Comments 591

Re: Xbox Relists Multiple Backwards Compatible Games, And Then Quickly Delists Them

Questionable_Duck

@theduckofdeath @Elbow It was also free, so it's not like the game had some licensed content that prevented them from legally selling it anymore

Stuff like this keeps happening all the time. I guess there's a cost to making a game available on digital storefronts that we don't know about. Because there have been many times where the publisher just decided to say "sorry, we don't feel like selling the game anymore" and wiped it from the Xbox store, even though there was no licensing issues they had to deal with.

Re: Sony Announces Major PS5 Price Hikes, Here's How They Compare To Xbox Series X|S

Questionable_Duck

@Balaam_ "Weak tech" and "inferior versions of games" are basically the same thing, so no point in repeating that twice.

The AI criticism makes little sense because that wouldn't be a problem exclusive to the Series S.

No physical media is a fair point, however. But you can get many digital games cheap on Xbox thanks to key resellers and the like.

If you're okay with abandoning physical and you don't need the best tech available, I think the Series S is still a good deal for what you're getting

Re: Microsoft Beats Out Sony & Nintendo In Metacritic's 2026 Game Publisher Rankings

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant @Fiendish-Beaver No problem! And yep, everything has gone by so quickly lately. It really feels like the Concord debacle happened just yesterday. But the game is nearing its second anniversary.

Man, it has really felt like to me that this console generation in general is only just getting started, but it's actually nearing its end. Crazy...

And, for sure @Fiendish-Beaver, time gets faster and faster the more you get older.

Re: Former Xbox Leader Don Mattrick Lands Major New Role As CEO Of Photonic

Questionable_Duck

@Jenkinss Agreed. While in the broader scheme of things, the PS3 did sell better than the 360, if you look at things from Sony and Microsoft's perspective, it's clear that the PS3 was a commercial disappointment and the 360 was a massive success. Sony lost, like, 60 million users from the PS2 era. I bet they were expecting the PS3 to sell as good, if not better, than the PS3 at first. Microsoft, meanwhile, probably wasn't expecting the Xbox 360 to do as good as it did. They wanted to beat PlayStation at their own game, yes, but I don't think they anticipated that they would have been able to do it so quickly.

The PS3 still did very well in Europe, Japan, and other territories, but it was crushed by the 360 in North America

I will say, though, that I think Sony ended things off on a better note than Microsoft did. During the second half of the PS3's lifespan, Sony did a really good job rebuilding their reputation and making compelling exclusives that people loved. Microsoft kinda did the opposite. Thanks to Don Mattrick, they started shifting away from the core gamer audience and doubled down on stuff like the Kinect in an attempt to capture Nintendo's audience. Even still, Mattrick's screw-ups weren't enough to harm the 360's sales by a major amount.The Xbox One, however? Well, we all know how that ended up...

Re: Over 50,000 Votes For 'Xbox Game Preservation' Titles Have Been Added In A Week

Questionable_Duck

@SuntannedDuck2 No, they're not disc compatible because Activision never released physical copies of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2 on Xbox One or PS4. They were digital-only ports. And since the 360 versions of the games aren't backwards compatible, you can't play them on modern Xbox consoles unless you already have them in your digital library.

To make matters worse, those ports were only available for sale for two years. So the amount of people would could buy them was very limited

Re: These 12 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (March 17 - April 7)

Questionable_Duck

@Fiendish-Beaver I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, yes, it makes Ultimate feel even more overpriced than it already is. But, at the same time, it's good that Premium subscribers aren't missing out on too much. Really, Ultimate is only needed when there's a new AAA game you want to play on the service day-one. Like, say, Fable.

Re: Nintendo 3DS Classic 'Bravely Default' Releases On Xbox Today In Its HD Remaster Form

Questionable_Duck

@Jenkinss Yeah, The Last Remnant skipping Xbox was wild. They couldn't even bother making it back compat at least, like they did with Infinite Undiscovery (another Square Enix JRPG that's exclusive to the 360).

That and the Resonance of Fate remaster skipping Xbox were big disappointments for me. Especially since The Last Remnant was even ported to mobile phones, of all things.

But it's too late for these two games to get ported so, ah well. Unless they get added as part of the potential back compat update from Microsoft later this year (assuming they do add new games), there's no hope of seeing them on modern Xbox consoles.

Re: Xbox Says Backwards Compatibility Program Will Be Revived For 25th Anniversary

Questionable_Duck

@carlos82 It's going to be a console that plays PC games. Or a PC that plays console games. Whatever wording suits your boat.

The next Xbox will be different from other PCs in that it will be able to play all of your Xbox console library, including games that are not natively available on PC like GTA 6.

If it was just a PC without absolutely no distinguishing factors, it wouldn't have a custom chip set. It'd just have a standard AMD/Intel CPU instead.

Re: Xbox Announces New 'Project Helix' Console, Says It Will Play PC Games

Questionable_Duck

@Gemini53 Not the person who you're asking, but I think this won't have Steam on it. Or, at the very least, I assume it will be difficult to play Steam games on the next Xbox.

Notice how Phil Spencer never once mentioned Steam among the list of PC storefronts he would want to see on Xbox. He only said Epic Games Store, GoG, and itch.io.

Maybe the next Xbox will be like the Steam Deck, in that you have to do workarounds to get Steam running on the console. Making it inconvenient to play games on the platform, and encouraging you to just buy on the Xbox store.

Otherwise, I don't see how this would make sense.

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant I do think exclusives have played a very significant role in the history of video games. And they still do, to an extent. I, for instance, don't believe Nintendo would be pumping out as many games as they do nowadays, were they a third-party publisher.

When it comes to modern-day PlayStation, though, I wouldn't go that far. I don't think there's a single first-party game that Sony's released this gen that wouldn't have existed if it wasn't exclusive to PlayStation. Due to how much game development lengths have stalled this gen (and the heavy emphasis on live service), Sony's recent output isn't really that different to other high-quality third-party publishers, like Capcom.

Indie games funded through PlayStation China/India Hero Project, however, are a different story.

Anyways, thanks for the chat, I appreciate it!

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant Maybe... but like I said before, all of this "brand/reputation damage" done to PlayStation is nothing more than just idle chatter. Yes, people have been more critical of PlayStation this gen (for many reasons OTHER than PC ports), but has it amounted to anything? No. And I don't think it ever will. Not unless Sony pulls an Xbox One on us, that is.

PlayStation is one of those brands that is so ingrained into the casual consumer market, that almost nothing will be able to harm its presence dramatically. Xbox doesn't have that luxury, as we can clearly see.

Right now, this whole "pulling back from PC" thing doesn't really benefit PlayStation consumers, aside from the diehard PlayStation fanboys that were begging for this to happen (cough cough, Push Square commenters).

I will agree with you, however, that PC sales aren't always that significant for every game. The same could be said for games on PlayStation, however. As I've pointed out already, most of the singleplayer games that Microsoft has put out on PlayStation haven't really done massive numbers. In other words, the success of these games (or lack thereof) is not as reliant on PlayStation as you suggest it is.

Like, assuming the data I provided is true, do you really think the 85k copies sold of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, the 14k copies sold of Pentiment, the 40k copies sold of Age of Mythology, or the 137k copies sold of Hi-Fi Rush on PlayStation are enough to dramatically alter Microsoft's perception of the success of a game? I don't think so. And besides, I'm not saying Microsoft should abandon PlayStation entirely. Just that they don't need to put their big heavy hitters on the platform day-one.

Ironically, all of the major singleplayer titles that Microsoft has put on PlayStation day-and-date so far (Doom: The Dark Ages, Tony Hawk, Gears of War: Reloaded, Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2) have underperformed. It is the games that have released years later on PlayStation, like Forza Horizon 5, that have sold well.

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant Yes, I suppose we do agree on more things that we disagree with.

You're right that Sony's decision to pull back from PC is focused more so on potential future damage rather than damage that has already been done to the PlayStation brand. While I doubt Sony is doing this due to the Steam Machine, I do think that the next Xbox potentially being able to play PC games may have played a role in this. You do gotta wonder, however, just how much the Xbox will be competition to the PS6, considering that it may cost upwards of $1000. But I suppose, from Sony's perspective, it's best to be cautious in this regard. If the next Xbox plays PC games, but it also flops, then I think Sony may be more willing to bring singleplayer games to PC again.

Sales of PlayStation games on PC have been poor lately, and although Sony may be able to make back the loss in PC revenue through increased console sales, I don't think that this potential boost in revenue will be significant enough to justify a shift away from PC. But what do I know?

Now, about Microsoft sales on PS5, you are right that this isn't a solely PlayStation problem. Those games likely also didn't sell well on Xbox or PC. However, the thing you brought up here about Xbox having only 35 million console users isn't really that relevant here, considering that they also release all of their games on PC at launch. So, in reality, it would be more than 35 million players.

I don't expect Microsoft to completely pull back from PlayStation like Sony is seemingly doing with PC, but at the same time, I think they can certainly afford keeping most, if not all, of their singleplayer games exclusive to Xbox for a year or two. Games like Fable, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Forza Horizon 6, Gears: E-Day, etc. don't really need day-one PlayStation releases to be successful. It isn't too late to change course.

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant Sorry for the long rants, but I just found some sales data that suggests that some of Microsoft's recent games have sold poorly on PS5. Granted, you should take all of this info with a grain of salt, since none of it is official, but if it is true, then it's clear that Microsoft doesn't really NEED PlayStation for its singleplayer titles. These games seem to have underperformed in general, and putting them on PlayStation day-one seemingly hasn't improved sales much.

The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian themselves confirmed that the game failed to meet sales expectations): https://x.com/DanielOlimac/status/2013315634210513018?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Ninja Gaiden 4: https://x.com/DanielOlimac/status/2015729564102914383

Age of Mythology: Retold, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment: https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-game-sales-on-playstation-report-mixed-picture

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4: https://www.reddit.com/r/THPS/comments/1m29jku/thps_34_scores_17_million_players_on_xbox_and/

Gears of War: Reloaded: https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoBestFriendsPlay/comments/1neb0s9/gears_of_war_reloaded_sold_259k_copies_on_ps5/

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant We don't, but considering that Microsoft never bothered to provide player/sales updates after these games' respective PS5 releases, it's safe to assume they weren't lighting the sales charts on fire. You're right that these games likely didn't sell that well on Xbox either, but that wasn't my point.

Since most of Xbox's games haven't actually been doing incredibly well on PlayStation, it isn't too late for them to walk back on PlayStation ports. They could at least make them timed exclusive to Xbox for a year or two. People keep claiming that Microsoft is making most of their money on PlayStation nowadays, but most of that PlayStation money comes from live service titles and games that were already multiplatform. Not the singleplayer stuff.

If Sony can do it with PC, Microsoft can certainly do it with PlayStation.

To be clear, I'm not against the industry becoming multiplatform. I actually want Sony and Nintendo to be more like Microsoft, to an extent. But, since Sony is still being petty it seems, it would be smart of Microsoft to give Xbox some exclusives again, even if only timed. Sony or Nintendo have to go more multiplatform in order for other console manufacturers to follow suit.

I don't think putting games on PC negatively impacts console sales. It may seem like that, judging by what people on the internet say, but PlayStation console sales have shown that that isn't actually the case. I do, however, think putting all games on PlayStation/Nintendo day-one does negatively impact Xbox console sales. Ideally, it would be best if every console manufacturer had nothing but timed exclusives, so that every game would come to every platform eventually. That way, there would still be an incentive to buy one platform over another.

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@themightyant The problem with your argument is that I haven't seen any brand damage materialize on Sony's console sales. I said this before on Push Square, but Sony has repeatedly been touting that the PS5 is the most profitable console generation thus far, and the PS5 is on track to sell as well as the PS4, despite being far more expensive than it. Ask any PlayStation fanboy, and they'll tell you that Sony will sell millions more PS5s when GTA 6 comes out.

Putting games on PC hasn't impacted PlayStation in the slightest. Sony thinks that they will be able to convince PC gamers to buy a PlayStation by keeping their games exclusive, but that won't work. It didn't work during the PS4 generation, and it certainly won't work with a $700 PS6.

Since Sony is probably desperate to make as much money as possible, due to their razor-thin profit margins, I wouldn't be surprised if they walk back on this decision on the future. If they fail to get more console players, that is.

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@anoyonmus Not really. Most of Xbox's first-party titles haven't really sold that well on PlayStation. Just look at Avowed, Doom: The Dark Ages, Ninja Gaiden 4, Age of Mythology: Retold, Age of Empires 4, Towerborne, Black Ops 7, Gears of War: Reloaded, Pentiment, As Dusk Falls, The Outer Worlds 2, and Hellblade 2.

The only games that are said to have done really well are the live service titles, like Forza Horizon 5, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Age of Empires 2, and Flight Sim 2024, along with Indiana Jones.

Re: Next Xbox Console Could Be Affected By PlayStation Pulling Back On PC

Questionable_Duck

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Just because they have the numbers doesn't mean they're being smart or that they're right to make this decision. Countless execs have focused too much on the numbers and failed miserably on the execution. I mean, just look at Xbox.

I can't imagine the costs of porting to PC are that high, considering Shuhei Yoshida said that it was like "printing money" when he was still at PlayStation. The margins on PC ports must be pretty good, the problem is that the recent titles weren't selling well. A problem they could fix, of course, by releasing games on PC day-and-date. But they don't want to do that.

Like I said before, I highly doubt Sony will be able to convince the PC gamers who have been buying their games on PC for several years to get a PlayStation. Especially not when the PS6 will be more expensive than ever before.

Jason Schreier said it himself in the article, that things may change in the future, since Sony is actively trying to figure things out. I wouldn't be surprised if they start doing PC ports again 5 years from now, if they aren't able to get a significant increase in console sales, GTA 6 notwithstanding.