@BAMozzy co-op experiences still need balance, especially once they start doing leader boards and all that (a form of indirect PvP).
Even without leader boards, players always create their own meta-PvP, almost always some sort of speed runs or DPS metrics. If only a handful of builds can be extremely superior to all others, by 2x margins or more, players slowly are demanded to roll specific builds.
Sometimes you can just buff, but that's really not that much of an option when we are talking about 4 paths out of potential hundreds being superior by large orders of magnitude.
I am not playing D4 and don't know what their current balance situation is, but balancing multiplayer games, even PvP ones, is necessary to sustain a healthy and varied environment where build choices matter, else you might as well just offer 5 classes with no variations or customization and let it be there. This is why making RPGs is not easy.
Also, a huge aspect of Diablo-like games and the seasonal content is that you re-roll characters on every season, starting from scratch. Things change enough every season, be it due to buffs, nerfs, or simply new gear that entirely flips things on its heads, that things will always play differently on the new content. Expecting characters to play the same season after season is not a realistic expectation on any ongoing multiplayer RPG.
I love how many that claim they love to support devs and pay for their games twisted their pantries in a bunch over the game costing the same amount it costs on Xbox and Steam.
Like, if this is a game you think you won’t enjoy, that would hold true at any price. If you would enjoy it, then “support the devs” and pay the price?
@Moonglow My point is that the Xbox Live brand might die, and renamed Battle.net.
PC "Xbox" will likely integrate. Few people "like" the Xbox and GamePass apps, but Battle.net seems to be highly liked, at least compared to Xbox Live in the PC world.
Would not be shocked if in a few years its called Xbox Battle.net.
@Moonglow given recent trends, I think it’s Xbox live that has its days numbered. Would not be shocked if they plan to merge/turn both systems into simply “Battle.net”
@BBB that “cancelation” of PvE was poorly communicated. They didn’t cancel it at all, it’s still coming. They only canceled the talent tree progression system every character was going to get. The way it was communicated, everyone just thought every aspect of it was canceled.
Although I know Steam tends to indeed drive installs, I don’t understand why. Games like this one will still require installing Battle.net, so why insist on it being listed on steam?
Interesting thought: It's very likely that, should the deal not close by October, ABK will start its marketing cycle for MW3 under its current terms regardless what MS and Sony agreed.
This would likely mean locking the game at a 20%/80% rev share, and no Game Pass until fall 2024, this would actually be a win situation for MS, since they would get more money, and at least for one more year GP wont be "cannibalizing sales", helping MS replenish its saving accounts.
Wish it was real. I played the Master Chief Collection and the first two games looked fantastic. Played still with that clunkyness that is natural to a classic game, but looked fantastic. Launching Halo 3 was very... jarring.
So much for the CMA being ‘pathetic’ and ‘little England’ and ‘bending the knee’ and all the other repetitive cut & paste nonsense I’ve read in 100 article comments sections.
Both MS and the CMA wanted to just expedite the new review and have it done to close yesterday (the 18th) but it was now the judge that was not convince of CMA's sincerity. For one, he didn't seem to buy the FTC case (that should not influence the CMA) was not part of their determination given how the CMA announced their change of heart basically an hour after the FTC lost their case.
The CMA main concern during the whole thing was also fear of the judge crushing the CMA's previous decision in a way that would leave, on the record, that they made a bad call. They wanted to make sure any move by the appeal judge would not keep such a stain on their record.
Now that the appeal ball is rolling, the CMA cant stop it, and are forced to go through some additional hearings before being able to just just let the ABK merger happen. I would still say all the descriptions of "CMA bending the knee" fit very well, so well that even the judge wont let them off that easily.
@Kaloudz I was talking based on the early article that didn’t have any mentions of retaining the yearly $60 bundle discount. I still not crazy about the relative value compared to GP Console, but no longer as concerned.
@Kaloudz Honestly, the entire industry went after MS for the same effective move a couple of years ago. I hope they do again because this is not good value. That Core tier needs a lot of re-evaluating.
Never played the previous entries precisely thinking its always been a MP only game. I don't have any interest i playing this anyways, but sucks for those that enjoyed playing previous entries solo.
Perhaps we will hear of an additional benefit or perk coming our way?
Doubt it. It seems they consider that static 25 title list to be the "additional benefit" of the tier. Well that and Gold Deals, I guess.
I would be a bit more forgiving of this change if all xb game pass tiers added online play, but then its even harder to justify $10 a month and just a few games for just $1 less than the basic GP tier.
The scheme is all over the place and honestly makes everything confusing. Each Xbox tier should be a superset of the previous one, for one.
My take: I think some are complaining for the sake of complaining about losing Games with Gold. The selection has been very poor, and honestly, we get better games added to Game Pass regularly. We don't get to keep them permanently, but how many of those games people are happy about "owning" are on a permanent backlog and never played?
My actual issue here is the pricing. Placing everything in a bullet list to make it easier to compare:
Core: 9.99 - 25 games, online play
PC: 9.99 - full GP PC library
XB: 10.99 - full GP XB library, no online play
Ultimate: 16.99 - full GP PC and XB library, + EA Play games console online play
This is a very non-nonsensical grouping. The value of the Core tier seems to be entirely around online play, and they seem to expect players to just upgrade to Ultimate if they want to play online.
A much more logical tier list, IMO, would be:
All XBox Game Pass tiers unlock online play
Core 6.99: only includes first party games **after a year**, no third party games (similar to EA Play)
XB: 10.99 - full GP XB library
Ultimate: 16.99 - full GP PC and XB library + EA Play games
@J_Mo_Money I say Diablo is 50/50 chance of either being there quickly only for xbox, or taking a while to be added.
All PC games will take a while, since PC Game Pass integration will require some sort of tech hurdles for Battle.net to recognize Game Pass accounts. It's not unlike how it took a while for EA games to be added to Game Pass PC.
There is also a high chance that games like Diablo 4 might be held back until Battle.net is integrated with Game Pass PC before they enter Game Pass Xbox.
@J_Mo_Money PlayStation indeed wanted that, its on the email i linked, but we dont know if Xbox wants that.
Microsoft upper management wanted this deal to make money immediately out of the door, they seem more interested in money than its benefits to Xbox. I could see them not agreeing to the early termination so they can have an excuse to keep the games from Game Pass for 2 more years, and earn more money via a combination of higher profit share and users still needing to buy new entries on Xbox for the next two years.
Very curious if this also means they agreed to terminate early their marketing deal. Under that deal, MS gets higher royalties but cant add new CoD games to Game Pass at least until 2025.
@Kaloudz meh, only saw one dude do that. Then again, I replied with sourcing quick enough. Had I gone out with my day and come back tomorrow, the usual suspects (that I have not blocked yet) would have likely also joined in on it.
@Kaloudz I don't blame them, it was a very very hectic week and this is not the only thing the Push Square staff has had to pay attention to during the week. I'm sure Liam had much more on his plate, and was not able to look at every single bit of info that came up during the hearing.
I seriously hold Liam in high regards.
I on the other hand have been able to ignore most other game news and just look at this stuff during that week (and my day work, but thankfully it was a VERY lite work week.)
If Jim had not been such a baby, they would had managed to secure absolutely all existing IP remained on PS, not just CoD.
We now know that Phill actually offered that for all IP that had shipped on PS4, meaning also all future entries of games like Crash and Spyro. But no, Jimmy wanted everything, even Bethesda games, to sign a deal. Now, they only end up getting CoD.
Edit:
I was asked for source on this offer in Push Square, so figured I'd post it here too:
I continue to stand behind the written agreement I sent you on January 31, 2022 with my signature memorializing our commitment to Sony. The agreement would keep all existing Activation console titles on Sony, including future versions in the Call of Duty franchise or any other current Activation franchise on Sony, through December 31, 2027. That includes content and feature parity, as well as making it clear that we would not feature any timed-exclusive releases of such content on Xbox consoles.
Regarding Bethesda, I was making a more general point during our discussion that the equal treatment of Bethesda games would be logical subject for the parties to discuss because it involves some of the same concerns as the availability and/or unequal treatment of Activision games. We would welcome discussing this subject as part of an agreement that advances the two fundamental principles discussed above.
@Total_Weirdo you should be ashamed of yourself. Wanting a better deal in games for yourself does not, and should never, be a priority over PlayStation gamers being able to make fun of Xbox having no games!
I dare bet this is not a topic that will be covered on PlayStation focused sites, despite it being specific about how PS players are getting a better game.
New CoD games might not show up until 2025, but we are likely going to start seeing older ones show up. Those games still sell, so their addition is not insignificant.
@DoctorJohnDisco it’s explained in the article. Just as when you record a clip, this report will include the last 60s of gameplay and include voice chat. It’s not an invasion of privacy, that privacy is lost the second you decide to speak to another party.
Reporting anything just because they “didn’t like it” will be unlikely to result in action taken against you, just time wasted by mods watching gameplay clips.
If someone is worried that they do use inappropriate insults and slurs, well, then they should indeed be worried about listeners not liking what they said.
Even if the acquisition closed tomorrow, chances are it would take between 3 and 4 months for ABK games to start being added into GP, and they would not all be added at once. We saw the same with ZeniMax, not all games got added overnight, nor at once.
I'm in no rush to play this, my backlog is huge, but anyone that still is holding up thinking it will make it into GP soon, should just buy it unless they are OK waiting potentially until late fall.
Not really. I have taken days off where I end up only playing video games, but that’s never been the reason. Like, if Christmas is on a Thursday, I might take Friday off and make it a longer weekend, spend that time just relaxing and mostly just video gaming.
@somnambulance As far as I can tell, Moon Studios and Xbox are still in good terms. The goal was not acquisition, but being able to work together in the future, even if not on an exclusive basis.
@somnambulance rumor I heard before was that Ori came to the Switch because the development studio really wanted it to come to the switch and MS allowed them because they wanted to stay in friendly therms.
@NEStalgia they withed PS5 kits pre-anouncement from Mojang, so I would not be shocked if they withed pros from them too.
I also think Sony was paranoid, its not uncommon in the industry to make contracts that forbid the sharing of information on stuff like this. I mentioned it before but Samsung and Apple had a similar relationship for many many years. These days Apple uses TSMC, though.
Also, Sony (in court) claimed their biggest concern was not the specs, but "innovations" like all the new Dual Sense (battery munching) features.
Edit: on the cloud front, i dont think it maters much. As it stands, I think those racks only render 1080p, or at least that's what they will stream out. They are not as high fidelity as playing on an actual Xbox, regardless how good your internet is.
I own a pair and wish I had an excuse to buy a second pair, not due to this low price but because I want the Starfield edition ones, but I dont.
To be clear: I dont love these because of the audio quality, I am no audiophile (in fact, I am a bit deaf) but the killer feature on these things is audio-mixing. You just wont find a good quality set of headphones that will be able to connect to your Xbox and your phone at the same time.
If like me, you love listening to a podcast while playing some big open world adventure, grinding turn based fights on an RPG, or playing some other non-narrative games, then these are a steal at $100, even more so at $50.
The only con is they only work with xbox + one additional bluetooth source. If you are a multi-console owner, you would need a different (and more expensive) solution from some other manufacturers.
Have not read the entire comment section, but did read enough to see a lot of over-reaching. Microsoft expecting new PS5 models is just that, an expectation. Microsoft does not know there will be two models, but we all have heard enough rumors and MS hears the same.
At the same time, I see some that still believe the last statements from Phil mean there wont be a mid gen "pro" xbox model, and that also is running with an assumption based on a very narrow statement. Phil specifically said they didnt feel consumers or developers needed a Pro xbox, but he never said its not happening. He was very careful at navigating that question, leaving room for it to exist without it turning out to be a lie.
If I was a gambling person, I would put money that there is internal research being done on a mid-gen Xbox pro refresh. Even if they don't decide to launch it, that thing is very likely under development and ready to be revealed as counter to any PS5 Pro reveal, but not earlier.
@GeeEssEff The Xbox dashboard itself will show you the percentage of users that completed an achievment, and its accessible via public API. Sites like True Achievements will count both, the percentage of users that earned it, and a higher value based on the percentage of Xbox users that register within the site (basically, some achievement hunters, I myself am not registered on that site).
Another point of reference: Pentiment is a game that is considered good by anyone that actually played it, but only:
13.33% of users finished Act 1. 9.48% of users finished Act 2. 7.47% of users finished Act 3 (think this is the end of the game).
Persona 5 Palace 1: 28.58% Palace 2: 20.93% Palace 3: 17.59% Palace 4: 15.68% Palace 5: 13.12% Palace 6: 12.00% Palace 7: 10.91% Palace 8: 7.25% Watched the ending: 8.91% (palace 8 is optional based on how you played the game.)
Note I might have miscounted the achievements, trying to be as spoiler-free as possible. That's the problem with looking this stuff up, achievement names can sometimes by very spoileriffic.
@Reptilio The combat bits were definitively the weakest link. The punch-gun thingy was a bit awkward. At some point I realized i was better off trying to run past dangers than facing them, and that might have been their original intent.
There was one boss fight near the end that I found was actually quite fun, leading me more to think the clunkyness of the combat might in most segments might have been a poor but intentional choice, in an attempt to encourage fear and survival instincts over a desire to kill everything.
Thing is, in some spots you just have to kill some things with those poor tools, or so I felt anyways.
I highly suspect the majority of people who tried it fell off it pretty fast
The majority of players fall of the majority of games, even critically acclaimed ones, rather fast. If 152k players beat the game, that's 152k very satisfied Game Pass subscribers.
Note these are estimates based on exactly 2 million users (number stated "passed" and I doubt they mean exactly 2 million and one players) and achievement data all being entirely synced at the time of this writing (as far as we know, the percentages might be calculated hourly, daily, or weekly.)
These stats are a bit lower than bigger well received games, but don't seem extremely low IMO.
For reference, A Plague Tale: Requiem, a critically acclaimed game:
This sounds very strange. UBisoft, I don’t think, is in the habit of making “remakes”, and this game is recent enough to be OK.
So far UBisoft has mostly done remasters that are practically faithful ports. Given this is just a rumor, would not be surprised if that’s what this ends up turning out to be.
@themightyant My original point, the one I think you first replied to, is that Xbox is in a situation where two things are actively happening:
A) The platform is not big enough to be able to negotiate, or counter-negotiate, exclusivity deals that are considered market-movers. B) The platform being so far back results in many smaller titles skipping the platform because they don't see the benefit of developing niche games for an already too-limited audience. Each one of these might not be a market mover, but in aggregate, their absence becomes very noticeable.
@themightyant There are plenty of developers that skip platforms without the need of a deal, and this is [likely] due to a combination of smaller install base and perception of "what xbox players like". Many niche games, especially ones that come from Japan, tend to skip because they feel the install base is not large enough to make the "niche of the minority" not worth to target, and that in turn creates perceptions in the market.
Of the top of my head, Capcom has skipped Xbox at least two low-investment games: The Mega Man Battle Network collection and the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. I would make an argument over Square Enix games many claim are not exclusive too, but some argue there is more going on there.
The judge practically already said there is no “imminent or irreparable damages” when she told the FTC that not only did MS agree on keeping the game on PlayStation, but also there is already a deal with Sony for this years CoD so it’s impossible for MS to do anything right now to hurt Sony or the industry.
Keep in mind the only reason they can provide a temporary injunction is if the FTC can prove “imminent and irreparable damages”.
This does not mean the news are over, MS gets to close the deal, but should FTC manage to prove a case (all the way to the Supreme Court, incredibly unlikely) they can force MS to sell or spin-off ABK back into independence, even if it’s at a loss.
Comments 3,868
Re: Blizzard Addresses Fan Complaints About Controversial Changes To Diablo 4
@BAMozzy co-op experiences still need balance, especially once they start doing leader boards and all that (a form of indirect PvP).
Even without leader boards, players always create their own meta-PvP, almost always some sort of speed runs or DPS metrics. If only a handful of builds can be extremely superior to all others, by 2x margins or more, players slowly are demanded to roll specific builds.
Sometimes you can just buff, but that's really not that much of an option when we are talking about 4 paths out of potential hundreds being superior by large orders of magnitude.
I am not playing D4 and don't know what their current balance situation is, but balancing multiplayer games, even PvP ones, is necessary to sustain a healthy and varied environment where build choices matter, else you might as well just offer 5 classes with no variations or customization and let it be there. This is why making RPGs is not easy.
Also, a huge aspect of Diablo-like games and the seasonal content is that you re-roll characters on every season, starting from scratch. Things change enough every season, be it due to buffs, nerfs, or simply new gear that entirely flips things on its heads, that things will always play differently on the new content. Expecting characters to play the same season after season is not a realistic expectation on any ongoing multiplayer RPG.
Re: High On Life No Longer Xbox Exclusive As 'High On Knife' DLC Nears Release
I love how many that claim they love to support devs and pay for their games twisted their pantries in a bunch over the game costing the same amount it costs on Xbox and Steam.
Like, if this is a game you think you won’t enjoy, that would hold true at any price. If you would enjoy it, then “support the devs” and pay the price?
Re: Xbox's ActiBlizz Deal Is 'Good News' For Multiple Reasons, Explains Ubisoft CEO
This sounds like they are looking for a buyer, since its mostly focused on the sell value of IPs, plus the value of their investment on mobile.
Not shocking given all the rumors a few months back about them wanting to sell, but no one wanting to buy.
Who knows, maybe sooner or later EA and UBisoft end up merging. I still dont see MS buying Ubisoft, but who knows.
Re: Blizzard Games Announced For Steam Ahead Of Xbox Acquisition
@Moonglow My point is that the Xbox Live brand might die, and renamed Battle.net.
PC "Xbox" will likely integrate. Few people "like" the Xbox and GamePass apps, but Battle.net seems to be highly liked, at least compared to Xbox Live in the PC world.
Would not be shocked if in a few years its called Xbox Battle.net.
Re: Blizzard Games Announced For Steam Ahead Of Xbox Acquisition
@Moonglow given recent trends, I think it’s Xbox live that has its days numbered. Would not be shocked if they plan to merge/turn both systems into simply “Battle.net”
Re: Blizzard Games Announced For Steam Ahead Of Xbox Acquisition
@BBB that “cancelation” of PvE was poorly communicated. They didn’t cancel it at all, it’s still coming. They only canceled the talent tree progression system every character was going to get. The way it was communicated, everyone just thought every aspect of it was canceled.
Re: Blizzard Games Announced For Steam Ahead Of Xbox Acquisition
Although I know Steam tends to indeed drive installs, I don’t understand why. Games like this one will still require installing Battle.net, so why insist on it being listed on steam?
Re: Xbox Boss: We Could Close ActiBlizz Deal In US, But We're Waiting On UK
Interesting thought: It's very likely that, should the deal not close by October, ABK will start its marketing cycle for MW3 under its current terms regardless what MS and Sony agreed.
This would likely mean locking the game at a 20%/80% rev share, and no Game Pass until fall 2024, this would actually be a win situation for MS, since they would get more money, and at least for one more year GP wont be "cannibalizing sales", helping MS replenish its saving accounts.
Re: Random: Fake 'Halo 3 Remastered' Ads Appear On Times Square Billboard
Wish it was real. I played the Master Chief Collection and the first two games looked fantastic. Played still with that clunkyness that is natural to a classic game, but looked fantastic. Launching Halo 3 was very... jarring.
Re: Xbox Extends Activision Blizzard Takeover Deadline To October
@x3King84
Both MS and the CMA wanted to just expedite the new review and have it done to close yesterday (the 18th) but it was now the judge that was not convince of CMA's sincerity. For one, he didn't seem to buy the FTC case (that should not influence the CMA) was not part of their determination given how the CMA announced their change of heart basically an hour after the FTC lost their case.
The CMA main concern during the whole thing was also fear of the judge crushing the CMA's previous decision in a way that would leave, on the record, that they made a bad call. They wanted to make sure any move by the appeal judge would not keep such a stain on their record.
Now that the appeal ball is rolling, the CMA cant stop it, and are forced to go through some additional hearings before being able to just just let the ABK merger happen. I would still say all the descriptions of "CMA bending the knee" fit very well, so well that even the judge wont let them off that easily.
Re: Xbox Extends Activision Blizzard Takeover Deadline To October
Surprised they didn't just close, but I guess they see a path to have the CMA simply agree and save themselves some future headaches.
Re: Poll: Are You Buying The 'Early Access Upgrade' For Starfield?
I purchased the PC Constellation edition, but I don’t expect it to arrive in time, to be honest.
Even if it arrived in time I am not sure I’ll have the time to play it, not even actually on day one.
Re: Xbox 'Game Pass Core' Reportedly Replacing Xbox Live Gold This September
@Kaloudz I was talking based on the early article that didn’t have any mentions of retaining the yearly $60 bundle discount. I still not crazy about the relative value compared to GP Console, but no longer as concerned.
Re: Xbox's New Game Pass Tiers Are Causing Confusion Around Online Multiplayer
Saw someone say this somewhere else: they should just get rid of Game Pass Console. Grandfather existing accounts but stop offering it.
Re: Microsoft Confirms Xbox Live Gold Is Being Replaced This September
OK, there are yearly options, that changes my opinion on the whole deal.
Re: Xbox 'Game Pass Core' Reportedly Replacing Xbox Live Gold This September
@Kaloudz Honestly, the entire industry went after MS for the same effective move a couple of years ago. I hope they do again because this is not good value. That Core tier needs a lot of re-evaluating.
Re: Payday 3 Dev Says 'We Need You To Be Online' For Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Title
Never played the previous entries precisely thinking its always been a MP only game. I don't have any interest i playing this anyways, but sucks for those that enjoyed playing previous entries solo.
Re: Xbox 'Game Pass Core' Reportedly Replacing Xbox Live Gold This September
@Kaloudz
Doubt it. It seems they consider that static 25 title list to be the "additional benefit" of the tier. Well that and Gold Deals, I guess.
I would be a bit more forgiving of this change if all xb game pass tiers added online play, but then its even harder to justify $10 a month and just a few games for just $1 less than the basic GP tier.
The scheme is all over the place and honestly makes everything confusing. Each Xbox tier should be a superset of the previous one, for one.
Re: Xbox 'Game Pass Core' Reportedly Replacing Xbox Live Gold This September
My take: I think some are complaining for the sake of complaining about losing Games with Gold. The selection has been very poor, and honestly, we get better games added to Game Pass regularly. We don't get to keep them permanently, but how many of those games people are happy about "owning" are on a permanent backlog and never played?
My actual issue here is the pricing. Placing everything in a bullet list to make it easier to compare:
This is a very non-nonsensical grouping. The value of the Core tier seems to be entirely around online play, and they seem to expect players to just upgrade to Ultimate if they want to play online.
A much more logical tier list, IMO, would be:
Re: Microsoft & Sony Sign Binding Agreement To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation
@J_Mo_Money I say Diablo is 50/50 chance of either being there quickly only for xbox, or taking a while to be added.
All PC games will take a while, since PC Game Pass integration will require some sort of tech hurdles for Battle.net to recognize Game Pass accounts. It's not unlike how it took a while for EA games to be added to Game Pass PC.
There is also a high chance that games like Diablo 4 might be held back until Battle.net is integrated with Game Pass PC before they enter Game Pass Xbox.
Re: Microsoft & Sony Sign Binding Agreement To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation
@J_Mo_Money PlayStation indeed wanted that, its on the email i linked, but we dont know if Xbox wants that.
Microsoft upper management wanted this deal to make money immediately out of the door, they seem more interested in money than its benefits to Xbox. I could see them not agreeing to the early termination so they can have an excuse to keep the games from Game Pass for 2 more years, and earn more money via a combination of higher profit share and users still needing to buy new entries on Xbox for the next two years.
Re: Microsoft & Sony Sign Binding Agreement To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation
Very curious if this also means they agreed to terminate early their marketing deal. Under that deal, MS gets higher royalties but cant add new CoD games to Game Pass at least until 2025.
Re: Microsoft & Sony Sign Binding Agreement To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation
@Kaloudz meh, only saw one dude do that. Then again, I replied with sourcing quick enough. Had I gone out with my day and come back tomorrow, the usual suspects (that I have not blocked yet) would have likely also joined in on it.
Re: Microsoft & Sony Sign Binding Agreement To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation
@Kaloudz I don't blame them, it was a very very hectic week and this is not the only thing the Push Square staff has had to pay attention to during the week. I'm sure Liam had much more on his plate, and was not able to look at every single bit of info that came up during the hearing.
I seriously hold Liam in high regards.
I on the other hand have been able to ignore most other game news and just look at this stuff during that week (and my day work, but thankfully it was a VERY lite work week.)
Re: Microsoft & Sony Sign Binding Agreement To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation
If Jim had not been such a baby, they would had managed to secure absolutely all existing IP remained on PS, not just CoD.
We now know that Phill actually offered that for all IP that had shipped on PS4, meaning also all future entries of games like Crash and Spyro. But no, Jimmy wanted everything, even Bethesda games, to sign a deal. Now, they only end up getting CoD.
Edit:
I was asked for source on this offer in Push Square, so figured I'd post it here too:
Link
Phil wrote:
Jim wrote:
Re: Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal Officially Approved In Turkey Amidst Ongoing FTC Battle
@Total_Weirdo you should be ashamed of yourself. Wanting a better deal in games for yourself does not, and should never, be a priority over PlayStation gamers being able to make fun of Xbox having no games!
Re: UK CMA Delays Decision On Xbox ActiBlizz Deal Until August
They will close regardless what the CMA timeline is, as long as the 9th circuit does not extend the temporary block in the US.
Re: Everspace 2 Is 'Better' On All Platforms Because Of Xbox Game Pass, Says Dev
@Jaxx420 it would be covered if the headline was “we felt we lost sales”, though. You know that’s true.
Re: Everspace 2 Is 'Better' On All Platforms Because Of Xbox Game Pass, Says Dev
I dare bet this is not a topic that will be covered on PlayStation focused sites, despite it being specific about how PS players are getting a better game.
Re: FTC Appeals Court's Ruling Permitting Microsoft's Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard
@mousieone exactly this.
I see MS and ABK working overtime and closing this deal over the weekend, if not the second the current temporary stay expires.
Re: Xbox's ActiBlizz Deal Seems Closer, But Some Game Pass Arrivals Could Be Delayed
New CoD games might not show up until 2025, but we are likely going to start seeing older ones show up. Those games still sell, so their addition is not insignificant.
Re: New Xbox Feature Will Allow You To Report Inappropriate Voice Chats
@DoctorJohnDisco it’s explained in the article. Just as when you record a clip, this report will include the last 60s of gameplay and include voice chat. It’s not an invasion of privacy, that privacy is lost the second you decide to speak to another party.
Reporting anything just because they “didn’t like it” will be unlikely to result in action taken against you, just time wasted by mods watching gameplay clips.
If someone is worried that they do use inappropriate insults and slurs, well, then they should indeed be worried about listeners not liking what they said.
Re: Xbox Wins FTC Court Case As Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction
@Snake_V5
Well... it seems the CMA changed their mind, so it made a difference.
Re: Microsoft And UK CMA Agree To Pause Legal Battle Over Activision Blizzard Deal
Finally! This can finally be over with!!!
Re: Blizzard Reiterates That Diablo 4 Isn't Coming To Xbox Game Pass For Now
Even if the acquisition closed tomorrow, chances are it would take between 3 and 4 months for ABK games to start being added into GP, and they would not all be added at once. We saw the same with ZeniMax, not all games got added overnight, nor at once.
I'm in no rush to play this, my backlog is huge, but anyone that still is holding up thinking it will make it into GP soon, should just buy it unless they are OK waiting potentially until late fall.
Re: Talking Point: Have You Ever Taken A 'Day Off' For Something Xbox Related?
Not really. I have taken days off where I end up only playing video games, but that’s never been the reason. Like, if Christmas is on a Thursday, I might take Friday off and make it a longer weekend, spend that time just relaxing and mostly just video gaming.
Re: Hi-Fi Rush Team Was 'Undecided' On Platforms Prior To Xbox's Acquisition Of Bethesda
@somnambulance As far as I can tell, Moon Studios and Xbox are still in good terms. The goal was not acquisition, but being able to work together in the future, even if not on an exclusive basis.
Re: Hi-Fi Rush Team Was 'Undecided' On Platforms Prior To Xbox's Acquisition Of Bethesda
@somnambulance rumor I heard before was that Ori came to the Switch because the development studio really wanted it to come to the switch and MS allowed them because they wanted to stay in friendly therms.
Not sure how much truth there is to that.
Re: Microsoft Is Expecting Two New PS5 Models In The 'Near Future'
@NEStalgia they withed PS5 kits pre-anouncement from Mojang, so I would not be shocked if they withed pros from them too.
I also think Sony was paranoid, its not uncommon in the industry to make contracts that forbid the sharing of information on stuff like this. I mentioned it before but Samsung and Apple had a similar relationship for many many years. These days Apple uses TSMC, though.
Also, Sony (in court) claimed their biggest concern was not the specs, but "innovations" like all the new Dual Sense (battery munching) features.
Edit: on the cloud front, i dont think it maters much. As it stands, I think those racks only render 1080p, or at least that's what they will stream out. They are not as high fidelity as playing on an actual Xbox, regardless how good your internet is.
Re: Xbox Wireless Headset Receives Massive 50% Discount At Walmart
I own a pair and wish I had an excuse to buy a second pair, not due to this low price but because I want the Starfield edition ones, but I dont.
To be clear: I dont love these because of the audio quality, I am no audiophile (in fact, I am a bit deaf) but the killer feature on these things is audio-mixing. You just wont find a good quality set of headphones that will be able to connect to your Xbox and your phone at the same time.
If like me, you love listening to a podcast while playing some big open world adventure, grinding turn based fights on an RPG, or playing some other non-narrative games, then these are a steal at $100, even more so at $50.
The only con is they only work with xbox + one additional bluetooth source. If you are a multi-console owner, you would need a different (and more expensive) solution from some other manufacturers.
Re: Microsoft Is Expecting Two New PS5 Models In The 'Near Future'
Have not read the entire comment section, but did read enough to see a lot of over-reaching. Microsoft expecting new PS5 models is just that, an expectation. Microsoft does not know there will be two models, but we all have heard enough rumors and MS hears the same.
At the same time, I see some that still believe the last statements from Phil mean there wont be a mid gen "pro" xbox model, and that also is running with an assumption based on a very narrow statement. Phil specifically said they didnt feel consumers or developers needed a Pro xbox, but he never said its not happening. He was very careful at navigating that question, leaving room for it to exist without it turning out to be a lie.
If I was a gambling person, I would put money that there is internal research being done on a mid-gen Xbox pro refresh. Even if they don't decide to launch it, that thing is very likely under development and ready to be revealed as counter to any PS5 Pro reveal, but not earlier.
Re: Gory Game Pass Adventure 'Scorn' Hits 2 Million Players As An Xbox Console Exclusive
@GeeEssEff The Xbox dashboard itself will show you the percentage of users that completed an achievment, and its accessible via public API. Sites like True Achievements will count both, the percentage of users that earned it, and a higher value based on the percentage of Xbox users that register within the site (basically, some achievement hunters, I myself am not registered on that site).
Another point of reference: Pentiment is a game that is considered good by anyone that actually played it, but only:
13.33% of users finished Act 1.
9.48% of users finished Act 2.
7.47% of users finished Act 3 (think this is the end of the game).
Persona 5
Palace 1: 28.58%
Palace 2: 20.93%
Palace 3: 17.59%
Palace 4: 15.68%
Palace 5: 13.12%
Palace 6: 12.00%
Palace 7: 10.91%
Palace 8: 7.25%
Watched the ending: 8.91% (palace 8 is optional based on how you played the game.)
Note I might have miscounted the achievements, trying to be as spoiler-free as possible. That's the problem with looking this stuff up, achievement names can sometimes by very spoileriffic.
Re: Gory Game Pass Adventure 'Scorn' Hits 2 Million Players As An Xbox Console Exclusive
@Reptilio The combat bits were definitively the weakest link. The punch-gun thingy was a bit awkward. At some point I realized i was better off trying to run past dangers than facing them, and that might have been their original intent.
There was one boss fight near the end that I found was actually quite fun, leading me more to think the clunkyness of the combat might in most segments might have been a poor but intentional choice, in an attempt to encourage fear and survival instincts over a desire to kill everything.
Thing is, in some spots you just have to kill some things with those poor tools, or so I felt anyways.
Re: Gory Game Pass Adventure 'Scorn' Hits 2 Million Players As An Xbox Console Exclusive
@Titntin
The majority of players fall of the majority of games, even critically acclaimed ones, rather fast. If 152k players beat the game, that's 152k very satisfied Game Pass subscribers.
Re: Gory Game Pass Adventure 'Scorn' Hits 2 Million Players As An Xbox Console Exclusive
@GeeEssEff
556,800 earned 1st un-missable achievement (27.84%)
556,800 earned 2nd un-missable achievement (27.84%)
439,600 earned 3rd un-missable achievement (21.98%)
214,600 earned 4th un-missable achievement (10.73%)
186,800 earned 5th un-missable achievement (9.34%)
162,000 earned 6th un-missable achievement (8.1%)
152,800 earned 7th un-missable achievement (7.64%)
152,600 earned 8th un-missable achievement (7.63%)
152,600 earned 9th un-missable achievement (7.63%)
152,000 earned final un-missable achievement (7.6%)
Note these are estimates based on exactly 2 million users (number stated "passed" and I doubt they mean exactly 2 million and one players) and achievement data all being entirely synced at the time of this writing (as far as we know, the percentages might be calculated hourly, daily, or weekly.)
These stats are a bit lower than bigger well received games, but don't seem extremely low IMO.
For reference, A Plague Tale: Requiem, a critically acclaimed game:
55.09% finished chapter 1
35.41% finished chapter 2
29.84% finished chapter 3
26.96% finished chapter 4
25.41% finished chapter 5
23.71% finished chapter 6
22.47% finished chapter 7
21.84% finished chapter 8
20.90% finished chapter 9
19.52% finished chapter 10
19.08% finished chapter 11
18.70% finished chapter 12
18.37% finished chapter 13
18.29% finished chapter 14
18.02% finished chapter 15
17.76% finished chapter 16
17.61% completed the game
Re: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Remake Supposedly In Development At Ubisoft
This sounds very strange. UBisoft, I don’t think, is in the habit of making “remakes”, and this game is recent enough to be OK.
So far UBisoft has mostly done remasters that are practically faithful ports. Given this is just a rumor, would not be surprised if that’s what this ends up turning out to be.
Re: Microsoft's CEO Isn't A Fan Of Console Exclusives, Blames Sony
@themightyant My original point, the one I think you first replied to, is that Xbox is in a situation where two things are actively happening:
A) The platform is not big enough to be able to negotiate, or counter-negotiate, exclusivity deals that are considered market-movers.
B) The platform being so far back results in many smaller titles skipping the platform because they don't see the benefit of developing niche games for an already too-limited audience. Each one of these might not be a market mover, but in aggregate, their absence becomes very noticeable.
Re: Microsoft's CEO Isn't A Fan Of Console Exclusives, Blames Sony
@themightyant There are plenty of developers that skip platforms without the need of a deal, and this is [likely] due to a combination of smaller install base and perception of "what xbox players like". Many niche games, especially ones that come from Japan, tend to skip because they feel the install base is not large enough to make the "niche of the minority" not worth to target, and that in turn creates perceptions in the market.
Of the top of my head, Capcom has skipped Xbox at least two low-investment games: The Mega Man Battle Network collection and the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. I would make an argument over Square Enix games many claim are not exclusive too, but some argue there is more going on there.
Re: Xbox Could Expect FTC Injunction Verdict As Soon As Next Week
The judge practically already said there is no “imminent or irreparable damages” when she told the FTC that not only did MS agree on keeping the game on PlayStation, but also there is already a deal with Sony for this years CoD so it’s impossible for MS to do anything right now to hurt Sony or the industry.
Keep in mind the only reason they can provide a temporary injunction is if the FTC can prove “imminent and irreparable damages”.
This does not mean the news are over, MS gets to close the deal, but should FTC manage to prove a case (all the way to the Supreme Court, incredibly unlikely) they can force MS to sell or spin-off ABK back into independence, even if it’s at a loss.
Re: SEGA Remains 'Very Close' With Xbox, But Isn't Open To Acquisition Talks Right Now
@NEStalgia
I'm too lazy to do this, but want to photoshop a version of the box that uses the Devil May Cry logo font to spell "Final Fantasy 16"...