See, this is where people get this wrong. They are seeing an instant return on that 68 billion dollar investment as games like COD mobile, Candy Crush, etc are making very good money. What people don’t realize is that ABK is an asset, not a debt. MS took 68 billion, which is a cash asset, and transferred it to a physical asset. The value of ABK didn’t drop to zero the second MS purchased them. It’s actually worth more now than when the purchase was made. So literally every single penny of profit seen from ABK to date is actual profit, not money going towards breaking even with ABK. ABK will retain its overall value and could likely increase even more as time goes on.
Put another way, the people that are looking at this all wrong think MS now needs to make 68 billion to break even and start making money. So let’s say MS does just that. They make 68 billion, however many years it takes. According to those people, MS has now broken even, but MS still has a physical asset worth 68 billion that they can sell at any time, or however much it’s worth at that point in time.
So again, that is just not how business works. All they did is change a cash asset for a physical asset and every single penny MS is seeing profit wise from ABK right now is actually profit.
And I have a hard time believing it only took 5 months to get a port of Sea of Thieves over to PS ready for release so I don’t think the games MS ported over to PS has anything to do with Starfield. The plans to do so were very likely laid out well before the release of Starfield.
Yeah, Sony isn’t in the greatest of positions either. They are still in first hardware wise, but they just lowered their hardware sales projections for this year by I think roughly 4 million units and Jim Ryan’s decision to go all in on live service has significantly hurt Sony’s first party releases and will take some time to get back on track. We also now know that Sony isn’t making enough ROI on its big 1st party titles, hence their push into PC which will happen faster and faster from here on out.
It’s a new world out there for gaming and all of the companies are gonna have to make adjustments.
Please… Sony came out of those hearings looking 10 times worse than MS did. MS’s lawyers had an absolute field day with Sony’s at the FTC hearing. Even the judge was basically laughing at Sony’s arguments. It was embarrassing. Anyone who can’t see that clearly has a huge bias in favor of Sony. And the fact Jim Ryan was flying all over the globe trying to convince regulatory bodies how evil the ABK deal was, all the while sending emails stating the exact opposite made the whole thing an epic farce…and downright comical. And you actually think MS is worried about Hines past testimony, lol. It’s an amusing thought, I’ll give you that.
Pretty much the only thing Sony achieved during all of that nonsense, besides wasting a lot of peoples time, is having to reveal a lot of secret corporate info to MS due to discovery. Huge win there…
Completely irrelevant. That high public court case also brought to light many of the things Sony does, and even got congressmen into the mix regarding Sony’s anti competitive behavior in places like Japan. Pretty much the only company that aired grievances regarding Bethesda being acquired or ABK being acquired was Sony. Hell, all of the other companies that came forward publicly during the ABK trail came out in favor of the deal, not against it. It was Sony and Sony alone that was against that deal and it later came to light it was for BS reasons Jim Ryan himself refuted in various emails. All of that was made public.
The point is that it will be higher up executives at MS that determine if games come to other consoles, not people working for the companies that were acquired. Even Todd Howard himself has no say in what MS does with the games Bethesda develops anymore. That’s just one of the realities of being acquired.
MS most certainly isn’t feeling pressure to port games to PS for the first time in history because of some testimony Hines gave a year ago, for a deal that already passed worldwide. Short of Call of Duty, MS is legally free to do as they please with every other IP owned by Bethesda and ABK. They aren’t worried about Hines or his past testimony.
One game more than any comes to mind, Vampire Survivors. Wound up being my most played game last year and I am still playing it this year. Insanely addicting and insanely fun.
As if Peter Hines opinion on where the games go has any weight at all. He works for Bethesda, which is owned by MS. The people running MS and Xbox are not going to bow down to the wishes of Hines.
If Starfield and Indians Jones do wind up going to PS, it will have had nothing to do with Hines wanting it to happen.
The biggest return on investment for ABK was never gonna be from the console side. Mobile gaming was always gonna be the big one on that deal. That’s not to say they won’t make money from console, but the big money men at MS know full well that Xbox will be a drop in the bucket for ABK compared to mobile and even PC.
And please don’t tell me you’re one of these people that thinks MS now needs to make 68 billion before they even break even and start seeing profits from ABK. Just not the case at all. MS is already seeing profits from that deal so they are already seeing some of that ROI.
Yeah, still don’t buy this is going to extend to MS’s big exclusive games like Gears, Halo, Forza, Fable, and on and on. Hi Fi Rush was really no different than what they did with Ori. And I fully understand and fully support live service games going to other consoles. I expect Sony will eventually do the same with many of their live service.
MS had a “test” of what would happen if they do make their big exclusives multi platform when the rumors were swirling last month. Much of the Xbox community was up in arms about it and they would lose many of their biggest supporters. Don’t think MS is gonna take that step, not after seeing that. Either way, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Xbox really does have a problem with putting the same games on sale again and again. Meanwhile I have a bunch on my wishlist that don’t go on sale at all or very rarely do. They need more variety in their big sales. Weekly sales are one thing, big yearly sales like this one should have a far better selection overall.
I have like 330 bucks on my account and I am legitimately having a hard time spending it and I find that to be the case more times than not during these kinds of sales.
You can point that criticism right back at Sony and its fans too. Sony exclusives aren’t seeing anywhere near the sales they need, which is why Sony is now pushing PC releases and will be doing so faster and faster. Hell, the best exclusive I have played on my PS5 to date has been Returnal. That had absolutely abysmal sales and likely won’t see a sequel as a result. That’s criminal given how good that game is. Very much like what happened with Sunset Overdrive, tho Sony has a bigger installed base so even less of an excuse for not hitting sales goals for great exclusive games.
And when people refer to Xbox One as the worst Xbox console, they are not talking about sales. It was severely underpowered. From a technical standpoint, the Series consoles are vastly superior. Xbox One was the worst designed Xbox to date, tho they corrected that with an outstanding mid generation refresh with the Xbox One X.
Still hold up? It’s still better than 95% of the games released these days. An absolutely brilliant game that is just as fun to play today as it was the year it released. Would absolutely kill for a sequel.
Definitely shorter as most longer games are not longer due to quality content. They are longer due to a bunch of filler content that could easily have been left out. It winds up boring me and I wind up losing interest in most before I am finished.
The overall length of the games is one of the reasons I have preferred indie and AA over AAA in recent years.
Can’t wait for this game. Been patiently and patiently waiting… absolutely loved the first. With headphones on, it was an audio gaming experience unlike any I have ever had and this looks like it’s gonna up that ante in a significant way. The first was just a unique gaming experience through and through. I am expecting very good things from this.
It was never gonna be an easy ride for Phil, coming off of the abysmal Xbox One launch. He was behind the 8 ball from the start.
Just a few of the positive things he has been responsible for include Xbox becoming the best backwards compatible console on the market, which I hugely appreciate. He made Game Pass the most successful sub service in gaming and I do love Game Pass. He added a TON of first party studios including ABK and Bethesda. By the time he actually leaves its very likely Xbox will have leap frogged over PS in regards to overall revenue. Xbox players are spending more on average than PS gamers this generation. He has been hugely instrumental in accessibility features and cross play.
Sure, there are negatives as well but once again, he came into this position behind the 8 ball. The Xbox brand would likely have died during the Xbox One gen if it wasn’t for Phil. He gets nothing but respect from me.
No crash is coming. The industry continues to grow year after year. Given that growth has slowed post COVID, but it’s still growing nonetheless. There are now 3.3 billion gamers worldwide. The industry will see ups and downs like any other, but nothing suggests an actual crash is anywhere on the horizon.
I’m not worried about it. Everyone across the industry is cutting back. It’s just what companies do in economic downturns. Things will go back up in time. They always do.
There is a lot more pressure being independent. You have more freedom, but that comes at a cost. just look at Double Fine as a perfect example. Tim Schafer wanted to be bought by MS. He has openly talked about the downside of being independent.
I guess it’s good for die hard Predator fans, but the game isn’t very good. Might be a decent Game Pass addition if they can get it for cheap on there. Lets people at least try it out. I played it on PS and didn’t care for it at all.
Absolutely. I always buy an Xbox for my cottage up north, but haven’t gotten around to it this time as the Xbox One X I have up there has been suiting me just fine the last couple years. Have been thinking it’s time to upgrade it and I don’t bring physical games with me up there. I strictly play from my digital library so this console is perfectly suited for that purpose.
This is great news. I don’t care who buys the studios that Embracer owned, as long as they wind up leaving Embracer, that is amazing news. I’m a huge Borderlands fan and have no doubt we will see Borderlands 4 faster and it will be much higher quality now than it would have been under Embracer.
I’m hoping MS buys the Tomb Raider IP off of them next.
After season 1, I figured the show was on the fast track to being cancelled. After season 2, I can’t wait for 3. What a huge difference in just about everything. Even the choreography for the fights was far better. It could still use some fine tuning here and there, but what a difference 1 season made.
A company gets acquired, many people wind up leaving said company and starting another. One of those companies will make it big one day, might get bought out, and the cycle continues. Round and round we go…
Yeah, way too many to list them all. Games I have played over the last few years that I still thoroughly enjoyed with BC? Crisis trilogy, Far Cry 3, Dragons Age Origins, Fight Night Champion, Max Payne 3, Banjo Kazooie, Bioshock Infinite, Brutal Legend, Castle Crashers, Costume Quest 1 & 2, Dues Ex Human Revolution, ES Oblivion, Fallout 3, and the list really does go on and on.
Very few games have I picked up through BC that I didn’t enjoy throughly. Their age and the game play that comes with that is part of the charm.
This is a good thing. Having rewards is one thing. Making it so they are so readily available that people just use those for things like Game Pass is going too far and ultimately not healthy for Xbox overall. I absolutely LOVE Game Pass and want it to be a successful model for MS. And I want MS to be highly profitable with Game Pass so they can bring better and better games to it.
People still can get reward points, just more realistic amounts of them.
Talking about a lack of money on why they didn’t make a particular story more episodes when people are openly asking about that very question is very very very very different than someone just running around stating they don’t have enough money to make a good adaptation. The question of why The Fall of Reach was only a single episode became a hotbed topic on the internet. I have nothing but respect in him for not only addressing said question, but also doing so honestly. We need more of that today, not less. We will definitely agree to disagree.
And why would he twist it into what you stated when the overall reason can be easily stated as not a big enough budget? Every show has a budget. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stating that doing something people might have wanted to see would have taken them over budget. Yes, MS is behind this but they didn’t give the show runners a blank check.
There is absolutely nothing tacky about being truthful in regards to why something was done the way it was done when dealing with these topics. It’s just being honest. It’s tacky lying or twisting it or wording it in ways that are less truthful. Again, we need more honestly like that, not less.
It doesn’t matter that Palworld is a satire of Pokémon. It’s completely 100% irrelevant. Pokémon fans have wanted a game like this for a LONG time and we finally got a company that went out and gave it to people and it could wind up being hugely successful. That is the only criteria needed for an acquisition of a studio for a single IP to make sense and be profitable. It doesn’t have to be like Minecraft in any way. I just used Minecaft as an example of a studio acquired for a single game. Yes Minecraft was much bigger, but so was the price tag on the studio. This studio and Palworld would be FAR FAR cheaper.
And Nintendo can’t do Jack. The game already passed its legal reviews and there are laws in the EU, US, Canada etc. that protect parodies. There is a very good reason why Nintendo hasn’t done anything to date, including signal that they planned to do something, because they have no legs to stand on in regards to Palworld violating Pokémon copyrights. You can bet your ass that if Nintendo thought they had a chance in court, they would have already filed a motion to cease and desist. They haven’t because once again they know they have no case at all. Nintendo isn’t just sitting around waiting for the right moment to file a case. The right moment was literally the minute the game released if you had any intention of filing a case at all. No lawsuits are coming and if they do, Nintendo doesn’t stand a chance in hell at winning them.
Given MS’s focus on Game Pass, a developer like this creating live service games would be a great acquisition for MS, even with just this one IP.
Not tacky at all. The issue was raised online, all over the place actually, on why so little time was spent on the Fall of Reach. He was just being truthful and letting people know it was the budget that limited that story to a single episode. Again, absolutely nothing tacky about answering a question many people and sites were asking.
Developers will always say that as they want as many people playing their games as possible. I don’t think I have ever seen a developer saying that they preferred their game was sold to less people.
“ Games like Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, and Detroit l: Become Human we’re/are considered 1st party PS games because they were published by Sony even though they were made by external development teams.”
Nobody considers those games first party, at least nobody that understands the definition of first party. You can say the sky is green, that doesn’t make it so. None of those games are Sony 1st party games.
You literally couldn’t ask for a better example of how the general gaming population has very little in common with fanboys online. Most Sony fanboys I saw said nobody would buy the game including themselves. Fanboyism is like a disease in online forums, but thankfully that still equals to a tiny tiny tiny percentage of overall gamers.
“Stop letting these mega-corporations tell you what you "want" or "what's a good deal"
I’m sorry, but I found that entire post so far off base, that I am having a hard time finding words for it. Game Pass has in no way hindered my ability to buy games and it has in no way pushed on me what to play or the kinds of games I enjoy.
What Game Pass has done is given me a never ending supply of new games to try out, many of which I never in a million years would have purchased and many of which I wound up absolutely loving. It has saved me money and given me much more information and ultimately power in regards to which games I deem worthy of buying. I am no longer buying a lot of my games utterly blind. I get to play them first.
Been on Game Pass for 3 years and have played a TON of games through the service that I have absolutely loved. I for one couldnt imagine going back to gaming without it and the reason for that has nothing to do with being trained by the corporate overlords in gaming.
What an utter ***** show. One of the biggest I have seen in a long time. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but the way this has been handled from a PR perspective is downright disgusting. I lost a LOT of respect in both Xbox and Phil Spencer this week, regardless of the outcome.
If I do not have faith that my digital purchases will be safe down the road, I will drop Xbox like a bad habit and that’s coming from an Xbox gamer since day 1 of the OG Xbox. Plan on building a new gaming rig this year and I’ll just primarily become a PC gamer. I’ll still game on PS and Switch like I do now, I’ll just move to PC for all the things I would have played on Xbox.
It’s mind boggling what has transpired. Just when it looked like Xbox was gonna FINALLY turn it around, they throw in the towel? It will be one of the single most disgusting moves in business I have ever seen and I will support MS as little as humanely possible the remainder of my days if it winds to being true. That includes cancelling my Game Pass sub even for PC. I’ll go back to buying games, spend significantly more, and be perfectly content doing so.
Personally, I see this for exactly what it is, nothing more. That being MS evaluating which games to put on other platforms from Bethesda just like was said from the very beginning. Is it the end of Xbox, nope. Is it the end of Xbox hardware, nope. Is MS just going to become a 3rd party developer, nope.
As a multi platform gamer, one who loves the Xbox ecosystem, I am all for it. This will only mean more money for MS, which is a good thing for everything MS game studio related. If people can’t handle some of the games from recent acquisitions going on other platforms, then just sell your Xbox now.
I don’t think it’s going anywhere. When the current contract is up, Ms will just sign another. And it’s somewhat important for me, but not massively important. There have been a few big games I have enjoyed but all In all, it’s probably made up less than 5% of the overall games I have played on Game Pass the last few years running.
Not surprising at all. The amount of physical games carried in general from stores like Target, Wal-Mart, etc is comical at best these days, even for PlayStation.
As I have said many times on this topic, it’s gamers themselves that have dictated this trend, not the gaming companies or stores stocking the games. Digital has been absolutely crushing physical in overall sales. Can’t blame companies for following market trends. And can’t blame companies for not catering to a tiny fraction of the overall market.
Judas and Dragons Dogma 2 were the only things that really looked good to me and both are coming to Xbox. Silent Hill 2 looked just plain bad and Ronin looked terribly generic. Stellar Blade looked decent enough, but not my kind of game. I absolutely hated Death Stranding so I couldn’t care less for a sequel.
All in all, another disappointing showing from Sony for me. Given it’s gonna take a bit to recover from Ryan’s terrible decision to go all in on live service. 2023 and 2024 could very well be the worst 2 year stretch I have ever had with PlayStation and I have been gaming on PlayStation since the very beginning.
At least there is no release date for Silent Hill 2. That gives me hope that they still have plenty of development time to turn it around. That was the one game I was most excited about tonight and it was a massive disappointment.
The hardware figures are only bad if you’re only looking at Xbox. MS isn’t just about Xbox anymore, they are about their overall gaming ecosystem. We saw signs of MS going in this direction a ways back. MS is about Xbox, PC and mobile now. They don’t care if sales from one cannibalize another. They are each pieces to the whole puzzle and MS won’t be abandoning any of them, including Xbox hardware.
And this strategy has been hugely successful thus far for them. Getting ABK across the line was HUGE as Xbox content and services revenue increased by a whopping 61% this quarter. MS’s gaming division is now the 3rd largest in revenue in the entire company, even surpassing Windows.
When it comes to MS and gaming these days, you can’t just look at one piece of the puzzle. It all needs to be looked at in unison because it’s that overall ecosystem that MS is focusing on. And while hardware sales may be weak for Xbox, the players on Xbox are spending more on average than both Sony and Nintendo gamers. That is a metric FAR more important that hardware sales.
Love Xbox, but have no desire to play this game on it. PC all the way for this one and it absolutely deserved GOTY last year. Just a brilliant brilliant game all the way around. I’ll still be playing both this and Starfield years from now.
I have wanted an Assassins Creed game set in Japan for a long time, but it’s just so hard to get excited about an Assassins Creed game at this point. They should really take a break with this series.
After reading her resume, she is a billion times better than toxic Kotick. Sure, there will be the comments aimed at her sex, comments aimed at the fact she came from the NFL, and I am sure many others I can’t even predict at this point, but again this is a billion times better than Kotick.
The adjustments to staff size have been addressed, a new leader is in place, etc. time to get the ball rolling and see what MS can do with Blizzard and ABK in general.
Comments 469
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver
See, this is where people get this wrong. They are seeing an instant return on that 68 billion dollar investment as games like COD mobile, Candy Crush, etc are making very good money. What people don’t realize is that ABK is an asset, not a debt. MS took 68 billion, which is a cash asset, and transferred it to a physical asset. The value of ABK didn’t drop to zero the second MS purchased them. It’s actually worth more now than when the purchase was made. So literally every single penny of profit seen from ABK to date is actual profit, not money going towards breaking even with ABK. ABK will retain its overall value and could likely increase even more as time goes on.
Put another way, the people that are looking at this all wrong think MS now needs to make 68 billion to break even and start making money. So let’s say MS does just that. They make 68 billion, however many years it takes. According to those people, MS has now broken even, but MS still has a physical asset worth 68 billion that they can sell at any time, or however much it’s worth at that point in time.
So again, that is just not how business works. All they did is change a cash asset for a physical asset and every single penny MS is seeing profit wise from ABK right now is actually profit.
And I have a hard time believing it only took 5 months to get a port of Sea of Thieves over to PS ready for release so I don’t think the games MS ported over to PS has anything to do with Starfield. The plans to do so were very likely laid out well before the release of Starfield.
Re: Xbox Establishes New Team Dedicated To 'Game Preservation And Forward Compatibility'
Love everything about this and I can’t stress that enough. Bravo!!
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Secryt
Yeah, Sony isn’t in the greatest of positions either. They are still in first hardware wise, but they just lowered their hardware sales projections for this year by I think roughly 4 million units and Jim Ryan’s decision to go all in on live service has significantly hurt Sony’s first party releases and will take some time to get back on track. We also now know that Sony isn’t making enough ROI on its big 1st party titles, hence their push into PC which will happen faster and faster from here on out.
It’s a new world out there for gaming and all of the companies are gonna have to make adjustments.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@ShadowofTwilight
Please… Sony came out of those hearings looking 10 times worse than MS did. MS’s lawyers had an absolute field day with Sony’s at the FTC hearing. Even the judge was basically laughing at Sony’s arguments. It was embarrassing. Anyone who can’t see that clearly has a huge bias in favor of Sony. And the fact Jim Ryan was flying all over the globe trying to convince regulatory bodies how evil the ABK deal was, all the while sending emails stating the exact opposite made the whole thing an epic farce…and downright comical. And you actually think MS is worried about Hines past testimony, lol. It’s an amusing thought, I’ll give you that.
Pretty much the only thing Sony achieved during all of that nonsense, besides wasting a lot of peoples time, is having to reveal a lot of secret corporate info to MS due to discovery. Huge win there…
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@ShadowofTwilight
Completely irrelevant. That high public court case also brought to light many of the things Sony does, and even got congressmen into the mix regarding Sony’s anti competitive behavior in places like Japan. Pretty much the only company that aired grievances regarding Bethesda being acquired or ABK being acquired was Sony. Hell, all of the other companies that came forward publicly during the ABK trail came out in favor of the deal, not against it. It was Sony and Sony alone that was against that deal and it later came to light it was for BS reasons Jim Ryan himself refuted in various emails. All of that was made public.
The point is that it will be higher up executives at MS that determine if games come to other consoles, not people working for the companies that were acquired. Even Todd Howard himself has no say in what MS does with the games Bethesda develops anymore. That’s just one of the realities of being acquired.
MS most certainly isn’t feeling pressure to port games to PS for the first time in history because of some testimony Hines gave a year ago, for a deal that already passed worldwide. Short of Call of Duty, MS is legally free to do as they please with every other IP owned by Bethesda and ABK. They aren’t worried about Hines or his past testimony.
Re: Talking Point: Which Xbox Games Have Left You Most Pleasantly Surprised?
One game more than any comes to mind, Vampire Survivors. Wound up being my most played game last year and I am still playing it this year. Insanely addicting and insanely fun.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@ShadowofTwilight
As if Peter Hines opinion on where the games go has any weight at all. He works for Bethesda, which is owned by MS. The people running MS and Xbox are not going to bow down to the wishes of Hines.
If Starfield and Indians Jones do wind up going to PS, it will have had nothing to do with Hines wanting it to happen.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
@Fiendish-Beaver
The biggest return on investment for ABK was never gonna be from the console side. Mobile gaming was always gonna be the big one on that deal. That’s not to say they won’t make money from console, but the big money men at MS know full well that Xbox will be a drop in the bucket for ABK compared to mobile and even PC.
And please don’t tell me you’re one of these people that thinks MS now needs to make 68 billion before they even break even and start seeing profits from ABK. Just not the case at all. MS is already seeing profits from that deal so they are already seeing some of that ROI.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Testing The Waters With Sea Of Thieves PS5 Release
Yeah, still don’t buy this is going to extend to MS’s big exclusive games like Gears, Halo, Forza, Fable, and on and on. Hi Fi Rush was really no different than what they did with Ori. And I fully understand and fully support live service games going to other consoles. I expect Sony will eventually do the same with many of their live service.
MS had a “test” of what would happen if they do make their big exclusives multi platform when the rumors were swirling last month. Much of the Xbox community was up in arms about it and they would lose many of their biggest supporters. Don’t think MS is gonna take that step, not after seeing that. Either way, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Re: Lots Of Games Reduced By 90-95% In The Xbox Spring Sale 2024
Xbox really does have a problem with putting the same games on sale again and again. Meanwhile I have a bunch on my wishlist that don’t go on sale at all or very rarely do. They need more variety in their big sales. Weekly sales are one thing, big yearly sales like this one should have a far better selection overall.
I have like 330 bucks on my account and I am legitimately having a hard time spending it and I find that to be the case more times than not during these kinds of sales.
Re: Talking Point: 10 Years Later, Sunset Overdrive Still Remains A Beloved Xbox Exclusive
@andrewsqual
You can point that criticism right back at Sony and its fans too. Sony exclusives aren’t seeing anywhere near the sales they need, which is why Sony is now pushing PC releases and will be doing so faster and faster. Hell, the best exclusive I have played on my PS5 to date has been Returnal. That had absolutely abysmal sales and likely won’t see a sequel as a result. That’s criminal given how good that game is. Very much like what happened with Sunset Overdrive, tho Sony has a bigger installed base so even less of an excuse for not hitting sales goals for great exclusive games.
And when people refer to Xbox One as the worst Xbox console, they are not talking about sales. It was severely underpowered. From a technical standpoint, the Series consoles are vastly superior. Xbox One was the worst designed Xbox to date, tho they corrected that with an outstanding mid generation refresh with the Xbox One X.
Re: Talking Point: 10 Years Later, Sunset Overdrive Still Remains A Beloved Xbox Exclusive
Still hold up? It’s still better than 95% of the games released these days. An absolutely brilliant game that is just as fun to play today as it was the year it released. Would absolutely kill for a sequel.
Re: Talking Point: Do You Prefer Shorter Or Longer Games In General?
Definitely shorter as most longer games are not longer due to quality content. They are longer due to a bunch of filler content that could easily have been left out. It winds up boring me and I wind up losing interest in most before I am finished.
The overall length of the games is one of the reasons I have preferred indie and AA over AAA in recent years.
Re: Hellblade 2 Sounds Like A True Next-Gen Showcase In First Xbox Previews
Can’t wait for this game. Been patiently and patiently waiting… absolutely loved the first. With headphones on, it was an audio gaming experience unlike any I have ever had and this looks like it’s gonna up that ante in a significant way. The first was just a unique gaming experience through and through. I am expecting very good things from this.
Re: All New Xbox Games Coming Out In April 2024
Top Spin is all I need this month. About time we got a new quality tennis game.
Re: Phil Spencer Celebrates 10 Years As Head Of Xbox This Weekend
It was never gonna be an easy ride for Phil, coming off of the abysmal Xbox One launch. He was behind the 8 ball from the start.
Just a few of the positive things he has been responsible for include Xbox becoming the best backwards compatible console on the market, which I hugely appreciate. He made Game Pass the most successful sub service in gaming and I do love Game Pass. He added a TON of first party studios including ABK and Bethesda. By the time he actually leaves its very likely Xbox will have leap frogged over PS in regards to overall revenue. Xbox players are spending more on average than PS gamers this generation. He has been hugely instrumental in accessibility features and cross play.
Sure, there are negatives as well but once again, he came into this position behind the 8 ball. The Xbox brand would likely have died during the Xbox One gen if it wasn’t for Phil. He gets nothing but respect from me.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Diablo 4 On Xbox Game Pass?
It’s loading up as I type this. Huge Diablo fan and have patiently waited for it to drop on Game Pass. Will dive in later tonight.
Re: Xbox's Hi-Fi RUSH Actually Has 'Slightly' Improved Visuals On PS5
@NeutronBomb
Yeah, then he could have spent over 50% of Xbox’s budget on live service games and sent Xbox down a path nobody wants. No thanks…
Re: Xbox Game Pass Indie Deals Have 'Come Down In Scope', Claim Devs
@OrfeasDourvas
No crash is coming. The industry continues to grow year after year. Given that growth has slowed post COVID, but it’s still growing nonetheless. There are now 3.3 billion gamers worldwide. The industry will see ups and downs like any other, but nothing suggests an actual crash is anywhere on the horizon.
Re: GTA 6 'Sources' Share Their Thoughts As Fears Grow Of A Delay To 2026
Take Two is a great gaming stock to own. Buy the dips. I have been. Just gonna go way up when GTA VI releases to insane record numbers.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Indie Deals Have 'Come Down In Scope', Claim Devs
I’m not worried about it. Everyone across the industry is cutting back. It’s just what companies do in economic downturns. Things will go back up in time. They always do.
Re: Gearbox Entertainment Acquired By 2K As Team Confirms 'Borderlands 4'
@AverageGamer
There is a lot more pressure being independent. You have more freedom, but that comes at a cost. just look at Double Fine as a perfect example. Tim Schafer wanted to be bought by MS. He has openly talked about the downside of being independent.
Re: Sony's PS4 Exclusive 'Predator: Hunting Grounds' Is Finally Coming To Xbox
I guess it’s good for die hard Predator fans, but the game isn’t very good. Might be a decent Game Pass addition if they can get it for cheap on there. Lets people at least try it out. I played it on PS and didn’t care for it at all.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Be Interested In Microsoft's White Xbox Series X Revision?
Absolutely. I always buy an Xbox for my cottage up north, but haven’t gotten around to it this time as the Xbox One X I have up there has been suiting me just fine the last couple years. Have been thinking it’s time to upgrade it and I don’t bring physical games with me up there. I strictly play from my digital library so this console is perfectly suited for that purpose.
Re: Gearbox Entertainment Acquired By 2K As Team Confirms 'Borderlands 4'
This is great news. I don’t care who buys the studios that Embracer owned, as long as they wind up leaving Embracer, that is amazing news. I’m a huge Borderlands fan and have no doubt we will see Borderlands 4 faster and it will be much higher quality now than it would have been under Embracer.
I’m hoping MS buys the Tomb Raider IP off of them next.
Re: Capcom's 'Age Of Booty' Will Be Delisted On Xbox Next Week
Already own it
Re: Poll: So, What Did You Think Of The Halo TV Show's Season 2 Finale?
After season 1, I figured the show was on the fast track to being cancelled. After season 2, I can’t wait for 3. What a huge difference in just about everything. Even the choreography for the fights was far better. It could still use some fine tuning here and there, but what a difference 1 season made.
Re: Founder Of Xbox-Owned Studio Tango Gameworks Sets Up New Company
A company gets acquired, many people wind up leaving said company and starting another. One of those companies will make it big one day, might get bought out, and the cycle continues. Round and round we go…
Re: Talking Point: Which Backwards Compatible Xbox Games Still Hold Up In 2024?
Yeah, way too many to list them all. Games I have played over the last few years that I still thoroughly enjoyed with BC? Crisis trilogy, Far Cry 3, Dragons Age Origins, Fight Night Champion, Max Payne 3, Banjo Kazooie, Bioshock Infinite, Brutal Legend, Castle Crashers, Costume Quest 1 & 2, Dues Ex Human Revolution, ES Oblivion, Fallout 3, and the list really does go on and on.
Very few games have I picked up through BC that I didn’t enjoy throughly. Their age and the game play that comes with that is part of the charm.
Re: Xbox Users Are 'Gutted' About The Latest Microsoft Rewards Nerf
This is a good thing. Having rewards is one thing. Making it so they are so readily available that people just use those for things like Game Pass is going too far and ultimately not healthy for Xbox overall. I absolutely LOVE Game Pass and want it to be a successful model for MS. And I want MS to be highly profitable with Game Pass so they can bring better and better games to it.
People still can get reward points, just more realistic amounts of them.
Re: Halo TV Showrunner Admits Budget Limited Fall Of Reach Screen Time
@somnambulance
Talking about a lack of money on why they didn’t make a particular story more episodes when people are openly asking about that very question is very very very very different than someone just running around stating they don’t have enough money to make a good adaptation. The question of why The Fall of Reach was only a single episode became a hotbed topic on the internet. I have nothing but respect in him for not only addressing said question, but also doing so honestly. We need more of that today, not less. We will definitely agree to disagree.
And why would he twist it into what you stated when the overall reason can be easily stated as not a big enough budget? Every show has a budget. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stating that doing something people might have wanted to see would have taken them over budget. Yes, MS is behind this but they didn’t give the show runners a blank check.
There is absolutely nothing tacky about being truthful in regards to why something was done the way it was done when dealing with these topics. It’s just being honest. It’s tacky lying or twisting it or wording it in ways that are less truthful. Again, we need more honestly like that, not less.
Re: Palworld Dev 'Open' To Acquisition Offers, But Hasn't Talked To Xbox
@Smigit
It doesn’t matter that Palworld is a satire of Pokémon. It’s completely 100% irrelevant. Pokémon fans have wanted a game like this for a LONG time and we finally got a company that went out and gave it to people and it could wind up being hugely successful. That is the only criteria needed for an acquisition of a studio for a single IP to make sense and be profitable. It doesn’t have to be like Minecraft in any way. I just used Minecaft as an example of a studio acquired for a single game. Yes Minecraft was much bigger, but so was the price tag on the studio. This studio and Palworld would be FAR FAR cheaper.
And Nintendo can’t do Jack. The game already passed its legal reviews and there are laws in the EU, US, Canada etc. that protect parodies. There is a very good reason why Nintendo hasn’t done anything to date, including signal that they planned to do something, because they have no legs to stand on in regards to Palworld violating Pokémon copyrights. You can bet your ass that if Nintendo thought they had a chance in court, they would have already filed a motion to cease and desist. They haven’t because once again they know they have no case at all. Nintendo isn’t just sitting around waiting for the right moment to file a case. The right moment was literally the minute the game released if you had any intention of filing a case at all. No lawsuits are coming and if they do, Nintendo doesn’t stand a chance in hell at winning them.
Given MS’s focus on Game Pass, a developer like this creating live service games would be a great acquisition for MS, even with just this one IP.
Re: Halo TV Showrunner Admits Budget Limited Fall Of Reach Screen Time
@somnambulance
Not tacky at all. The issue was raised online, all over the place actually, on why so little time was spent on the Fall of Reach. He was just being truthful and letting people know it was the budget that limited that story to a single episode. Again, absolutely nothing tacky about answering a question many people and sites were asking.
Re: Palworld Dev 'Open' To Acquisition Offers, But Hasn't Talked To Xbox
@CutchuSlow
Why not? MS bought Mojang for one game, Minecraft, and it’s been one of their most successful acquisitions to date.
Re: Gears Of War Creator Thinks 'The More, The Merrier' In Regards To Getting Gears On PS5
Developers will always say that as they want as many people playing their games as possible. I don’t think I have ever seen a developer saying that they preferred their game was sold to less people.
Re: Xbox's Sea Of Thieves Becomes 'Best-Selling' Pre-Order On PlayStation 5
@jFug
“ Games like Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, and Detroit l: Become Human we’re/are considered 1st party PS games because they were published by Sony even though they were made by external development teams.”
Nobody considers those games first party, at least nobody that understands the definition of first party. You can say the sky is green, that doesn’t make it so. None of those games are Sony 1st party games.
Re: Xbox's Sea Of Thieves Becomes 'Best-Selling' Pre-Order On PlayStation 5
You literally couldn’t ask for a better example of how the general gaming population has very little in common with fanboys online. Most Sony fanboys I saw said nobody would buy the game including themselves. Fanboyism is like a disease in online forums, but thankfully that still equals to a tiny tiny tiny percentage of overall gamers.
This is great news for Xbox overall
Re: Talking Point: Would You Be Interested In A New 'Multi-Subscription' Tier On Xbox?
@AtlanteanMan
“Stop letting these mega-corporations tell you what you "want" or "what's a good deal"
I’m sorry, but I found that entire post so far off base, that I am having a hard time finding words for it. Game Pass has in no way hindered my ability to buy games and it has in no way pushed on me what to play or the kinds of games I enjoy.
What Game Pass has done is given me a never ending supply of new games to try out, many of which I never in a million years would have purchased and many of which I wound up absolutely loving. It has saved me money and given me much more information and ultimately power in regards to which games I deem worthy of buying. I am no longer buying a lot of my games utterly blind. I get to play them first.
Been on Game Pass for 3 years and have played a TON of games through the service that I have absolutely loved. I for one couldnt imagine going back to gaming without it and the reason for that has nothing to do with being trained by the corporate overlords in gaming.
Re: Phil Spencer Addresses Xbox Speculation Ahead Of 'Business Update Event'
What an utter ***** show. One of the biggest I have seen in a long time. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but the way this has been handled from a PR perspective is downright disgusting. I lost a LOT of respect in both Xbox and Phil Spencer this week, regardless of the outcome.
If I do not have faith that my digital purchases will be safe down the road, I will drop Xbox like a bad habit and that’s coming from an Xbox gamer since day 1 of the OG Xbox. Plan on building a new gaming rig this year and I’ll just primarily become a PC gamer. I’ll still game on PS and Switch like I do now, I’ll just move to PC for all the things I would have played on Xbox.
It’s mind boggling what has transpired. Just when it looked like Xbox was gonna FINALLY turn it around, they throw in the towel? It will be one of the single most disgusting moves in business I have ever seen and I will support MS as little as humanely possible the remainder of my days if it winds to being true. That includes cancelling my Game Pass sub even for PC. I’ll go back to buying games, spend significantly more, and be perfectly content doing so.
Re: Starfield, Indiana Jones And Many Other 'Xbox Exclusives' Could Be Heading To PS5
Personally, I see this for exactly what it is, nothing more. That being MS evaluating which games to put on other platforms from Bethesda just like was said from the very beginning. Is it the end of Xbox, nope. Is it the end of Xbox hardware, nope. Is MS just going to become a 3rd party developer, nope.
As a multi platform gamer, one who loves the Xbox ecosystem, I am all for it. This will only mean more money for MS, which is a good thing for everything MS game studio related. If people can’t handle some of the games from recent acquisitions going on other platforms, then just sell your Xbox now.
Re: Talking Point: How Important Is EA Play To You On Xbox Game Pass?
I don’t think it’s going anywhere. When the current contract is up, Ms will just sign another. And it’s somewhat important for me, but not massively important. There have been a few big games I have enjoyed but all In all, it’s probably made up less than 5% of the overall games I have played on Game Pass the last few years running.
Re: Xbox Games Are Reportedly No Longer Being Stocked At Some European Retailers
Not surprising at all. The amount of physical games carried in general from stores like Target, Wal-Mart, etc is comical at best these days, even for PlayStation.
As I have said many times on this topic, it’s gamers themselves that have dictated this trend, not the gaming companies or stores stocking the games. Digital has been absolutely crushing physical in overall sales. Can’t blame companies for following market trends. And can’t blame companies for not catering to a tiny fraction of the overall market.
Re: Roundup: All The Xbox Reveals From January 2024's State Of Play Event
Judas and Dragons Dogma 2 were the only things that really looked good to me and both are coming to Xbox. Silent Hill 2 looked just plain bad and Ronin looked terribly generic. Stellar Blade looked decent enough, but not my kind of game. I absolutely hated Death Stranding so I couldn’t care less for a sequel.
All in all, another disappointing showing from Sony for me. Given it’s gonna take a bit to recover from Ryan’s terrible decision to go all in on live service. 2023 and 2024 could very well be the worst 2 year stretch I have ever had with PlayStation and I have been gaming on PlayStation since the very beginning.
At least there is no release date for Silent Hill 2. That gives me hope that they still have plenty of development time to turn it around. That was the one game I was most excited about tonight and it was a massive disappointment.
Re: Xbox Predicts 'Hardware Decline' Despite Huge Revenue Boost From ActiBlizz
The hardware figures are only bad if you’re only looking at Xbox. MS isn’t just about Xbox anymore, they are about their overall gaming ecosystem. We saw signs of MS going in this direction a ways back. MS is about Xbox, PC and mobile now. They don’t care if sales from one cannibalize another. They are each pieces to the whole puzzle and MS won’t be abandoning any of them, including Xbox hardware.
And this strategy has been hugely successful thus far for them. Getting ABK across the line was HUGE as Xbox content and services revenue increased by a whopping 61% this quarter. MS’s gaming division is now the 3rd largest in revenue in the entire company, even surpassing Windows.
When it comes to MS and gaming these days, you can’t just look at one piece of the puzzle. It all needs to be looked at in unison because it’s that overall ecosystem that MS is focusing on. And while hardware sales may be weak for Xbox, the players on Xbox are spending more on average than both Sony and Nintendo gamers. That is a metric FAR more important that hardware sales.
Re: Xbox's Gaming Revenue Receives Huge 49% Boost YoY From Activision Blizzard Acquisition
Just waiting for the ABK catalog to start dropping on Game Pass. They have quite a few games that I want to play. Diablo IV would make me very happy.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3's Deleted Saves Issue Is Finally Fixed On Xbox... Or Is It?
Love Xbox, but have no desire to play this game on it. PC all the way for this one and it absolutely deserved GOTY last year. Just a brilliant brilliant game all the way around. I’ll still be playing both this and Starfield years from now.
Re: Starfield 'Biggest' Update So Far Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Am already starting to get that itch to jump back in. I want mod support up and going asap.
Re: Day Of The Devs Is Now Officially Non-Profit, Announces Fundraiser
Removed
Re: Rumour: 'Assassin's Creed Red' Due Out In November 2024, Reveal Set For This May
I have wanted an Assassins Creed game set in Japan for a long time, but it’s just so hard to get excited about an Assassins Creed game at this point. They should really take a break with this series.
Re: Xbox Hires Call Of Duty GM As New President Of Blizzard Entertainment
After reading her resume, she is a billion times better than toxic Kotick. Sure, there will be the comments aimed at her sex, comments aimed at the fact she came from the NFL, and I am sure many others I can’t even predict at this point, but again this is a billion times better than Kotick.
The adjustments to staff size have been addressed, a new leader is in place, etc. time to get the ball rolling and see what MS can do with Blizzard and ABK in general.