@robe That is an easy answer. Corporations will and have always done what is best for them.
I think what Phil is getting at is that for gaming to have growth the entire business model needs to evolve as it has for for decades now.
It is no longer feasible to ship a game on one platform because they are so expensive to make.
The way games are made needs to be re-evaluated because what we are seeing is longer and longer times to make original new games. And many frameworks and game engines are becoming more and more mature. But they need to go into new directions to innovate. Things like AI.
The storage requirements of games keep getting larger and larger but storage tech isn't keeping up. I used to put all my games on a few hard drives, connect them to my console and life was great. Now, with the NVMe storage systems and all games coming out requiring them I can't keep my entire collection (not even close to it) local.
Like it or not more than 50% of all games are sold digitally now.
With networks continuing to get faster and faster and more accepted, cloud gaming will get more and more viable as the standard way to game. I can see most casuals thinking, "Why buy a console when I can just cloud stream?". Especially since inflation has made it harder and harder for people to afford consoles. And by the way $199 consoles are a distant past even near the end of generations.
All these add up to major changes in how the gaming industry works and delivers games.
MS makes their games available mostly on XB first. Then, on other platforms. The MS games are available on GamePass day one which is a huge benefit. On the other platforms, gamers are paying to play each game.
This gives MS more dollars as profit and to invest in making games better as well. I don't see where XB gamers are losing at all.
This multi-platform thing was inevitable I think both Sony and Nintendo will eventually have to go here too. If they don't their games won't sell as well and their games will take longer and longer to make or they will have to charge more and more to look as profitable as MS.
Shareholders don't care about console exclusives. They care about how much money they get on their investment. And if MS is making more because their games are multi-platform then shareholders are going to demand the same from Sony and Nintendo. It is that simple.
@Pabpictu Honestly, I don't understand the urgent issue. The drama is difficult to justify for me. I bought an XSX and am very happy with the device. I am also happy with all the games, GamePass, the XB network, etc. The only thing that truly disappointed me this year so far was Hellblade II wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. And maybe the delay of Avowed to next year. But I would rather MS ship a high quality game then a hot mess.
I was skeptical of the first person view in Indy, but the gameplay trailers have won me over. I expect a solid 8.0 to 8.5 game. Don't expect it to be generation defining. They are using their tried and tested game engine. The engine has proven solid and flexible with Wolfenstein.
@WhiteRabbit I do agree that 60 fps or more is a great target. But this is a choice by game developers. Consoles keep getting faster and faster. Next generation 60 fps will be a given probably in every game. This generation it is still a trade off the developers make.
People act as though 30 fps is garbage. Less than 10 years ago 30 fps was pretty much all that could be done in a AAA game.
Yes, I have Returnal and I enjoyed playing through the game, very repetitive but a real great gameplay experience. Astro Bot looks like it will be cute and fun, but appears void of any great story.
Yes, there is more to games than visuals. To me, it is the whole game experience. Controls, gameplay, sound, visuals, story, etc. I have yet to play any game on any platform this generation that has combined all those elements into a near perfect game. To me, every game has come up short in one aspect or another as the generation has unfolded.
@WhiteRabbit First, they are a 3 trillion dollar company.
Second, I would rather they spend on games then on marketing. Sony has released pretty much nothing new from their first party studios this generation. All games to date have been evolutionary releases on existing game engines. They are marketing well, but they are really lacking new and truly next gen games from their biggest studios. Microsoft is not exactly lighting up the generation yet either but at least their studios are releasing new games that are on heavily updated or new engines.
@GuyinPA75 At the end of the day no one is forcing anyone to subscribe to GamePass. All you have to do is go into your profile and cancel it. I cancelled my Netflix subscription last year, MS is coming very close to me cancelling my GamePass subscription.
I am not going to defend what MS did. To me, it is not good.
But, the FTC is full of BS here. The reason behind this has nothing to do with MS market power. This is a trend we are seeing through the industry. Almost every subscription I subscribe to including, Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Nest, etc has gone up in price over the past six months. There was this little thing called inflation over the past two years. Companies have to pay their employees more because of it, and we all know the companies are not going to swallow that increase, they are going to pass it on to consumers. These are the simple facts.
I don't like it, but that is how the economy works.
As with everything now-a-days, the first version is barely a beta worth using to play. They will fix it about two more revisions of firestick and the service down the line.
With day one quality being what it is, I find it incredibly hard to even think about pre-ordering a game...
I don't know why anyone would put themselves through the frustration of day one games. The last time I pre-ordered day one was for Cyberpunk 2077 and CoD Black Ops Cold War. Cyberpunk's release is well documented. On BO Cold War the game kept freezing on me when I went on the infiltration mission in Russia and the helicopter arrived.
Before that the previous pre-order was Batman Arkham Origins, got 10 hours on day one into the game meticulously going through and my save corrupted. Found out next day it was a known bug.
@nomither6 I am glad that there is one AAA game that killed only and is still doing good. But, the vast majority of games seem to think online is a key to success and when push comes to shove they invest more in online than in single player.
@themightyant There many reasons why I think S is doing well. First is cost. It is the cheapest way to get a powerful console. Second, I think would be TVs. Most smaller TVs are only HD, so there is not much sense buying an X if your TV is only HD and you intend to keep it that way. Finally, as a secondary console. If you primarily game on PS or Switch and decide to buy an XB secondary console to play some of the exclusive games, you probably see S as a cheap way to do that.
Personally, I bought an S for my one and only HD TV. No need to have an X when an S will do on a secondary gaming TV.
Games are rolling out pretty consistently and are from a variety of genres. I think 2024 is doing fine.
For XB itself I think they are doing fine as well. Some new console offerings coming, a new IP before the end of the year, Hellblade II already released, and constant support for live service games such as Flight Simulator, Elder Scrolls, Forza Motorsport, etc. is also providing gamers with additional things to do. To me their showcase in June was the best since the FF surprise announcement back in the 360 era.
The problem with these platforming IPs is that there is a lack of creativity bringing the genre forward. Most of the platforming games guide you through a story and challenges with collectibles along the way that help you through the game in different ways. Platformers need to figure out how to make themselves relevant in different ways going forward to broaden how many gamers want to play them.
Gaming has gone through different phases in my life. When I was young I played games in almost all my spare time. When I had a family gaming was still there but didn't have the time I had when I was young. My kids are in the graduation phase from high school and university and I am getting more time but not gaming much because I am in a lifestyle transition from the big home with a family to the home I will probably have until I retire. I expect once I get done this transition I will start to get more gaming time. It is one of my hobbies. But, I am no where nearly as competitive and I don't have the reflexes I had earlier so not much of an online gamer. Much more enjoy a great story and a game that isn't overly challenging to get through. Gone are the days of 100% percenting achievements and being able to do games like Souls and twitchy MP games like Street Fighter, etc. In are the days of games that have a great story, make me think to get through them, and at least involve some talent to get through the story. Only a few games will I strive to get 100% achievement completion as long as they are not a full on commitment for weeks/months.
As I am getting older I am facing the reality that my health depends on a balance. To me gaming is more mental than physical, but I will also need the physical me to avoid the big issues like heart disease, stoke, cancer, etc. My advice to people is that too much of any one thing is not good. Gaming to me is an important hobby, but so is getting outdoors, eating healthy,, and physically being healthy. No one approach fits all and you need to do research to figure out the balance you want in your life for gaming.
More devices where XB games are available = More XB gamers = more XB games. I like this a lot. I have a 7 TVs between two homes. I buy firesticks for all my TVs. The ability to play on firestick will save me having to buy consoles for every TV.
@Scummbuddy
MS doesn't tell studios what games to make from what information is available publicly. There are certain studios that are allocated to specific IPs for sure.
Redfall was in development before MS even took over the studio so it can't be said the studio was doing something MS told them to do.
@Mustoe
MS cannot delay games forever. I would think that the studio would've been asked when the game would be ready. MS delayed the game a year. They can't delay a game forever. And judging by my personal experience with the game it would've taken several more years to make the game a truly great experience.
@tho_mi To be fair they purchased more than two publishers. They also purchased a bunch of individual studios before that.
To also be fair creating games is obviously changing and taking a lot longer. Sony has always been considered a great gaming content delivery company. Naughty Dog, Guerilla, Sucker Punch, etc. have all been pretty quiet this past few years. The only developer that seems to be delivering consistently this generation is Insomniac and it is pretty obvious they are just enhancing and improving their engine while putting a new story/paint job on it.
I think a lot of studios have been struggling with the new platforms and what they can potentially create for them. The new platforms allow for massive scope games and a lot of new capabilities. In past generations games taking advantage of new capabilities have taken longer and longer to create. I expect the entire industry is having a similar problem.
By buying so many publishers/studios I think MS has enough total studios that they can generate content consistently. Sony is now much smaller on content creation and it is showing. Their internal studios are struggling to ship new content with frequency.
Hearing from the head of the studio that developed Redfall that they have energy for what is next is not promising. LOL. Redfall had a good premise and the story was decent, but the execution was awful. This guy should go back to doing what he did before he was a studio head. Because anyone that was reporting that the game was ready to ship or that felt it was good enough to ship should not be running any studio.
There are very few studios that have been around a long time. There are a lot more disappointing closures than there are studios that have longevity.
Unfortunately, this is how the industry works. You need to build games that sell 10 mln plus copies consistently to stick around. Not a lot of studios do that.
I would expect to see a big GamePass drop in around the holiday season (October) timeframe to try and drive more console sales. CoD and a bunch Activision-Blizzard games would drive sale pretty good. Add Overwatch 2, Crash, Spyro games, and Tony Hawk for holidays 2024 would probably help drive console sales nicely.
I don't know why people think this is a 2025 possible release. XB has a lot of games due for release soon. I doubt that a studio that released Wasteland 3 in 2020 followed by some expansions is anywhere close to done their next game. I would expect this to be 2026 or beyond. Large AAA games are taking longer and longer to make. Look at The Coalition. They released Gears 5 in 2019, they just announced Gears E-Day this month. Probably still on the horizon for release.
I really liked this format. Very small bits from leadership, the rest was trailer after trailer and gameplay after gameplay of a ton of games coming to XB. Microsoft's size with XBox Game Studios, AKB, and Bethesda is starting to show. They didn't even bring half their studios to the show!
Was it just me or did this game feel too "cartoony". I am really scared this may be the last kick of the can for Bioware, and I am not sure it looks like it will be all that successful.
I started with the original XB. I was on a gaming pause for a few years because of life circumstances (career, spouse, kids, house buying, etc.). I bought original XB near the end of its cycle to play Halo and its online vision. Bought every XB day one since.
I primarily game on XB but own Switch/Wii and all the PS devices except PS1. I primarily game on XB because:
1) They have a vision I want to see with gaming. Gaming anywhere on any device I choose. 2) Online is higher quality and more reliable (Although does have its issues). 3) My career has been full of MS products professionally and I feel they give good bang for each buck spent. Therefore I felt their gaming product would do the same. I was correct. I often compare my costs of gaming between Nintendo, MS, and Sony. I find Nintendo most expensive, Sony sec most expensive, and MS the cheapest platform to game on based on how I purchase.
I played through the game and it is nothing great (But not totally bad). Critic scores were deserved, and although I hate any studio shutting down, if this was a sign of their future games then MS made the correct choice here.
I am frustrated with all these downsizing, studio closures, etc.
But, there is a fundamental change happening in the industry.
AAA games are costing more and taking longer to build. Inflation has happened so now games are more expensive to build and they cost more to buy. Also, because games are getting bigger they take a lot longer to build. This is not a linear thing, it is more exponential. Just play GTA III and then play GTA V, You can see there is a ton more to the game. And GTA VI will be even bigger. You look at the sheer size of games. Most great games are at least double or triple the install size the same franchise games was last generation and literally 10-50 times the size they were in the PS3/XB/Wii era. All this adds up to more to build a game.
With more to build it makes certain games not profitable anymore. I hate that Tango closed, but their games were not high profit games, they were mostly breaking even and although Evil Within and HiFi Rush were both successful games, I doubt they made much. Nobody talks about how disappointed they are to see Ghostwire gone. The studio made a decent game there but for all purposes it was a flop both financially and critically.
Shutting down Arcane Austin. Ya, that was well deserved. Redfall was a hot mess at launch, and really didn't get a lot better after the studio spending a year fixing it.
And I might add studio closures are nothing new. Sony has closed a couple studios over the past couple years and also laid off 8% of gaming staff. This is not unique in the industry. It is rumored that Ubisoft also cancelled a major game, EA has done layoffs/closures, etc. People are acting like this is all new news and XB is evil, but they are just doing what ALL other major publishers are doing.
I get it, the games from Tango weren't necessarily big sellers, but outside of Ghostwire I felt the studio provided game quality and diversity to XB. A shame they shut this studio down.
They talked about focus, but it is not like Tango employees are going to other XB Japan studios to help focus more. I don't even think there are other Japan XB studios to go to.
Wish #1 - I hope that exclusives disappear on all platforms going forward. I like to play great games and every platform has games you can only play on specific platforms day one.
Wish #2 - Consoles get a Hardware/Firmware/OS standard that all the vendors ship. Whether it is Sony, MS, or Nintendo standard hardware would reduce the cost of development and allow developers to focus on the standard.
Wish #3 - I wish fanboyism would completely disappear. Fanboys are toxic to gaming.
I primarily play on XB, but I also own a PC, iPad, iPhone, XSX, PS5, Switch, and Asus ROG Ally. I could save buying at least two devices ($800) if I only had to buy one console brand to play all console games which I could re-direct to buying more games.
@Fenbops I stopped buying games day one years ago. The turning point was when Rocksteady shipped Batman Arkham City. Got 12 hours into the game and my game save corrupted. A day later they announced it was a bug.
Games ship on day one as alphas or betas at best now-a-days. If the game catches on the companies do what it takes to make them full and proper games. If they don't do well, they just shutdown the studios and quit supporting the game.
I really want to like modern games, but more and more the companies are turning me off of the industry.
I am mildly surprised with Tango because they have made great games. The others should come as no surprise. Roundhouse has been MIA for years now, Alpha dog is redundant with the large mobile developers they acquired with AKB, and Austin completely blew Redfall.
Tango was a great studio but the issue is the genre of games they played in are not huge sellers. Evil Within is a great game, but its grittiness/horror is a turn off to the mass market. Ghost Wire was interesting but not very well received critically. HiFi was really good, but not a big seller probably. It is disappointing this has to happen, but these companies exist for profit, not to build games that don't recover their investments.
This is what sucks about the gaming/movie business. The money goes to the big selling projects while the more creative and riskier projects get shelved. I just hope MS does not dump Double Fine. They have quirky, fun, creative games.
@IOI I agree. MS has spent the marketing dollars but I don't think they are getting the reach that they need. Just look at how AKB games sell, it is obvious their marketing is top notch. It seems like everything they release is either a popular cult classic, or wildly successful game.
I have the Asus ROG Ally and love it, would love a true XB Console version of a handheld similar to ROG Ally. My only three beefs of the ROG Ally is:
1) It isn't a true console interface (it is Windows). 2) Battery life needs to be longer. 3) Would like a option to buy a SIM card and use 5G cellular for mobile gaming.
I envision three variants.
1) XB Mobile Stream - A streaming only device. Long battery life but must always be connected to broadband. 2) XB Mobile - A ROG Ally type console device. 3) XB Mobile Pro - A ROG Ally type console device. with 5G capabilities.
@ValentineMeikin That is factually incorrect. On X360 I can go in and manage all game saves. Cloud, hard drive, and USB for all my 360 games. It was the dark era of XBO that MS started to make this opaque to the gamer.
Really this is an artificial increase. But, I hope that MS Gaming revenue starts increasing more over time now that studios have completed their pre-MS projects and are now starting to deliver projects that are solely under MS.
I typically choose framerate over quality. I am glad gamers get to choose. There are some games where the graphics are so good though that I will choose resolution over framerate.
There is no way I pay $22.49 for three games that are over 20 years old and when I originally bought all three as they came to bargain bins I picked them up for $9.99 each. I will wait til they are 50% off. I really liked the games but I can still fire up my original PS to play them.
@shoeses
Personally I think this article is mis-titled. Forward compatibility is the ability of something today to take advantage of new tech as it becomes available. For example, if the game is 4K when 8K consoles come out it can take full advantage of the 8K device because the assets of the game were actually made in 8K.
Games Preservation is more about the ability to keep a game running as it is today on future devices. Building into the firmware/OS of devices the ability to continue to run the games well into the future on future device. That does not mean they will take advantage of the device capabilities though.
There is no mention of forward compatibility in the quote of the article though. So that is why I say it is mis-titled.
To me, turnover happens in the gaming industry. I don't know how that makes news. AAA games are made by 100's of people. It is a team effort not an individual effort.
Especially now that the industry is consolidating there is bound to be people that don't like consolidation, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and just get paid so much that they don't need/want to work anymore. It happens in every industry.
This just shows the current state of gaming which is not good in my opinion.
Only three games have a true single player campaign on the list (CoD, GTA, and Starfield). Only one of them is driven by the SP experience (Starfield) whereas the other two GTA and CoD probably made the list based on their MP experience.
@GuyinPA75 I think the Series S is a 7/10 device. It is a great idea but I think the execution of its specs was a bit off. But you have to remember that it is the first such console ever. I like that they are giving gamers different entry prices to consoles. They just could've did a better job making sure the specs were up to snuff in the right places. I would love to see another Series S next generation now that they have experience with having a multi-tiered console entry point.
As for mobile vs console UIs I don't think that is all that hard to deal with. Games already adjust to different screen resolutions, so mobile is mostly an exercise in adjusting to a smaller screen resolution.
I don't know about that. A certain amount of any game like resident evil is how they setup the surprise and shocking moments in the game. How would you set those up to happen in an open world environment because many of these are dependent on sequence?
Storage this generation is a real sore spot for me. I had 3 x 8 Tb drives housing my entire 360 and XBO library. Now I am down to 3 Tb with the expansion card. I want to be able to have tons of storage for all my games and I don't want to always be thinking about the fast vs slow storage available. And now that we are a few years into this gen there just is not enough fast storage available on these devices.
Comments 874
Re: Phil Spencer On Game Exclusivity: 'We Have To Anticipate There's Going To Be More Change'
@robe
That is an easy answer. Corporations will and have always done what is best for them.
I think what Phil is getting at is that for gaming to have growth the entire business model needs to evolve as it has for for decades now.
It is no longer feasible to ship a game on one platform because they are so expensive to make.
The way games are made needs to be re-evaluated because what we are seeing is longer and longer times to make original new games. And many frameworks and game engines are becoming more and more mature. But they need to go into new directions to innovate. Things like AI.
The storage requirements of games keep getting larger and larger but storage tech isn't keeping up. I used to put all my games on a few hard drives, connect them to my console and life was great. Now, with the NVMe storage systems and all games coming out requiring them I can't keep my entire collection (not even close to it) local.
Like it or not more than 50% of all games are sold digitally now.
With networks continuing to get faster and faster and more accepted, cloud gaming will get more and more viable as the standard way to game. I can see most casuals thinking, "Why buy a console when I can just cloud stream?". Especially since inflation has made it harder and harder for people to afford consoles. And by the way $199 consoles are a distant past even near the end of generations.
All these add up to major changes in how the gaming industry works and delivers games.
Re: Reaction: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle's PS5 Announcement Marks A Bold Step For Xbox
I don't see anything wrong here.
MS makes their games available mostly on XB first. Then, on other platforms. The MS games are available on GamePass day one which is a huge benefit. On the other platforms, gamers are paying to play each game.
This gives MS more dollars as profit and to invest in making games better as well. I don't see where XB gamers are losing at all.
This multi-platform thing was inevitable I think both Sony and Nintendo will eventually have to go here too. If they don't their games won't sell as well and their games will take longer and longer to make or they will have to charge more and more to look as profitable as MS.
Shareholders don't care about console exclusives. They care about how much money they get on their investment. And if MS is making more because their games are multi-platform then shareholders are going to demand the same from Sony and Nintendo. It is that simple.
Re: Xbox Lists 'Announced' First Party Games In New Social Media Graphic
@Pabpictu
Honestly, I don't understand the urgent issue. The drama is difficult to justify for me. I bought an XSX and am very happy with the device. I am also happy with all the games, GamePass, the XB network, etc. The only thing that truly disappointed me this year so far was Hellblade II wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. And maybe the delay of Avowed to next year. But I would rather MS ship a high quality game then a hot mess.
Re: Talking Point: How Hyped Are You For Indiana Jones On Xbox Series X|S?
I was skeptical of the first person view in Indy, but the gameplay trailers have won me over. I expect a solid 8.0 to 8.5 game. Don't expect it to be generation defining. They are using their tried and tested game engine. The engine has proven solid and flexible with Wolfenstein.
Re: Sony PlayStation 'Regrettably Outspends Us', Says Xbox EMEA Marketing Boss
@WhiteRabbit
I do agree that 60 fps or more is a great target. But this is a choice by game developers. Consoles keep getting faster and faster. Next generation 60 fps will be a given probably in every game. This generation it is still a trade off the developers make.
People act as though 30 fps is garbage. Less than 10 years ago 30 fps was pretty much all that could be done in a AAA game.
Yes, I have Returnal and I enjoyed playing through the game, very repetitive but a real great gameplay experience. Astro Bot looks like it will be cute and fun, but appears void of any great story.
Yes, there is more to games than visuals. To me, it is the whole game experience. Controls, gameplay, sound, visuals, story, etc. I have yet to play any game on any platform this generation that has combined all those elements into a near perfect game. To me, every game has come up short in one aspect or another as the generation has unfolded.
Re: Sony PlayStation 'Regrettably Outspends Us', Says Xbox EMEA Marketing Boss
@WhiteRabbit
First, they are a 3 trillion dollar company.
Second, I would rather they spend on games then on marketing. Sony has released pretty much nothing new from their first party studios this generation. All games to date have been evolutionary releases on existing game engines. They are marketing well, but they are really lacking new and truly next gen games from their biggest studios. Microsoft is not exactly lighting up the generation yet either but at least their studios are releasing new games that are on heavily updated or new engines.
Re: Microsoft Says FTC Is Being 'Misleading' In Response To Xbox Game Pass Criticisms
@GuyinPA75
At the end of the day no one is forcing anyone to subscribe to GamePass. All you have to do is go into your profile and cancel it. I cancelled my Netflix subscription last year, MS is coming very close to me cancelling my GamePass subscription.
Re: FTC Calls Out Xbox's New 'Degraded' Game Pass Tier & Price Increases
I am not going to defend what MS did. To me, it is not good.
But, the FTC is full of BS here. The reason behind this has nothing to do with MS market power. This is a trend we are seeing through the industry. Almost every subscription I subscribe to including, Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Nest, etc has gone up in price over the past six months. There was this little thing called inflation over the past two years. Companies have to pay their employees more because of it, and we all know the companies are not going to swallow that increase, they are going to pass it on to consumers. These are the simple facts.
I don't like it, but that is how the economy works.
Re: Antstream Arcade Celebrates One Year On Xbox, Reveals 'Most Played Games' So Far
I love Antstream Arcade on XB. I would love it on PC as well but there is no lifetime purchase option there.
So, I am limited to just playing it on XB.
Re: Xbox Gaming On Amazon's Fire Stick Is Getting Mixed Feedback So Far
As with everything now-a-days, the first version is barely a beta worth using to play. They will fix it about two more revisions of firestick and the service down the line.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Ever Pre-Order Xbox Games Anymore?
With day one quality being what it is, I find it incredibly hard to even think about pre-ordering a game...
I don't know why anyone would put themselves through the frustration of day one games. The last time I pre-ordered day one was for Cyberpunk 2077 and CoD Black Ops Cold War. Cyberpunk's release is well documented. On BO Cold War the game kept freezing on me when I went on the infiltration mission in Russia and the helicopter arrived.
Before that the previous pre-order was Batman Arkham Origins, got 10 hours on day one into the game meticulously going through and my save corrupted. Found out next day it was a known bug.
Day one is dead to me.
Re: GTA 5 Dev Talks Cancelled Single-Player DLC, Says It Was 'Really, Really Good'
@nomither6
I am glad that there is one AAA game that killed only and is still doing good. But, the vast majority of games seem to think online is a key to success and when push comes to shove they invest more in online than in single player.
Re: GTA 5 Dev Talks Cancelled Single-Player DLC, Says It Was 'Really, Really Good'
It is a sad state we are in that even one of the biggest games in the market has to prioritize online over the single player experience.
Does not bode well for continued single player centric games.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Appears To Have Passed 600K Sales In Japan
@themightyant
There many reasons why I think S is doing well. First is cost. It is the cheapest way to get a powerful console. Second, I think would be TVs. Most smaller TVs are only HD, so there is not much sense buying an X if your TV is only HD and you intend to keep it that way. Finally, as a secondary console. If you primarily game on PS or Switch and decide to buy an XB secondary console to play some of the exclusive games, you probably see S as a cheap way to do that.
Personally, I bought an S for my one and only HD TV. No need to have an X when an S will do on a secondary gaming TV.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Feel About 2024 On Xbox So Far?
Games are rolling out pretty consistently and are from a variety of genres. I think 2024 is doing fine.
For XB itself I think they are doing fine as well. Some new console offerings coming, a new IP before the end of the year, Hellblade II already released, and constant support for live service games such as Flight Simulator, Elder Scrolls, Forza Motorsport, etc. is also providing gamers with additional things to do. To me their showcase in June was the best since the FF surprise announcement back in the 360 era.
Re: Don't Get Your Hopes Up About Banjo-Kazooie, Suggests New Xbox Rumour
The problem with these platforming IPs is that there is a lack of creativity bringing the genre forward. Most of the platforming games guide you through a story and challenges with collectibles along the way that help you through the game in different ways. Platformers need to figure out how to make themselves relevant in different ways going forward to broaden how many gamers want to play them.
Re: Talking Point: Has Your Gaming Slowed Down As You've Got Older?
Gaming has gone through different phases in my life. When I was young I played games in almost all my spare time. When I had a family gaming was still there but didn't have the time I had when I was young. My kids are in the graduation phase from high school and university and I am getting more time but not gaming much because I am in a lifestyle transition from the big home with a family to the home I will probably have until I retire. I expect once I get done this transition I will start to get more gaming time. It is one of my hobbies. But, I am no where nearly as competitive and I don't have the reflexes I had earlier so not much of an online gamer. Much more enjoy a great story and a game that isn't overly challenging to get through. Gone are the days of 100% percenting achievements and being able to do games like Souls and twitchy MP games like Street Fighter, etc. In are the days of games that have a great story, make me think to get through them, and at least involve some talent to get through the story. Only a few games will I strive to get 100% achievement completion as long as they are not a full on commitment for weeks/months.
As I am getting older I am facing the reality that my health depends on a balance. To me gaming is more mental than physical, but I will also need the physical me to avoid the big issues like heart disease, stoke, cancer, etc. My advice to people is that too much of any one thing is not good. Gaming to me is an important hobby, but so is getting outdoors, eating healthy,, and physically being healthy. No one approach fits all and you need to do research to figure out the balance you want in your life for gaming.
Re: Capcom Announces New Dead Rising Remaster, Likely Coming To Xbox Series X|S
Loved the game but would rather see a full remake rather than just "yet another remaster".
Re: Xbox Is Bringing Cloud Gaming To The Amazon Fire TV Stick
More devices where XB games are available = More XB gamers = more XB games. I like this a lot. I have a 7 TVs between two homes. I buy firesticks for all my TVs. The ability to play on firestick will save me having to buy consoles for every TV.
Re: Xbox Patent Reveals What 'Keystone' Streaming Device Might Have Looked Like
@FarmDog08
I have a ROG Ally and it is pretty good to play all XB PC Games.
Would love to see MS enter the fray and deliver something with stronger battery life and better performance.
Re: Former Redfall Studio Head Already Looking Forward To What's Next
@Scummbuddy
MS doesn't tell studios what games to make from what information is available publicly. There are certain studios that are allocated to specific IPs for sure.
Redfall was in development before MS even took over the studio so it can't be said the studio was doing something MS told them to do.
@Mustoe
MS cannot delay games forever. I would think that the studio would've been asked when the game would be ready. MS delayed the game a year. They can't delay a game forever. And judging by my personal experience with the game it would've taken several more years to make the game a truly great experience.
Re: Xbox Already Planning For 'Great Showcase' Next Year As Team 'Hits Stride' In 2024
@tho_mi
To be fair they purchased more than two publishers. They also purchased a bunch of individual studios before that.
To also be fair creating games is obviously changing and taking a lot longer. Sony has always been considered a great gaming content delivery company. Naughty Dog, Guerilla, Sucker Punch, etc. have all been pretty quiet this past few years. The only developer that seems to be delivering consistently this generation is Insomniac and it is pretty obvious they are just enhancing and improving their engine while putting a new story/paint job on it.
I think a lot of studios have been struggling with the new platforms and what they can potentially create for them. The new platforms allow for massive scope games and a lot of new capabilities. In past generations games taking advantage of new capabilities have taken longer and longer to create. I expect the entire industry is having a similar problem.
By buying so many publishers/studios I think MS has enough total studios that they can generate content consistently. Sony is now much smaller on content creation and it is showing. Their internal studios are struggling to ship new content with frequency.
Re: Former Redfall Studio Head Already Looking Forward To What's Next
Hearing from the head of the studio that developed Redfall that they have energy for what is next is not promising. LOL. Redfall had a good premise and the story was decent, but the execution was awful. This guy should go back to doing what he did before he was a studio head. Because anyone that was reporting that the game was ready to ship or that felt it was good enough to ship should not be running any studio.
Re: Hi-Fi RUSH Developer Tango Gameworks Has Now Officially Closed Its Doors
There are very few studios that have been around a long time. There are a lot more disappointing closures than there are studios that have longevity.
Unfortunately, this is how the industry works. You need to build games that sell 10 mln plus copies consistently to stick around. Not a lot of studios do that.
Re: Xbox's 2024 Showcase Was Great, But It Was Missing A Big ActiBlizz Announcement
I would expect to see a big GamePass drop in around the holiday season (October) timeframe to try and drive more console sales. CoD and a bunch Activision-Blizzard games would drive sale pretty good. Add Overwatch 2, Crash, Spyro games, and Tony Hawk for holidays 2024 would probably help drive console sales nicely.
Re: Clockwork Revolution Dev Pokes Fun As It Still 'Figures Out' Xbox Release Date
I don't know why people think this is a 2025 possible release. XB has a lot of games due for release soon. I doubt that a studio that released Wasteland 3 in 2020 followed by some expansions is anywhere close to done their next game. I would expect this to be 2026 or beyond. Large AAA games are taking longer and longer to make. Look at The Coalition. They released Gears 5 in 2019, they just announced Gears E-Day this month. Probably still on the horizon for release.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's 2024 Showcase Felt Like A Throwback To The 360 Era, In The Best Way Possible
I really liked this format. Very small bits from leadership, the rest was trailer after trailer and gameplay after gameplay of a ton of games coming to XB. Microsoft's size with XBox Game Studios, AKB, and Bethesda is starting to show. They didn't even bring half their studios to the show!
Re: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Brings BioWare RPG Back To Xbox In Fall 2024
Was it just me or did this game feel too "cartoony". I am really scared this may be the last kick of the can for Bioware, and I am not sure it looks like it will be all that successful.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The Xbox Games Showcase 2024?
XB did well today, hopefully the negative news is in the rear view mirror now and we hear great news like today going forward.
Re: Gears Of War: E-Day Dev Is 'Not Retreating' From The Modern Gears Saga
More gears = More Lancer = More chain saw fun!
Re: Talking Point: What Convinced You To Pick Xbox In The First Place?
I started with the original XB. I was on a gaming pause for a few years because of life circumstances (career, spouse, kids, house buying, etc.). I bought original XB near the end of its cycle to play Halo and its online vision. Bought every XB day one since.
I primarily game on XB but own Switch/Wii and all the PS devices except PS1. I primarily game on XB because:
1) They have a vision I want to see with gaming. Gaming anywhere on any device I choose.
2) Online is higher quality and more reliable (Although does have its issues).
3) My career has been full of MS products professionally and I feel they give good bang for each buck spent. Therefore I felt their gaming product would do the same. I was correct. I often compare my costs of gaming between Nintendo, MS, and Sony. I find Nintendo most expensive, Sony sec most expensive, and MS the cheapest platform to game on based on how I purchase.
Re: Bethesda Announces Plans For The Final Redfall Update On Xbox & PC
I played through the game and it is nothing great (But not totally bad). Critic scores were deserved, and although I hate any studio shutting down, if this was a sign of their future games then MS made the correct choice here.
Re: Activision Is Opening A New Studio To Build 'Genre-Defining' Games At Microsoft
I am frustrated with all these downsizing, studio closures, etc.
But, there is a fundamental change happening in the industry.
AAA games are costing more and taking longer to build. Inflation has happened so now games are more expensive to build and they cost more to buy. Also, because games are getting bigger they take a lot longer to build. This is not a linear thing, it is more exponential. Just play GTA III and then play GTA V, You can see there is a ton more to the game. And GTA VI will be even bigger. You look at the sheer size of games. Most great games are at least double or triple the install size the same franchise games was last generation and literally 10-50 times the size they were in the PS3/XB/Wii era. All this adds up to more to build a game.
With more to build it makes certain games not profitable anymore. I hate that Tango closed, but their games were not high profit games, they were mostly breaking even and although Evil Within and HiFi Rush were both successful games, I doubt they made much. Nobody talks about how disappointed they are to see Ghostwire gone. The studio made a decent game there but for all purposes it was a flop both financially and critically.
Shutting down Arcane Austin. Ya, that was well deserved. Redfall was a hot mess at launch, and really didn't get a lot better after the studio spending a year fixing it.
And I might add studio closures are nothing new. Sony has closed a couple studios over the past couple years and also laid off 8% of gaming staff. This is not unique in the industry. It is rumored that Ubisoft also cancelled a major game, EA has done layoffs/closures, etc. People are acting like this is all new news and XB is evil, but they are just doing what ALL other major publishers are doing.
Re: Tango Gameworks Manager Proudly Displays Hi-Fi RUSH Awards Following Studio Shutdown
I get it, the games from Tango weren't necessarily big sellers, but outside of Ghostwire I felt the studio provided game quality and diversity to XB. A shame they shut this studio down.
They talked about focus, but it is not like Tango employees are going to other XB Japan studios to help focus more. I don't even think there are other Japan XB studios to go to.
Re: Xbox's Sea Of Thieves Plunders PS5 Charts, Becoming Europe's Best-Selling Game In April
3 Wishes...
Wish #1 - I hope that exclusives disappear on all platforms going forward. I like to play great games and every platform has games you can only play on specific platforms day one.
Wish #2 - Consoles get a Hardware/Firmware/OS standard that all the vendors ship. Whether it is Sony, MS, or Nintendo standard hardware would reduce the cost of development and allow developers to focus on the standard.
Wish #3 - I wish fanboyism would completely disappear. Fanboys are toxic to gaming.
I primarily play on XB, but I also own a PC, iPad, iPhone, XSX, PS5, Switch, and Asus ROG Ally. I could save buying at least two devices ($800) if I only had to buy one console brand to play all console games which I could re-direct to buying more games.
Re: Redfall DLC Cancelled As Developer Arkane Austin Gets Closed Down By Xbox
@Fenbops
I stopped buying games day one years ago. The turning point was when Rocksteady shipped Batman Arkham City. Got 12 hours into the game and my game save corrupted. A day later they announced it was a bug.
Games ship on day one as alphas or betas at best now-a-days. If the game catches on the companies do what it takes to make them full and proper games. If they don't do well, they just shutdown the studios and quit supporting the game.
I really want to like modern games, but more and more the companies are turning me off of the industry.
Re: Xbox Fans React Angrily To Closure Of Bethesda's Tango Gameworks
I am mildly surprised with Tango because they have made great games. The others should come as no surprise. Roundhouse has been MIA for years now, Alpha dog is redundant with the large mobile developers they acquired with AKB, and Austin completely blew Redfall.
Tango was a great studio but the issue is the genre of games they played in are not huge sellers. Evil Within is a great game, but its grittiness/horror is a turn off to the mass market. Ghost Wire was interesting but not very well received critically. HiFi was really good, but not a big seller probably. It is disappointing this has to happen, but these companies exist for profit, not to build games that don't recover their investments.
This is what sucks about the gaming/movie business. The money goes to the big selling projects while the more creative and riskier projects get shelved. I just hope MS does not dump Double Fine. They have quirky, fun, creative games.
Re: Xbox Exec Hypes Up Hellblade 2 As Team Green Lays Out Launch Plans
@IOI
I agree. MS has spent the marketing dollars but I don't think they are getting the reach that they need. Just look at how AKB games sell, it is obvious their marketing is top notch. It seems like everything they release is either a popular cult classic, or wildly successful game.
Re: Microsoft Gauges Interest In 'Handheld Gaming' Devices With New Survey
I have the Asus ROG Ally and love it, would love a true XB Console version of a handheld similar to ROG Ally. My only three beefs of the ROG Ally is:
1) It isn't a true console interface (it is Windows).
2) Battery life needs to be longer.
3) Would like a option to buy a SIM card and use 5G cellular for mobile gaming.
I envision three variants.
1) XB Mobile Stream - A streaming only device. Long battery life but must always be connected to broadband.
2) XB Mobile - A ROG Ally type console device.
3) XB Mobile Pro - A ROG Ally type console device. with 5G capabilities.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Is Adding The Ability To Manage Save Files
@ValentineMeikin
That is factually incorrect. On X360 I can go in and manage all game saves. Cloud, hard drive, and USB for all my 360 games. It was the dark era of XBO that MS started to make this opaque to the gamer.
Re: Xbox's Gaming Revenue Is Up 51% YoY Following Activision Blizzard Acquisition
Really this is an artificial increase. But, I hope that MS Gaming revenue starts increasing more over time now that studios have completed their pre-MS projects and are now starting to deliver projects that are solely under MS.
Re: Talking Point: How Often Do You Pick 'Quality' Over 'Performance' Modes On Xbox Series X|S?
I typically choose framerate over quality. I am glad gamers get to choose. There are some games where the graphics are so good though that I will choose resolution over framerate.
Re: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Is Reduced On Xbox For The First Time This Week
There is no way I pay $22.49 for three games that are over 20 years old and when I originally bought all three as they came to bargain bins I picked them up for $9.99 each. I will wait til they are 50% off. I really liked the games but I can still fire up my original PS to play them.
Re: Xbox Establishes New Team Dedicated To 'Game Preservation And Forward Compatibility'
@shoeses
Personally I think this article is mis-titled. Forward compatibility is the ability of something today to take advantage of new tech as it becomes available. For example, if the game is 4K when 8K consoles come out it can take full advantage of the 8K device because the assets of the game were actually made in 8K.
Games Preservation is more about the ability to keep a game running as it is today on future devices. Building into the firmware/OS of devices the ability to continue to run the games well into the future on future device. That does not mean they will take advantage of the device capabilities though.
There is no mention of forward compatibility in the quote of the article though. So that is why I say it is mis-titled.
Re: Hellblade 1's Director Is No Longer Part Of Ninja Theory, Confirms Xbox
To me, turnover happens in the gaming industry. I don't know how that makes news. AAA games are made by 100's of people. It is a team effort not an individual effort.
Especially now that the industry is consolidating there is bound to be people that don't like consolidation, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and just get paid so much that they don't need/want to work anymore. It happens in every industry.
Re: Xbox & PlayStation's Most-Played Games In 2023 Were Averaging Seven Years Old
This just shows the current state of gaming which is not good in my opinion.
Only three games have a true single player campaign on the list (CoD, GTA, and Starfield). Only one of them is driven by the SP experience (Starfield) whereas the other two GTA and CoD probably made the list based on their MP experience.
Re: Gearbox Entertainment Acquired By 2K As Team Confirms 'Borderlands 4'
That is a nice logical fit as they often published through 2K games.
Re: Rumour: Microsoft Is Apparently Prototyping Xbox Handheld Hardware
@GuyinPA75
I think the Series S is a 7/10 device. It is a great idea but I think the execution of its specs was a bit off. But you have to remember that it is the first such console ever. I like that they are giving gamers different entry prices to consoles. They just could've did a better job making sure the specs were up to snuff in the right places. I would love to see another Series S next generation now that they have experience with having a multi-tiered console entry point.
As for mobile vs console UIs I don't think that is all that hard to deal with. Games already adjust to different screen resolutions, so mobile is mostly an exercise in adjusting to a smaller screen resolution.
Re: Rumour: Resident Evil 9 Could Go Open World Thanks To Dragon's Dogma 2
I don't know about that. A certain amount of any game like resident evil is how they setup the surprise and shocking moments in the game. How would you set those up to happen in an open world environment because many of these are dependent on sequence?
Re: Talking Point: Xbox Series X|S Owners, How's Your Storage Looking In 2024?
Storage this generation is a real sore spot for me. I had 3 x 8 Tb drives housing my entire 360 and XBO library. Now I am down to 3 Tb with the expansion card. I want to be able to have tons of storage for all my games and I don't want to always be thinking about the fast vs slow storage available. And now that we are a few years into this gen there just is not enough fast storage available on these devices.