I have no problem with XB shipping games on any of the competing platforms. What I do have a problem with is that the competing 1st parties don't ship their games on XB.
To me, this has to be part of shipping on any competing platform. The other platform holders must reciprocate with their 1st party games.
@AccessibleDaydream I think that for daily active players to be consistent games have to be both good and addictive. Just having a bunch of grinding is not going to keep the daily active players up.
Not a significant loss. In Canada I am saving $9 per month on Ultimate's new pricing... $108 per year!
I can do without CoD Day One. LOL. I haven't finished 2024's campaign yet, nevermind getting and playing 2025's campaign! And I have no interest in MP/Zombies.
The real problem is game revenues. If they make games exclusive the number of total sales of the games will likely go down significantly for some period of time, because they would only be available to XB and PC. And at the same time game development costs keep rising astronomically. Other devices will sell well at least at the start of the next generation so, either XB has to be willing to take a loss for the next 3-10 years or they will end up axing more people. Either option is not good for them. The sales of top XB games on other platforms has helped the studios get the revenues they need to keep developing their games.
I am ok with there not being exclusives. But, I would change the tactic. They need to negotiate with the other platform holders. I would negotiate with them that unless they are willing to ship their games on XB with the same kind of rationale XB does; then I would not ship at all on those platforms. XB needs other platform holders to reciprocate if they are going to ship on the other platforms. That is only fair.
I think that GamePass would get more subscribers if it was significantly cheaper and Microsoft/Indie day one release focused. I am not a huge fan of EA Play and Ubisoft Classics being in GamePass and to me they inflate the price of the service unecessarily with quantity over quality.
@superjas These positive announcements are tangible things they are doing. It is not just PR everything she has done so far are giving something tangible to the community.
To me a PR announcement is something that creates discussion but really doesn't do anything.
Xbox 360 aged the best. Xbox Series X is next. Xbox Series S next Xbox Onen next OG Xbox next.
It is amazing that for 9 years Xbox 360 last. Even with PS3 coming out a year after 360. Yes it had the RRoD issue, but for me MS replaced those consoles for free and kept me loyal to XB as my primary gaming device.
I still have a 360 with all the Rock Band and Guitar Hero instruments. Have DJ hero turntables, Rapala fishing rod, skateboards from Tony Hawk Ride and Shred. LOL, a ton of mics for music games and dance pads from Dance Dance Revolution.
Have tons of Disney Infinity, Skylanders, and Dimensions stuff/portals for XB One.
@Tasuki
When did she say she was an avid gamer? There are 2 bln people on the planet that play games and therefore can call themselves gamers. That is not a big deal.
My understanding is that they published her gamertag. She didn't say she was a hard core gamer at all. When they published her gamertag then the media went and did massive investigation and made stories on it...
She didn't come out and say, "ya I am hard core and did a run of Elden Ring" without dying or anything like that. Nothing compared to Musk claiming he was so good at games and joining a session with his powerful character and not knowing how to use it. She has not directly made a claim that she kicks ass when she plays nor that she is a core gamer. In fact she has been very clear that her family was playing her gamertag and now it is completely hers. And surprisingly the head of XB has played a few games and got some easy achievements. Stunning! She is a massive lier, I don't know how anyone could trust her. LOL.
Its not like she suddenly has gotten the Seriously achievements in the Gears of War games.
@Pigrotto Exactly. On Black Friday I bought a really nice Alienware tower. Set me back $4,500 CDN. A high performance console at $1,000 sounds expensive but if it can hold its own to play the latest games that is not going to make it outrageous.
The PS5 Pro is over a year old and is now selling for $900 USD and it is over a year old. And really all PS5 Pro is, is just a faster PS5. So, to imagine a new generation console at $1,000 USD is not that hard.
@Tasuki Her story on her gaming is plausible so I don't know why you don't give her the benefit of doubt. It is not like she speed ran Dark Souls games, Elden Ring, or the Ninja Gaiden games. LOL.
She and her family played a bunch of games, she hasn't completed any of them so to call her gamertag fake is a stretch. She got a few early achievements in 10 more games. It is not like that is fake. None of these are any where near complete and those games you could get achievemenets in them in under a half hour even as an casual gamer.
What do I want from XB? Keep bringing games, games, games!
And when you ship the next XB prove that it is a highest possible performance at a competitive price.
People may hate on me for this, but I also want Kinect back. Not for core games. For things like Kinect Sports, Just Dance, etc. There were games where Kinect really was fun. But, don't market it as the ultimate controller and don't try to make it a core gamer device.
@GeminiX53
If you think that consoles will come down in price significantly I doubt it after they it the 1,000 mark.
As I stated in my OP XB can hold back pretty much any exclusive from PS that MS wants except CoD with the 10 year contract. They can say, "We won't ship our games on PS unless you give us your exclusive games". Is that truely forcing them? OK. Not. But, if you look at the XB catalogue of games, if XB held everything except CoD off of PS that would drive a good share of the market to buy XB. Look at how XB games have quite a few places in the PS top sellers. For Sony anything less than 100 mln consoles sold is a failure. If XB reduced Sony to 50-75 mln by using that strategy that would really hurt PS. Especially if XB still was selling the games on PC.
@TheGameThrifter When a device is a console they can turn off the typical Windows stuff so that you don't need all the bloatware, they also use SoC for the processors, and don't give you things like keyboard and mouse.
There are many ways to significantly reduce the price of a PC that becomes just a console.
The current XB is very similar to Windows already. It is just running a special version locked down and streamlined for console.
@GeminiX53
Both PS6 and XB Helix will have £1000 devices this next generation. I don't see any way around it. PS5 Pro is already there. That is the reality of the cost of making a console going forward.
As for exclusives, I thnk that they could phase back to exclusives, but, to me, that would not change things unless MS is willing to take large revenue hits on XB for a 5-10 year period. I do think though that MS should take a different approach, forcing Sony to release their exclusive first party games on XB and in return XB games get released on Sony consoles. Same with Nintendo.
Console prices keep rising. By the time the next generation starts the high end console offerings of the generation will be $900-$1,000 USD (PS5 Pro already there).
A lot of people will not go for these prices. Therefore a lower end reasonably priced console in the $400-500 USD price range will become an important offering. I would expect XB to keep the strategy in place of Series S and X to give those lower price points.
The wording of the campaign was flawed but I think the intentions were OK. It should've been something like, "More places to play" or something like that. Where the focus was still XB, but you have the choice to play on other devices.
I think MS delivered really good consoles this generation. I also think that with all their purchases they have the right studios. But, what they are missing is that killer thing that makes you think you need an XB over some other device. Exclusives are one way to get that, but there are many other ways to differentiate. The problem is that when you are selling to gamers, there is only really one thing that truely matters and that is the games.
@TheGameThrifter LOL. My brain was not built at all for Souls games. I am a bit of a squirrel gamer and get distracted easily. Souls games require a focus I will never have! Well done games, but take your focus off for a second and you are done!
@TheGameThrifter This is one aspect that people have ignored about Phil. Sure he is a gamer, loves gaming, and was respected in the industry. But, at the same time as a gamer and game lover that created biased in his decisions. Just because he didn't like something doesn't mean it would not be successful.
That is why I kind of like that Asha a non-gamer has come in. She will be more of a listener then a dictator hopefully.
From the day Mattrick took over to the day he left, XB when downwards. He handled everything wrong and it cost XB in a big way.
Unlike many people I think Kinect was cool, but I also think that it was focused on too much and they tried to make it a core gamer's device, when it was never going to be that. To this day, my adult (female) kids come home and they want to play the Kinect sports and dance games so I fire up the 360 and XBO just for that. There is a demographic that loved Kinnect. But forcing it on core gaming was a catastrophic mistake.
@MinervaX76 Honestly, it doesn't matter. AI is becoming standard in pretty much every software product on the planet. To think gaming will be an exception is not matching up with the reality of the world.
@FraserG When you are trailblazing the features often start out rough. But, they will improve it over time and in a few years I think a lot of people will like Copilot on XB.
The key those is they need to keep improving it, and they also need to keep it optional to use as there are a bunch of people that don't want this stuff.
There should always be new features from the most asked list in an update. They need to balance platform goals with what the community wants better, and it appears they are now doing that.
@ilyn The thing with Bond is I had a pretty positive perception of her before she left, but afterwards there are not a lot of people outside of MS saying she was all that great either. I would agree with you if the internal message is different then the external, but it appears both are matching.
Notice there was no mention of Sarah Bond. Seems like the people at XB definitely miss Phil, but there doesn't seem to be the same deep sentiment towards Sarah Bond.
Because I doubt there will be a next generation of consoles after Helix (I am not saying MS will exit consoles, I just think the concept of generations will disappear). There will just be yearly hardware refreshes and sometimes those refreshes will substantially move the bar forward. People will buy consoles like vehicles. When they feel it is worn out or too degraded they will just buy the latest yearly refresh.
Very smart of Microsoft to release broadly now. It will let them work out all the kinks before the next XB ships. Personally, I will install it right away on my Windows PC and Windows laptop. I have been wanting this pretty much since XB360 came out.
Can't wait until they announce console compatbility so they can play any XB games and not just play anywhere games.
I could see MS delivering three tiers of consoles...
A $500-700 console for the low end. A $900-1,100 consoled for the masses. A $1500+ console for a high end.
The reality I think is that next generation consoles will be $900-1,100 for the masses from both Sony and MS. That is just the cost reality of a console product going forward.
@darylb24
It is not only that gaming is profitable, but gaming is a key driver of innovation and sales for Windows.
Also, gaming is one of Microsoft's last consumer brands. They want more consumer presence not less. So, pushing gaming is MS's way of staying relevant with consumers.
@GuyinPA75 I do want consoles to ship complete and be identified to a generation. Hopefully MS does not allow that level of customization to call something an XB.
@Exerion76 It really doesn't matter. Both XB and PS gaming consoles have been PCs from a hardware perspective for three generations now. The real key here is how well they deliver the console experience on the device.
@GuyinPA75 I don't have any problem with MS and maybe its OEM partners shipping XB consoles of varying specs. I have always wanted a console that can rival the best gaming PCs. This has never been shipped by any of the console vendors. The consoles have typically been a balance of price and performance. I would love to see the vendors come out with a high end console that was all about best in class performance.
Other then that, this was just an exercise to tell the world there will definitely be a next XBox.
Was also an interesting comment by Asha that it will play both Xbox and PC games. To me, this is and important thing as I also on Steam and Epic. I think the implementation on this on the Asus ROG Ally X is good, but I think it needs to be improved for the console experience.
Finally, was intersting that she focused on performance as well. Does that mean XB will focus on performance over price? It is a given that next gen consoles will start the generation more expensive then any other previous generation. But, what did she mean when saying performance?
@awp69 Agreed. The sales have so many titles now it is difficult to weed through what are games vs DLC content. It would be nice to just get a list of the games because as a personal policy I typically won't buy DLC.
I wait until there is a complete version before buying games that have DLC with achievements. And I never buy DLC as cosmetics or to help me progress quicker. If I mistakenly buy a game and they release DLC with achievements later then I do not buy the DLC no matter what. The way I see it, is the game developer/publisher should give me a roadmap to the game commercials upon or before game release. If they don't and they add later after I buy it, that is their loss not mine. I expect developer/publishers to be clear with their DLC intentions.
@Lanmanna I have 2 XSX and 2 TVs in my den for gaming with friends. 1 XSX in my living room, 1 XSX in my guest house for visitors to use, 1 XSX on my back deck with a TV, and 1 XSS in my travel trailer. And I have a Asus ROG Ally X as a travel device.
@kmtrain83 I am ok with the hardware strategy, I think the overall strategy needs work across the board.
I look at my 5 Series X and 1 Series S and I have zero issues with the hardware (other then storage size, which is an issue with all hardware that has nvme drives right now).
I think as the platform publishing rights for each title expires MS should be saying to the other platform holders, "We will publish our titles on your platform if you publish your titles on our platform".
MS I think made a bit of a mistake going on the high ground first by publishing cross platform without securiring the promise of the other platform holders to do the same back.
A few things I think needs to be done going forward with XB:
1) When you announce a game ship it, don't cancel it. So, don't announce til you know it will ship.
2) They need to be committed to making sure the XB console brand is strong.
3) Don't close any more studios until at least well after the next gen starts.
4) Instead of focusing on money milking franchises such as Halo, Gears, Forza Horizon, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Call of Duty, Diablo, WoW, etc. Get daring on the AAA front and build some new large IPs. South of Midnight, Pentiment, etc. were good small gambles, but I want to see them shooting for the fences with some big new gambles.
5) Acquire some more studios that are up and coming.
6) Fire the whole marketing team and get a real marketing team that knows what they are doing. This marketing team took perfectly good studio/publisher acquisitions, a strong console generation, and lots of good gaming news and screwed it up this generation.
7) I don't mind them shipping games on other devices, but console sohuld be first and should have at least one year exclusivity.
@Balaam_ Her words are correct, but I will judge them on their actions, not the good words she is using.
As for Sataya, name me one successful technology CEO that is not focused on AI. I work in tech and AI is a constant in every conversation now. If you think any technology organization or company is not heavily investing in AI you are badly mistaken.
@SodaPop6548 I think they have made the right decisions to secure the future of their platform strong. If MS would have made the Activision-Blizzard games exclusive to XB they would not have been able to do the deal and they would got in hot water with anti-trust/competition laws in the USA/Europe. Taking the rest multi-platform probably saved them from having to close more studios because games keep getting more expensive to make.
I don't have a lot of confidence in every console vendor right now. To me the certainity of all consoles seems up in the air, because Gaming PCs have become so easy to configure and hook up to TVs. And with changes to the OS that MS is going to probably make available to all future versions of Windows at some point you will probably be able to put the OS in "console mode" and it will make it even easier. So, why would I buy a console that is becoming nearly the same price as a low end gaming PC, when I have the vast selection of PCs that I can buy and run it as a console? If MS was to certify PCs as "XBox Certified" then I could buy any PC that is XB Certified and game on it like a console, that would probably kill consoles as we know them today.
@Neither_scene
I have zero trust in every company. Companies have one goal and that is to make money. They may sound nice and treat their customers nice but the goal always remains the same. Anyone trusting companies is naive.
I don't trust these companies, I assess them on how well they provide me services and products and select them objectively based on that. I also use my history of dealing with them to decide on dealing with them in the future.
For example, I had bought three Sony TVs at different times in the 1990's through early 2000's. All three died shortly after the warranty ran out. Therefore I do not center my gaming purchases around Sony because I have had bad experiences with their devices and they never helped me in any of the cases. XB though... I had two RRoD consoles in the 360 era, and they were replaced quickly by Microsoft with consoles that did not fail after. I still have and use those consoles today. Nintentdo, they have always been reliable but their online services are about 5-10 years behind XB and PS.
Comments 1,052
Re: Xbox Is Officially 'Reevaluating' What To Do About Exclusivity
I have no problem with XB shipping games on any of the competing platforms. What I do have a problem with is that the competing 1st parties don't ship their games on XB.
To me, this has to be part of shipping on any competing platform. The other platform holders must reciprocate with their 1st party games.
Re: Xbox Leadership Issues Massive Statement On The Future Of The Brand
@AccessibleDaydream
I think that for daily active players to be consistent games have to be both good and addictive. Just having a bunch of grinding is not going to keep the daily active players up.
Re: Call Of Duty Titles Will No Longer Join Xbox Game Pass On Day One
Not a significant loss. In Canada I am saving $9 per month on Ultimate's new pricing... $108 per year!
I can do without CoD Day One. LOL. I haven't finished 2024's campaign yet, nevermind getting and playing 2025's campaign! And I have no interest in MP/Zombies.
Re: You're The Xbox Boss And Need To Figure Out Exclusivity, What Decision Are You Making?
The real problem is game revenues. If they make games exclusive the number of total sales of the games will likely go down significantly for some period of time, because they would only be available to XB and PC. And at the same time game development costs keep rising astronomically. Other devices will sell well at least at the start of the next generation so, either XB has to be willing to take a loss for the next 3-10 years or they will end up axing more people. Either option is not good for them. The sales of top XB games on other platforms has helped the studios get the revenues they need to keep developing their games.
I am ok with there not being exclusives. But, I would change the tactic. They need to negotiate with the other platform holders. I would negotiate with them that unless they are willing to ship their games on XB with the same kind of rationale XB does; then I would not ship at all on those platforms. XB needs other platform holders to reciprocate if they are going to ship on the other platforms. That is only fair.
Re: Report: New Game Pass Tier Exclusive To First-Party Games 'Under Consideration' At Xbox
I think that GamePass would get more subscribers if it was significantly cheaper and Microsoft/Indie day one release focused. I am not a huge fan of EA Play and Ubisoft Classics being in GamePass and to me they inflate the price of the service unecessarily with quantity over quality.
Re: 'What Do You Want Added?' - Xbox Engineer Requests Ideas For New Console Features
I want the ability to add two NVMe drives through standard external ports. Not expansion cards.
Re: Xbox Boss Reveals New 'Dedicated Team' Focusing On Fan Feedback
@GuyinPA75
Agreed. I trust only with validation. Asha has made some good first steps but she needs to keep it moving in the right direction.
Re: Xbox Boss Reveals New 'Dedicated Team' Focusing On Fan Feedback
@superjas
These positive announcements are tangible things they are doing. It is not just PR everything she has done so far are giving something tangible to the community.
To me a PR announcement is something that creates discussion but really doesn't do anything.
Re: Talking Point: Which Xbox Console Do You Think Has Aged The Best?
To me:
Xbox 360 aged the best.
Xbox Series X is next.
Xbox Series S next
Xbox Onen next
OG Xbox next.
It is amazing that for 9 years Xbox 360 last. Even with PS3 coming out a year after 360. Yes it had the RRoD issue, but for me MS replaced those consoles for free and kept me loyal to XB as my primary gaming device.
Re: Talking Point: How Many Random Peripherals For Xbox Games Do You Still Own?
I still have a 360 with all the Rock Band and Guitar Hero instruments. Have DJ hero turntables, Rapala fishing rod, skateboards from Tony Hawk Ride and Shred. LOL, a ton of mics for music games and dance pads from Dance Dance Revolution.
Have tons of Disney Infinity, Skylanders, and Dimensions stuff/portals for XB One.
And of course Kinect for both 360 and XB One.
Re: Here's What Asha Sharma Has Been Playing On Her Xbox Gamertag Over The Past Month
@Tasuki
When did she say she was an avid gamer? There are 2 bln people on the planet that play games and therefore can call themselves gamers. That is not a big deal.
My understanding is that they published her gamertag. She didn't say she was a hard core gamer at all. When they published her gamertag then the media went and did massive investigation and made stories on it...
She didn't come out and say, "ya I am hard core and did a run of Elden Ring" without dying or anything like that. Nothing compared to Musk claiming he was so good at games and joining a session with his powerful character and not knowing how to use it. She has not directly made a claim that she kicks ass when she plays nor that she is a core gamer. In fact she has been very clear that her family was playing her gamertag and now it is completely hers. And surprisingly the head of XB has played a few games and got some easy achievements. Stunning! She is a massive lier, I don't know how anyone could trust her. LOL.
Its not like she suddenly has gotten the Seriously achievements in the Gears of War games.
Re: '$1000 Consoles Will Be The Norm' - Analysts Discuss Cost Of PS6 & Next-Gen Xbox
@Pigrotto
Exactly. On Black Friday I bought a really nice Alienware tower. Set me back $4,500 CDN. A high performance console at $1,000 sounds expensive but if it can hold its own to play the latest games that is not going to make it outrageous.
The PS5 Pro is over a year old and is now selling for $900 USD and it is over a year old. And really all PS5 Pro is, is just a faster PS5. So, to imagine a new generation console at $1,000 USD is not that hard.
Re: Here's What Asha Sharma Has Been Playing On Her Xbox Gamertag Over The Past Month
@Tasuki
Her story on her gaming is plausible so I don't know why you don't give her the benefit of doubt. It is not like she speed ran Dark Souls games, Elden Ring, or the Ninja Gaiden games. LOL.
She and her family played a bunch of games, she hasn't completed any of them so to call her gamertag fake is a stretch. She got a few early achievements in 10 more games. It is not like that is fake. None of these are any where near complete and those games you could get achievemenets in them in under a half hour even as an casual gamer.
Re: Five Things We Want To See From Xbox's New Leadership Team In 2026
What do I want from XB? Keep bringing games, games, games!
And when you ship the next XB prove that it is a highest possible performance at a competitive price.
People may hate on me for this, but I also want Kinect back. Not for core games. For things like Kinect Sports, Just Dance, etc. There were games where Kinect really was fun. But, don't market it as the ultimate controller and don't try to make it a core gamer device.
Re: Xbox Games Showcase Announced For June 2026, Featuring Gears Of War: E-Day Direct
Gears is one of my favourite XB franchises. I cannot wait to play this game!
Re: Microsoft Issues Statement On Why 'This Is An Xbox' Campaign Has Been Retired
@GeminiX53
If you think that consoles will come down in price significantly I doubt it after they it the 1,000 mark.
As I stated in my OP XB can hold back pretty much any exclusive from PS that MS wants except CoD with the 10 year contract. They can say, "We won't ship our games on PS unless you give us your exclusive games". Is that truely forcing them? OK. Not. But, if you look at the XB catalogue of games, if XB held everything except CoD off of PS that would drive a good share of the market to buy XB. Look at how XB games have quite a few places in the PS top sellers. For Sony anything less than 100 mln consoles sold is a failure. If XB reduced Sony to 50-75 mln by using that strategy that would really hurt PS. Especially if XB still was selling the games on PC.
Re: Sony Announces Major PS5 Price Hikes, Here's How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S
@TheGameThrifter
When a device is a console they can turn off the typical Windows stuff so that you don't need all the bloatware, they also use SoC for the processors, and don't give you things like keyboard and mouse.
There are many ways to significantly reduce the price of a PC that becomes just a console.
The current XB is very similar to Windows already. It is just running a special version locked down and streamlined for console.
Re: Microsoft Issues Statement On Why 'This Is An Xbox' Campaign Has Been Retired
@GeminiX53
Both PS6 and XB Helix will have £1000 devices this next generation. I don't see any way around it. PS5 Pro is already there. That is the reality of the cost of making a console going forward.
As for exclusives, I thnk that they could phase back to exclusives, but, to me, that would not change things unless MS is willing to take large revenue hits on XB for a 5-10 year period. I do think though that MS should take a different approach, forcing Sony to release their exclusive first party games on XB and in return XB games get released on Sony consoles. Same with Nintendo.
Re: Sony Announces Major PS5 Price Hikes, Here's How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S
Console prices keep rising. By the time the next generation starts the high end console offerings of the generation will be $900-$1,000 USD (PS5 Pro already there).
A lot of people will not go for these prices. Therefore a lower end reasonably priced console in the $400-500 USD price range will become an important offering. I would expect XB to keep the strategy in place of Series S and X to give those lower price points.
Re: It Was Asha Sharma's 'Direction' To Scrub 'This Is An Xbox' Marketing, Suggests Report
The wording of the campaign was flawed but I think the intentions were OK. It should've been something like, "More places to play" or something like that. Where the focus was still XB, but you have the choice to play on other devices.
I think MS delivered really good consoles this generation. I also think that with all their purchases they have the right studios. But, what they are missing is that killer thing that makes you think you need an XB over some other device. Exclusives are one way to get that, but there are many other ways to differentiate. The problem is that when you are selling to gamers, there is only really one thing that truely matters and that is the games.
Re: 'Keep The Feedback Coming' - Xbox Boss Says New Console Features Were Built Two Weeks Ago
@TheGameThrifter
LOL. My brain was not built at all for Souls games. I am a bit of a squirrel gamer and get distracted easily. Souls games require a focus I will never have! Well done games, but take your focus off for a second and you are done!
Re: 'Keep The Feedback Coming' - Xbox Boss Says New Console Features Were Built Two Weeks Ago
@TheGameThrifter
This is one aspect that people have ignored about Phil. Sure he is a gamer, loves gaming, and was respected in the industry. But, at the same time as a gamer and game lover that created biased in his decisions. Just because he didn't like something doesn't mean it would not be successful.
That is why I kind of like that Asha a non-gamer has come in. She will be more of a listener then a dictator hopefully.
Re: Former Xbox Leader Don Mattrick Lands Major New Role As CEO Of Photonic
From the day Mattrick took over to the day he left, XB when downwards. He handled everything wrong and it cost XB in a big way.
Unlike many people I think Kinect was cool, but I also think that it was focused on too much and they tried to make it a core gamer's device, when it was never going to be that. To this day, my adult (female) kids come home and they want to play the Kinect sports and dance games so I fire up the 360 and XBO just for that. There is a demographic that loved Kinnect. But forcing it on core gaming was a catastrophic mistake.
Re: Xbox 'Copilot' Demonstration Hints At How It'll Work On Your Series X|S
@MinervaX76
Honestly, it doesn't matter. AI is becoming standard in pretty much every software product on the planet. To think gaming will be an exception is not matching up with the reality of the world.
Re: Xbox 'Copilot' Demonstration Hints At How It'll Work On Your Series X|S
@FraserG
When you are trailblazing the features often start out rough. But, they will improve it over time and in a few years I think a lot of people will like Copilot on XB.
The key those is they need to keep improving it, and they also need to keep it optional to use as there are a bunch of people that don't want this stuff.
Re: 'Energized' Xbox Engineer Talks New Dashboard Update & Its 'Unusually' Fast Turnaround
There should always be new features from the most asked list in an update. They need to balance platform goals with what the community wants better, and it appears they are now doing that.
Re: 'I'm Of Two Minds' - Todd Howard Gives His Thoughts On Xbox's Leadership Changes
@ilyn
The thing with Bond is I had a pretty positive perception of her before she left, but afterwards there are not a lot of people outside of MS saying she was all that great either. I would agree with you if the internal message is different then the external, but it appears both are matching.
Re: 'I'm Of Two Minds' - Todd Howard Gives His Thoughts On Xbox's Leadership Changes
@ilyn
To me all the Sarah Bond stuff is rumors. But, I do find it interesting that no one at XB is really mentioning her legacy at XB.
Todd Howard does not strike me as someone who would avoid mentioning Sarah if he felt her legacy meant something to him.
Re: 'I'm Of Two Minds' - Todd Howard Gives His Thoughts On Xbox's Leadership Changes
Notice there was no mention of Sarah Bond. Seems like the people at XB definitely miss Phil, but there doesn't seem to be the same deep sentiment towards Sarah Bond.
Re: Talking Point: What Should Xbox Call Its 'Project Helix' Console?
XBox Infinite.
Because I doubt there will be a next generation of consoles after Helix (I am not saying MS will exit consoles, I just think the concept of generations will disappear). There will just be yearly hardware refreshes and sometimes those refreshes will substantially move the bar forward. People will buy consoles like vehicles. When they feel it is worn out or too degraded they will just buy the latest yearly refresh.
Re: 'Xbox Mode' For Windows 11 Is Progress, And It Could Shape Microsoft's Project Helix Console
Very smart of Microsoft to release broadly now. It will let them work out all the kinks before the next XB ships. Personally, I will install it right away on my Windows PC and Windows laptop. I have been wanting this pretty much since XB360 came out.
Can't wait until they announce console compatbility so they can play any XB games and not just play anywhere games.
Re: Tech Journalist Predicts A Price Of 'At Least $1,000' For Xbox Project Helix
I could see MS delivering three tiers of consoles...
A $500-700 console for the low end.
A $900-1,100 consoled for the masses.
A $1500+ console for a high end.
The reality I think is that next generation consoles will be $900-1,100 for the masses from both Sony and MS. That is just the cost reality of a console product going forward.
Re: Microsoft CEO On Xbox's Future: 'We'll Always Invest In Gaming'
@darylb24
It is not only that gaming is profitable, but gaming is a key driver of innovation and sales for Windows.
Also, gaming is one of Microsoft's last consumer brands. They want more consumer presence not less. So, pushing gaming is MS's way of staying relevant with consumers.
Re: Microsoft Has Explored Allowing AI & Other Xbox Players To Help Control Your Games
As long as AI is optional and achievements are turned off for people who use AI in their games I have no problem with this.
Re: Talking Point: Will 'Project Helix' Be A Niche Device, Or An Xbox Console For The Masses?
@GuyinPA75
I do want consoles to ship complete and be identified to a generation. Hopefully MS does not allow that level of customization to call something an XB.
Re: Next Xbox Console: Everything We Know So Far About Microsoft's Next-Gen System
@Exerion76
It really doesn't matter. Both XB and PS gaming consoles have been PCs from a hardware perspective for three generations now. The real key here is how well they deliver the console experience on the device.
Re: Talking Point: Will 'Project Helix' Be A Niche Device, Or An Xbox Console For The Masses?
@GuyinPA75
I don't have any problem with MS and maybe its OEM partners shipping XB consoles of varying specs. I have always wanted a console that can rival the best gaming PCs. This has never been shipped by any of the console vendors. The consoles have typically been a balance of price and performance. I would love to see the vendors come out with a high end console that was all about best in class performance.
Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games
I really like the logo for Project Helix. LOL.
Other then that, this was just an exercise to tell the world there will definitely be a next XBox.
Was also an interesting comment by Asha that it will play both Xbox and PC games. To me, this is and important thing as I also on Steam and Epic. I think the implementation on this on the Asus ROG Ally X is good, but I think it needs to be improved for the console experience.
Finally, was intersting that she focused on performance as well. Does that mean XB will focus on performance over price? It is a given that next gen consoles will start the generation more expensive then any other previous generation. But, what did she mean when saying performance?
Re: Poll: How Optimistic Are You Feeling About The Future Of Xbox?
I will go into the cautiously optimisitic pile.
The right things have been said, now the team has to execute well and stick to what they have said.
Re: Xbox Adds New 'Sort By' Options On The Microsoft Store, Including By Price & Discount
@awp69
Agreed. The sales have so many titles now it is difficult to weed through what are games vs DLC content. It would be nice to just get a list of the games because as a personal policy I typically won't buy DLC.
I wait until there is a complete version before buying games that have DLC with achievements. And I never buy DLC as cosmetics or to help me progress quicker. If I mistakenly buy a game and they release DLC with achievements later then I do not buy the DLC no matter what. The way I see it, is the game developer/publisher should give me a roadmap to the game commercials upon or before game release. If they don't and they add later after I buy it, that is their loss not mine. I expect developer/publishers to be clear with their DLC intentions.
Re: Xbox Adds New 'Sort By' Options On The Microsoft Store, Including By Price & Discount
Wow, amazing they brought these sorts back after how long? What a tough feature that must have been to deliver. NOT.
Re: Xbox Won't Back Away From First-Party And Become 'Just A Publisher', Insists EVP Matt Booty
@Lanmanna
I have 2 XSX and 2 TVs in my den for gaming with friends. 1 XSX in my living room, 1 XSX in my guest house for visitors to use, 1 XSX on my back deck with a TV, and 1 XSS in my travel trailer. And I have a Asus ROG Ally X as a travel device.
Re: Xbox Won't Back Away From First-Party And Become 'Just A Publisher', Insists EVP Matt Booty
@kmtrain83
I am ok with the hardware strategy, I think the overall strategy needs work across the board.
I look at my 5 Series X and 1 Series S and I have zero issues with the hardware (other then storage size, which is an issue with all hardware that has nvme drives right now).
Re: Amazon 'Abandons' Maverick Games As Former Forza Devs Seek New Publisher
Seems like all game publishers are releasing and letting studios go.
Re: Xbox Boss Questioned On Whether Exclusives Could Return In The Future
I think as the platform publishing rights for each title expires MS should be saying to the other platform holders, "We will publish our titles on your platform if you publish your titles on our platform".
MS I think made a bit of a mistake going on the high ground first by publishing cross platform without securiring the promise of the other platform holders to do the same back.
Re: 'Return To Our Roots' - Xbox CEO Reiterates Her Goals For The Future
A few things I think needs to be done going forward with XB:
1) When you announce a game ship it, don't cancel it. So, don't announce til you know it will ship.
2) They need to be committed to making sure the XB console brand is strong.
3) Don't close any more studios until at least well after the next gen starts.
4) Instead of focusing on money milking franchises such as Halo, Gears, Forza Horizon, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Call of Duty, Diablo, WoW, etc. Get daring on the AAA front and build some new large IPs. South of Midnight, Pentiment, etc. were good small gambles, but I want to see them shooting for the fences with some big new gambles.
5) Acquire some more studios that are up and coming.
6) Fire the whole marketing team and get a real marketing team that knows what they are doing. This marketing team took perfectly good studio/publisher acquisitions, a strong console generation, and lots of good gaming news and screwed it up this generation.
7) I don't mind them shipping games on other devices, but console sohuld be first and should have at least one year exclusivity.
Re: New Xbox Head Suggests Bringing Back The Blades Dashboard In First Social Media Posts
@Fiendish-Beaver
I do agree fully with what you said. The lady is less then a few days on the job. She must be given a chance to succeed.
I do not judge any exec based on their PR, I judge them based on their actions. Time will tell us how she does with her actions.
Re: 'No Tolerance For Bad AI' - New Xbox Boss Says Games Need 'Great Stories Created By Humans'
@Balaam_
Her words are correct, but I will judge them on their actions, not the good words she is using.
As for Sataya, name me one successful technology CEO that is not focused on AI. I work in tech and AI is a constant in every conversation now. If you think any technology organization or company is not heavily investing in AI you are badly mistaken.
Re: Former Xbox Employee Returns After 13 Years As New Chief Of Staff
@SodaPop6548
I think they have made the right decisions to secure the future of their platform strong. If MS would have made the Activision-Blizzard games exclusive to XB they would not have been able to do the deal and they would got in hot water with anti-trust/competition laws in the USA/Europe. Taking the rest multi-platform probably saved them from having to close more studios because games keep getting more expensive to make.
I don't have a lot of confidence in every console vendor right now. To me the certainity of all consoles seems up in the air, because Gaming PCs have become so easy to configure and hook up to TVs. And with changes to the OS that MS is going to probably make available to all future versions of Windows at some point you will probably be able to put the OS in "console mode" and it will make it even easier. So, why would I buy a console that is becoming nearly the same price as a low end gaming PC, when I have the vast selection of PCs that I can buy and run it as a console? If MS was to certify PCs as "XBox Certified" then I could buy any PC that is XB Certified and game on it like a console, that would probably kill consoles as we know them today.
Re: Xbox CEO Shares Her Three Favourite Games Of All Time, Along With Her Gamertag
@Neither_scene
I have zero trust in every company. Companies have one goal and that is to make money. They may sound nice and treat their customers nice but the goal always remains the same. Anyone trusting companies is naive.
I don't trust these companies, I assess them on how well they provide me services and products and select them objectively based on that. I also use my history of dealing with them to decide on dealing with them in the future.
For example, I had bought three Sony TVs at different times in the 1990's through early 2000's. All three died shortly after the warranty ran out. Therefore I do not center my gaming purchases around Sony because I have had bad experiences with their devices and they never helped me in any of the cases. XB though... I had two RRoD consoles in the 360 era, and they were replaced quickly by Microsoft with consoles that did not fail after. I still have and use those consoles today. Nintentdo, they have always been reliable but their online services are about 5-10 years behind XB and PS.