Qozmyk

Gears 6 would have appealed to players familiar with the series. This is a fresh story. Perfect for attracting new players. Maybe 60 million of them with PlayStations…

Of course they are. They either sell games or they sell the companies. If people still don’t believe that they care more about selling games (or subs) rather than consoles they simply just aren’t paying attention.

This article won’t age well. Microsoft didn’t buy Activision to sell consoles - they bought it to sell content. If Microsoft could get Game Pass on PS5 they’d do it tomorrow.

@IOI what?

In US:
Disc-free 1TB $450
Disc 1TB $500
Disc 2TB $600

@dskatter “people like having the disc drive option.” I’m digital only and totally appreciate that both Xbox and Sony give people options. Let’s me save money by not needing to pay for hardware I’ll never use and let people like you choose an option that fits your lifestyle.

I feel they dropped the ball on these. There’s nothing to get existing customers excited about. Like or dislike the PS5 pro at least people are talking about it. This is so lackluster they could have at least slightly tweaked the physical design ala PS5 Slim revisions.

I’d also imagine UE5 will make it easier to port to PlayStation.

@GamingFan4Lyf pretty sure most any Kohls has game wear

@__jamiie it offer gamers a choice to game at higher fidelity at higher frame rates over base or at least offer more options. It’s a very simple proposition.

But equally obvious to me is no answer will appease as you as you clearly know better about what other people should care about and spend their money on.

@__jamiie "Stand up for Sony's shilling." Lol ok buddy. Perhaps I'm standing up for choice and an expanded market offering. If people don't want the Pro they just get the regular. There's literally no one putting a gun to your head making you get it. Gaming is a luxury not an entitlement. If you think there's another option that is a better fit for you have at it. I'm happy that there are options that you can pick from. If you think Sony is milking customers, the great news is you don't have to give your money to Sony.

Let's not berate and disparage people who see value and purpose in the offering from Sony. More options are better for everyone.

@__jamiie shrug I mean that same argument could be made to PC gamers for upgrading their GPU because they want a game to run at 60fps in higher quality. Sure they could be happy turning down the settings or just playing 30fps but no one gets angry if a PC gamer goes out to buy a new graphics card. I don't understand why this is so personal to so many. If you don't want it, don't buy it. If you do - great! I'm happy that the market can support multiple tiers and options for gamers.

This is a silly take. If I as a customer see value in getting higher graphical fidelity at 60fps and have the discretionary income to make the purchase, I would like the option of getting to purchase it the same PC gamers have the option of springing for better graphic cards.

This article feels like a salty fanboy trying to convince themselves that it's better to have a less powerful piece of kit now.

There are now dozens of them!!!

This made me feel better about my PS5 Pro Preorder.

@JoyfulFire I don't disagree but I also don't know where this "ecosystem" is. Is there something actually more than Xbox and PCs? Will they bring it to Nintendo? Will Apple get native streaming apps? Where can I actually play 'where I want' as Spencer is frequently heard saying? I feel like that's been a pretty stagnant front for Microsoft. I'm afraid that PC is really all they will really put their efforts towards.

I would imagine if the Xbox figures were severely underestimated Microsoft would make a statement if not to give the real number, but to say “it’s higher than this.” This makes me inclined to believe it’s roughly around this 28M mark

I don’t like it, but I get this model of adding premium additions to GP games for DLC. It was successful clearly if they’re doing it again with Indy. But I can’t help but be peeved. It’s like Netflix letting you watch the first season of a show but forcing you to buy the rest that is locked into their platform. It’s starting to diminish the value and - key to me - ease of GP to me. I’m at the age (and income) in life that I value service and would just rather have a more expensive truly all-in-one service than nickel and diming add-ons.

In fact, I would genuinely rather pay more for like a Game Pass Ultimate Premium sub and not need to worry about purchases.

@dskatter articles exist ad nauseam on the topic. I would venture it’s relativity late into the next gen development cycle to pull out now. But who knows. Xbox has made me leery enough that for the first time since the PS3 I’m hesitant to actually buy a multiplat on Xbox. If you read between the lines for the last 18mo it seems to be all about the platform instead of the box itself. This is one of the only comments I recall Phil making explicitly about new hardware.

https://www.gamesradar.com/phil-spencer-shuts-down-multiplatform-rumors-says-next-gen-xbox-console-will-respect-the-investments-that-people-have-made-in-the-platform/

It's as if Microsoft felt the need to one-up PlayStation in the internet's negative press game this week.

@HonestHick It will be interesting to see if Microsoft will optimize their games for it. Not a great look either way to be honest. They either look petty by not optimizing, or they alienate more fans by having their own games play best on PlayStation. Kind of a catch-22.

I also agree with your points. I play on a 77 C2. Resolution is important at this size and I'll happily take higher resolutions at higher frame rates. I'm thinking of moving my Multiplatform purchases to PlayStation as well.

@Romans12 Accounting for inflation, I believe the PS3 was more expensive.

I may pick it up. I get such a chuckle out of people upset about the disc drive. 95% of total gaming revenue in 2023 was digital meaning that physical is all but dead. Money talks.

Like people don't actually care about disc drives anymore do they? Like it's just something people like to get upset online, right?

Apple provides the services and access. That costs money and R&D. They deserve their cut. If places like Epic and Microsoft don't like it, guess what - they can build a better phone so that people would buy that option. You best believe that Microsoft takes a cut of profits for every computer licensed to run Windows. I don't understand this privilege that people think companies are entitled to use another platform's service for no money. That hurts companies, huts shareholders, and ultimately hurts the economy. It's like saying that everything should be sold at cost or just given away for free.

Got me to get a Ubisoft+ sub for a month or two.

@Fiendish-Beaver I won't say you're getting old... but in Inquisition you could pause combat to plan your movements You made me feel old because I played 1 and 2 when they launched but can't remember if that mechanic was in there too.

Ah yes, good to see the old windbag is stick kicking and just spewing BS like he always does. I've never fully understood why press seems to hang on to anything Molyneux says.

@Banjo- It depends on how you define "the ship" anymore. Is the ship Xbox Game Studios or the Xbox console hardware? Phil's choice of "platform" is really telling. If I had the option to play all Xbox games via Game Pass on a PlayStation I would. Would this hypothetical situation mean I jumped ship?

For the love of all that is good in this world, stop perpetuating timed exclusivity

This is indeed becoming tiring.

They need to play nice with Sony and get all of GP on Playstation. I'd happily use PS5 as my main and still happily pay for GP. Win-win for everyone.

We really need a chart to help navigate what different amounts of "A" mean when describing a game.

"console" is a general term. They can support "console" with their portfolio by publishing on Nintendo and Sony...

“Controversial?” Nope. Literally any other sector is utilizing it to increase productivity and the comments won’t age well. It’s like people complaining about computers replacing typewriters. As an average Joe I don’t find it controversial at all. It opens up different possibilities and jobs. And frees up time for people to do other things.

@Mustoe Some of us actually don't mind Microsoft trying new things. Go figure. It's like the comment sections on here actively wants Microsoft's gaming division to put itself out of business.

@Dan1283 lied about everything? How? They haven’t restricted access to anything they acquired. You can still purchase it just like you could before. They’re adding to the top GP tier so they’re actually expanding access. All they did was raise a price the same way every subscription streaming service in existence does.

@Steelydanman I don't feel let down. Like anything, it's a business. A business I enjoy and choose to spend my money at. One I hope continues so I hope they're making shrewd business decisions that aren't guided by 'feelings.' Playstation shows what happens when you're slow to change, they made just $600M in profit last year.

They've held out a long time compared to other streaming services. I support them and want the service to actually make money for them. At $20/mo it's still a steal.

@Robocrop_Duster Getting rid of physical releases would have practically zero effect on either Sony or Microsoft financially. No one wants to be the first to blink though because of the press that would follow.

At the end of 2023, digital was 83% of unit sales accounting for 95% of revenue industry wide. And if we're being honest, Switch probably made up most of the physical sales. Most people don't want physical and quite frankly, if maintaining physical drives and manufacturing is causing increased costs across the industry (R&D, hardware, supply chains, etc) I'd be first in line to cheer for its demise.

This right here is the future. Nothing glitzy or glamorous. Just another incremental step toward gaming as easy and ubiquitous as turning on a Netflix show.

I wonder if there hardware is anything special in the sense if there is game-specific hardware acceleration going on. Because I would think a universal app for TVs and streaming boxes would make a lot more sense. People who want to stream are probably people who don't want another box to worry about

Ok. This is what Xbox needed. Great job, Phil!

It’s been an incredibly entertaining few days on Push Square. Filled with tears of denial and fanboys reassuring themselves that they really had no interest in any of the games. lol

I love how everyone gets up in arms about this. It's as if keyboard warriors have no understanding of economics, shareholders, and profitability. People need to grow up and understand that this is business and not based on kumbaya feelings around a campfire.

Yeah. On one hand - good for them for having so many players it crashes. On the other - it's been 10 gd years Sony and Bungie! Get your acts together.

I mean it was a solid story and introduced us to new aliens... except the Endless didn't even appear in the game. (Although Halopedia calls the Harbinger an Endless but I'm pretty sure the game did not clarify that). The weird possibility of time travel could open up AMAZING things. Send 117 and The Weapon back to the Forerunner/Endless conflict.

But it sacrificed the possibility of a cool new story for a return to form which everyone said they wanted after Guardians.

But whatever. I'm just an average millennial who simps for Halo so I'll go along with whatever Microsoft puts out.

I had two RRoD on my 360. Microsoft's great response and easy repair system was hugely influence in my decision to keep sticking with them.

People complaining about price increase are out of touch with reality, really. It's childish to imagine pricing would stay the same for forever. I would be very concerned if CoD didn't come to GP. To me that means the every 1st party game, day one promise is broken and It'll massively erode trust in Xbox and see cancellations of GP left and right. For people complaining that they don't play CoD they're missing the point - games you play could be next to get the day 1 axe. It's a slippery slope. And at a certain point to avoid confusion people'll just hop to Sony where you understand the model at least.

@Ricky-Spanish it’s not that I don’t hear you. But at the end of last year digital was 83% of unit sales accounting for 95% of revenue industry wide. And I’d bet Switch drove physical far more than either Xbox or PS although I don’t have that data. Physical is just something the industry doesn’t even remotely care about any longer.

It’s a perfect GP game for me but I wouldn’t pay for it.

As someone who was avidly into raiding with my clan, I feel like that issue is more about end game. They need to provide experiences for the single players that are more than what is there. I get the incredibly satisfying feeling of raiding with a team of people you know, but the level grind was just too outrageous. But Bungie knows their user base and they make the process addicting as a gambling simulator with pretty skins. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but I also see it for what it really is. The cost of cosmetics has gotten pretty outrageous too.

Is there any actual meaning behind AAA? Are there other designations?

Planet of Lana was a joy to play!

Both Plague Tales

Sonic Frontiers. I went into it with low expectations but greatly enjoyed it. And the 'checklist' quests were fun because it actually meant something and the classic stages were just the right length and difficulty.

Tales of Arise: I'm not a JRPG player (like ever) but Tales of Arise sucked me in with its absolutely unique story and voice acting. I actually 100% it and that's saying something as I have only have 5 100% games. It's one of those games that you almost wish it had a skip to next cutscene option (looking at you Guns of the Patriots). I've since tried a couple other JRPS and nothing even came close to keeping my interest.