I think this year has just been a ‘perfect storm’ of things against CoD. Normally has a free run of shooters at this time of year. - Except it now has BF6 arc raider HD2 etc
Usually has a serviceable campaign mode - this year it’s been poor by those standards.
It’s gone BO6 to 7.same series and It’s a follow up to a game that had lots of bad received skins etc.
There’s the obvious GPU price rise.
Theres the no Sony big advertising budget - honestly the adverts in the UK were just weird.
But as you say hopefully its made MS realise it needs some big improvements, and while it’s not a game of my personal choice its a shame to see how it’s falling and fast.
@BrownOwl truthfully while you are right to a degree, the upcoming months will see more people drop it due to the fact they will start seeing Microsoft £23/$30 on their bank statements.
That’s when more families etc will realise. MS really need to bring out a yearly pass. The conversion method is just a faff.
@Decimateh I guess it’s more because there’s multiple CoD on Gamepass. And had 10/11months of the year.
And the fact people didn’t cancel till November.
Both can be true. And the fact that BO7 has struggled since release (relatively speaking to other CoD) shows that too. There’s been no big pats on the back X posts to congratulate how it’s sold/played.
There’s more than Dave the diver. There’s FF16, Death Stranding, silent hill. All big games that still did poorly on a shadow drop. Alongside all the other smaller yet well received games doing poor.
My point being that shadow drops may sound cool and all but actually don’t do very well.
It’s getting panned everywhere (apart from a few people who would say it’s amazing if it was stickmen)
Sales are down, players are down not even MS have put out much of a statement (you know the usual #1 in hours/players etc). Of course it will still sell well!
I think they need to do the F1 thing and skip a year. Give the teams some breathing space. Let them see what they can come up with more time.
@You-come-to-me it’s following the same as every other subscription model out there. Cheap to get you hooked then price increases. Everyone except MS biggest defenders said this.
But in 2years time where is the price going to be? £40/$50 a month? Ontop of potential of a 1k+ machine?
That’s the problem, the S sold really well. So how do you take those with you to a premium console? Or those that bought it as a second console
@fatpunkslim the cancellation isn’t going to come all at once.
People are stacked, parents will only realise over the next few months when the check bank payments etc.
I don’t think enough will cancel to make MS reconsider- hopefully though it gives them warning that it’s getting to a limit of what people can tolerate. Plus the people like me who have dropped to premium are essentially giving them the same monthly fee.
And I can’t see how they could reconsider, they have deals in place with /fortnite so any backtracking would cost them.
For me the bigger shame is the way Xbox is heading that it’s gone from being the cheapest best deal in gaming, to actually well is it?! And then next gen premium console.
I’ve dropped to premium now. I’m just going to sub monthly at the minute. Probably wait until there’s a good few games I want on ultimate then sub that for a month, assuming I can find cheap deals at the time.
And if Sony increases the prices by a similar amount I would drop from extra there.
I mean redfall was full of them. There were videos of ridiculous things. Yet you had many comments here (usual people) who stated they had none. It wasn’t as bad as was shown.
Or starfield that was also full of bugs yet people were looking past it giving it a 10 etc.
Just as some people are more noticeable to 30/60fps.
And then after DF showing that the ps5 version is significantly worse than the series version, it shows that Push were rightly pointing out it isn’t perfect.
Personally I’d rather an honest view that mentions it as If it’s a game I want, I’m going to wait for it to be polished before I buy it.
@themightyant it’s mental that people care more that a site (who is playing it on a different console) can have a different opinion. They seem to care more about one review score than the actual game!
It’s baffling that MS would go from the ‘affordable’ one to being the one that will potentially price casuals out. It’s a strange 180. Especially after the S sold well.
Plus by late 27 GPU could be pushing $50 a month.
It will certainly be interesting however with what they come up with. So that will be good to see.
But it’s potentially PC, PC money yet by the time it releases it will be out of date by PC standards.
@eduscxbox don’t don’t market the ps5 to play ps2 games.
Multiple times MS have advertised this as an ‘Xbox’ and will play your Xbox games (and as many have pointed out it’s usually just a handful of their owned games)
It is what it is. But if Sony were marketing the ps5 to play ps2 discs and then it turns out it plays 1 in 10. Then people would complain.
Comments 1,678
Re: 15 First-Party Games Released On Xbox In 2025, But Which Was Your Favourite?
Doom for me. Although feels like it’s been out longer than it has!
Should have been oblivion but honestly it is buggy af.
Re: Forza Motorsport Won't Get Any Major Updates In 2026, But Support Will Continue
@SuntannedDuck2 man what is give for Sony to redo GT4 or at least the next entry in that style.
It won’t happen but a guy can dream.
Real shame for FM was looking forward to it but it was disappointing on release and I guess numbers never recovered
Re: Bungie's Marathon To Release In March 2026, Pricing And More Details Revealed
I think £25-30 would look better than £35.
I don’t think it will do very well. It will be yet another failed live service by Sony. On the plus side it can’t do as bad as Concord right? Right?
Re: The Much-Hyped Action-RPG 'Phantom Blade Zero' Officially Has One Year Of PS5 Exclusivity
Removed
Re: The Much-Hyped Action-RPG 'Phantom Blade Zero' Officially Has One Year Of PS5 Exclusivity
@Chip-Douglas comment 28 sums it up.
Plus just late last year stalker2, in future Ark2
So yeah it happens. But I like how the Xbox ones don’t matter because they are ‘small’ or whatever. It’s either bad or it isn’t.
Re: The Much-Hyped Action-RPG 'Phantom Blade Zero' Officially Has One Year Of PS5 Exclusivity
@Chip-Douglas so what about the games they’ve done it this year alone?
That’s all ok? But Sony do it and it’s wrong? How does that square in your head?
Re: The Much-Hyped Action-RPG 'Phantom Blade Zero' Officially Has One Year Of PS5 Exclusivity
@Chip-Douglas so how do you feel when MS do it?
It’s obviously something that brings in extra money for whoever does it. Or else it wouldn’t be done.
Re: Black Ops 7 Sales & Players Down Massively On Last Year's Call Of Duty, New Data Shows
@Chip-Douglas
Compared to other games, the money coming in will still dwarf most of them. But potentially it can all be good news for future games
Re: Black Ops 7 Sales & Players Down Massively On Last Year's Call Of Duty, New Data Shows
@GuyinPA75 @Chip-Douglas
I think this year has just been a ‘perfect storm’ of things against CoD. Normally has a free run of shooters at this time of year. - Except it now has BF6 arc raider HD2 etc
Usually has a serviceable campaign mode - this year it’s been poor by those standards.
It’s gone BO6 to 7.same series and It’s a follow up to a game that had lots of bad received skins etc.
There’s the obvious GPU price rise.
Theres the no Sony big advertising budget - honestly the adverts in the UK were just weird.
But as you say hopefully its made MS realise it needs some big improvements, and while it’s not a game of my personal choice its a shame to see how it’s falling and fast.
Re: Black Ops 7 Sales & Players Down Massively On Last Year's Call Of Duty, New Data Shows
For anyone interested and if you have a disk drive (ps5/X)
The physical version is sub £40 in smyths/curry’s in the UK.
Re: Call Of Duty Is The #1 Franchise On Xbox Game Pass For 'Total Players & Hours' In 2025
@BrownOwl truthfully while you are right to a degree, the upcoming months will see more people drop it due to the fact they will start seeing Microsoft £23/$30 on their bank statements.
That’s when more families etc will realise. MS really need to bring out a yearly pass. The conversion method is just a faff.
Re: Call Of Duty Is The #1 Franchise On Xbox Game Pass For 'Total Players & Hours' In 2025
@Decimateh I guess it’s more because there’s multiple CoD on Gamepass. And had 10/11months of the year.
And the fact people didn’t cancel till November.
Both can be true. And the fact that BO7 has struggled since release (relatively speaking to other CoD) shows that too. There’s been no big pats on the back X posts to congratulate how it’s sold/played.
Re: Xbox & Activision Issue Statement On The Future Of Call Of Duty Following Black Ops 7 Backlash
Reads to me that they are going back to previous years. Of BO one year, MW another. Rather than back to back BO.
Game will still come yearly.
Re: Xbox & Bethesda Shadow Drop Another Switch 2 Game, And You'll Never Guess What It Is
@betterthings
Sigh.
There’s more than Dave the diver. There’s FF16, Death Stranding, silent hill. All big games that still did poorly on a shadow drop. Alongside all the other smaller yet well received games doing poor.
My point being that shadow drops may sound cool and all but actually don’t do very well.
Re: Xbox & Bethesda Shadow Drop Another Switch 2 Game, And You'll Never Guess What It Is
Im surprise MS is sticking to this shadow drop tactic considering it isn’t turning into sales.
https://www.trueachievements.com/news/xbox-shadow-drops-2025
Re: Xbox Dev Reveals That Sony Asked About Microsoft Flight Sim Going To PS5 Years Ago
@GamerScore200K MS get $$$
Re: Xbox Series X|S Had No Black Friday Deals, So They Lost To A Console We've Never Heard Of (US)
@Nic-Noc20th-C very few.
This is Sony pricing their consoles to attract families and casuals (and let’s be honest it’s the prices these consoles should be)
It’s coming upto Xmas little Timmy wants a new console. Mum goes hmmm the £300 PS5 or the £450 or whatever it costs Series X.
Oh gamepass now costs £23a month But PSplus is £100 in Black Friday sale? Hmm ok it’s definitely a ps5.
Re: Xbox Crowns Its Biggest Third-Party Game Pass Launch Of 2025
Fantastic game.
How I wish final fantasy will take inspiration from it going forward.
Re: These 14 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (December 2-11)
Bit of a poor Ultimate offering right there.
I expected a couple of solid months after the big price rise.
Re: Xbox Series X & Series S Receive Small UK Discounts To Kick Off Black Friday 2025
Better than nothing, keeps the S just cheaper than the ps5.
@FraserG anyone at PX heard more on the rumours MS may be doing a price increase again?
Re: Hands On: Perfect Dark Zero Is A Bizarre Time Capsule Of The Early Xbox 360 Days
PD on the n64 was so much fun. 4 player split screen. Find a corridor and put whatever gun it was the made a turret on the wall.
Re: Black Ops 7's Messy Campaign Is Being Detached From 'Endgame' Mode This Week
What awesome response is this?
It’s getting panned everywhere (apart from a few people who would say it’s amazing if it was stickmen)
Sales are down, players are down not even MS have put out much of a statement (you know the usual #1 in hours/players etc). Of course it will still sell well!
I think they need to do the F1 thing and skip a year. Give the teams some breathing space. Let them see what they can come up with more time.
Re: This Xbox Game Studios Adventure Deserved More Nominations At The Game Awards 2025
Soundtrack/art I fully agree.
GoTY, it’s at a sub 80 on metacritic, sub 7 on user scores. It just couldn’t be included there.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Think GTA 6 Will Actually Launch On Xbox A Year Today?
If it’s not next Nov/Dec then surely we are at the point where Rockstar will end up delaying for the next box/ps6?
Re: Ubisoft UK Warns That Folks Just Aren't Buying As Many £50-£60 Games Anymore
I’ll pay £60 if a game is finished. Polished.
But you release a buggy mess? No thankyou.
You told me your roadmap that you are doing 2 dlc, - well I’ll wait and play it in one - I don’t have time to come back to every game.
Re: Black Ops 7 Campaign Review (Xbox): Black Ops Pedigree Can't Save This Mess Of A COD Campaign
This is the year the CoD has some big competition for gamers time.
Battlefield, arc raiders, the usual Fortnite type ones and even HD2 to name a few.
Not that it will sell bad, but they are going to have to get ontop of everything this year I feel.
Re: A Month Later, The ROG Xbox Ally X Has Totally Changed My Gaming Habits
@themightyant think you say it all there.
I agree for a first iteration it seems solid enough and a platform to build on for an ‘ally 2’
Re: Steam Machine Specs Revealed, Here's How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S
As always it’s going to come down to the price.
Re: Valve Announces New Hardware, Including A Steam Machine That'll Compete With Xbox
@themightyant for me period be using this looking backwards.
I miss a lot of the older strategy games that will run fine on the hardware.
If it’s around £500-600 I’m interested.
Re: Valve Announces New Hardware, Including A Steam Machine That'll Compete With Xbox
Have to admit I’m interested in seeing the price.
There is a lot of older pc games I’ve missed out on Over the years I’d be interested in
Re: Poll: Now That The Dust Has Settled, Which Xbox Game Pass Tier Are You Subscribed To?
@You-come-to-me it’s following the same as every other subscription model out there. Cheap to get you hooked then price increases. Everyone except MS biggest defenders said this.
But in 2years time where is the price going to be? £40/$50 a month? Ontop of potential of a 1k+ machine?
That’s the problem, the S sold really well. So how do you take those with you to a premium console? Or those that bought it as a second console
Re: Poll: Now That The Dust Has Settled, Which Xbox Game Pass Tier Are You Subscribed To?
@fatpunkslim the cancellation isn’t going to come all at once.
People are stacked, parents will only realise over the next few months when the check bank payments etc.
I don’t think enough will cancel to make MS reconsider- hopefully though it gives them warning that it’s getting to a limit of what people can tolerate. Plus the people like me who have dropped to premium are essentially giving them the same monthly fee.
And I can’t see how they could reconsider, they have deals in place with /fortnite so any backtracking would cost them.
For me the bigger shame is the way Xbox is heading that it’s gone from being the cheapest best deal in gaming, to actually well is it?! And then next gen premium console.
Re: Poll: Now That The Dust Has Settled, Which Xbox Game Pass Tier Are You Subscribed To?
I’ve dropped to premium now. I’m just going to sub monthly at the minute. Probably wait until there’s a good few games I want on ultimate then sub that for a month, assuming I can find cheap deals at the time.
And if Sony increases the prices by a similar amount I would drop from extra there.
I’ve also dropped Netflix to the ad version.
Re: ARC Raiders Hits Incredible Player & Sales Numbers Across All Platforms, Including Xbox
With BF6, this, (and all the usual ones) it looks like CoD has competition for people’s time this year.
Not that it will sell bad, but I think it will be harder to keep the engagement potentially
Re: Five Years On, Xbox Series S Is Still A Fantastic Place For Current-Gen Gaming
I got mine for £180 worth every penny.
At £290-£350 (depending on storage) I don’t think it would be as worth it.
Re: Football Manager 26 Release Times Revealed Ahead Of Xbox Game Pass Launch
@Techno92LFC have you seen the videos?
Console version is pretty much unplayable. Match engine is pretty much single figure fps and that was on the X.
SI have seriously messed up this release.
Re: Black Ops 7 Preload And Release Times Revealed, Along With ROG Xbox Ally Details
Can I just say the adverts they are running in the UK for CoD are absolutely ridiculous.
Re: Huge Xbox Report Details 'Ambitious' Next-Gen Console With Free Online Play
Interesting to see.
But the devil as always will be the price. Because let’s be truthful this is pricing out many families (unless MS seriously subsidises it).
Online may go free but I doubt there will be a PC gp and GPU. And how much will that be in 2years? $50?
But let’s see what they come up with.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Feel About Halo: Campaign Evolved Launching Day One On PS5?
@OldGamer999
But you sold your X
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About Xbox's The Outer Worlds 2
@Fiendish-Beaver
Everyone has different tolerances for bugs.
I mean redfall was full of them. There were videos of ridiculous things. Yet you had many comments here (usual people) who stated they had none. It wasn’t as bad as was shown.
Or starfield that was also full of bugs yet people were looking past it giving it a 10 etc.
Just as some people are more noticeable to 30/60fps.
And then after DF showing that the ps5 version is significantly worse than the series version, it shows that Push were rightly pointing out it isn’t perfect.
Personally I’d rather an honest view that mentions it as If it’s a game I want, I’m going to wait for it to be polished before I buy it.
Re: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Verdict On The Outer Worlds 2, With Xbox The Clear Console Winner
Huh and people were complaining when a review on ps5 scored it less.
Who knew that when it has more issues it will score less!
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About Xbox's The Outer Worlds 2
@Fiendish-Beaver if you were to check metacritic the Xbox version is rated at 85 and the ps5 version lower at 81 with lower reviews and a couple of 7s
Perhaps it’s just a case of (as often happens) performance differences across the consoles. Or simply a difference in reviewer opinions.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About Xbox's The Outer Worlds 2
@themightyant it’s mental that people care more that a site (who is playing it on a different console) can have a different opinion. They seem to care more about one review score than the actual game!
But good to see another solid release.
Re: Report: Xbox Has Been Asking Its Studios To Hit 'Higher Profit Margins' Since 2023
@OldGamer999 if GoY was done on a £60m budget as rumoured (same as first)
Depending on marketing- which Sony always do a lot of I’d imagine it will have a decent profit margin due to cheap development.
But as the report states on average the margin is 17-22
Re: Sarah Bond: Our Next-Gen Console Will Be 'Very Premium' & Informed By ROG Xbox Ally
@Banjo- is all that confirmed for the next Xbox?
Re: Sarah Bond: Our Next-Gen Console Will Be 'Very Premium' & Informed By ROG Xbox Ally
As I said elsewhere.
It’s baffling that MS would go from the ‘affordable’ one to being the one that will potentially price casuals out. It’s a strange 180. Especially after the S sold well.
Plus by late 27 GPU could be pushing $50 a month.
It will certainly be interesting however with what they come up with. So that will be good to see.
But it’s potentially PC, PC money yet by the time it releases it will be out of date by PC standards.
Re: Microsoft Is Reportedly Increasing The Cost Of Xbox Dev Kits In Latest Price Hike
Flip flop flip flop. In out.
Look I get that £500 isn’t much for devs in the long run. But it’s just yet another negative headline.
Ontop of price rises to console, GP, saying next device is going to be premium.
It wasn’t that long ago MS was the home of ‘cheap’ gaming. Yet it’s now doing a 180 and looking like it’s going to price out those more casual
Re: Review: Ninja Gaiden 4 (Xbox) - Platinum Propels The Series Forward On Xbox Game Pass
@cornholio005 lol so does that mean PX give higher scores for money too?
Considering same owners?
Glad the game is good however. Will give it a try but with tremors I unfortunately suck at stuff like this
Re: Microsoft Passes The Buck To Asus For ROG Xbox Ally's Price Tag
@eduscxbox don’t don’t market the ps5 to play ps2 games.
Multiple times MS have advertised this as an ‘Xbox’ and will play your Xbox games (and as many have pointed out it’s usually just a handful of their owned games)
It is what it is. But if Sony were marketing the ps5 to play ps2 discs and then it turns out it plays 1 in 10. Then people would complain.
But your comparison Doesn’t work.
Re: Microsoft Passes The Buck To Asus For ROG Xbox Ally's Price Tag
@GeeEssEff mate honestly there’s a couple of posters on here that will deflect everything.
If you post anything slightly negative. ‘You hate Xbox’
Some just are hypocrites and not worth the time!