Llamageddon

@BacklogBrad Absolutely no chance of that happening. $5 million revenue really doesn't tell us anything and through it's vague nature it only serves to increase the discourse.
Best to just ignore it and enjoy the hobby

@FraserG I do agree it would be less likely now but with gamepass having the majority of users on console it would be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Gamepass obviously being a pillar of this gen and apparently being profitable (though we'll never know as Microsoft won't give us stats). In my opinion Gamepass is the sole reason there will be more hardware from Xbox until cloud takes over (they hope).
Anyway good chat, have a great day

@FraserG I get what you're saying, though I personally think Microsoft (or any other gargantuan capitalist machine) would only have spent that money then or now if they believed it would eventually lead to profit.
Microsoft has always thought they can dominate any sector they enter but history has shown us wildly varying results.
All these decisions are gambles, just like the acquisitions. I'm sure there are a handful of people in the company specifically employed to calculate these risks.

Weird that he almost frames it as a choice. Obviously they had to fix their broken product.
Could you imagine the uproar from consumers if they gave up and exited.
It's also crazy that the generation heiled as their greatest had such a massive hardware flaw hanging over it. I'm glad they came out the other side though and gave Sony the competition they needed to keep high standards and competitive pricing.

@Kaloudz that does clear it up, yes.

Every workspace and team are different so I guess we'll see who did/didn't pull their socks up when the inevitable next round of layoffs happen (hopefully not too soon)

This definitely reads as a template where they just switch out the names of games/studios to suit the latest round of layoffs.
Your employees are smart enough to not believe these empty words.

@Kaloudz I largely agree with what you're saying but the main point I was making is that the remaining workers aren't going to be buckling down or 'laser focused'.
It will be more of a damned if we do, damned if we don't mentality.
I am basing this off my experience of working for companies that 'restructured'. My colleagues and I certainly weren't buoyed by this and the negativity it bred actually led to it impacting the quality of the work being done.
Like I said though, this is just my point of view based on my experience. I am more than happy to be wrong and I hope it doesn't affect the devs this way because it's a mentally exhausting position to be in.

@Kaloudz you mention the remaining Devs will have laser focus as a result of these layoffs but I don't believe that to be the case.
Rare was mismanaged and got layoffs (somewhat understandable)
Turn 10 makes a popular tent pole title for Xbox and got
layoffs.
Tango gameworks makes a creative critically acclaimed AA and gets shut down.
Success doesn't seem to be much of a factor as to whether you face the chopping block at Xbox.
This suggests to me the remaining Devs will be either anxious or complacent about their employment, neither of which are conducive to creativity or productivity.
Just offering an alternative point of view.

So like the handheld that they've been parading. It's someone else's tech with a couple of tweaks and Xbox branding.

@Lup didn't you here the goalposts have been moved now. It's now either 'xbox has no exclusive games' or 'xbox has no goty contenders'.
Just like publishing a game is now first party dependant on which platform you prefer.

@LogicStrikesAgain they also have the china and India hero projects, which I think is great a initiative to help Devs in up and coming regions.

So happy this has turned out well. I was hooked on the art style and setting from the first reveal.

Ubisoft hasn't been doing well for a long time, that's not news. Unless you are privy to the inner machinations of tencent or ubisoft, then you (like many) are simply jumping to conclusions.
By all accounts shadows has been successful, how successful time will tell. It certainly isn't the flop some corners of gamers seemingly wanted it to be.
At the end of the day I don't have a dog in this and I simply jumped on the YouTube shorts as it came across as puerile.

@Trmn8r your gaming opinions are formed from YouTube shorts?

@FraserG I think you've doubled up on 1 game. Ghost bike was renamed to wheel world if I remember correctly. Apologies if I'm wrong

@Prestige-worldwide firstly I'd like to agree that the doom and gloom around Xbox is blown out of proportion by some and they have an amazing line up of games for 2025. You say that gamepass has been profitable and I'd be interested where you read that cos as far as I've seen Microsoft hasn't really released any stats on that.
Also you might be a bit optimistic about the upcoming games really increasing subscribers as Indy and COD barely registered an increase. It seems to me that gamepass has somewhat plateaued (at least on Xbox anyway).

@Hexamex-Tex it was simply a riff on the previous comment. Nothing more, nothing less.

@D3vils0n666 so many people think their opinion is the truth

Out of all the first party games coming out this year, this is the one I fear to be the most 'mid'. I've watched a number of previews and nothing really stands out to me.
I hope it's great for those who are hyped but I can see this being lost in a plethora of better games coming out in Feb regardless of it being free with gamepass.

I don't care what the surprise is as I'm looking forward to all 3 of the other games. Not a fan of turn based combat but there is something about Clair Obscur that has really piqued my interest.
Going to be an absolute banger of a show I reckon.

@InvaderFromSpace it is smart to move AC to march but I think the only game on your list that might sell more than Shadows is monster hunter. The others are either not as well known, are more niche or have a smaller player base.
Point is it would have comfortably been the second biggest game of Feb and I'm sure it will sell very well despite the 'controversy' just like Hogwarts legacy

My real disappointment with this list is the complete lack of indie games which have been consistently outstanding and really propped up 2024.
That top 4 really does suggest bias but I'm sure the same would happen on pushsquare with black myth, stellar blade, silent hill 2 and astrobot to be fair.
Still I've got high hopes for 2025 and am looking forward to it.

@Fiendish-Beaver isn't it just as risky to play your hand so Sony know what your machine can do. They can also look at public feedback on what they do and don't like feature wise and make changes accordingly for their machine.
Then you have the software side with the possibility of most Xbox published games coming across to the Sony machine as well as an increasingly longer cross generation to cater for.
I agree that releasing at the same time that the outcome is inevitable but taking this risk might end up biting them even harder. Time will tell, I just hope Sony continues to have some form of competition in the console space

@S1ayeR74 thank you for taking the time to reply. I also didn't care for the product placement, that we can agree on.
As for not missing out, you're making an assumption based on a cinematic trailer, there is every chance it could turn out to be a critically/commercially great game. Only time will tell, though if you don't care for Druckmanns previous games then it may not be for you.
It wasn't intended as a personal attack, if it came across that way then I apologise. I just asked how it was woke and you didn't address that in your response.

@jesse_dylan I know right, all I saw was a character based on the person who voices said character. In the end they are the people who will be missing out on great games based on fickle nonsense.
Each to their own at the end of the day, I will judge the game on the merits of it's gameplay and story personally.

@S1ayeR74 I must have missed it but what was 'woke' about intergalactic exactly?

@Decimateh Same, they are my 2 most wanted Xbox published games

I'm personally more interested in south of midnight than avowed. I actually like the art/animation style and it looks a more unique world to get lost in and learn some deep south mythos at the same time.
Hoping they are both received well though.

I don't see the point in all the review score wrangling tbh. I assume a lot of the commenters on here have gamepass so it's zero risk to give it a go and see for yourself.
Worst case scenario, it's not really for you and you wasted a bit of time downloading it.
As much as I'm sure positive critical reception is appreciated by the devs, sales numbers will always be more important at the end of the day.

Meh, personally not a fan of open world racers. Give me a remaster of burnout 3/4 though and it'll be a day one purchase

This happens all the time, I'd love to know what's going on with REPO MAN and wyrdsong personally

@BacklogBrad you're right but at the same time reviewers can only review the version they've been given. Many games have been marked down over the years for being buggy so it's really on the devs to send it out when it's truly ready (though obviously I sympathise with the unique challenges they've faced).
By all accounts the game seems to have sold quite well and the steam reviews are positive so I don't think the metacritic score has actually done much harm this time.

@MeanBeanEgg I have to agree, the comments went beyond a difference of opinion/outlier score. They seem to be questioning PJ's suitability to review certain games/general professionalism. As you say there is a lot of hypocrisy and it is quite frankly an immature way to 'deal' with a review score commenters don't agree with.
No devs/publishers need fans to shill for them at the end of the day.

@TheSimulator Unfortunately when Microsoft approaches a studio to buy them, it will be the people at the top of said studio who have the final say and will be the ones who benefit the most from being bought. The Devs below them won't have a say in the matter.

Genuine question, if this is untrue then would Sony/Game Science have legal recourse for defamation?

Who would have guessed Eurogamer gave it it's lowest score (except for everyone). Don't get me wrong I read Eurogamer quite a lot as they cover lots of indies.
I'm sure the game will do well on the IP alone and tbh for someone who's not into star wars I actually quite liked the look of the game. It's going to have wait though, wukong is higher up my list.

@trev666 In all fairness there also seems to be an increase in articles on purexbox casting Xbox in a less favourable light. So it ends up being like light to flies.

My top 3 new game reveals (in no particular order) - Doom: the dark ages, astrobot, possessor(s).

My top 3 most anticipated for second half of the year - astrobot, black myth wukong, AC shadows.

Xbox had the best showcase but as others have pointed out, hype is just hype. Let's see if they can actually stick the landing with these upcoming games.

Paper trail and hauntii look like a couple of charming indie puzzlers, nice palette cleanser which my other half will hopefully enjoy as well.

I'd love to see updates on clockwork revolution, south of midnight and everwild.

Slim pickings for me personally, though my other half has her eye on paper trail and hauntii
Seem like good pallete cleansers so will probably pick them up, good month for the bank account!

Also the biggest market for gaming on the go is Asia and xbox barely have a footprint there at all. Maybe this might help but I doubt it

They just seem a bit late to the game tbh. Beyond the switch, there are already a number of competitors in the portable device market (moreso than console).
I considered buying a portable device for a while until I finally pulled the trigger on a steam deck. The reason I went with the deck is because I wanted access to the steam library (which includes Xbox games). A number of the games on my wishlist are pc exclusive so an Xbox handheld just feels redundant to me personally regardless of specs.
I hope it's a great piece of kit for those who want it, I just feel they've somewhat missed the boat again.

@ScoTTieDLighT If you're talking about the upcoming space marine 2, then it's not an exclusive

@pip_muzz Maybe dungeons of hinterberg, pretty certain that's due out this year

Got no strong feelings on the format as a whole, but isn't it meant to be a showcase for Xbox exclusive games for 2024. I personally would have replaced Ara (PC only) and Visions of Mana (multi platform) with Towerborne and Dungeons of Hinterberg which are both due out this year.
Not much for me in the showcase as the games I'm most intrigued by are Clockwork Revolution and South of Midnight, hopefully they'll feature in the summer showcase.

@Romans12 Xbox really needs to get their AAA games up to the standard of their smaller titles like Hifi rush, grounded and pentiment (maybe not your type of game but are definitely complete, polished games)
Time will tell I suppose as none of us are clairvoyant!

@Godot25 There was an article on 7th Jan which included others coming to ganepass as well:
Open roads
Eiyuden chronicles: hundred heroes
Dead static drive
Flintlock: siege of dawn
Nirvana noir
Still wakes the deep
Plus a game that rarely gets a mention anymore even on pure - dungeons of hinterberg. 2024 is looking stacked to say the least

Great for those interested in the game as long as they don't prioritise Xmas sales over a polished product. I'm sure most people would prefer an early 2025 release if it means a better day 1 experience.

@Kaloudz To be perfectly frank I don't know the first thing about copyright law, but I know Nintendo are quite litigious. I can only assume palworld has done it's homework and are confident they're in the clear.
Anyway I hope those who give it a go enjoy the game and happy gaming for 2024