But wait, yesterday some were calling BS on a report of Microsoft looking to restructure Xbox and the same day comes Satya outright saying Xbox needs to be profitable almost as an ultimatum… aren’t things clear enough? This is the last chance.
My expectation is that the ‘reset of the business’ as they call it will be that Xbox will slowly become a wholly owned subsidiary which will manage its own pockets without much intervention from Microsoft, for good and bad, hence why we’ll see the biggest cuts ever for the division as a last effort for efficiency and profitability, but if Xbox fails to stand on their own two feet without any subsidy from Microsoft they can and will take drastic measures as reported a couple days ago.
@HonestHick You contradict yourself, how are they going to have a profitable sustainable business by paying off huge loads of money to third-parties to keep a game off PlayStation instead of let’s say making Senua exclusive?
But sure believe what you want to believe, I’m with @Balaam_ here, part of me wishes Microsoft would go ahead and force Xbox to stand on their own two feet to see how long their last and how long the apologists of the brand will endure claiming nonsense.
@HonestHick That doesn’t make the slightest sense, they’re struggling to make their own first-party games exclusive because ‘the business is not in a good place’ as Asha herself said, and only if it gets better they’ll try to do more.
What would be the point of throwing money they don’t have into third-party deals to keep a game off PS5? To sell the consoles they’re unwilling to fabricate? Also, most third-parties would outright reject any said deal as they’d be losing a lot of sales by not launching on PS5, and because of that any potentially acceptable deal would be astronomically expensive to try to make up the lost sales on other platforms. Not even a 3% chance of happening and no industry is too big to leave for Microsoft, just look at Windows Phone or Skype, billions spent for being nonexistent nowadays.
With the numbers revealed a couple days ago by Asha herself it isn’t hard to believe this is how bad things actually are, Phil Spencer was actually saying the truth when he claimed Microsoft would get rid of Xbox if wasn’t able to acquire ABK, and even with that gone through they still might be willing to get rid of it.
And as good as a standalone Xbox could potentially seem, no brand can survive with 3% margins and no one else will subsidize it for as much as 20 billion, unless they do the biggest cuts ever seen in the industry significantly trimming the business, which is already heavily rumored to happen in the upcoming weeks, it’s all lining up.
I already could play it included with Game Pass (paid for until July 2027) but I’m very, very curious about that PS5 Pro version, lately there’s been a noticeable upgrade in recent games with the new PSSR.
3% margins, $20 billion in platform subsidies plus an $80 billion acquisition…
And some here have had the audacity to claim over and over again that Xbox was “healthy” or “on the right path”, last year they were defending the multiplatform pivot and saying Phil was god and today it turns out exclusives are good and Asha is “the chosen one”, like come on…
Yes it’s a good thing that she is being transparent and frontal about it but maybe we should have questioned Phil Spencer decisions way more harshly to leave the business as he did, I think all this is ultimately proof that Game Pass isn’t as sustainable as they told us it was, so maybe, just maybe, start scrutinizing this execs instead of outright believing what they say or worst, defending them.
@Banjo- And how can you be sure they will not backtrack (this time)? Like really how is any of this any different to the promised Starfield exclusivity back in 2022/2023? If game sales on Xbox don’t pick up the pace or Helix has disappointing sales in the first year who’s to say they’ll not pivot yet again?
Also not too long ago you were advocating for everything being multiplatform and now you’re advocating for exclusives, when they pivot again will you do so as well?
I really don’t know how to feel about this, on one hand it’s great to have some return to exclusivity as the platform otherwise would continue to dwindle, but I fear this might be too little too late and it poses many questions like: Are sales for both games only on Xbox and Steam going to be enough to cover the costs of them? Will any of those studios be at risk if they don’t reach sales targets?
Also, I understand the case-by-case basis, but there has to be some consistency, just today it was bizarre to see Gears E-Day announced as a console exclusive followed by Halo on PS5 just 5 minutes later, while also presenting brand new Xbox Game Studios games still releasing day one on PS5.
With no discernible pattern how is anyone supposed to believe exclusives are truly back? How is this any different from 2023’s promises of Starfield being exclusive? And perhaps the biggest question is how long will it take them to pivot again?
It’s not only tough but a borderline impossible position, revenue from Xbox sales and Game Pass is not nearly enough for Xbox to be sustainable on its own and that was a problem even before they became multiplatform, however I heavily disagree with how she said “Xbox is becoming a platform” as it has been a platform already for 25 years and decisions from the last 5 years is what left the platform mortally wounded.
I still want “the return to XBOX” to happen but I honestly don’t see any path for it, they cornered themselves with most of their PC revenue coming from Steam and PS5 ports slowly taking over Xbox’ own revenue while having trained the Xbox audience for almost a decade to not buy games and “wait for it to be on Game Pass”, how could anyone reverse all that?
I know this is mostly because PS5 sales collapsed due to the price hike, but this goes to show that if Xbox actually cared to have more available consoles, competitive pricing and have EXCLUSIVE games people would still show up, this could’ve happened with Doom The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones, Halo CE and Fable being exclusive and Xbox as a platform would have been very competitive specially since Sony has only managed to launch a couple of exclusives in the last few years (Yotei and Saros), but it’s way too late for that.
I don’t know why it always is broken for me, whenever I’ve tried to use it with FH6 it gets me a no signal screen until I get out to home and restart the game again.
Most Xbox ‘content creators’ have become downright insufferable, faking an outrage out of this is so pathetic as last year they were all clapping for “transparency” when Phil started this trend in last years’ showcase.
This parasocial relationship between MS execs and “fans” needs to stop, it’s ok to listen to fans but don’t run the entire brand on that basis.
@fatpunkslim I very much agree, lately I’ve seen the wave of Xbox ‘content creators’ (who just a year ago still had Phil Spencer as god and defending the multiplatform pivot) now claiming Asha is the best ever because she changed the logo and wrote XBOX all in caps…
And don’t get me wrong, I like those things, I like having updates on consoles again and the new logo looks cool, but this is not nearly enough to repair the damage they’ve done to themselves, consoles are still not selling, hell they aren’t even being distributed, in my city it’s been since November that we last saw a Xbox Series X or S on shelves, there’s still A LOT of work to do and big decisions to make (specially on the exclusives matter) before claiming that ‘XBOX is back’.
This is a good strategy to get more people into Game Pass and hook them with some games, if they can add this tier to Netflix as was rumored it'd be a massive win, however the starter and essential tier should be one and the same, there's already too many tiers with the service, Starter, PC, Essential, Premium and Ultimate, there should be 3 at most imo.
@themightyant Some people just choose to live in their own reality where their favorite brand is the best in every way and immune to criticism while the others are the devil incarnated, it’s actually funny to read some of the same arguments used both for and against the same brands across the 3 websites.
I mean it’s not a deal breaker however it is slightly annoying I have lots of game completed with 1000/1000 gamerscore but don’t show up as completed because of DLC or update achievements, I’d only ask for these to be a separate list as Sony does with trophies.
Asking for rewards like discounts for completing a game is completely unrealistic.
@J_Mo_Money What good has Microsoft’s wealth done to Xbox? It didn’t save Xbox from losing players, losing exclusivity, closing studios and firing thousands of people in the last few years. I’ve been hearing this argument ever since the 360 days “Xbox will be fine because MS has a lot of money” and well just take a look at the brand now, a shell of its former self because of Microsoft’s pressure and insane 30% profit goals, it was getting so bad they were forced to reverse course on several things with Asha.
And I’m not saying other brands are faring better, literally the entire industry is facing unprecedented challenges, but what I’m trying to say is that Xbox isn’t shielded by Microsoft from all the problems that face the gaming industry, we just had Xbox numbers last month and they’re nothing to cheer for.
Lol no, I’d even say they don’t know who are they building this device for, the massive casual audiences who buy consoles or the hardcore community who wants a PC? Because you can’t appeal to both.
They talk about Xbox being affordable yet nothing about Helix sounds affordable at all, they floated the idea of third-party stores but now they’re being very vague about that particular concept but it’s understandable because it’d upend the entire console business model. They have A LOT of things to figure out and that’s not even considering getting the components to build the device.
@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.
@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).
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Re: Compulsion Games Might Be Getting Shut Down By Xbox, Says Report
The bloodbath begins…
Re: 'We Have To Turn This Into A Sustainable Business' - Microsoft CEO Discusses Future Of Xbox
But wait, yesterday some were calling BS on a report of Microsoft looking to restructure Xbox and the same day comes Satya outright saying Xbox needs to be profitable almost as an ultimatum… aren’t things clear enough? This is the last chance.
My expectation is that the ‘reset of the business’ as they call it will be that Xbox will slowly become a wholly owned subsidiary which will manage its own pockets without much intervention from Microsoft, for good and bad, hence why we’ll see the biggest cuts ever for the division as a last effort for efficiency and profitability, but if Xbox fails to stand on their own two feet without any subsidy from Microsoft they can and will take drastic measures as reported a couple days ago.
Re: Microsoft Has Considered 'Spinning Out Or Restructuring' Xbox, Claims Report
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Re: Microsoft Has Considered 'Spinning Out Or Restructuring' Xbox, Claims Report
@HonestHick You contradict yourself, how are they going to have a profitable sustainable business by paying off huge loads of money to third-parties to keep a game off PlayStation instead of let’s say making Senua exclusive?
But sure believe what you want to believe, I’m with @Balaam_ here, part of me wishes Microsoft would go ahead and force Xbox to stand on their own two feet to see how long their last and how long the apologists of the brand will endure claiming nonsense.
Re: Microsoft Has Considered 'Spinning Out Or Restructuring' Xbox, Claims Report
@HonestHick That doesn’t make the slightest sense, they’re struggling to make their own first-party games exclusive because ‘the business is not in a good place’ as Asha herself said, and only if it gets better they’ll try to do more.
What would be the point of throwing money they don’t have into third-party deals to keep a game off PS5? To sell the consoles they’re unwilling to fabricate?
Also, most third-parties would outright reject any said deal as they’d be losing a lot of sales by not launching on PS5, and because of that any potentially acceptable deal would be astronomically expensive to try to make up the lost sales on other platforms. Not even a 3% chance of happening and no industry is too big to leave for Microsoft, just look at Windows Phone or Skype, billions spent for being nonexistent nowadays.
Re: Microsoft Has Considered 'Spinning Out Or Restructuring' Xbox, Claims Report
@MrStark And how many times Phil Spencer said the same thing? Did it happen?
Re: Microsoft Has Considered 'Spinning Out Or Restructuring' Xbox, Claims Report
With the numbers revealed a couple days ago by Asha herself it isn’t hard to believe this is how bad things actually are, Phil Spencer was actually saying the truth when he claimed Microsoft would get rid of Xbox if wasn’t able to acquire ABK, and even with that gone through they still might be willing to get rid of it.
And as good as a standalone Xbox could potentially seem, no brand can survive with 3% margins and no one else will subsidize it for as much as 20 billion, unless they do the biggest cuts ever seen in the industry significantly trimming the business, which is already heavily rumored to happen in the upcoming weeks, it’s all lining up.
Re: Halo: Campaign Evolved Comparison Shows Difference Between Xbox Series X And Ally X
I already could play it included with Game Pass (paid for until July 2027) but I’m very, very curious about that PS5 Pro version, lately there’s been a noticeable upgrade in recent games with the new PSSR.
Re: Xbox Leaders Outline Five 'Realities' That Will Be Addressed Over The Next 100 Days
3% margins, $20 billion in platform subsidies plus an $80 billion acquisition…
And some here have had the audacity to claim over and over again that Xbox was “healthy” or “on the right path”, last year they were defending the multiplatform pivot and saying Phil was god and today it turns out exclusives are good and Asha is “the chosen one”, like come on…
Yes it’s a good thing that she is being transparent and frontal about it but maybe we should have questioned Phil Spencer decisions way more harshly to leave the business as he did, I think all this is ultimately proof that Game Pass isn’t as sustainable as they told us it was, so maybe, just maybe, start scrutinizing this execs instead of outright believing what they say or worst, defending them.
Re: "It's Hard To Say" - Xbox Boss Isn't Sure The Activision Blizzard Deal Has Paid Off
Activision ended up swallowing Xbox rather than the other way around…
Re: 'It Doesn't End With Gears & Clockwork' - Xbox Reporter Teases More Console Exclusives
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Re: 'It Doesn't End With Gears & Clockwork' - Xbox Reporter Teases More Console Exclusives
@Banjo- And how can you be sure they will not backtrack (this time)?
Like really how is any of this any different to the promised Starfield exclusivity back in 2022/2023?
If game sales on Xbox don’t pick up the pace or Helix has disappointing sales in the first year who’s to say they’ll not pivot yet again?
Also not too long ago you were advocating for everything being multiplatform and now you’re advocating for exclusives, when they pivot again will you do so as well?
Re: Matt Booty Explains Xbox's Plans For Exclusive Games Going Forward
I really don’t know how to feel about this, on one hand it’s great to have some return to exclusivity as the platform otherwise would continue to dwindle, but I fear this might be too little too late and it poses many questions like: Are sales for both games only on Xbox and Steam going to be enough to cover the costs of them? Will any of those studios be at risk if they don’t reach sales targets?
Also, I understand the case-by-case basis, but there has to be some consistency, just today it was bizarre to see Gears E-Day announced as a console exclusive followed by Halo on PS5 just 5 minutes later, while also presenting brand new Xbox Game Studios games still releasing day one on PS5.
With no discernible pattern how is anyone supposed to believe exclusives are truly back? How is this any different from 2023’s promises of Starfield being exclusive? And perhaps the biggest question is how long will it take them to pivot again?
Re: Xbox Boss Wants To Create The 'Number One' Gaming Company By 'Resetting The Business'
More actions, less talk. Feels like we’re back again at when Phil kept saying “next year is the year of Xbox” and it never happened.
Re: 'It's A Tough Topic' - Xbox CEO Shares Her Latest Thoughts On Exclusives
It’s not only tough but a borderline impossible position, revenue from Xbox sales and Game Pass is not nearly enough for Xbox to be sustainable on its own and that was a problem even before they became multiplatform, however I heavily disagree with how she said “Xbox is becoming a platform” as it has been a platform already for 25 years and decisions from the last 5 years is what left the platform mortally wounded.
I still want “the return to XBOX” to happen but I honestly don’t see any path for it, they cornered themselves with most of their PC revenue coming from Steam and PS5 ports slowly taking over Xbox’ own revenue while having trained the Xbox audience for almost a decade to not buy games and “wait for it to be on Game Pass”, how could anyone reverse all that?
Re: Xbox Series X|S Sales Have Risen In The UK, Partly Thanks To Forza Horizon 6
I know this is mostly because PS5 sales collapsed due to the price hike, but this goes to show that if Xbox actually cared to have more available consoles, competitive pricing and have EXCLUSIVE games people would still show up, this could’ve happened with Doom The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones, Halo CE and Fable being exclusive and Xbox as a platform would have been very competitive specially since Sony has only managed to launch a couple of exclusives in the last few years (Yotei and Saros), but it’s way too late for that.
Re: Control Resonant Early Access Is Exclusive To PS5, Even Though It Costs The Same On Xbox
This is just bizarre, I will be buying it on PS5 but I’ll just get the standard edition, early-access for any game honestly feels like a ripoff.
Re: Opinion: Forza Horizon 6 Has Changed My Mind About Quick Resume On Xbox Series X|S
I don’t know why it always is broken for me, whenever I’ve tried to use it with FH6 it gets me a no signal screen until I get out to home and restart the game again.
Re: 'It Was A Miss, And I Own It' - Xbox CEO Hints At Removing PS5 & Switch Logos From Showcases
Most Xbox ‘content creators’ have become downright insufferable, faking an outrage out of this is so pathetic as last year they were all clapping for “transparency” when Phil started this trend in last years’ showcase.
This parasocial relationship between MS execs and “fans” needs to stop, it’s ok to listen to fans but don’t run the entire brand on that basis.
Re: 'We Are Building A Stronger Xbox' - Asha Sharma Updates Employees On Progress In 2026
“The shift from Xbox to XBOX” 🤣
Re: Epic Games Boss Calls New Xbox Leadership Team 'World Class', Asha Sharma Responds
@fatpunkslim I very much agree, lately I’ve seen the wave of Xbox ‘content creators’ (who just a year ago still had Phil Spencer as god and defending the multiplatform pivot) now claiming Asha is the best ever because she changed the logo and wrote XBOX all in caps…
And don’t get me wrong, I like those things, I like having updates on consoles again and the new logo looks cool, but this is not nearly enough to repair the damage they’ve done to themselves, consoles are still not selling, hell they aren’t even being distributed, in my city it’s been since November that we last saw a Xbox Series X or S on shelves, there’s still A LOT of work to do and big decisions to make (specially on the exclusives matter) before claiming that ‘XBOX is back’.
Re: 'Dear Asha...' - Xbox Fan Desperately Wants New CEO To Remove Irrelevant Ads From Dashboard
@CaptainCluck When you think you’ve seen everything then comes someone defending ads…
Re: Talking Point: One Year Later, What Do You Think Of DOOM: The Dark Ages?
I liked it but there’s too many areas in which is just a barren wasteland, Eternal was way more engaging.
Re: Discord Partners With Xbox For 'Starter Edition' Of Game Pass, Includes 50+ Titles
This is a good strategy to get more people into Game Pass and hook them with some games, if they can add this tier to Netflix as was rumored it'd be a massive win, however the starter and essential tier should be one and the same, there's already too many tiers with the service, Starter, PC, Essential, Premium and Ultimate, there should be 3 at most imo.
Re: Talking Point: Amidst PS6 Uncertainty, Do You Think Xbox Has Project Helix All Figured Out?
@themightyant Some people just choose to live in their own reality where their favorite brand is the best in every way and immune to criticism while the others are the devil incarnated, it’s actually funny to read some of the same arguments used both for and against the same brands across the 3 websites.
Re: Xbox's First 'Gamerscore Millionaire' Suggests How To Improve 100% Completions
I mean it’s not a deal breaker however it is slightly annoying I have lots of game completed with 1000/1000 gamerscore but don’t show up as completed because of DLC or update achievements, I’d only ask for these to be a separate list as Sony does with trophies.
Asking for rewards like discounts for completing a game is completely unrealistic.
Re: Talking Point: Amidst PS6 Uncertainty, Do You Think Xbox Has Project Helix All Figured Out?
@J_Mo_Money What good has Microsoft’s wealth done to Xbox? It didn’t save Xbox from losing players, losing exclusivity, closing studios and firing thousands of people in the last few years.
I’ve been hearing this argument ever since the 360 days “Xbox will be fine because MS has a lot of money” and well just take a look at the brand now, a shell of its former self because of Microsoft’s pressure and insane 30% profit goals, it was getting so bad they were forced to reverse course on several things with Asha.
And I’m not saying other brands are faring better, literally the entire industry is facing unprecedented challenges, but what I’m trying to say is that Xbox isn’t shielded by Microsoft from all the problems that face the gaming industry, we just had Xbox numbers last month and they’re nothing to cheer for.
Re: Talking Point: Amidst PS6 Uncertainty, Do You Think Xbox Has Project Helix All Figured Out?
Lol no, I’d even say they don’t know who are they building this device for, the massive casual audiences who buy consoles or the hardcore community who wants a PC? Because you can’t appeal to both.
They talk about Xbox being affordable yet nothing about Helix sounds affordable at all, they floated the idea of third-party stores but now they’re being very vague about that particular concept but it’s understandable because it’d upend the entire console business model. They have A LOT of things to figure out and that’s not even considering getting the components to build the device.
Re: 'We Need To Evolve How We Work' - Xbox CEO Announces She's Bringing In New Leaders
Not sure how good I feel with her basically bringing over her previous team at coreAI to manage Xbox to be honest.
At least it’s very good news that Jason Ronald stays at Xbox and is now being promoted.
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
@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).