TheGameThrifter

@NeoRatt I say this all the time to people, he needed to think of gamers that like things he doesn't. For instance I don't like Souls types of games, but I understand the need for them to be on Xbox because others do like them.

@GuyinPA75 I've been an Xbox guy since day one. Bought an OG Xbox on day one and every Xbox since on day one. Phil was always kind of a snake to me. He was in the room when they were coming up with Xbox One and never spoke out about the issues. He just benefited from the issues and took over.

I feel like his ideas have mostly hindered Xbox as a whole. I have also heard he wasn't a fan of hardware and at one point was pitching just a streaming box and he was against a lot of games. He personally killed Sunset Overdrive 2 and Alan Wake 2 because he didn't like the first games in the series of those. Both would have been Xbox exclusives at the time.

He also turned down Marvel in 2014 to make exclusive Superhero games for Xbox, and instead they went to PlayStation.

He also famously turned down Genshin Impact.

@GuyinPA75 He's not preventing updates to Xbox though. I'm not a fan of him, but I'm not going to blame all of Xbox's problems on him when Phil Spencer has done nothing in over a decade. Took Xbox from 2nd place to 4th place and wasted 100 billion dollars on IP that have not won awards or changed peoples perceptions of Xbox in general.

@Fiendish-Beaver I don't think it took 4 years to implement this and I don't think they were holding back this basic feature for the 25th anniversary.
No Xbox updates in a year.
Cancelled Xbox Brooklyn redesign.
Cancelled Xbox Sebille controller with haptics.

It's more than clear Phil and company wanted nothing to do with consoles.

@Fiendish-Beaver The main feature was requested 4 years ago and Phil Spencer publicly said they'd do it on X. There hasn't been a console update in a year! All updates were PC, mobile or Cloud during the past year.
It's clear Phil and Sarah didn't have any love for the console.

@GuyinPA75 So, you're suggesting Phil Spencer as CEO of gaming couldn't implement simple updated features to the Xbox consoles?

@Cakefish Phil was always the problem. No way does the CEO of Xbox not have any power or wiggle room. People were giving him a free pass for over a decade!

Phil Spencer said he was going to look into this 4 years ago! We haven't had a console update in a year now.

I'm not sold on Asha Sharma by any means, but the fact that she implemented something in 2 weeks when Phil Spencer did NOTHING for consoles over the past year is still interesting.

This game will close within a year. I think taking risks is cool, but this game looks like something no one ever asked for.

@eduscxbox There was no map in the cities, you could only slowly walk from your ship to other places, it was 30fps and had constant load screens, doors were glitched, ships were glitched, enemies were stuck floating randomly. Now all of these things are fixed. For someone like me who played day one, this is like a completely different experience.

@GeminiX53 I understand the less buggy part, but the overall quality of life changes are so huge it will feel like a new game. This is the game Xbox gamers should have gotten from the start.

@eduscxbox Are we ignoring the part where all of these changes are being made to the game? This sounds like a night and day difference to the buggy game I played at launch on Xbox. These things should have been there from the start.

Asha Sharma- "Hear you"

I expect they will phase out their own hardware over the next few years.
Since they are currently transitioning players to PC anyway, they will just make it so people can play their games on PC through their own app. Which is why they are bringing the Backward Compatible titles to PC.
They will close down several more studios and become just a publisher within the next 5 years.
In the meantime they will flood their hardware with worthless AI like Copilot and other things no one asked for.

@WildConcept6 a lot of the BC games are disc only, which there almost certainly won't be a disc drive on the Helix.

It sounds like it's just the games we already have but on PC. They really are offloading fans to PC at this point.

Imagine the CEO of McDonald's saying you don't need to buy a Big Mac from them because everything is a Big Mac? He'd be fired ASAP. Whoever greenlit that idea shouldn't be working at Xbox.

@themightyant Reason why Series X didn't sell was because it lacked exclusive games.
2021 was their biggest and best selling year in Xbox history and no real surprise it came because Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 released back to back to end the year. 2020 launched with 0 exclusives.
2022 had 0 exclusives.
2023 had 2 exclusives.
2024 we heard games were going to PS5.

So, we never got a full Xbox experience with exclusive games on a consistent basis.

@darylb24 They need a plan ASAP. They can't wait years before letting people know what the plan is.

@Globo When Microsoft announces something positive, I'll be sure to chime in. So far it's the same promises we always got and another code name.
When they gave up on Xbox One they hyped Project Scorpio.
when they gave up on Xbox One X they hyped Project Scarlett
when they gave up on Series X they hyped up Project Helix.

it's literally the same thing over and over again.

@sixrings Exactly. Majority of console owners aren't into PC and vice versa. If I wanted to be on Steam I would have been already.

@Lanmanna Cool, spend your money however you want.

@GuyinPA75 I loved my Windows Phone! I knew when they started putting things on other phones that it was over though. Kind of the same feeling I get with Xbox currently.

Why wouldn't Microsoft just release a standard console with none of the PC bloat? I'm a console gamer and have no desire to pay more for PC stuff that I won't use or need.
Just make a standard console.
If they don't make a standard, lower end console than they might as well stop making hardware. Half of the sold Xbox Series consoles sold are Series S, basically Microsoft would be pricing 20 million console owners out of next gen by only releasing a $1200+ platform. Probably pricing out 90% of their total install base in the process.

@NeoRatt There is no way Sony is having a $900 console. Sony is a hardware company that relies on mass adoption and they can still subsidize their console because it doesn't have other stores like Microsoft is trying to offer.
The PS5 Pro is $700 and is only 1% of total PS5 sales, they know it's a niche price and product. They will 100% have a $599 option, likely all digital.

Microsoft cannot offer a low end version because it'll all have to have the same stores and therefore can't be subsidized.

@Millionski I mean prices went up on components and they were already taking $200 losses on every console sold. PS5 is certainly subsidized.

The current Xbox Series X 2TB is $800. And that is subsidized by Microsoft.
This new thing won't be subsidized due to other stores and probably the dropping of multiplayer pay wall. I'd say $1200+ easy.

He said the same thing about Windows Phone before shutting that down as well.

@RBRTMNZ Microsoft isn't selling any consoles at $800 and even the PS5 Pro at $700 only makes up 1% of the sales of the PS5.
If Microsoft couldn't sell a $299 console, there's no chance a $1200+ console is selling.

This is as niche as device as can be. If you're a console owner who doesn't care about PC, you won't pay the rumored $1200+ price point for things you don't want or need.
There's no exclusive games.
It'll be running that horrible Windows 11 and bloated with AI.
The PS6 will likely cost half as much because it'll be subsidized.
My guess is this thing doesn't even sniff 10 million lifetime.

@themightyant Only like 100k people own a Rog Ally......When have any of Microsoft's risks for Xbox panned out?

@darylb24 At 5-10 million, why would developers waste time on making Xbox versions? They'll just say people can download Steam versions.
If Microsoft gave up years ago on this generation with 30 million console sold, why wouldn't they give up with 5 million? How could anyone trust them at this point?
Timed exclusives won't win people over, especially when the PS6 is rumored to cost half as much as the next Xbox.
Xbox console fans will be forced to buy something with features they don't even want! Personally, I have no use for PC and don't want to game on a PC, so why would I pay extra for that?
Asha has said a lot of things but haven't seen anything implemented. She just announced what Phil and Sarah were working on, which isn't impressive at all.

@themightyant Play Anywhere is pointless since it's already just a PC lol
Foolish to think some devs just won't bother with an Xbox version because the other stores will be an option. Why bother with a low install base hardware when you can focus on hardware with a huge install base? That's the problem facing Xbox as it sits.

Open=cheating in multiplayer and and being forced to play with PC gamers.
Also, why would devs bother with an "Xbox" version? Most will probably skip Xbox and Windows and just publish on Steam.

@FishDude Everyone was saying they'd buy a ROG Ally X as well at $1000 and we know only 100k sold and then sales fell off the face of the earth.

If people wouldn't buy an Xbox console at $299 and even $199 on sale during the holidays, there's no way people are going to pay $1200+ for this thing.

@Globo Sorry, should I cheer a $5 game coming to the $400 per year rental service? I'll try to do better....

@Bloodvixen Xbox is dead without exclusives. 95% of the games they've put on PlayStation have failed and 95% that they've put on PC have failed. All they've done is minimize the hype and need for their own console.

@DennisReynolds PC ports made up 1% of PlayStation's revenue over the past 7 years. Not profit, but revenue. Which means it might have even cost them money overall. Throw in the amount of piracy and it's an easy choice. Microsoft should do the same.

@fatpunkslim Sony isn't going to make an announcement saying they're stopping single player games to PC. You just won't see their first party single player games come to PC.
Super smart move considering it was less than 1% of their total revenue over the past 7 years and majority of that was from Helldivers 2 alone.

Talk is VERY CHEAP. The previous leadership talked a lot and never did anything for fans. You don't think Phil and Sarah knew fans wanted exclusive games? A focus on console? The problem is you had a ton of people supporting Phil and company at every turn and saying what a great job they were doing.
Now we have people acting excited yet again by a new CEO. Which is it? Was Phil doing great or are you excited by the prospect of what new leadership can do?

Until she actually does something, I'll stay reserved.

I bought Cyberpunk for $5 years ago. How is a 6 year old game a big deal? Buy it for a few bucks and actually OWN it.

@Captain_Qwark_B-Job
Why not? Xbox has become a one way street. They put Xbox games on everything and yet Xbox never gets anything from anyone else and now Sony is pulling their games off PC as well. Xbox cannot compete without exclusive games.

CANCEL IT! Halo is Xbox and Xbox is Halo.
They just need to be clear where they stand with the games and exclusivity.
IMO games like Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable, anything from Rare, Turn 10, Playground, Undead Labs, Coalition, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, inXile, Obsidian or Compulsion should stay exclusive to Xbox. I think you keep Activision and most Zenimax games multiplatform to help fund the exclusives.

I'm in a wait and see mode.
I definitely don't want to play on PC, so unless Microsoft does a traditional console which is subsidized, I won't be buying it. Looks like Sony is pulling away from PC ports as well, so buying a $1200+ Xbox branded PC that has no exclusives while the PS6 will get Xbox games and PS exclusives makes it an easier choice.

@eduscxbox That's not true, they usually hire a port studio and it takes a lot of time. They also have to advertise and pay for the space in the store. Then, Sony get 30% of all sales off the top.
Wouldn't shock me to see most stuff actually lost them money. Rightfully so, it was also shortsighted to begin with.

@Globo Xbox One did nearly 60 million in sales, Series X/S did half that. The exclusives have been a massive problem.
I'd say between lack of exclusives and the flat out lies the leadership tell fans. I mean it all caught up to them and that's why they're trying to damage control now.
No one cares if Activision games are multiplatform. Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable, anything from Rare, Playground, Turn 10, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Obsidian, inXile or Compulsion should be exclusive to Xbox.
They were always chasing short term gains with the multiplatform route because the most money they'd get is through people buying microtransactions, games and subscriptions through their own console. They let the console die and now are losing money.

@Globo High On Life isn't first party, like I said, we never got the see what Xbox could be with consistent first party exclusive games. Microsoft stopped competing. They should have been locking down 3rd party exclusives people actually want, 3rd party content like they used to in the 360 days.
They paid to get GTA4 DLC exclusive for a year, and they used to pay for COD maps for a month. They'd get timed exclusivity on Bioshock, Saints Row and even Mass Effect 2.
You have to go on offensive and not just sit back and hope people come to you.

@Gemini53 Why clean house if you're not making sweeping changes? People like to pretend Xbox games sold amazing on PlayStation, but the facts don't back it up.
You could say Forza Horizon 5 and Sea Of Thieves did well, but;
Hellblade 2
Age Of Empires
Pentiment
Hi-Fi Rush
Gears Of War
Indiana Jones
Outer Worlds 2
Doom: The Dark Ages
all underperformed and might not even have made the money back from porting them.
We know Avowed and South Of Midnight aren't going to do anything on PS either.