.
As a console player this is all the sort of things I don’t want to deal with hence why I’m still a console player, not a PC one.
Re: Tech Journalist Predicts A Price Of 'At Least $1,000' For Xbox Project Helix
@fatpunkslim Agreed with many points but this just isn’t another traditional console, if it ends up having third-party stores the whole business model is upended, as they cannot longer rely on recouping the loss on hardware by people spending on the MS Store because they might not spend their money there.
In my very case if I end up buying this device I would exclusively buy any new games on Steam simply because it’s a better and more solid platform than MS Store (often cheaper too), and this is exactly the kind of audience they’re targeting this device, they know it won’t be sold to the masses but PC enthusiasts who might buy it won’t leave Steam for anything in the world, so then what does Microsoft gains by selling hardware at a loss if they won’t get money from software?
This is the very question I’ve been asking since the beginning alongside how will console games run on PC, hope we get some answers or tips at GDC because those are the most important aspects of this device, however you can’t dismiss the RAM crisis because Microsoft is a huge company, recent reports said Apple, the biggest consumer hardware company in the world with the biggest leverage in the industry, agreed to pay 100% premium for DRAM from Samsung, it’s a huge problem that might even bleed into current-gen consoles.
Re: Xbox Must Live Up To Expectations Of Fans Who Have 'Counted On Us', Says Microsoft Boss
@Millionski I like what we’ve been hearing from Asha, so far she’s been saying all the good things and I do root for her, as I said before it’s fair to give her a chance and it’s unrealistic to expect that she’ll solve all of Xbox issues in a month, but it’s also imposible for me to feel optimistic until I see clear actions taken instead of fancy statements.
Satya however, I want him as far from Xbox as possible, as successful Microsoft has been with shareholders since he’s been CEO, he just doesn’t understand customer products, or customers at all, it’s why every single product and service from Microsoft has gotten noticeably worse and many like Windows Phone or Skype just ceased to exist, so now to stand by him and claim Xbox is back cause’ he said some nice things is just way too much imo.
Re: Tech Journalist Predicts A Price Of 'At Least $1,000' For Xbox Project Helix
@fatpunkslim They are selling $650 consoles from 2020, which are currently subsidized by having a closed ecosystem getting more revenue from people spending on Xbox.
How exactly will Microsoft be able to price this ‘premium’ PC open-ecosystem device for less than $1000 amidst a global RAM crisis when they can’t subsidize it? That device must sell at a profit to make sense and economics simply don’t work below that $1000 threshold, not even for a trillion dollar corporation.
Re: Xbox Must Live Up To Expectations Of Fans Who Have 'Counted On Us', Says Microsoft Boss
It’s either funny or sad how some still believe or want to believe in this man after all the times he’s straight up lied to our faces, it’s good to still be optimistic but championing this guy’s words? Really?
Re: Microsoft CEO On Xbox's Future: 'We'll Always Invest In Gaming'
@BacklogBrad @fatpunkslim Yeah because corporations and specially its CEO always tell the truth right? Such as “only 4 games” being ported right?
And no Xbox is not dead, it is living through an unstoppable spiral of death where it’s bleeding players to other platforms as their own has no incentive at all, no exclusives, high prices with less value, a $30/monthly subscription and so on, which in turn is making many developers to just ignore the Xbox platform altogether, resulting in more players leaving an so on…
I’d like to see if you can dispute this, I warned this would happen ever since the “only 4 games” were announced and I remember you claiming MS was telling the truth, have you learned nothing?
It’s sad how after all these years of MS straight up lying to our faces you still use Nadella’s words to champion “the return of Xbox”, he sees Xbox as a software seller, not as a platform, I don’t even know how you could spin this corpo hollow-talk into “exclusives are back”, it ain’t gonna happen.
And careful with championing Nadella’s statements, he said back in November 2016 they were ‘fully committed’ to Windows Phone, a year later the platform didn’t exist anymore.
Re: Talking Point: Will 'Project Helix' Be A Niche Device, Or An Xbox Console For The Masses?
I mean, if a $299 Xbox didn’t appeal to the casual masses it’s hard to imagine a ~$1,299 Xbox will.
If they kept their games exclusive to Xbox/PC and kept pricing to max $799 I think this device could’ve had a chance to at least appeal to all of us 35M who already own an Xbox and perhaps more from both the console and PC enthusiasts, still not the masses, but that scenario seems borderline unrealistic at this point, the damage is done releasing every game on competing platforms down to the sacred exclusives from the brand, and the way MS is already squeezing Xbox with $650 consoles and $30 monthly subscription it’s hard to imagine this device (that can’t be subsidized) isn’t $1000+ in this economy, plus the software side on Windows 11 I dare say has never been worst and many of the PC people they’re trying to appeal are flocking to SteamOS and Linux.
Re: 'It Will Lead In Performance' - Xbox's Price Tag For Project Helix Could Be Pretty High
The tech behind it intrigues me for sure, but the software is the major hurdle, I really don’t want to deal with Windows 11 at all no matter the price.
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games
We’re back at the Project Scorpio/Scarlett stage lol
At least we got a confirmation that PC is the way they’re moving forward, still not sure how to feel about that but looking forward for the many details that should come out in GDC as I have soooo many questions for this.
Re: Microsoft Has Explored Allowing AI & Other Xbox Players To Help Control Your Games
Microslop is really doing everything they can to deserve that nickname…