Questionable_Duck

@ILuvGames No, no it wasn't.

@TheGameThrifter What are you even talking about? The trailers are the exact same on both the PlayStation and Xbox channels, I just checked myself.

In these three trailers on the Xbox channel, you can very clearly see women from the game:

https://youtu.be/FJkQLo_-RCk?si=6Ur8xqupI243g7qA

https://youtu.be/zYXpUYjGltI?si=gP-rm9AwhfdVdEYM

https://youtu.be/GA70JV2dCMM?si=v25I4zOMj0RoOV93

And, yes, it seems you have fallen for grifter bait. Microsoft never had a "mandate" for unattractive women in games, they simply suggested that devs don't put sexualized women in their games. You can disagree with that, of course, but it was never a mandate or a requirement of any kind.

You would have to be crazy to think Microsoft is actively forbidding developers from putting attractive women in their games, when there are so many recent games on Xbox that objectively debunk this claim. Like the ones I mentioned.

@TheGameThrifter Have you ever played Ninja Gaiden 4 (a Microsoft-published game) and seen Seori/Ayane, or looked at the Xbox store where there are countless games with attractive girls in them? Or do you think Stellar Blade is the first game ever made with curvy anime women in it?

I mean, just take a look at the Beautiful Sakura games, for example. It's a series of AI-generated shovelware games that release on Xbox regularly, and have anime girls in swimsuits front-and-center.

Or how about the newly-released Kamikaze Lassplanes? It's a visual novel game with anime girls that arguably shows more skin than Stellar Blade ever did.

The whole "Xbox doesn't allow games with attractive girls on their platform" thing is just overblown nonsense that grifters on YouTube spread online.

@wildcat_kickz I know this is an old post, but I do want to bring up one other thing. Apparently, Microsoft was planning to go multiplatform from the beginning. In 2010, during the height of the Xbox 360 generation, Microsoft made an internal document outlining its plans to bring Xbox to as many screens as possible thru cloud gaming.

I don't think they were necessarily planning to put games on PlayStation at the time (though Peter Moore did say Microsoft was considering bringing Halo to PS3 back then), but ever since Don Mattrick took over, the fate of Xbox was sealed. Microsoft was never going to follow PlayStation's business model; they were always going to try weird stuff and make it so that you don't need an Xbox to play Xbox games. In fact, it seems that they were planning for the Xbox 720 to be the last Xbox console, since they thought that gamers would never need to upgrade their hardware ever again.

Ironically, though, they were expecting to sell 100+ million units of the Xbox 720 (aka the Xbox One), and they planned to charge $299 for it. That would have made it $100 cheaper than the PS4. Maybe in a world where that happened, most Xbox 360 gamers would have stuck with Xbox, despite the commotion around the Xbox One's launch. But we'll never know for sure.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-xbox-720-presentation-2012-6#-8

Thanks for covering my suggestion!

The Stellar Blade IP isn't owned by PlayStation, but I wonder, if this game does come to Xbox/Switch 2, will it still be published by PlayStation? Or will Shift Up publish it themselves?

@dskatter Forza Horizon 5 would definitely sell well on Switch 2, simply because of how mainstream it is. But as for the other games, like Halo: CE Remake and Gears Reloaded, maybe not.

Like you said, Microsoft would still make money, so they'll still do it, but they aren't going to sell insanely well imo. Could be wrong of course.

@You-come-to-me Definitely, the game should have cost like $25 at best

@dskatter Considering how poorly it sold on PS5, I don't think Gears of War would do that well on Switch 2.

First-person shooters and third-person shooters in general do not sell that well on Nintendo consoles. If you look at the lists of best-selling games on Nintendo consoles, you'll notice that very few of them are FPS titles, aside from exclusives like Goldeneye.

The Nintendo audience has specific interests, and most of Microsoft's games don't fit those interests. So I don't think their games will sell as well on Switch 2 as most people think they will. They'll still be profitable, of course, they just won't do insane numbers.

@FraserG Awesome, thanks!

Hopefully this means we'll get more PlayStation games on Xbox.

@Kezelpaso On a related note, have you guys seen the recent news about Shift Up considering ports of Stellar Blade for other platforms? Would be great if Pure Xbox could cover it.

https://tech4gamers.com/stellar-blade-expansion-other-platforms/

@Balaam_ Starfield has its flaws, but it isn't even close to being irredeemable broken garbage imo, I had very few bugs when playing it at launch and I enjoyed my time with it. If you think the game is that bad, then maybe you need to play more legitimately bad games, like Mindseye, to get an idea of what irredeemable broken garbage looks like.

@Nintendo4Sonic What level of difficulty are you playing it on? Hard mode? Because if you're struggling you can switch to Normal mode at any time during the game.

@Gabrie There's no way Rockstar was gonna give away a copy of GTA 6 for free by selling it in a $299 Series S bundle

@GameOverScreen Microsoft isn't signing a contract with Konami to bring Silent Hill 2 to Xbox, Konami is doing this completely on their own. If Konami doesn't want to release it in Halloween, likely because the port wasn't finished by then, then they won't release it. Nothing Microsoft can do about it, because it's not their game.

@GameOverScreen You think Xbox is the one who decides when to release Silent Hill 2 on Xbox, and not Konami, the actual publisher of the game?

Voidtrain actually isn't available on PlayStation yet, it has launched first on Xbox and PC. The PS5 port will come at a later date.

@Gabrie Rockstar doesn't want to do that because they would rather people double dip and buy the game twice on different platforms. They'd actually make less money in the long term by doing a simultaneous PC release.

@Elbow This was the most popular Ouya exclusive lol

Lost Planet, Catherine, Deadly Premonition, etc. aren't delisted, but they're only available in a few regions around the world on the Xbox store. These games aren't available for purchase in Portugal or Brazil, to my knowledge.

@Fiendish-Beaver I wish they brought the Sanctum games to Xbox. I think the sequel was on Xbox 360, but it wasn't made back compat. Who knows for what reason, they're still selling the game on Steam.

@Romans12 Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you saying that games Microsoft launches on Game Pass are mediocre titles that no one will remember? Because if so, I suggest giving Keeper and Ninja Gaiden 4 a shot, they're very good IMO.

@Titntin You can blame Sony for that, Konami must have been desperate to get some funding to revive their AAA gaming business, and Sony understandably took advantage of the opportunity they had

@FrenchVaniIIuxe For someone who says they love gaming, you tend to be pretty negative about everything.

Decent enough for the type of showcase it was, I'd give it a C+ or B-. Really wish we got Dave the Diver announced for Xbox here, though, even though it's technically not an indie game.

Really glad to see Routine finally get a release date.

@Fiendish-Beaver Yes, that's why removing paid online from the next Xbox really wouldn't be as detrimental to Microsoft's bottom line as people think it'll be. Heck, by the time the next Xbox is released in 2027, I assure you there will still be millions of people playing Fortnite and CoD or whatever on Xbox One.

@themightyant Game Pass and many of the things associated with Xbox are already complicated in their current state, so I don't think Microsoft has any worries about complicating things even further. Besides, free multiplayer would be an incentive for Series X/S owners to upgrade to the next Xbox

I really hope they announce Silent Hill 2 remake for Xbox here

@themightyant There will still be a lot of Game Pass Essential subscribers on Xbox Series X/S. Just because a new Xbox is coming out doesn't mean most current Xbox console owners will make the jump to next-gen, or that Microsoft is gonna get rid of paying for online on the current Xbox. In fact, I would imagine the majority won't.

@Fiendish-Beaver They will most likely get rid of PC Game Pass by the time the next Xbox comes out.

@Neither_scene The effect that social media has had on attention spans is devastating, and it's a big reason as to why singleplayer video games aren't as popular as they should be. There's a lot of gamers out there, but only a tiny portion of the human population actually plays singleplayer video games regularly. I legit think that there would be way more people who would enjoy video games, but they can't, either because they have short attention spans or they can't afford doing so. Gaming is for sure the most expensive form of traditional entertainment, at least when excluding free-to-play titles and mobile games. Which is like 75% of the industry lol.

@BossBE To be fair, that "we are in a unique position to be able to go spend Sony out of business" quote was kinda taken out of context. The email itself was from 2019, and in it, Matt Booty was basically arguing that it would be a bad idea for Microsoft to reverse course on their day-and-date Game Pass promise. He tossed around the "spend Sony out of business" argument as something that was a "different view to the general view below. Basically, he was saying "we could do this if we wanted to," but it wasn't something that was Microsoft's actual plan.

In that same email, Matt Booty went on to say that Sony was the only one who could compete with Game Pass. He also hilariously said that Google was 3-4 years away from building a game studio of their own lol. He really thought that Google was gonna be a massive threat to their gaming division. Same with Amazon.

@shiningpikablu252 Actually, since it's a live service game, it wouldn't be that surprising if Gran Turismo came to Xbox, Switch 2, and PC in the future

@Balaam_ To be fair, SEGA is killing it nowadays, and you could argue their current output rivals that of a first-party publisher. I know I myself am much more interested in SEGA's game lineup at the moment than most of the stuff Nintendo has recently released.

@MrStark Hmm... I'd say Indiana Jones and Ninja Gaiden 4 are GOTY contenders, but you do have a point that they've generally struggled to release GOTY-worthy games in the last decade.

@FuzzieGinge88 That's complete nonsense, these franchises would continue to exist with or without PlayStation, just like they have for two decades. Besides, they are also available on PC, something that people conveniently ignore when considering the sales potential of Xbox exclusives.

@Vaako007 Well, Sony already hired a multiplatform manager in order to bring games to Xbox and Nintendo consoles, so it's clear that they are doing this. I'm sure the PlayStation division has some infinite growth goals to reach as well, which is why they are doing this.

The question is, as I said before, will they bring the flagship singleplayer titles to Xbox? Because, as of right now, we don't know.

@DesertRanger @RBRTMNZ I would much rather buy and download God of War from the Microsoft Store rather than have to go through hoops to play it on Steam.

Either way, that wasn't really the point I was trying to make with my first comment. Playing tentpole PlayStation games through Steam on the next Xbox is cool and all, but that isn't hell freezing over. In order for hell to freeze over, you need PlayStation games like God of War, The Last of Us, Ghost of Yotei, etc. on the Xbox store, and preferably with native Xbox ports. That would be the real shock, not playing Steam games.

Basically they have to all be like Helldivers 2's Xbox port in order to count as a "hell freezing over" moment.

It's clear that Sony does have plans to bring more games to Xbox (including the Xbox Series X/S), but the question is, will they bring their tentpole titles over, such as the singleplayer ones? Only time will tell.

@BacklogBrad It's because they're making a Fortnite-like Halo multiplayer game. If Halo: Campaign Evolved had multiplayer as well, it would discourage people from checking out the other game.

@RBRTMNZ Yeah, no.... Not until we see Xbox store listings for God of War, The Last of Us, Uncharted, etc. It doesn't even need to be an Xbox Series X/S port, it just needs to be on the Xbox Store, not thru Steam. You can't really say that it's on Xbox if it isn't available on any Microsoft-owned storefronts.

@dskatter Hell will freeze over when God of War, The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Spider-Man, or Uncharted, etc. come to Xbox

This game was originally supposed to be an Xbox exclusive, so it's not surprising that the PS5 version is half-baked. Probably would have been better if they pulled an Indiana Jones or a Forza Horizon 6 and released the PS5 port at a later date.

Phil can think that, but that doesn't really matter. The media should ask what Amy Hood and Satya think on AI in game development. I'm sure, if it was up to them, they'd lay off all of the game developers and make games entirely with AI if they could to get 100% profit margins or something.

@Titntin Pacific Drive is on Game Pass Premium as well, at least, not just Ultimate. So you can technically save $15 if you can finish the game in a month.

@Gabrie The problem is more than half of Game Pass subscribers would have to completely cancel their subscription in order for it to make a dent in Microsoft's wallet, and that definitely won't happen.

That's why Microsoft is unfortunately not gonna walk back the price hike; they don't care if a lot of people unsubscribe from the service, as long as most of them stick around, they'll still be making more money than they did before.

The question is, though, how exactly does Microsoft expect to keep Game Pass as a growing business as they continue to price out more and more people? Obviously Game Pass will go up in price again in the future, it might be $35 a month or even $40 a month. They won't attract many new users with those prices, and there's only so many price hikes you can do until you actually start losing subscribers en masse.

@GeeEssEff You're right, Sony does still make it easy for indies to get PS5 dev kits (since they give them away for free). Despite them being more expensive than Xbox's kits, the price is probably not that much of a burden for larger devs.

@dskatter No problem!

@IOI Not really a spin, just pointing out the facts. Yes, Microsoft deserves most of the smoke they've gotten, but the exaggerations and hyper-dramatization of everything Xbox-related does get tiring at some point. I've seen some people claim that this will lead to less indie games coming to Xbox, and that's either an uninformed take or a disingenuous one.

@dskatter @GeeEssEff I heard about it on a couple of sites, and I also saw a dev on social media claiming as such, too.

According to this site (https://generalistprogrammer.com/tutorials/playstation-game-development-complete-console-guide-2025), the PS5 dev kit does indeed cost $2500.

And I've found multiple sites, like Polygon, Techicy, and Xsolla, that say that the PS4 dev kit was, at one point, $2500 as well. Which is more than what the Xbox One dev kit cost upon its initial release in 2013. That adds credence to the idea that the PS5 dev kit would also cost the same.

https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/24/4553842/so-how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-for-playstation-4/

https://xsolla.com/blog/score-dev-kits-for-xbox-playstation-and-nintendo

https://www.techicy.com/heres-how-to-get-your-hands-on-the-ps5-dev-kit.html

In reality, the prices for dev kits probably vary depending on the company they're being supplied to, but there's evidence that suggests that PlayStation dev kits have historically been more expensive than Xbox kits for a long time.

@dskatter It's worth noting that Microsoft still gives away free dev kits to any company who signs up for the ID@Xbox program, and that Xbox dev kits are still cheaper than the PlayStation ones, even with this price hike. Sony charges $2500 for each dev kit.

Either way, this should only impact major developers/publishers, not so much indie ones. But it sucks for those companies regardless.

Why does the guy in that thumbnail look like Indiana Jones...?