@NoLifeDGenerate I do agree with what you are saying, but also do you want them to focus on delivering games or do you want them to focus on getting rid of duplicate account stuff?
@nomither6
I do think we are at a point of diminishing returns for many parts of games such as graphics, sound, physics, etc. But there are many other places of improvement to come. More intelligent baddies thru AI, more interactivity with the world in games, broader game worlds, etc.
I like to describe it as the games don't look better, they will feel better. That can be evidenced with frame rates. 30 fps is all the human eye can see, but 60 fps games feel a lot better, you can really see a visual difference. The game just feels smoother.
In the end I felt this was a pretty brilliant move by MS. Essentially they are going to make their gaming division more profitable by making games available on other platforms later. Investors in Sony/Nintendo will look at this and say, "why aren't you doing the same?". And both will have to explain why they are targeting 100 million gamers instead of 200-300 million gamers across all consoles. To that there is no good answer. Then 5-10 years down the road there will be incentive for all three to get together and build a standard console rather than having three. Make no mistake, MS is playing a long game here. And they are best equipped to play that long game.
@nomither6 I agree completely. The last two generations have been somewhat disappointing in my view in comparison. XBO/PS4 were for the most part graphical and framerate leaps forward and that was not even fully realized until the Pros came out. PS5/XB Series the leap forward was in drive performance and size of games. To me that has not been all the great yet though because the developers have only started making games that are next gen only.
Every console vendor over hypes the next generation of consoles. PS3 was supposed to be an HD console but very few games and no AAA games ever shipped in HD. Both XBO and PS4 first iterations talked up 4K gaming but neither really got there until the Pro versions came out. XB Series and PS5 have bragged about the greatness of this generation but up until late this last year all the same games were shipping on the previous gen consoles as well.
Yada, yada, yada, when the next gen comes out I will buy it, but I don't expect it to be much different in leap then previous gens. I do expect the addition of AI though which could be a game changer.
@theduckofdeath
MS explicitly said in the business update that first party games come to GamePass. I expect that will be all of them. They did not say there would be any exclusions.
A tricky thing MS could do is keep CoD Warzone as multi-platform and instead of calling CoD Modern Warfare, CoD Black Ops, CoD WWII, etc. game drop the CoD name and let them be stand alone campaigns exclusive to XB.
@abe_hikura All XB is, is a Windows PC with a TV friendly user interface. That is why MS is able to ship all its games on XB and PC at the same time. They have mostly the same base OS.
I would suspect an XB portable would have a similar interface more to the XB console then a Windows PC. Hence calling it XB rather than a MS Surface Windows mobile gaming PC.
@Kaloudz It is actually pretty obvious that the next gen will be a large leap. I would expect the tagline to be AI related. AI built into the hardware, the OS, and then in games.
@InheritNegative
Although I agree with everything you said, I do think that the “bloated” is a huge problem in the industry. Game developers seem to only want to make large online services that have 10 year lifecycles and require a gazillion hour commitment.
I think there is a large market for people that like engaging and original stories that allows you to play in half hour to one and a half hour sessions and takes less than a few weeks of those sessions to complete. Oh and yes there is a clear completion.
There seems to be either mega monster sized games or lower production value indie games. Gone is the happy medium between the two. I am really hoping Hellblade 2 sits in the category and does well.
@RonF There is too much latency on the cloud streaming world right now. I know that will eventually change but for the foreseeable future that latency makes playing intense games where every millisecond of latency counts untenable in cloud streaming.
Microsoft has made several big bets and they have hits and misses. XB 360 was a hit, XB Live was a hit, Achievements a hit, Kinect was a hit but over sold so failed, XB One was a fail, XSX/XSS a hit. I like that they take chances.
I don't know why people are so crazy about this. Microsoft will still make consoles and Microsoft will still make games after this week and on into the future.
Microsoft already releases all their games multi-platform on both Windows and XB. If had to go with one platform and exclusives was the sole driver I would switch to PC since both MS and Sony are putting many of their exclusives on PC too already.
@Sakai
Everyone may have their own reasons but these are mine:
1) I have never had my credit card compromised on XB while I did on PSN in one of their many hack downs.
2) I feel XB Online is better and safer than PSN.
3) I think economically XB is a cheaper platform to play on with GamePass and Series S.
4) I prefer achievements over trophies.
5) XB is my primary console platform with most of my gaming history.
6) I like Microsoft better than Sony although I think both are just corporations trying to suck my money away.
7) I do not like how Sony keeps remastering their games that are only one or two generations old and recharging gamers for them.
8) I also appreciate how MS stood behind their product and replaced my 360 console when it got the RRoD. My PS4 died during warranty and it took me two months to get a new one.
I am sure lots of people have lots of reasons to buy PS but for me I will stick with XB even if they move multi-platform. I should note I also own a PS5 and Switch. And whenever next gen consoles comes out I will buy them all as well.
Yes, I just started it last week actually. Very good car simulation racer. Encourages you to drive properly. The better you drive the better rewards you get.
@Lansky Gaming is too strategic for Microsoft’s evolution of Windows and Azure for them to just become another third party publisher. There is more to this than we know and there are many things they can do to still keep XB strong.
Console sales quantities are not everything. And the console wars ended long ago. MS has never finished a generation above 3rd. I expect they will still make XB hardware but I expect things to change. Maybe XB becomes more of a spec that third parties hardware vendors can use and sell their own gaming devices? Today almost every major gaming publisher publishes on PC. Maybe PCs and XB consoles merge? Hook up a PC to a TV and you can select an option for it to be the XB UI? That would give console buyers a lot more hardware options.
I don't know why so many people are pegging this as the end of the world for XB consoles.
First, Sony won't let GamePass on PS and that is the primary MS revenue generator from gaming. Anything that reduces those subscriptions is not good.
Second, I think that the future of gaming is multi-platform everything. MS is just being first on this. AAA games are taking 5+ years to make with teams of 200-300 people. The costs are making it unfeasible to ship games on only one platform.
Third, if I had a dollar for every time people thought XB consoles were going to be killed off I would be rich and retired by now. LOL. This is no different.
@CharlieChooChoo You are wrong. No one owns their games.
You only own the media that the game is on. There is an EULA agreement in every physical game box. The EULA clearly states that the owner of the media is only licensed to play the game by having the media. At no time digitally or physically does a gamer own any game. We are only licensed to play them. The whole notion that anyone owns a game is factually in correct. We only own a license to play the game. In the digital and physical world these licenses are exactly the same. The only difference is that in the physical world there is a mechanism to change ownership of the physical media. The digital world does not have a mechanism for this.
Was it just me or was this show highly focused on quantity over quality? Also a lot of Japanese based content. I did not see a single game there that made me think I need to dust off my PS5 to get ready for a game. The big gun Sony Studios seem to be MIA right now.
Graphically the only really good console exclusive was Death Stranding 2. And after playing the first game, I am not interested in playing the second one (not that it was bad, just not my kind of game). I can just wait til it comes to GamePass on PC if I really feel the urge to play it as Death Stranding 1 was on GamePass PC for a while.
The multi-platform games had a few good showings - aka Dragon's Dogma 2 and Sonic.
I would've expected nothing less than fantastic from Blizzard. They are my favorite development studio.
No telling how far it was away from release though. Blizzard is not known for short development times. Diablo IV came 11 years after Diablo III. A new IP might be a 20 year process at Blizzard. LOL
@Romans12 I don't disagree with your comment. But to me it is more about the number of games I want to play and where can I play them. To me XB is building a large diversity of games. They have a very diverse set of game studios now. And a lot of these studio make great quality games. They may not all be masterpieces but they provide a lot of diversity in gaming experiences.
To me, Sony has become a bit of a one trick pony. Sony makes the ultimate action-adventure games. Also, Sony gets a large portion of Japanese releases. Nintendo has some diversity but unfortunately they haven't been as good at releasing powerful gaming hardware.
In the early days of XB I would walk the physical aisles at GameStop, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy once a week to see the new physical releases. I only go to these aisles about once a year since late in the X360 cycle when all games released digitally.
By the end of this decade physical game releases will be all but dead. Just like music CDs and Blu-Rays. I do hope that they still put out external drives for people that have physical media (I still have a lot), but, as far as I am concerned physical entertainment media is a thing of the past.
I think that GamePass killed physical sales on XB. You think about it and physical sales are for people that are trying to keep gaming costs as low as possible, for people with poor internet connections, or people that are collectors. GamePass probably attracted a lot of the people trying to save money on gaming (It did for me). And Starlink is making fast Internet more universal. That leaves collectors who will keep buying physical media forever.
I think it depends on what the new controller brings for features and feel. I don't buy a controller just because it is new, I buy a controller that will significantly improve my gameplay or gameplay experience.
@themightyant This is the only meaningful comment in the thread so far. I expect that MS only made slight adjustments to their model after the Redfall poor release. I think they will still promote studio independence and publisher autonomy because of the popularity of the brand names but will apply more oversight for quality of games. You will notice that you are not seeing Bethesda branded as Microsoft. They don't say Microsoft Bethesda ever. It is purely Bethesda still. I would expect the same for Activision-Blizzard-King.
@xboxjapanfan That is a ridiculous comment. Something does not fail because a female is running it, it fails because the person running it was not good at what they were doing. XB has had plenty of male failures. Most notably Don Mattrick.
It is official then, physical is dead. I am fine with that. Haven't bought a physical game since Disney Infinite. And only did so then because of the physical accessories for the game.
Mass lay-offs are never good. 1,900 pwople lost their jobs.
It sounds bad, but I will bet that a good portion of those lay-offs would be in corporate roles such as high level leadership, IT, payroll, HR, finance, payables, receivables, legal, treasury, health, safety, environment, etc positions. Being part of MS there would be a lot of duplication in those departments that could be handled by MS existing related departments.
There is no statement here on how many of these positions are actual game building related staff. We know a Blizzard game was cancelled, but did those people move back to existing teams or get purely laid off?
We simply don't know. And speculation without facts to me is not good.
@Kaloudz
I completely agree with your comments. But wouldn't it be nice for games to ship on Day One with the quality they are by the end of year one?
I like that MS/Arkane are fixing the game, but it is kind of sad that I didn't even think about playing or buying it day one because a good 50% of hyped titles ship on day one in a beta/alpha state.
Kudos for fixing the game, but I respect HiFi Rush, Diablo IV, Starfield, and Forza Motorsport devts much more simply because they shipped in a solid day one state.
It is getting harder and harder to find physical media... All digital is not far away.
I started buying digital in 2005 with Frogger on X360. Since they started shipping games digitally I start buying them digital only. Am very happy I did. Would not go back to physical media ever again.
I stream music on Spotify, stream movies and TV through firesticks, and download my games to my consoles, ROG ALLY, and PCs to play. Also, will play the odd game on cloud, but frankly the cloud is a lesser quality experience.
@MrMagic I think the play to get subscribers up is going to be similar to Ubisoft and EA Play. MS will start releasing all their games on all the console platforms allowing them to take their subscription model to more platforms.
This would grow GamePass subscriptions and force Sony to include GamePass on PS (MS could argue with regulators, that Sony is allowing other subscriptions but not MS subscriptions so MS could either remove content from Sony platforms or Sony allow GamePass). With Sony ill prepared to take their games cross-platform this would give MS an advantage to both grow their subscriber base and take market share from Sony. Sony is highly reliant on revenue from both PS Plus and exclusives. If either revenue stream gets diluted at all, Sony will start to get squeezed and they are not big enough to absorb less revue and keep up the same development levels. This would force Sony into multi-platform, which plays into MS' strategy I think.
Arguably, if Sony was to fight this by letting MS take big IPs like Diablo, Call of Duty, etc. away from the platform you would see a slow bleed to XB gaining market share. MS is being smart here and putting Sony into a conundrum of no good options. Let MS have GamePass on PS diluting their subscription revenues and forcing them to go multi-platform to get the subscription revenues back up, or let MS take the content exclusive shifting fans of MS studio multi-platform games to XB.
@Friendly I haven't done any of the detailed math but you have to take into account what they are paying for too.
MS is running the XB Live network on GamePass, all their original internal studios, ZeniMax studios, Activision-Blizzard studios, and paying for other publishers/studios to put their content on GamePass.
$461 mln per month seems like a lot but they are also paying out a lot too.
What I love most about these DD's is that it is told by the people behind the game about what what they are trying to achieve in the games.
I am sure marketing helped the studios with their segments but it just seemed as though everything was genuinely from the devt studios with no "Pre-order now", "special edition controllers", no celebrity guests, etc. Just information about the games from the studios making them. I prefer this to all other shows.
@Widey85 I don't see an issue here. It is an economic decision by the developer. They say they don't think they would get 5,000 physically sales on XB.
With an assumed install base of 25 mln, that means that they do not expect the game to sell to .02% of XB owners. I am not sure a developer skipping the platform because they don't think they can sell their game to .02% of the platform owners is any sort of issue.
MS owns enough major studios and IP now that it would be difficult for a significant game to skip XB. Even Square is coming back to XB now. The platform is now guaranteed to have great content with the Activision-Blizzard acquisition.
Don't get me wrong though. I do get disappointed when I see a game skip XB. But at the the same time, if next to nobody was going to buy it, did it really matter? It sounds like this game may be suited to a GamePass release a bit later on.
@trev666 To be fair, it is a very large game. And if you look at Bethesda's history with Fallout and Elder Scrolls this game meets or exceeds the bar from a quality perspective. Live service or not.
If 343 would've did a full graphical update to the game it would have been perfect. I still play the game but because the graphical assets did not get a full update it falls a bit flat in that category.
@VisitingComet1 I agree. Microtransactions stink. To me should have many options on how to pay for your experience. One always being to pay once price and get everything.
I am probably in the minority here, but I would love to see a continuation of Halo Infinite single player on the current Halo Ring. They left us stranded in another part of the ring at the end of the Halo Infinite campaign. Would love that to continue.
Switch it to UE5 and make it an incredible campaign. Also, keep giving more and more updates for the multi-player. Just keep building!
It doesn't hurt to try new game ideas for IPs. Some succeed, others fail. I would rather they try then just keep doing infinite Minecraft core updates.
Throw some new ideas against the wall and see if they stick! That's the beauty of gamepass. Studios can try some stuff in different directions. HiFi Rush and Pentiment were both very successful. Also liked Minecraft Dungeons and Grounded.
@Kaloudz Machine Games has only done FPS for Wolfenstein reboot. Also the whole group of Bethesda studios has mostly deliver First Person games. So it is probably a pretty good bet they will again go first person. But they could be trailblazing new ground which could send them in some other direction.
I don't care about consoles or not consoles... What I do care is that I have a device for me to play games in my TV and that device has a friendly UI for the TV. My love of consoles is the fact that the input device only requires a controller, the UI is designed around the entertainment experience, and the device is powerful enough (and cheap enough) to run the latest great games.
I am buying the XB experience not a console. And to me that experience also includes content, safe/performant online gaming, achievements, gamepass, and play anywhere on any device including dedicated devices and cloud.
As long as the device does all that it could be a tablet, lego bricks, tower PC, console, or whatever. I don't care. People get too attached to "this is the way we do things". And should focus more on, "this is what the thing needs to do to get me to buy it".
I think this was a win across the board for everyone. Gamers got a new, unexpected game from MS/Tango Gameworks, the shadow drop was a huge positive surprise, and the game was high quality, and I don't know how well its "engagement" was, but I assume pretty good based on playing it myself.
As with everything else, I think Gears has been trying to grow and be too inclusive which is turning a lot of the original lovers of the game off.
It has lost a lot of its grittiness. In the first two games you had to show skill in getting through the levels and it was all about grit. But since three it has been smooth and easy to get through the levels even at harder difficulties.
The female lead story is ok, but as with everything it is more about the personal female then it is about the overall story. Story telling has to return to the overarching stories instead of always trying to delve deep into morals and personal struggles. It is like every story game now a days has to stand for some morally woke emotion rather than just be a simple story that entertains you.
Souls games don't apologize for the story and gameplay they all seem to have. Gears should not have apologized and changed to try and get a much broader audience.
@Cikajovazmaj I do have a very limited amount of time each week in which I play games. Probably 2 to a maximum of 10 hours per week at this stage of life. So, the number of games I get through per month is probably 2-3. I still find GamePass to be financially better because I play a lot of different games (Probably 3-8 per month). Also, even if you play one different full cost game per month GamePass is $15 USD and includes online gaming. A good 80% of gamers at least use online, so if you break out the GamePass cost it is probably around $10 USD. You can play the same full price game for 6 months and you are coming out even.
I do agree though if you are one of those people that just play a single game all the time like Fornite, Call of Duty, etc. GamePass isn't that great of a deal but you have to buy the lowest tier anyhow for the online component.
@awp69 How many really good Day One releases come out in January? Most developers/publishers try to release for the holiday season the top games. Then, January is usually pretty dry. Releases start to pickup again at the end of February til end of June, then we get the summer drought and things pickup in September for the rest of the year.
@NarutosBiggestFan
To me, DoubleFine is a creative XB studio. So I would like to see another new different game from them. I think Psychonauts 2 is one of the best platformers out there and really enjoyed the Costume Quest games but I also liked their other games like Grim Fandango, RAD, Stacking, and Iron Brigade. So would love to see another quirky and new game from them.
@Markatron84
I think it all depends on circumstance and perspective.
If you already have GamePass and intend to pay for it month after month then the games are just part of the monthly fee you pay for the 200+ revolving games you have access to. It is a subscription and you are paying for what is in the subscription. Which is way less than buying all 200+ games (even on sale).
If you don't have GamePass and want to just play the Yakuza games, then you may be better off to buy them when they are on sale like this.
But also, if you don't have GamePass and want to binge on these games and have the time to binge, you could just subscribe for a month to binge them.
Different gamers have different circumstances and perspectives that make them want different pricing models to play games. To me, MS provides the most flexibility in how I play (PlayAnywhere games) and pay (Buy/GamePass).
I bought the Yakuza games when they were similarly priced on XB Sales. And I am a GamePass subscriber. For me I want to own and play the games forever, but GamePass helps me play a lot of new and cool games before they get to the price I want to pay to own them (Especially now that game prices have risen dramatically the past two years). I played a couple of the Yakuza games on GamePass, then when the price was right I scooped them all on sale!
This is the nice thing about owning so many studios..
They don't have to over saturate releasing the same franchises every two to three years. They can go to more 4-6 years cycles for franchises which will keep them in higher demand and allow them to improve each game more than just a mild improvement.
I am not a fan of two to three year cycles for games. Any release 1-3 years after a major release means they are just tweaking the game engine and supplying new content. If it takes 4+ years they are usually doing some major changes to innovate the game engine in some way.
Comments 812
Re: Xbox Reiterates It's Bringing Activision Blizzard's 'Full Portfolio' To Game Pass
@NoLifeDGenerate
I do agree with what you are saying, but also do you want them to focus on delivering games or do you want them to focus on getting rid of duplicate account stuff?
Re: Xbox's Next Console Will Feature The 'Largest Technical Leap Ever' In A Generation
@nomither6
I do think we are at a point of diminishing returns for many parts of games such as graphics, sound, physics, etc. But there are many other places of improvement to come. More intelligent baddies thru AI, more interactivity with the world in games, broader game worlds, etc.
I like to describe it as the games don't look better, they will feel better. That can be evidenced with frame rates. 30 fps is all the human eye can see, but 60 fps games feel a lot better, you can really see a visual difference. The game just feels smoother.
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Commitment To Console Gaming Is Pleasing, But Big Questions Linger
In the end I felt this was a pretty brilliant move by MS. Essentially they are going to make their gaming division more profitable by making games available on other platforms later. Investors in Sony/Nintendo will look at this and say, "why aren't you doing the same?". And both will have to explain why they are targeting 100 million gamers instead of 200-300 million gamers across all consoles. To that there is no good answer. Then 5-10 years down the road there will be incentive for all three to get together and build a standard console rather than having three. Make no mistake, MS is playing a long game here. And they are best equipped to play that long game.
Re: Xbox's Next Console Will Feature The 'Largest Technical Leap Ever' In A Generation
@nomither6
I agree completely. The last two generations have been somewhat disappointing in my view in comparison. XBO/PS4 were for the most part graphical and framerate leaps forward and that was not even fully realized until the Pros came out. PS5/XB Series the leap forward was in drive performance and size of games. To me that has not been all the great yet though because the developers have only started making games that are next gen only.
Re: Xbox's Next Console Will Feature The 'Largest Technical Leap Ever' In A Generation
Every console vendor over hypes the next generation of consoles. PS3 was supposed to be an HD console but very few games and no AAA games ever shipped in HD. Both XBO and PS4 first iterations talked up 4K gaming but neither really got there until the Pro versions came out. XB Series and PS5 have bragged about the greatness of this generation but up until late this last year all the same games were shipping on the previous gen consoles as well.
Yada, yada, yada, when the next gen comes out I will buy it, but I don't expect it to be much different in leap then previous gens. I do expect the addition of AI though which could be a game changer.
Re: Activision Blizzard's First Game Pass Release Has Been Confirmed By Xbox
@theduckofdeath
MS explicitly said in the business update that first party games come to GamePass. I expect that will be all of them. They did not say there would be any exclusions.
A tricky thing MS could do is keep CoD Warzone as multi-platform and instead of calling CoD Modern Warfare, CoD Black Ops, CoD WWII, etc. game drop the CoD name and let them be stand alone campaigns exclusive to XB.
Re: Microsoft Has New Xbox Hardware To Announce For Holiday 2024
@abe_hikura
All XB is, is a Windows PC with a TV friendly user interface. That is why MS is able to ship all its games on XB and PC at the same time. They have mostly the same base OS.
I would suspect an XB portable would have a similar interface more to the XB console then a Windows PC. Hence calling it XB rather than a MS Surface Windows mobile gaming PC.
Re: Talking Point: What's Your Immediate Reaction To Today's Xbox Announcements?
Nothing unexpected except Diablo IV on game pass in early March and hardware news later this year.
Re: Roundup: Here's What Was Revealed At The Xbox 'Business Update Event'
@Kaloudz
It is actually pretty obvious that the next gen will be a large leap. I would expect the tagline to be AI related. AI built into the hardware, the OS, and then in games.
Re: Immortals Of Aveum Cost $125M And Was An 'Awful Idea' In Today's Market, Says Former Dev
@InheritNegative
Although I agree with everything you said, I do think that the “bloated” is a huge problem in the industry. Game developers seem to only want to make large online services that have 10 year lifecycles and require a gazillion hour commitment.
I think there is a large market for people that like engaging and original stories that allows you to play in half hour to one and a half hour sessions and takes less than a few weeks of those sessions to complete. Oh and yes there is a clear completion.
There seems to be either mega monster sized games or lower production value indie games. Gone is the happy medium between the two. I am really hoping Hellblade 2 sits in the category and does well.
Re: First Two Xbox Exclusives Coming To 'Rival Consoles' Reportedly Revealed
@RonF
There is too much latency on the cloud streaming world right now. I know that will eventually change but for the foreseeable future that latency makes playing intense games where every millisecond of latency counts untenable in cloud streaming.
Microsoft has made several big bets and they have hits and misses. XB 360 was a hit, XB Live was a hit, Achievements a hit, Kinect was a hit but over sold so failed, XB One was a fail, XSX/XSS a hit. I like that they take chances.
Re: Tension Builds As Xbox Prepares For Major 'Business Update Event' This Week
I don't know why people are so crazy about this. Microsoft will still make consoles and Microsoft will still make games after this week and on into the future.
Microsoft already releases all their games multi-platform on both Windows and XB. If had to go with one platform and exclusives was the sole driver I would switch to PC since both MS and Sony are putting many of their exclusives on PC too already.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3 Dev Gives His 'Optimistic' Thoughts On Xbox-To-PS5 Rumours
@Sakai
Everyone may have their own reasons but these are mine:
1) I have never had my credit card compromised on XB while I did on PSN in one of their many hack downs.
2) I feel XB Online is better and safer than PSN.
3) I think economically XB is a cheaper platform to play on with GamePass and Series S.
4) I prefer achievements over trophies.
5) XB is my primary console platform with most of my gaming history.
6) I like Microsoft better than Sony although I think both are just corporations trying to suck my money away.
7) I do not like how Sony keeps remastering their games that are only one or two generations old and recharging gamers for them.
8) I also appreciate how MS stood behind their product and replaced my 360 console when it got the RRoD. My PS4 died during warranty and it took me two months to get a new one.
I am sure lots of people have lots of reasons to buy PS but for me I will stick with XB even if they move multi-platform. I should note I also own a PS5 and Switch. And whenever next gen consoles comes out I will buy them all as well.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Still Playing Forza Motorsport On Xbox Game Pass?
Yes, I just started it last week actually. Very good car simulation racer. Encourages you to drive properly. The better you drive the better rewards you get.
Re: Xbox Fans Urged To Remain Calm As Emotions Run Wild On Social Media
A lot of comments, a lot of speculation.
No one has a single fact yet on what Microsoft will do.
This is a worldwide problem right now. People react before they have enough verified facts to do anything.
Re: Phil Spencer Addresses Xbox Speculation Ahead Of 'Business Update Event'
@Lansky
Gaming is too strategic for Microsoft’s evolution of Windows and Azure for them to just become another third party publisher. There is more to this than we know and there are many things they can do to still keep XB strong.
Console sales quantities are not everything. And the console wars ended long ago. MS has never finished a generation above 3rd. I expect they will still make XB hardware but I expect things to change. Maybe XB becomes more of a spec that third parties hardware vendors can use and sell their own gaming devices? Today almost every major gaming publisher publishes on PC. Maybe PCs and XB consoles merge? Hook up a PC to a TV and you can select an option for it to be the XB UI? That would give console buyers a lot more hardware options.
Re: Phil Spencer Addresses Xbox Speculation Ahead Of 'Business Update Event'
I don't know why so many people are pegging this as the end of the world for XB consoles.
First, Sony won't let GamePass on PS and that is the primary MS revenue generator from gaming. Anything that reduces those subscriptions is not good.
Second, I think that the future of gaming is multi-platform everything. MS is just being first on this. AAA games are taking 5+ years to make with teams of 200-300 people. The costs are making it unfeasible to ship games on only one platform.
Third, if I had a dollar for every time people thought XB consoles were going to be killed off I would be rich and retired by now. LOL. This is no different.
Re: Xbox Games Are Reportedly No Longer Being Stocked At Some European Retailers
@CharlieChooChoo
You are wrong. No one owns their games.
You only own the media that the game is on. There is an EULA agreement in every physical game box. The EULA clearly states that the owner of the media is only licensed to play the game by having the media. At no time digitally or physically does a gamer own any game. We are only licensed to play them. The whole notion that anyone owns a game is factually in correct. We only own a license to play the game. In the digital and physical world these licenses are exactly the same. The only difference is that in the physical world there is a mechanism to change ownership of the physical media. The digital world does not have a mechanism for this.
Re: Roundup: All The Xbox Reveals From January 2024's State Of Play Event
Was it just me or was this show highly focused on quantity over quality? Also a lot of Japanese based content. I did not see a single game there that made me think I need to dust off my PS5 to get ready for a game. The big gun Sony Studios seem to be MIA right now.
Graphically the only really good console exclusive was Death Stranding 2. And after playing the first game, I am not interested in playing the second one (not that it was bad, just not my kind of game). I can just wait til it comes to GamePass on PC if I really feel the urge to play it as Death Stranding 1 was on GamePass PC for a while.
The multi-platform games had a few good showings - aka Dragon's Dogma 2 and Sonic.
Re: Odyssey Was 'Fantastic' Says Blizzard Dev, Despite Reports Of Development Troubles
I would've expected nothing less than fantastic from Blizzard. They are my favorite development studio.
No telling how far it was away from release though. Blizzard is not known for short development times. Diablo IV came 11 years after Diablo III. A new IP might be a 20 year process at Blizzard. LOL
Re: Hellblade 2 Brings True 'Cinematic Immersion' To Xbox This May, And We're Hyped For It
@Romans12
I don't disagree with your comment. But to me it is more about the number of games I want to play and where can I play them. To me XB is building a large diversity of games. They have a very diverse set of game studios now. And a lot of these studio make great quality games. They may not all be masterpieces but they provide a lot of diversity in gaming experiences.
To me, Sony has become a bit of a one trick pony. Sony makes the ultimate action-adventure games. Also, Sony gets a large portion of Japanese releases. Nintendo has some diversity but unfortunately they haven't been as good at releasing powerful gaming hardware.
Re: Limited Run Says It Will Continue To Support Physical Xbox Releases 'Whenever Possible'
In the early days of XB I would walk the physical aisles at GameStop, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy once a week to see the new physical releases. I only go to these aisles about once a year since late in the X360 cycle when all games released digitally.
By the end of this decade physical game releases will be all but dead. Just like music CDs and Blu-Rays. I do hope that they still put out external drives for people that have physical media (I still have a lot), but, as far as I am concerned physical entertainment media is a thing of the past.
I think that GamePass killed physical sales on XB. You think about it and physical sales are for people that are trying to keep gaming costs as low as possible, for people with poor internet connections, or people that are collectors. GamePass probably attracted a lot of the people trying to save money on gaming (It did for me). And Starlink is making fast Internet more universal. That leaves collectors who will keep buying physical media forever.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Buy A 'Revised' Xbox Series X|S Controller In 2024?
I think it depends on what the new controller brings for features and feel. I don't buy a controller just because it is new, I buy a controller that will significantly improve my gameplay or gameplay experience.
Re: Microsoft Will Apparently Announce Blizzard's New President 'Next Week'
@themightyant
This is the only meaningful comment in the thread so far. I expect that MS only made slight adjustments to their model after the Redfall poor release. I think they will still promote studio independence and publisher autonomy because of the popularity of the brand names but will apply more oversight for quality of games. You will notice that you are not seeing Bethesda branded as Microsoft. They don't say Microsoft Bethesda ever. It is purely Bethesda still. I would expect the same for Activision-Blizzard-King.
@xboxjapanfan
That is a ridiculous comment. Something does not fail because a female is running it, it fails because the person running it was not good at what they were doing. XB has had plenty of male failures. Most notably Don Mattrick.
Re: Xbox's Physical Games Departments Reportedly Affected By Microsoft Layoffs
It is official then, physical is dead. I am fine with that. Haven't bought a physical game since Disney Infinite. And only did so then because of the physical accessories for the game.
Re: Xbox Is Employing 'A More Focused Strategy' After Merging With Activision Blizzard
Mass lay-offs are never good. 1,900 pwople lost their jobs.
It sounds bad, but I will bet that a good portion of those lay-offs would be in corporate roles such as high level leadership, IT, payroll, HR, finance, payables, receivables, legal, treasury, health, safety, environment, etc positions. Being part of MS there would be a lot of duplication in those departments that could be handled by MS existing related departments.
There is no statement here on how many of these positions are actual game building related staff. We know a Blizzard game was cancelled, but did those people move back to existing teams or get purely laid off?
We simply don't know. And speculation without facts to me is not good.
Re: Microsoft Cuts 1,900 Jobs Across Xbox, Bethesda And Activision Blizzard Teams
Unfortunately this stinks. I hate seeing job losses in any company at this magnitude.
Re: Redfall Deploys A Small Hotfix Update For Xbox & PC, Here Are The Details
@Kaloudz
I completely agree with your comments. But wouldn't it be nice for games to ship on Day One with the quality they are by the end of year one?
I like that MS/Arkane are fixing the game, but it is kind of sad that I didn't even think about playing or buying it day one because a good 50% of hyped titles ship on day one in a beta/alpha state.
Kudos for fixing the game, but I respect HiFi Rush, Diablo IV, Starfield, and Forza Motorsport devts much more simply because they shipped in a solid day one state.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think Xbox Will Release Another Disc-Based Console?
It is getting harder and harder to find physical media... All digital is not far away.
I started buying digital in 2005 with Frogger on X360. Since they started shipping games digitally I start buying them digital only. Am very happy I did. Would not go back to physical media ever again.
I stream music on Spotify, stream movies and TV through firesticks, and download my games to my consoles, ROG ALLY, and PCs to play. Also, will play the odd game on cloud, but frankly the cloud is a lesser quality experience.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Likely Surpassed 33 Million Subs Last Year, Claims Analyst
@MrMagic
I think the play to get subscribers up is going to be similar to Ubisoft and EA Play. MS will start releasing all their games on all the console platforms allowing them to take their subscription model to more platforms.
This would grow GamePass subscriptions and force Sony to include GamePass on PS (MS could argue with regulators, that Sony is allowing other subscriptions but not MS subscriptions so MS could either remove content from Sony platforms or Sony allow GamePass). With Sony ill prepared to take their games cross-platform this would give MS an advantage to both grow their subscriber base and take market share from Sony. Sony is highly reliant on revenue from both PS Plus and exclusives. If either revenue stream gets diluted at all, Sony will start to get squeezed and they are not big enough to absorb less revue and keep up the same development levels. This would force Sony into multi-platform, which plays into MS' strategy I think.
Arguably, if Sony was to fight this by letting MS take big IPs like Diablo, Call of Duty, etc. away from the platform you would see a slow bleed to XB gaining market share. MS is being smart here and putting Sony into a conundrum of no good options. Let MS have GamePass on PS diluting their subscription revenues and forcing them to go multi-platform to get the subscription revenues back up, or let MS take the content exclusive shifting fans of MS studio multi-platform games to XB.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Likely Surpassed 33 Million Subs Last Year, Claims Analyst
@Friendly
I haven't done any of the detailed math but you have to take into account what they are paying for too.
MS is running the XB Live network on GamePass, all their original internal studios, ZeniMax studios, Activision-Blizzard studios, and paying for other publishers/studios to put their content on GamePass.
$461 mln per month seems like a lot but they are also paying out a lot too.
Re: Phil Spencer Thanks Xbox Developer Direct Teams, Praises Show Format
What I love most about these DD's is that it is told by the people behind the game about what what they are trying to achieve in the games.
I am sure marketing helped the studios with their segments but it just seemed as though everything was genuinely from the devt studios with no "Pre-order now", "special edition controllers", no celebrity guests, etc. Just information about the games from the studios making them. I prefer this to all other shows.
Re: Phil Spencer Thanks Xbox Developer Direct Teams, Praises Show Format
@Deljo
No shadow drops but they did have a surprise Square Enix Visions of Mana game coming first to XB.
Re: Limited Run Gets Brutally Honest As Xbox Misses Out On Two New Ports
@Widey85
I don't see an issue here. It is an economic decision by the developer. They say they don't think they would get 5,000 physically sales on XB.
With an assumed install base of 25 mln, that means that they do not expect the game to sell to .02% of XB owners. I am not sure a developer skipping the platform because they don't think they can sell their game to .02% of the platform owners is any sort of issue.
MS owns enough major studios and IP now that it would be difficult for a significant game to skip XB. Even Square is coming back to XB now. The platform is now guaranteed to have great content with the Activision-Blizzard acquisition.
Don't get me wrong though. I do get disappointed when I see a game skip XB. But at the the same time, if next to nobody was going to buy it, did it really matter? It sounds like this game may be suited to a GamePass release a bit later on.
Re: Starfield Teases Its 'Biggest' Update Yet, Here's What You Can Expect
@trev666
To be fair, it is a very large game. And if you look at Bethesda's history with Fallout and Elder Scrolls this game meets or exceeds the bar from a quality perspective. Live service or not.
Re: Talking Point: 10 Years Later, What Do You Think Of 'The Master Chief Collection' In 2024?
If 343 would've did a full graphical update to the game it would have been perfect. I still play the game but because the graphical assets did not get a full update it falls a bit flat in that category.
Re: Minecraft Legends Development Ends, Less Than A Year Since Launch
@VisitingComet1
I agree. Microtransactions stink. To me should have many options on how to pay for your experience. One always being to pay once price and get everything.
Re: Minecraft Legends Development Ends, Less Than A Year Since Launch
@VisitingComet1
I never spent a single cent on Minecraft Dungeons' microtransactions and thought it was pretty good.
Re: Former 343 Employee Hints At 'Unannounced' New Halo Project
I am probably in the minority here, but I would love to see a continuation of Halo Infinite single player on the current Halo Ring. They left us stranded in another part of the ring at the end of the Halo Infinite campaign. Would love that to continue.
Switch it to UE5 and make it an incredible campaign. Also, keep giving more and more updates for the multi-player. Just keep building!
Re: Minecraft Legends Development Ends, Less Than A Year Since Launch
It doesn't hurt to try new game ideas for IPs. Some succeed, others fail. I would rather they try then just keep doing infinite Minecraft core updates.
Throw some new ideas against the wall and see if they stick! That's the beauty of gamepass. Studios can try some stuff in different directions. HiFi Rush and Pentiment were both very successful. Also liked Minecraft Dungeons and Grounded.
Re: Bethesda's Indiana Jones Game Reportedly Set To Launch This Year
@Kaloudz
Machine Games has only done FPS for Wolfenstein reboot. Also the whole group of Bethesda studios has mostly deliver First Person games. So it is probably a pretty good bet they will again go first person. But they could be trailblazing new ground which could send them in some other direction.
Re: Soapbox: Microsoft, We'd Love Another Surprise Xbox Game Pass Release At 'Developer Direct'
Shadow drop a Banjo-Kazooie game and I would be really happy. Along the tradition of the original 2 banjo kazooie games.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think Xbox Will Ever Stop Making Consoles?
I don't care about consoles or not consoles... What I do care is that I have a device for me to play games in my TV and that device has a friendly UI for the TV. My love of consoles is the fact that the input device only requires a controller, the UI is designed around the entertainment experience, and the device is powerful enough (and cheap enough) to run the latest great games.
I am buying the XB experience not a console. And to me that experience also includes content, safe/performant online gaming, achievements, gamepass, and play anywhere on any device including dedicated devices and cloud.
As long as the device does all that it could be a tablet, lego bricks, tower PC, console, or whatever. I don't care. People get too attached to "this is the way we do things". And should focus more on, "this is what the thing needs to do to get me to buy it".
Re: Hi-Fi RUSH Dev Reveals Xbox Was Supposed To Announce The Game Years Ago
I think this was a win across the board for everyone. Gamers got a new, unexpected game from MS/Tango Gameworks, the shadow drop was a huge positive surprise, and the game was high quality, and I don't know how well its "engagement" was, but I assume pretty good based on playing it myself.
Re: Talking Point: Has Xbox Done A Good Job With Gears Of War So Far?
As with everything else, I think Gears has been trying to grow and be too inclusive which is turning a lot of the original lovers of the game off.
It has lost a lot of its grittiness. In the first two games you had to show skill in getting through the levels and it was all about grit. But since three it has been smooth and easy to get through the levels even at harder difficulties.
The female lead story is ok, but as with everything it is more about the personal female then it is about the overall story. Story telling has to return to the overarching stories instead of always trying to delve deep into morals and personal struggles. It is like every story game now a days has to stand for some morally woke emotion rather than just be a simple story that entertains you.
Souls games don't apologize for the story and gameplay they all seem to have. Gears should not have apologized and changed to try and get a much broader audience.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Dunks On PlayStation Over Dirt-Cheap Yakuza Deals
@Cikajovazmaj
I do have a very limited amount of time each week in which I play games. Probably 2 to a maximum of 10 hours per week at this stage of life. So, the number of games I get through per month is probably 2-3. I still find GamePass to be financially better because I play a lot of different games (Probably 3-8 per month). Also, even if you play one different full cost game per month GamePass is $15 USD and includes online gaming. A good 80% of gamers at least use online, so if you break out the GamePass cost it is probably around $10 USD. You can play the same full price game for 6 months and you are coming out even.
I do agree though if you are one of those people that just play a single game all the time like Fornite, Call of Duty, etc. GamePass isn't that great of a deal but you have to buy the lowest tier anyhow for the online component.
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (January 4-16)
@awp69
How many really good Day One releases come out in January? Most developers/publishers try to release for the holiday season the top games. Then, January is usually pretty dry. Releases start to pickup again at the end of February til end of June, then we get the summer drought and things pickup in September for the rest of the year.
Re: Xbox Studio Double Fine Teases 'Cool Things In Store' Ahead Of 25th Anniversary
@NarutosBiggestFan
To me, DoubleFine is a creative XB studio. So I would like to see another new different game from them. I think Psychonauts 2 is one of the best platformers out there and really enjoyed the Costume Quest games but I also liked their other games like Grim Fandango, RAD, Stacking, and Iron Brigade. So would love to see another quirky and new game from them.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Dunks On PlayStation Over Dirt-Cheap Yakuza Deals
@Markatron84
I think it all depends on circumstance and perspective.
If you already have GamePass and intend to pay for it month after month then the games are just part of the monthly fee you pay for the 200+ revolving games you have access to. It is a subscription and you are paying for what is in the subscription. Which is way less than buying all 200+ games (even on sale).
If you don't have GamePass and want to just play the Yakuza games, then you may be better off to buy them when they are on sale like this.
But also, if you don't have GamePass and want to binge on these games and have the time to binge, you could just subscribe for a month to binge them.
Different gamers have different circumstances and perspectives that make them want different pricing models to play games. To me, MS provides the most flexibility in how I play (PlayAnywhere games) and pay (Buy/GamePass).
I bought the Yakuza games when they were similarly priced on XB Sales. And I am a GamePass subscriber. For me I want to own and play the games forever, but GamePass helps me play a lot of new and cool games before they get to the price I want to pay to own them (Especially now that game prices have risen dramatically the past two years). I played a couple of the Yakuza games on GamePass, then when the price was right I scooped them all on sale!
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think We'll See Another Forza Horizon Game Anytime Soon?
This is the nice thing about owning so many studios..
They don't have to over saturate releasing the same franchises every two to three years. They can go to more 4-6 years cycles for franchises which will keep them in higher demand and allow them to improve each game more than just a mild improvement.
I am not a fan of two to three year cycles for games. Any release 1-3 years after a major release means they are just tweaking the game engine and supplying new content. If it takes 4+ years they are usually doing some major changes to innovate the game engine in some way.