Questionable_Duck

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...?

@themightyant No problem! To my knowledge, though, you can still technically subscribe to both Xbox Game Pass for Console and Xbox Game Pass Essential at the same time if you want. That way, you could get online and cloud features while still paying for GP Console.

@themightyant I don't have Game Pass for Console, but it only costs $11 per month AND it includes all day-one games. Microsoft even confirmed to Polygon this month, that in spite of the $30 Game Pass price hike, Game Pass for Console subscribers will still get day-one games as usual with no adjustments to pricing.

https://www.polygon.com/xbox-game-pass-console-grandfather-accounts/

You basically get to play stuff like CoD and NG4 for a fraction of the cost that you would by paying for Ultimate.

@themightyant Yes, the console tier still exists, but only a few people have it. You unsubscribe from GP Console once and you won't be able to subscribe ever again.

Rest in peace, such a shame we will never get to see another game from him again. I was really hoping that he would announce something soon. I wonder if Itagaki Games will continue working on their current unannounced project.

@GeeEssEff Plus, if you really go to the effort of boycotting an entire publisher's games, just because they skipped Xbox a handful of times, then there's a good chance you never actually cared about playing the games to begin with. Anyone who really wants to play FF7 Remake would not deliberately prevent themselves from buying the game on Xbox simply because it skipped the platform in the past. And besides, Square Enix really does want to support Xbox these days. Just look at how much stuff they've brought over lately.

@ButterySmooth30FPS Everwild was always going to be a live service multiplayer game, much like Sea of Thieves. Rare is done with traditional singleplayer stuff.

@Tdx I agree, the indie games should be on Premium, as well.

What's weird, though, is that Supermarket Simulator, which released on Xbox Game Pass and Xbox today, is on both Game Pass Premium and Ultimate, despite it being a day-one game. So maybe some indie titles will be on both tiers, and others won't be?

@BAMozzy If you actually owned a game, you would be able to do whatever you want with it, like print multiple copies of the game and sell it illegally. But ofc, you can't do that.

@dskatter That's true, also my bad for getting the price wrong.

Thing is, there are a lot of people who don't have the time to finish more than one game a month, and if you're the type of person who's gonna spend a lot of time in Powerwash Simulator, you're better off just buying this outright.

Like, I'm sure most Game Pass subscribers (myself included) check out several different games during a given month, but they don't always complete more than one game each time.

@Fiendish-Beaver By June 2027, Game Pass Ultimate will be $50 a month, and it will include a membership to GTA+ or something, which you will never use.

Since the game costs $20, there's no real point in playing this on Game Pass, given that you actually lose $10 by doing so. This would have been acceptable with the previous price for GP Ultimate, but with the new one? Not so much.

You're gonna have to play and finish at least one other game within a month to make your Game Pass worth it. Preferably something that costs $70, like Ninja Gaiden 4, for example.

@Weebleman Thanks, and yes, that is true. Microsoft is still losing money when ppl sub to Game Pass for $20 (or even $30) a month just to play one brand-new $70 game and cancel immediately afterward.

And by the way, I could be wrong on this, but I think the "removing the $1 trial" thing is something that Microsoft has only recently started to do. If I remember correctly, you could actually sub to Game Pass for $1 in the same month when something like Halo Infinite was released.

Maybe this is me being naive, but I think if Phil actually had full, unrestricted control over Xbox (without having to worry about Satya and the shareholders or whatnot), he would have handled things at least somewhat differently over how he's currently handling things now.

@Mincey0 No one from Brazil is gonna sub to Game Pass anymore lol, Microsoft killed their audience in that region with the price hikes.

And Xbox was actually decently popular in Brazil, despite the fact that Xbox normally doesn't do that well internationally.

All I'm saying is that the "reducing Game Pass to an app on smart TVs" thing is a stupid idea, that won't actually work in the long run. Most gamers, even in America, won't sub to Game Pass for cloud streaming.

Don't get me wrong, though, I do like xCloud as an option. Just not as the sole or primary thing.

Tbh this discovery probably doesn't mean anything because it seems that these "platform slots" have nothing to do with platforms at all and are just blank spaces they put in the site a year ago, so that the PS5 and Steam logos can remain centered.

From what I can tell, Bloober Team hasn't actually modified the Silent Hill 2 page on their website in months, so this isn't really anything of note.

NateTheHate did say, however, that he heard Silent Hill 2 will be coming to Xbox and Switch 2 in the future, so there's that.

@Mincey0 The problem with that strategy is, that xCloud isn't available in most of the regions where Xbox consoles are sold.

The countries that Microsoft's recent Game Pass price increases have hit the hardest, namely the ones with weaker economies, like Brazil, do not have access to xCloud at all. So trying to sell Game Pass as an app on smart TVs is pointless in those places, without having any hardware to sell alongside it.

Microsoft could make xCloud available in more regions, sure, but they haven't hinted at any plans to do such a thing. Even though xCloud is no longer in beta, they haven't added any more regions to the service.

@Fiendish-Beaver Just buy it on Xbox, your digital library won't disappear anytime soon, no matter what Microsoft does with hardware

If you want to get it for cheaper, though, then you should get it on PS5 or PC

@OldGamer999 What I don't understand is that Microsoft really wanted to grow Game Pass and reach 100 million subscribers. Yet halfway through reaching that goal, they decided to stop caring about selling Xbox consoles completely, and they did this "everything is an Xbox" ad campaign.

Microsoft seemingly doesn't realize that, if they actually tried to sell Xbox consoles, Game Pass would have grown considerably as well, because most GP users are on console, not PC or cloud.

They cannot grow Game Pass by a massive amount with the strategy they're using now. They need to actually put in effort to sell their consoles in order to do so.

@Aidax89 Like with consoles, it seems Microsoft isn't in the consumer acquisition phase for Game Pass anymore. At least, not for the Ultimate tier, they're still trying to find growth on PC w/ PC Game Pass.

So, in their eyes, they probably don't care about growing Game Pass Ultimate subs that much anymore, and they just want to generate more money off of the existing subscribers. If enough people continue to subscribe to the Ultimate tier, the $10 price increase will more than make up for those who canceled their subscriptions. And they'll be making more profit than they did beforehand.

Of course, I don't know if this is actually the case, but this is likely Microsoft's mindset.

@Weebleman The answer to that question is zero because there was no $1 trial for Game Pass Ultimate when CoD Black Ops 6 was released. Microsoft knows people will try to pull stunts like that, so they deliberately get rid of the free trials for Ultimate in the weeks before and after one of their major releases.

@darylb24 I don't think Judson Althoff being involved is as big a deal as you think because Xbox is part of Microsoft's Consumer Business division, not their Commercial Business one. Althoff is now in charge of the latter.

@AverageJoseph Yeah, the thing I don't get is, why is Microsoft planning to spend millions of dollars to get third-party games on the service day-one, if they don't want anyone to subscribe to Ultimate? It makes no sense, especially since they claim that they're gonna add more day-one games than ever before.

Seems to me Microsoft believes enough people will still pay for Ultimate to make up for the loss in subscribers, while still making more profit than before.

Also, on a related note, the thing about Microsoft reportedly losing $300 million on CoD sales due to Game Pass doesn't really factor in the amount of people who played the game but would not have bought it otherwise. So it's missing a lot of context.

It's not worth the money at all, you can buy almost all of those Ubisoft games for a fraction of the price on sale. If GPU included Ubisoft+ Premium, meaning we got all Ubisoft games on the service day-one as well as all DLCs, then I'd be more understanding of the price increase. But that's not gonna happen.