@Fiendish-Beaver that is a really great point that I hadn't considered. I don't see third party publishers making physical just for the sake of the smallest user base (especially as they will make more money from digital sales anyway). Sony might have killed physical for both playstation and Xbox!

@Tasuki I'll agree the Sharma glazing is very reminiscent of the early Phil glazing but I would suggest you do an iota of research before posting. The game seemingly disappointed critics and gamers alike, this does not come as a surprise.

Big indie fan, so thanks for putting this on my radar. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow evening now.

@Balaam_ I just had a quick browse at his comment history, they are certainly interesting.
Each to their own I guess

@Onlyboxmatters this must be a joke right? The pre-orders have been live for ages, what you're suggesting simply isn't possible.

@abe_hikura hopefully the French government make it so difficult for them that they consider keeping Arkane is the lesser of 2 evils. I genuinely think it's a developer/IP combination that can be successful.
I think the scenario you describe is the most likely, so at the very least I hope someone else will rescue Arkane.
I'm not expecting anymore surprises for the 25th anniversary but I would settle for no more bad news between now and the new year to be honest.

I would personally like to hear that Arkane is safe and that blade is still coming, the silence is making me nervous.

@cronogold there will always be people with disposable income but those without used to buy consoles day 1 as it was somewhat affordable, that isn't the case anymore.
I hope (most) Pokémon cards aren't going for $1000+ like next gen will likely cost!
Scalpers unfortunately have always been a problem and I hope companies make greater efforts to counter them moving forwards.
'I would love to see the statistics of how many people purchase Pokemon cards versus how many actually play the game.' - there are people who just enjoy collecting things and that's fine, I used to buy Warhammer just to build and paint them (I never played the actual tabletop game)

@Rezium the problem with that is, if it goes wrong it could totally tank the Xbox brand which is the best thing that could possibly happen for Playstation.
Very much a 'careful what you wish for' situation.

@Banjo- out of curiosity where is it you feel playstation has flip flopped. I know they've stopped porting to PC (which I still believe was a knee jerk reaction to the helix possibly having PC storefronts) other than live service for obvious reasons. They haven't gone back on that decision. They have definitively killed off physical even giving us a cutoff date. Anti consumer absolutely, flip flopping not so much in my opinion. I feel Xbox and ps are having completely different issues in regards to strategy.

@Millionski the thing is consoles in 2013 were about $300 and there wasn't a cost of living crisis. Its over double that now with a cost living crisis.
I've no doubt that people will still buy consoles for GTA 6, but I expect the sales to be softer than in 2013.

@Millionski I'm happy for the 500k people with that kind of disposable income for a device that does little more than devices half the price. It does have a pretty screen though, so there's that I guess.

$1300 for a portable gaming device, hard no. Does Xbox and Asus know there is a cost of living crisis, somebody should tell them.

@TrollOfWar I think Xbox's biggest problem is timing. They decided to go back to exclusivity just as consoles became prohibitively expensive, they needed to do this at the start of the generation. As you said no 1 game is going to convince people to join an eco system and their biggest IP's like Fallout, Skyrim etc are still years out (I don't expect to see either of these before 2030) and that's even if they decide to make those exclusive.
Satya doesn't strike me as the most patient person (even less so I imagine after Phil spent 10's of billions to not move the needle).
I know a lot of people on here love to quote Asha to back up their arguements but I still think the most honest thing she has said is 'the plan is the plan until it isn't the plan' (which basically gives her an out on all other statements).
I don't envy her and I think she is doing an admirable job but I feel the odds are heavily stacked against her.
Here's hoping I'm wrong and we see Xbox back to being truly competitive.

Tough question and the first 3 games to pop in my head were all recent releases (Galactic Racer, well dweller and Onimusha), so almost certainly recency bias.
I've got to go for Galactic Racer. I'm having a blast, haven't had a sense of speed like this in an arcade racer for a while.

@Banjo- I think we're getting sidetracked, the main point is I looked at the concurrents on steam (both daily and all time) and were surprised they weren't higher. Sales figures wasn't the point I was trying to make as I'm aware it's guesswork.
Not knocking the game, just expected higher engagement on steam

@Banjo- oh, I know that it sold better on xbox, I think the article itself says 'up to 75%'. When I checked the steam charts I was quite surprised E-day didn't have higher totals.
Like I said though that may well go up over the weekend as it's now available to everyone.
I'm not drawing any particular conclusions from it and having a steady base is definitely better than a high peak that drops off rapidly.
Edit: that 75% was revenue, paints the same picture though

@Banjo- I agree with some of what you said but I actually thought the steam concurrents were a cause for concern. A brand new flagship title, that offers both single and multiplayer and reviewed really well peaking at 31500 and currently 11300 is not great (I mean it's below Forza horizon 5 at the moment).
Maybe it'll get a new peak this weekend but I would expect more from a flagship title.

Mr Piscatella isn't wrong but he's not adding to the conversation or enlightening people, he's just complaining about the conversation that does exist.
Paying $23 for a $70 game is the kind of discount you would normally have to wait years for. I also think the people who are willing to pay $30 for 5 days early access are the same people who would pay $70 at launch.
All of this is moot though because unless Gears E-Day is wildly successful Microsoft won't share sales data anyway. I just hope it is at least successful enough for the Coalition to retain most of its team.

@ZombiesEveryWhere absolutely, it's more about showing the power of the brand for a next gen launch, I can see the cross gen being 5 years+ because of the cost of next gen hardware.
It would be real shame to build all this recent goodwill only to have a software drought afterwards.
I enjoy the developer directs too, it's a well balanced format and hopefully they've got some new stuff to show us.

I'm not bothered by either of these series but I expect they will sell well.
My only concern for Xbox first party is how many exclusive games they will have for next gen launch (assuming it is the oft touted November '27). They've had such a glut of games come out in the last 2 years, I am expecting a bit of a drought particularly as they have fewer studios now.

I feel bad for Devs working on cross gen games now, they might have to optimise for 10+ consoles. PS5/6, PS handheld (that's supposedly in the works), Xbox Series X/S, a minimum of 2 Xbox next gen, Switch 2, Pc and the multiple other handhelds out there. Sounds exhausting, hopefully a lot of the architecture is similar enough to not be too big a hassle (I haven't a clue to be honest).
I do wonder if parity clauses will be a thing next gen.

@fatpunkslim @Sol4ris you're right, starfield got way more stick than it deserved but 2 wrongs don't make a right. I get irritated when wolverine keeps being brought up by people who claim to not be fanboys but whose comments read as that of fanboys. I say either own it or be better.
Fatpunk also felt the need to say I was defending playstation too much and upon a reread I have no idea how he has come to that conclusion. I was simply pointing out that Shawn almost certainly has a better idea of how to run a platform than you or I and that gamepass has had it's issues.
All the biggest publishers are multi platform as that is the best way to run a publisher (square enix found out the hard way). Nintendo and PlayStation are a closed ecosystem because that's the best way to run a platform.
Xbox can try to have it's cake and eat it (it's certainly got the money and IP) but it is an incredibly difficult balancing act in my opinion.
I just think certain people's reaction to a relatively innocuous interview has been over the top and unreasonable, but that again is just my opinion.

@fatpunkslim I think Shawn is just giving commentary on something he knows much more about than you or I (he doesn't have to be a shill or fanboy to do that). You say he's wrong about Gamepass but gamepass has had constant changes including the removal of day 1 for COD and Satya has said himself that Xbox has never been profitable so there is at least some truth to Shawn's musings. If Gamepass had been perfectly healthy and viable we wouldn't have seen these changes and price increases.
He also isn't wrong about the difficulties of being both a successful publisher and a successful platform. If Xbox made all future games exclusive (including Bethesda/Blizzard/Activision) then they would struggle to turn a profit on all those games. It could potentially turn lots of customers towards investing in an Xbox but consoles aren't £300 anymore and there is a cost of living crisis so that isn't going to happen either.
If they have no exclusives then you potentially kill the platform.
Playstation has never had any platform issues (consoles have always sold pretty well) but their publishing has been up and down (like any publisher) and yes they are going through a relative rough patch.
This need to bring up wolverine at any opportunity is so weird (it's almost being used as a life raft for Xbox fanboys), if a 3rd party dev made a 77 scoring Wolverine game nobody would care but because it's a playstation first party it's a disaster. Cut insomniac some slack, they've produced so many top tier games and they've had a minor stumble.
This whole interview is fairly innocuous and you've reacted to it in a really defensive manner. I'm Shawn has plenty of money and there isn't anything nefarious going on. Chill out bud

@Balaam_ the campaign at least is exclusively roguelite as far as I'm aware.

I have been waiting for a game like this since Burnout 3/4 and I'm so glad they didn't go the open world route (not all games/genres need open world).
I rarely buy games day 1 but this is an absolute must buy for me (and I don't even care about star wars particularly).

@Fiendish-Beaver I would probably put Fable at #1 as I feel my wife will really enjoy it too (the comedy seems on point so far), Project Windless at #2, it looks like a fantasy musou game with an interesting lead character (bonkers in all the right ways) and Eternal Life of Goldman at #3, the art style is amazing and the story intriguing (loved the demo).
Galactic Racer would have made the list but it comes out very soon so I'm not really 'anticipating' anymore and the Okami sequel but we know next to nothing so I'm keeping my hype in check for the time being.
I see you're a big sci fi fan given your other 2 choices.

It's in my top 3 most anticipated games and I really hope it sticks the landing. Liked everything I've seen so far!

I don't know why they even ask questions like this. She can obviously only give 1 answer, if there is any hesitancy or doubt in her statement then that can massively impact the value of the brand.
Short term reassurances in an ever changing landscape.

@RTGX I can't argue with that, humility is in desperately short supply these days

@RTGX I put it down more to trolling and/or having a blinkered view of things (I'm right, you're wrong attitude). I've not viewed it as past physical owners living with regret and lashing out (that would seem very bizarre when they can go back to physical whenever they wanted).
I guess that's where we differ. I wouldn't say it's a matter of genius, more a matter of nuance.

@RTGX Aren't you just guessing then, that they have regrets (perhaps borne of your own bias)?
I agree zealotry is always bad regardless of which side they fall on.
I'm certainly not trying to have a go at you, I know people with large physical media collections and they wouldn't have it any other way.

@RTGX there are pros and cons to both physical and digital and people shouldn't be lambasted for going either direction.
Disc rot is one of the more flimsy arguements (particularly if you're someone who takes care of your physical media). For me going all digital was a matter of clearing the clutter.
I have never met someone who has regretted going all digital, so I'd say it's just a matter of personal choice as opposed to 'poor decision' (a phrase that makes you sound like the digital zealots you are complaining about).

Dynasty warriors 3, Star wars: Galactic Racer and Castlevania: Belmont's Curse for me (assuming they review relatively well).
Another stacked month.

So the review embargo is the same time as the early access. I had hoped it would be before, to me it shows confidence in the game and is a good way of getting some extra pre-orders if it reviews well.
Oh well, the previews have looked solid so I'm certainly not getting red flags either.

@fatpunkslim I think we're getting somewhere near being on the same page now (though I would prefer he told us what records rather than just records, that's just me though being a cynic).
From the bit of research I've tried to do, it seems that playstation has a higher attach rate for single player games and Xbox has a higher attach rate for multiplayer games (Helldivers 2 was often cited as an example). Unfortunately most of this leads back to Reddit which I always take with an enormous dose of skepticism.
I do apologise for comment #39 as I think it comes across as a bit immature on my part and it would have better for me to address your comment directly with you.

@fatpunkslim that's exactly the problem we will never know if the sales tally with console market share because MS won't give us the numbers. Lots of people quote the 30m-40million series consoles sold but that is a huge variance and makes extrapolating data nigh on impossible.
I'm not here to defend Tom Warren but unless Matthew Ball has playstations pre order numbers then he only has half the picture. As others have pointed out Xbox can be breaking records and playstation having skewed pre-orders (even taking into account console market share) can both be true.
Anyone pretending to have the full picture are full of it as the people with the definitive data simply aren't sharing that data (especially with their competitors)
As for the 60/40 from your original post it would read better as 'occasionally' rather than 'often' as that sounds closer to what you meant (if I remember correctly you have said in the past that English is not your first language so I'm just trying to help here).

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I always enjoy his insistence on pulling 'statistics' out of thin air to fit his own narrative. The latest being the 60/40 split on game sales when we all know Xbox doesn't publish those numbers.
I even for the hell of it googled 'which console gets more software sales proportionate to its user base' (I have a lot of free time atm) and the AI suggested the opposite. Now I am aware AI answers aren't perfect but at the very least they cite their sources.
It's frustrating because he does from time to time come out with interesting points.

So he is saying their share of pre-orders is matching their share of the console market, wouldn't that mean he has access to playstations pre-order data? Is it possible for him to have that data? If not, surely it's just guesswork.

@HonestHick I hope you're right (I do believe your version of things makes more sense).
I just find the industry so hard to predict and Satya can always upend things on a whim (that man could not care less about gamers in my opinion). I am also cautiously optimistic about Asha as there was a lot of optimism around Phil at first as well and that didn't turn out as people expected.
I for one want a return to the 360 days when Sony had proper competition, it can only be a good thing for us as gamers.
I personally don't mind the more negative points of view (as long as they are earnest) as an echo chamber of positivity would be boring to me and I like a good back and forth.

I'm sure the game will make a massive amount of bank for both platforms and I'm already dreading the amount of gta6 articles we are gonna get after it releases.
'breaking records' couldn't be more vague if he tried though (not that I take everything the verge says at face value either)

@HonestHick @Fiendish-Beaver it was interesting to read your very different takes and it seems to me you have presented people with a best/worst case scenario. Ultimately these are just speculations though and we must remember to not conflate that with facts (I know you are both better than that).
Perhaps Asha has made these changes with a future sell off in mind, perhaps these changes will help her achieve Satya's profit margins and they will be able to build up again in a healthier way.
We also have no idea what the next franchise entry will be, maybe it will be 6, maybe a sequel to e-day, maybe a new tactics entry, maybe a purely live service game.
All I do know for a fact is that you both love Gears and I hope the release of E-day is a day that you can celebrate and revel in a new entry.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner no doubt, which is why a united front against this is important lest we become boiled frogs. Though as a cynic I honestly see it as an inevitability. Sony have already openly admitted in wanting to monetise it's existing user base as much as possible.

I see people suggesting that this will purely be for a free tier of gamepass but for me that doesn't stop it being a way of Microsoft trying to normalise ads in console gaming.
I do accept that my position might be a selfish one as with the cost of living crisis this may prove a lifeline for those struggling to afford this hobby.

Oof, I really don't want console gaming to become mobile gaming.
As the article states though, patents are filed all the time and many never come to pass.
I'm sure nobody will overreact to this news though 😄

@Mr-Cage No arguments here that these sister sites are rife with hypocrisy, echo chambers, straw men, goalpost moving nonsense. I'll also admit I used to bite and exacerbate things but I like to think I have grown since then.
As you say there are some gooduns' in these comment sections such as HonestHick (though I hope all this praise doesn't go to his head 😂) it's all about learning who you can have a balanced, adult discussion with.
I appreciate that you have the self awareness that some of your comments can come across as cold which is more than a lot of people can manage these days.

@Mr-Cage I think most people accept the industry is volatile at the moment and job losses are to be expected but in my view people saw your comments as unnecessarily sticking the boot in which they considered to be distasteful.
I'm not saying I share that view, it's just how I interpreted the discourse as it unfolded. People definitely got far too emotional over it though, as is the nature of so much internet discourse unfortunately.
Again, this is not an attack on yourself or your opinions just offering my take on things.

@RTGX @Gabrie my comparison was more of a 'the juice wasn't worth the squeeze'. Given the time/budget for both they needed to produce something more substantial.
Just my opinion though and if we all had the same opinion life would be terribly dull, so I appreciate both of yours

@RTGX Hellblade was essentially Xboxs version of The Order 1886. Looks stunning, lacking in content