If Warframe can support XBOX Series S (and Switch(!)) with the same client as everyone else, and Final Fantasy XIV and New Genesis: Phantasy Star Online 2 both supported Series S out of the gate without downgrades, why do so many companies trot out the same excuse, that the 'Series S has too little RAM'?
The sheer amount of nothingburger that this had with it was painful. Never mind that I'm salty about IGN reminding me that Mecha Break is slowly getting more and more late on XBOX, and the developers are trying to do damage control over the fact.
Sony continuing the mild contempt of still referring to Microsoft as the 'minority platform' will hurt them in the long run.
Microsoft, with the Azure platform, have something akin to Cloudflare available without needing any third-party middleware, so obviously, especially on the XBOX One and Series S, you have rock solid performance even on cloud titles.
Yes, Sony might want to trumpet about how their new PS6 Super Pro Deluxe will be able toast a slice of bread in a minute while also doing a realistic simulation of the solar system, but Microsoft will be able to smugly point out that some of their best selling titles have 'Published By Microsoft' on them.
Microsoft has already won the next console war... and all they need to do is sit reading a book while Sony's next console gets impolite comparisons to a jet engine, and check how many people are using xCloud that week.
I'm reminded of Nintendo's policy with some of their F2P titles on Nintendo 3DS. As an example, You were given Pokemon Picross for free, with a premium currency, but there was a specific difference. Namely that the amount you could buy had a very very specific amount.
Once you'd spent up to the hardcoded limit, the game changed it's payment model permanently, and never asked for a single cent more. Ever.
People dislike constant MTX on paid games, but accept it's a requirement for F2P games. But more and more paid games are garnishing with MTX and loot boxes, and THAT is what's making people push back more than they need to.
Street Fighter 5 has come and gone entirely, and there was never a XBOX version at all. And they're a third-party developer, not owned by Sony. Same with how we MIGHT see Final Fantasy 7 Remake on XBOX later in the year, but there's been no commitment ever by Square Enix, and the developers of Black Myth Wukong finding every excuse possible to delay or cancel the XBOX version.
Over that second one, a few months back, Capcom implied that there was an issue bringing the new Capcom Fighting Collection titles to XBOX. Within a couple of weeks, Capcom stated that the problem was being fixed, and a short time ago, MvC Fighting Collection dropped on XBOX. And that's nowhere near the first. Every time a company has put forward problems with developing for XBOX, Microsoft has stepped in and tried to find a workable solution... except in this one case.
I've been able to, numerous times, cite third party developers who think 'multi-platform' is PC, PS4/5 and Switch, and practically none where it's PC/XBOX or maybe PC/XBOX/Switch. Microsoft, right now, are pushing hard into making their first and second-party titles release on PC, PS4 and PS5, and the new Switch 2 will likely add that to the push.
But Sony aren't doing the same gesture, and people have gone out of their way to prove Sony's claims that, for multiple titles, 'only (we) can run this game' as inherently false.
The whole ABK lawsuit situation was openly Sony vs Microsoft, with Sony demanding Microsoft not be allowed to acquire Call Of Duty, with a lot of Sony's tactics brought up in court.
Timed exclusivity is not a problem... except when the timeframe for the console version looks like a sideways 8, and the general consumer is never told about that extra small print.
What this means, rather than exclusivity, is that the XBOX version releases 'early'. Way back when it was first announced, it was announced for PS5, XBOX and Steam.
Sony 'assisted in development' for games like Street Fighter 5, but the difference is that Microsoft isn't holding a gun to the developer's heads and telling them to cancel the PS5 version. Microsoft needs big titles with a few weeks of early adoption, as well as brand recognition across the landscape, or they'll lose money, plain and simple.
So, yes, they're trying to buy limited 'exclusivity', but those who slam Microsoft for it... Yet played Final Fantasy 7 Remake?
As mentioned, Microsoft acquired some big studios to prop up that their XBOX division was getting hammered [by Sony]. What this says to me is that Microsoft's strategy worked.
Sony are likely smarting slightly that over half of the value of every ABK game sold on Playstation is going straight to Microsoft, and it's the one franchise that sells an obnoxious amount on Playstation which is making them a ridiculous amount of money.
If Microsoft decide to stay with the Series X|S and focus on improving their cloud infrastructure, they could very easily lose the battle but win the war.
I don't see the next big console generation being about a massive metal and plastic chimney that you could fry an egg on. I see that the next big console generation will be a device around the same size, maybe even smaller, than the Series S from Microsoft, that stores one or two games you play often locally, while the rest are in the cloud.
The additions and content like the Wyatt Sicks make me willing to dip again. I don't play online, don't plan to play much online, but there's a lot to tempt me outside of online.
If all of my games became expensive drinks coasters outright a few weeks after the next game released, I'd be annoyed, but I still play 2K23 at times and will still play 2K24 after my copy of 2K25 releases.
Yes, if the fans played the games solely to beat each other up online, it would lose fans faster than you can say AEW, but they don't, and the game is a lot more stable than... certain versions.
What happened with this deal was simple. Sony realised that XBOX was coming off life support, so trotted out some very biased and very polarizing wall charts and consumer surveys to make it look like Microsoft was about to corner the entire console market, forcing some deep concessions.
As has been said, Microsoft are giving up some of their big exclusives to Sony, and laying off even vaguely profitable divisions, for what? Sony is a classic case of 'take and no give'. We're still waiting on Final Fantasy 7 Remake, despite the second game being out, and Final Fantasy 16 is 'rumored' to be coming to XBOX every few months. There's still a slew of games that release on Playstation but not XBOX. Microsoft, with the MvC Collection, showed they're willing to fix unintended exclusivity, but very few companies seem to be willing to listen.
Very few people remember that, in all those FTC and CMA hearings, Sony was stood beside the regulators, while ABK was stood beside Microsoft. It's not Microsoft's higher ups who made the ABK deal into one of the biggest white elephants in consumer history... It was Sony trying to make sure that, even if Microsoft claimed the prize, it would be them who'd make the most of it.
Hell, The Series S, for all that it seems weaker, it's powerful enough to run games categorically designed for the Series X with no major signs it's a weaker system.
Sony release a more expensive console and begin migrating games over to it, with there being no 'other option' for budget gaming. Microsoft baked into the last two generations a way for people to get a decent system that ran everything the main system could run... at a fraction of the price.
I don't see it being either of the Final Fantasy releases. Something of a pie in the sky prediction would be Dragon Quest X Online or Offline getting announced for the West, with a timed exclusivity for XBOX.
I wish to thank Microsoft for Play Your Own Games on xCloud... and xCloud in general. Several particularly large games that I own... I don't need to install, meaning my storage is only taxed by games that aren't yet cloud-based.
@TeiGekiLord Oh, I'm not saying there's not inept leadership. There's elements of it in all parts of the industry right now.
Sony continues to declare third-party exclusivity is the industry standard that needs to be followed, with a raft of exclusives keeping it's market share nice and safe.
Microsoft is hurting in that regard, with quite a few of it's first party studios doing f. all, for whatever reason, which led to the situation of them going full publisher or acquiring some way to improve their portfolio.
It's barely worked, but only since they have a ton of already released games making them a lot of money. If Microsoft continue to sit on the studios they own in 2025, they'll not be able to afford the full rollout on xCloud, they'll not be able to afford a successor to the XBOX Series, they'll still go under.
Sony would love for Microsoft's hail mary to flub, since they'd leverage their unstoppable position to be the console people graduate to after they leave the Switch behind. And there won't be any other choice...
@themightyant @TeiGekiLord From what is being said, Sony's 'master plan' to make Microsoft see XBOX as a money sink and not worthwhile... was close to working. Sony has made no illusions about how it wants the industry to go, and that it wants Microsoft out. Now, as the report says, they had a choice between making big acquisitions and winding down the entire division. Effectively, Microsoft had the choice of letting Sony win, which would mean no more XBOX, acquiring some more companies or hoping for lightning in a bottle from what they have, which apparently wasn't coming fast enough at the time.
So, if the report is true, Microsoft went with the option where they didn't cut off their own legs to save themselves. Yes, it was risky, but not the choice Sony wanted them to make. Well, to them, what's one less competitor?
Something to note is that you're not thinking of franchises like Madou Monogatari and similar. Everyone's thinking this is Square-Enix dropping the FF7 Remake or FF16 XBOX announcement, but I know of quite a few Japanese IPs that had their first instalment on systems that came out in the early 80's, and very few of them are owned by Square-Enix.
@Elbow Plus the fact that Final Fantasy XI is not part of the BC library, since they discontinued the XBOX 360 version several dozen updates ago.
Still, I know I'd not mind if, by the end of the year, I could have, on my game list, FF1-10, a gap, then FF12-16. all playable natively. I've got used to the nature of that gap. It's the same 'gap' as that Phantasy Star Universe isn't on BC because they vehemently discontinued it.
I could do a promotion where I develop an indie game, and offer for people to pay what they want, including nothing at all, and declare that, due to 80% of the people who got the game paying, at point of sale, absolutely nothing, I made an 80% loss on sales, even if those people contacted me later and offered $10-20 since they enjoyed the game and wanted to support me, but I still didn't 'make anything' off those sales in the metrics.
That's why this story is bupkis. Yes, all the millions of players Game Pass has, they don't pay a thing to play the game at launch, but that doesn't mean that suddenly they've lost several million in sales. It just means they probably got a lump sum based on projected sales, and a good chunk of those GP users who played the game probably put down money when it came off the service.
Seems a bit steep, IMHO. Back when games had demos, there was likely similar doomsaying about people playing the demo and then not buying the game since they were bored of the demo.
Every time someone finds a method to give us a way to try before you buy, someone else declares that it will 'hurt the sales'. As the first poster puts it, if you weren't going to buy the game, generally you won't buy it.
I have bought quite a few games, both big releases and otherwise, because my experience with the games prior to buying was all good. If Game Pass or Playstation Plus had games never leave the service, that would hurt the sales figures, but, for example, I have Game Pass, and own several first-party Microsoft titles because I wanted to, despite the fact that most first-party titles never leave Game Pass.
@DennisReynolds Where do you get the part about them using an outdated version of UE5 from?
Still, if that's true, the whole situation with Black Myth reminds me partially of the whole debacle with Mighty No 9, where they pretty much shot for the moon by using Unreal Engine 3, since that had support for most systems, and then they never even finished those versions, and the game has some serious issues due to features baked into Unreal Engine 4.
There's clear signs that the developers of Black Myth shot for the moon and didn't check they had enough fuel. I'm actually glad there's not an XBOX version, since the game is sailing on a sea of hype... and soon they'll go careening off the end.
@Dround87 Ditto on the second player stuff. If there were more games that allowed it on 'Play your own' or regular Cloud Gaming, I'd probably play a lot more on the cloud.
Otherwise, nice big screen, XBOX Series X|S console, best way to play any game.
The developers have found a lot of 'excuses' and no solutions.
Capcom sat down with Microsoft when people asked why the MvC Collection wasn't coming to XBOX, and went 'Give us a bit longer, Microsoft have given us a solution'.
The developers of Black Myth Wukong claim that there's no solution, that the Microsoft version isn't happening since, this time, the Series S has too small a RAM pool. Yet somehow every game that's come out so far has found a way to optimize the game to run on everything.
I see that they need to optimize their game better in general if everything isn't running it right, and blaming the Series S is more trying to save face.
What this 'leak' is, basically, is equivalent to someone sneaking onto an abandoned archeological site and letting everyone in because the site's not had anyone do anything with it in years.
Digital archeology being different to physical archeology in that you don't find the footprints of a thousand people wrecking something that might actually be interesting in what's there.
The one thing I respect about it is that all the LTE content and add-on characters were made available in the store without any time limit. In an age where practically every game has a limited duration battle pass, to see everything unlockable, eventually, is a nice touch.
I'm reminded of some XBOX One games, like The Witcher, shortly after the XBOX Series released, that had the game effectively still be rendering the landscape as the loading screen vanished.
It's why Mass Effect had it's not very well hidden loading screens run at a static speed, ensuring that all versions loaded properly.
Microsoft's recent 'This Is An XBOX' advertising strategy is hurting Sony in one major way.
If Microsoft manages to, when xCloud comes out of 'Perpetual Beta', announce that every game on XBOX, within the first month of release, will be released on Cloud, they could get away with not releasing a successor to the XBOX Series to consumers, since their customer base is steadily climbing without a new console.
Nintendo have a solid lock on the handheld market. Microsoft are looking at a solid lock on the cloud market. Sony could find themselves losing the next console war... by simply releasing a new console.
Days when Forza Horizon 4 was rainy or snowing just made me think 'Ah, a typical british day'. The UK has a rich driving and building history, making me annoyed by one simple thing. Why couldn't Jezza have waited another year before punching someone? It would have been nice to hear the classic Three Berks one more time during the Top Gear challenges.
@Bigmanfan If you look at the graphics settings for a PC game compared to the exact same game on XBOX Series X|S, you'll see several extra settings to micro-manage every aspect of the game running.
Meanwhile, on XBOX, you get 'Performance/Quality' toggles and all the other settings are locked out. The console knows exactly what the ideal settings are, while the PC version has to ask you what you think your hardware can do.
@VoidPunk The problem is not that Cloud Gaming is failing, but that Sony wants Microsoft to fail. If you look at the CMA/FTC arguments, they have the ridiculous notion that Microsoft's brand superiority is a risk to Sony.
Then you look properly at the industry, and realise Sony has been throwing it's gargantuan weight around for years, and they were really butthurt that Microsoft was about to remove one of their licenses to print money. Every other argument in the CMA/FTC filings was about Call Of Duty, and made claims that 'with [Call Of Duty], Microsoft could become the dominant competitor in the industry and use that power to weaken [Sony]'... Kinda like Sony does to Microsoft. Constantly.
Microsoft proved with the MvC Collection that, if there's a real problem, they can get a solution being worked on in days. But Black Myth Wukong has claimed to the press that there's a terrible game-breaking bug on XBOX... that Microsoft themselves have gone 'Excuse me, but that's not we heard', while Sony never have these issues.
So, no, Cloud Gaming isn't a failure for Microsoft. Instead, Sony want to make it fail for Microsoft so they can pick up the broken remains.
I'm looking at getting the Pixel Remasters and PS1 era Final Fantasies over the course of several weeks next year. This Black Friday however has allowed me to get the eyewateringly expensive FFX and FFXII rereleases without breaking the bank, with enough left over for one of the PS1 games.
Understandable why they're not retiring the XBOX 360 Avatar program, since there's dozens of games which use it in some way that are part of the BC program.
Meanwhile, they never found a use for them the same way on XBOX One, so... Poof.
@S1ayeR74 The situation with Flight Sim 2024 is already well on the way to being fixed, and it was outright that they didn't expect that many people would be using it.
Outside of that, xCloud is stable, and I've only had a couple of issues that were not deal-breaking. If the future of gaming is in the cloud, Microsoft are uniquely positioned to move into the cloud ecosystem without changing very much at all.
Yes, moving the entire of a game into the Cloud, that failed rather badly. But streaming gameplay... That's worked for years, and I'm not going to ever say xCloud is doomed to fail.
1. Controller Support out of the box on any and all devices. 2. You can have Ultra graphics settings on an Android or iPhone that can't run it above Medium settings. 3. You can run it on an Android without needing to make space for it.
I'm going to find it hilarious when the World Of Warcraft console version appears on XBOX and the X|S version is something like 200-250 GB, and we have this same argument, while wondering how many of the people here have the entire Call Of Duty series and are grumbling since they need to uninstall the Call Of Duty Hub to get Genshin Impact into the space.
The PC version is over 80 GB and the PS4/5 version is over 100 GB as well, so this isn't as 'staggering' as people make out.
When the Playstation version launched, it was about the same size as the PC version is now. Active MMOs are notorious for slowly growing with every update, so this isn't shocking to me.
It was... underwhelming. Over half of what was announced, including the shadow drop, aren't Game Pass games, and most of what was is so far into the future, it doesn't have any excitement to it.
It was just a bunch of trailers and the occasional narration, no real draw to it.
I was expecting something like this to happen eventually after the release of Fortnite on the XBOX Cloud Gaming site. I can also see Genshin Impact releasing on Cloud Gaming mid-November outside this program.
The fact publishers can opt out is something that worries me, since that was what almost killed Geforce Now and did kill several previous attempts.
One major change I would like this to do is end that a game leaving Game Pass means it also leaves XBOX Cloud Gaming. With this in play, it doesn't have to leave if you bought it at the time.
Hell, you add a Z and C button in the top right, and you'll realise that (Sega and) Microsoft have been using the same button layout since way back on the Genesis.
Each of the three companies have their way of doing it, and they've not changed in four decades.
The biggest flaw with the game, and the massive deal breaker, would be the lack of online support. Yes, it might seem nitpicky, but not everyone is like the staged friend/family group that is all over Nintendo's current adverts in the West. I personally struggle to get more than two people playing on my XBOX at once, and justify in general installing any party or co-op game as a result. It doesn't matter how 'charming' or 'enjoyable' the game is, if it needs more than two people in the same room, it's not happening.
@shoeses These 'Rectification Remasters', i.e releases that purely release something locked to Console X a decade or more ago, are often expensive, especially with how much you can get the original for.
The new Sonic (and Shadow) Generations release has enough to just about justify not going with the XBOX 360 version, but this...
If they fused Epic Mickey 1+2, maybe even threw in a unlockable bonus of the 3DS game, it would actually feel worth it. Half it's price for what's here, maybe, but not full price.
Comments 381
Re: 'Mecha BREAK' Dev Talks Xbox Console Exclusivity & Future Game Pass Plans
If Warframe can support XBOX Series S (and Switch(!)) with the same client as everyone else, and Final Fantasy XIV and New Genesis: Phantasy Star Online 2 both supported Series S out of the gate without downgrades, why do so many companies trot out the same excuse, that the 'Series S has too little RAM'?
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The February 2025 Xbox Indie Showcase?
The sheer amount of nothingburger that this had with it was painful. Never mind that I'm salty about IGN reminding me that Mecha Break is slowly getting more and more late on XBOX, and the developers are trying to do damage control over the fact.
Re: One Of 2024's Best Games Is Heading To Xbox Game Pass Today
@Kaloudz It's video poker where the rules change drastically every round you play.
Re: Former PlayStation Exec Says Xbox's New Strategy Is 'Natural' For Microsoft
Sony continuing the mild contempt of still referring to Microsoft as the 'minority platform' will hurt them in the long run.
Microsoft, with the Azure platform, have something akin to Cloudflare available without needing any third-party middleware, so obviously, especially on the XBOX One and Series S, you have rock solid performance even on cloud titles.
Yes, Sony might want to trumpet about how their new PS6 Super Pro Deluxe will be able toast a slice of bread in a minute while also doing a realistic simulation of the solar system, but Microsoft will be able to smugly point out that some of their best selling titles have 'Published By Microsoft' on them.
Microsoft has already won the next console war... and all they need to do is sit reading a book while Sony's next console gets impolite comparisons to a jet engine, and check how many people are using xCloud that week.
Re: Marvel Rivals Publisher Confirms Mass US Layoffs In New Company Statement
I'm reminded of Nintendo's policy with some of their F2P titles on Nintendo 3DS. As an example, You were given Pokemon Picross for free, with a premium currency, but there was a specific difference. Namely that the amount you could buy had a very very specific amount.
Once you'd spent up to the hardcoded limit, the game changed it's payment model permanently, and never asked for a single cent more. Ever.
People dislike constant MTX on paid games, but accept it's a requirement for F2P games. But more and more paid games are garnishing with MTX and loot boxes, and THAT is what's making people push back more than they need to.
Re: Microsoft Is Assisting Development On Xbox Console Launch Exclusive 'Mecha BREAK'
@Soimme I'm not talking about timed exclusivity.
Street Fighter 5 has come and gone entirely, and there was never a XBOX version at all. And they're a third-party developer, not owned by Sony.
Same with how we MIGHT see Final Fantasy 7 Remake on XBOX later in the year, but there's been no commitment ever by Square Enix, and the developers of Black Myth Wukong finding every excuse possible to delay or cancel the XBOX version.
Over that second one, a few months back, Capcom implied that there was an issue bringing the new Capcom Fighting Collection titles to XBOX. Within a couple of weeks, Capcom stated that the problem was being fixed, and a short time ago, MvC Fighting Collection dropped on XBOX.
And that's nowhere near the first. Every time a company has put forward problems with developing for XBOX, Microsoft has stepped in and tried to find a workable solution... except in this one case.
I've been able to, numerous times, cite third party developers who think 'multi-platform' is PC, PS4/5 and Switch, and practically none where it's PC/XBOX or maybe PC/XBOX/Switch. Microsoft, right now, are pushing hard into making their first and second-party titles release on PC, PS4 and PS5, and the new Switch 2 will likely add that to the push.
But Sony aren't doing the same gesture, and people have gone out of their way to prove Sony's claims that, for multiple titles, 'only (we) can run this game' as inherently false.
The whole ABK lawsuit situation was openly Sony vs Microsoft, with Sony demanding Microsoft not be allowed to acquire Call Of Duty, with a lot of Sony's tactics brought up in court.
Timed exclusivity is not a problem... except when the timeframe for the console version looks like a sideways 8, and the general consumer is never told about that extra small print.
Re: Microsoft Is Assisting Development On Xbox Console Launch Exclusive 'Mecha BREAK'
What this means, rather than exclusivity, is that the XBOX version releases 'early'. Way back when it was first announced, it was announced for PS5, XBOX and Steam.
Sony 'assisted in development' for games like Street Fighter 5, but the difference is that Microsoft isn't holding a gun to the developer's heads and telling them to cancel the PS5 version.
Microsoft needs big titles with a few weeks of early adoption, as well as brand recognition across the landscape, or they'll lose money, plain and simple.
So, yes, they're trying to buy limited 'exclusivity', but those who slam Microsoft for it... Yet played Final Fantasy 7 Remake?
Re: Xbox Adds Four More Titles To 'Stream Your Own Game' Service
I actually like this way of taking select games off the service...
"OK, They're no longer on Game Pass, but if you bought them, keep playing on xCloud,"
Just hope they speed up on adding the rest.
Re: Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (Xbox) - Here Comes A New Challenger!
#MVC2Freed
Now can we just have the next console after the Series X|S support natively all XBOX One and Series games please?
Re: Roundup: Capcom Spotlight (February 2025) - Every Game Coming To Xbox
I will honestly say that I didn't expect that '2025' would be that fast for MvC. And a shadow drop at that.
I personally feel that, while the online is currently dead, it's not been out that long, and give it time.
Re: Xbox's Multiplatform Releases Made Microsoft The Top Game Publisher In The World Last Month
As mentioned, Microsoft acquired some big studios to prop up that their XBOX division was getting hammered [by Sony]. What this says to me is that Microsoft's strategy worked.
Sony are likely smarting slightly that over half of the value of every ABK game sold on Playstation is going straight to Microsoft, and it's the one franchise that sells an obnoxious amount on Playstation which is making them a ridiculous amount of money.
If Microsoft decide to stay with the Series X|S and focus on improving their cloud infrastructure, they could very easily lose the battle but win the war.
I don't see the next big console generation being about a massive metal and plastic chimney that you could fry an egg on. I see that the next big console generation will be a device around the same size, maybe even smaller, than the Series S from Microsoft, that stores one or two games you play often locally, while the rest are in the cloud.
Re: WWE 2K25 Goes 'Beyond The Ring' On Xbox Series X|S This March
The additions and content like the Wyatt Sicks make me willing to dip again. I don't play online, don't plan to play much online, but there's a lot to tempt me outside of online.
If all of my games became expensive drinks coasters outright a few weeks after the next game released, I'd be annoyed, but I still play 2K23 at times and will still play 2K24 after my copy of 2K25 releases.
Yes, if the fans played the games solely to beat each other up online, it would lose fans faster than you can say AEW, but they don't, and the game is a lot more stable than... certain versions.
Re: Surprise! Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Launches Today On Xbox Game Pass
@GuyinPA75 Hero Mode is apparently in.
Re: Talking Point: It's Been Three Years Since Xbox Announced The Activision Blizzard Deal
What happened with this deal was simple. Sony realised that XBOX was coming off life support, so trotted out some very biased and very polarizing wall charts and consumer surveys to make it look like Microsoft was about to corner the entire console market, forcing some deep concessions.
As has been said, Microsoft are giving up some of their big exclusives to Sony, and laying off even vaguely profitable divisions, for what?
Sony is a classic case of 'take and no give'. We're still waiting on Final Fantasy 7 Remake, despite the second game being out, and Final Fantasy 16 is 'rumored' to be coming to XBOX every few months.
There's still a slew of games that release on Playstation but not XBOX. Microsoft, with the MvC Collection, showed they're willing to fix unintended exclusivity, but very few companies seem to be willing to listen.
Very few people remember that, in all those FTC and CMA hearings, Sony was stood beside the regulators, while ABK was stood beside Microsoft. It's not Microsoft's higher ups who made the ABK deal into one of the biggest white elephants in consumer history...
It was Sony trying to make sure that, even if Microsoft claimed the prize, it would be them who'd make the most of it.
Re: PS5 Pro Surprisingly Loses To Xbox Series X In HDMI Bandwidth Test
Hell, The Series S, for all that it seems weaker, it's powerful enough to run games categorically designed for the Series X with no major signs it's a weaker system.
Sony release a more expensive console and begin migrating games over to it, with there being no 'other option' for budget gaming. Microsoft baked into the last two generations a way for people to get a decent system that ran everything the main system could run... at a fraction of the price.
Re: Five Guesses For The 'Legendary' Surprise At Xbox Developer Direct This Week
I don't see it being either of the Final Fantasy releases. Something of a pie in the sky prediction would be Dragon Quest X Online or Offline getting announced for the West, with a timed exclusivity for XBOX.
Re: Talking Point: Xbox Series X|S Owners, How's Your Storage Looking In 2025?
I wish to thank Microsoft for Play Your Own Games on xCloud... and xCloud in general. Several particularly large games that I own... I don't need to install, meaning my storage is only taxed by games that aren't yet cloud-based.
Re: Rumour: Microsoft Reportedly Chose Buying Studios Over 'Winding Down' Xbox In 2021
@TeiGekiLord Oh, I'm not saying there's not inept leadership. There's elements of it in all parts of the industry right now.
Sony continues to declare third-party exclusivity is the industry standard that needs to be followed, with a raft of exclusives keeping it's market share nice and safe.
Microsoft is hurting in that regard, with quite a few of it's first party studios doing f. all, for whatever reason, which led to the situation of them going full publisher or acquiring some way to improve their portfolio.
It's barely worked, but only since they have a ton of already released games making them a lot of money. If Microsoft continue to sit on the studios they own in 2025, they'll not be able to afford the full rollout on xCloud, they'll not be able to afford a successor to the XBOX Series, they'll still go under.
Sony would love for Microsoft's hail mary to flub, since they'd leverage their unstoppable position to be the console people graduate to after they leave the Switch behind. And there won't be any other choice...
Re: Rumour: Microsoft Reportedly Chose Buying Studios Over 'Winding Down' Xbox In 2021
@themightyant @TeiGekiLord From what is being said, Sony's 'master plan' to make Microsoft see XBOX as a money sink and not worthwhile... was close to working.
Sony has made no illusions about how it wants the industry to go, and that it wants Microsoft out. Now, as the report says, they had a choice between making big acquisitions and winding down the entire division.
Effectively, Microsoft had the choice of letting Sony win, which would mean no more XBOX, acquiring some more companies or hoping for lightning in a bottle from what they have, which apparently wasn't coming fast enough at the time.
So, if the report is true, Microsoft went with the option where they didn't cut off their own legs to save themselves. Yes, it was risky, but not the choice Sony wanted them to make. Well, to them, what's one less competitor?
Re: Xbox's Big Surprise For Developer Direct Is Reportedly A Legendary Japanese IP
Something to note is that you're not thinking of franchises like Madou Monogatari and similar. Everyone's thinking this is Square-Enix dropping the FF7 Remake or FF16 XBOX announcement, but I know of quite a few Japanese IPs that had their first instalment on systems that came out in the early 80's, and very few of them are owned by Square-Enix.
Re: Rumour: Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Rebirth Supposedly 'Confirmed' For Xbox In 2025 / 2026
@Elbow Plus the fact that Final Fantasy XI is not part of the BC library, since they discontinued the XBOX 360 version several dozen updates ago.
Still, I know I'd not mind if, by the end of the year, I could have, on my game list, FF1-10, a gap, then FF12-16. all playable natively. I've got used to the nature of that gap. It's the same 'gap' as that Phantasy Star Universe isn't on BC because they vehemently discontinued it.
Re: Game Pass Titles 'Lose Around 80%' Of Sales On Xbox, Claims Reporter
I could do a promotion where I develop an indie game, and offer for people to pay what they want, including nothing at all, and declare that, due to 80% of the people who got the game paying, at point of sale, absolutely nothing, I made an 80% loss on sales, even if those people contacted me later and offered $10-20 since they enjoyed the game and wanted to support me, but I still didn't 'make anything' off those sales in the metrics.
That's why this story is bupkis. Yes, all the millions of players Game Pass has, they don't pay a thing to play the game at launch, but that doesn't mean that suddenly they've lost several million in sales.
It just means they probably got a lump sum based on projected sales, and a good chunk of those GP users who played the game probably put down money when it came off the service.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Titles 'Lose Around 80%' Of Sales, Claims Reporter
Seems a bit steep, IMHO. Back when games had demos, there was likely similar doomsaying about people playing the demo and then not buying the game since they were bored of the demo.
Every time someone finds a method to give us a way to try before you buy, someone else declares that it will 'hurt the sales'. As the first poster puts it, if you weren't going to buy the game, generally you won't buy it.
I have bought quite a few games, both big releases and otherwise, because my experience with the games prior to buying was all good. If Game Pass or Playstation Plus had games never leave the service, that would hurt the sales figures, but, for example, I have Game Pass, and own several first-party Microsoft titles because I wanted to, despite the fact that most first-party titles never leave Game Pass.
Re: Black Myth: Wukong's Xbox Saga Just Got A Whole Lot More Confusing
@DennisReynolds Where do you get the part about them using an outdated version of UE5 from?
Still, if that's true, the whole situation with Black Myth reminds me partially of the whole debacle with Mighty No 9, where they pretty much shot for the moon by using Unreal Engine 3, since that had support for most systems, and then they never even finished those versions, and the game has some serious issues due to features baked into Unreal Engine 4.
There's clear signs that the developers of Black Myth shot for the moon and didn't check they had enough fuel. I'm actually glad there's not an XBOX version, since the game is sailing on a sea of hype... and soon they'll go careening off the end.
Re: Poll: Which 'Xbox' Devices Will You Spend The Most Time With In 2025?
@Dround87 Ditto on the second player stuff. If there were more games that allowed it on 'Play your own' or regular Cloud Gaming, I'd probably play a lot more on the cloud.
Otherwise, nice big screen, XBOX Series X|S console, best way to play any game.
Re: Black Myth: Wukong's Xbox Saga Just Got A Whole Lot More Confusing
The developers have found a lot of 'excuses' and no solutions.
Capcom sat down with Microsoft when people asked why the MvC Collection wasn't coming to XBOX, and went 'Give us a bit longer, Microsoft have given us a solution'.
The developers of Black Myth Wukong claim that there's no solution, that the Microsoft version isn't happening since, this time, the Series S has too small a RAM pool. Yet somehow every game that's come out so far has found a way to optimize the game to run on everything.
I see that they need to optimize their game better in general if everything isn't running it right, and blaming the Series S is more trying to save face.
Re: Halo Suffers Massive Leak On Christmas Day, Internal Documents & Dev Builds Revealed
What this 'leak' is, basically, is equivalent to someone sneaking onto an abandoned archeological site and letting everyone in because the site's not had anyone do anything with it in years.
Digital archeology being different to physical archeology in that you don't find the footprints of a thousand people wrecking something that might actually be interesting in what's there.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled On Xbox Game Pass?
The one thing I respect about it is that all the LTE content and add-on characters were made available in the store without any time limit.
In an age where practically every game has a limited duration battle pass, to see everything unlockable, eventually, is a nice touch.
Re: Ex-Bethesda Dev 'Surprised' At The Amount Of Load Screens In Starfield
I'm reminded of some XBOX One games, like The Witcher, shortly after the XBOX Series released, that had the game effectively still be rendering the landscape as the loading screen vanished.
It's why Mass Effect had it's not very well hidden loading screens run at a static speed, ensuring that all versions loaded properly.
Re: Xbox Appears To Be Getting More Ex-PlayStation Exclusives In 2025
Microsoft's recent 'This Is An XBOX' advertising strategy is hurting Sony in one major way.
If Microsoft manages to, when xCloud comes out of 'Perpetual Beta', announce that every game on XBOX, within the first month of release, will be released on Cloud, they could get away with not releasing a successor to the XBOX Series to consumers, since their customer base is steadily climbing without a new console.
Nintendo have a solid lock on the handheld market. Microsoft are looking at a solid lock on the cloud market. Sony could find themselves losing the next console war... by simply releasing a new console.
Re: Soapbox: Paying Tribute To The Best Map In Forza Horizon History
Days when Forza Horizon 4 was rainy or snowing just made me think 'Ah, a typical british day'.
The UK has a rich driving and building history, making me annoyed by one simple thing. Why couldn't Jezza have waited another year before punching someone?
It would have been nice to hear the classic Three Berks one more time during the Top Gear challenges.
Re: Xbox May Limit Presence At The Game Awards Due To Early 2025 Event Plans
XBOX has one major problem with if they announced everything that they have on their plate for 2025 at The Game Awards...
With Activision, Blizzard and Bethesda, along with their own output, they have, if anything, too many companies which likely have something cooking.
Re: Video: Indiana Jones Comparison Shows Difference Between Xbox Series X And S Versions
@Bigmanfan If you look at the graphics settings for a PC game compared to the exact same game on XBOX Series X|S, you'll see several extra settings to micro-manage every aspect of the game running.
Meanwhile, on XBOX, you get 'Performance/Quality' toggles and all the other settings are locked out. The console knows exactly what the ideal settings are, while the PC version has to ask you what you think your hardware can do.
Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Dev Explains Why The Game Can't Be Downloaded In Full
@VoidPunk The problem is not that Cloud Gaming is failing, but that Sony wants Microsoft to fail. If you look at the CMA/FTC arguments, they have the ridiculous notion that Microsoft's brand superiority is a risk to Sony.
Then you look properly at the industry, and realise Sony has been throwing it's gargantuan weight around for years, and they were really butthurt that Microsoft was about to remove one of their licenses to print money.
Every other argument in the CMA/FTC filings was about Call Of Duty, and made claims that 'with [Call Of Duty], Microsoft could become the dominant competitor in the industry and use that power to weaken [Sony]'...
Kinda like Sony does to Microsoft. Constantly.
Microsoft proved with the MvC Collection that, if there's a real problem, they can get a solution being worked on in days. But Black Myth Wukong has claimed to the press that there's a terrible game-breaking bug on XBOX... that Microsoft themselves have gone 'Excuse me, but that's not we heard', while Sony never have these issues.
So, no, Cloud Gaming isn't a failure for Microsoft. Instead, Sony want to make it fail for Microsoft so they can pick up the broken remains.
Re: Random: Xbox Series S Owner Reveals How The Console Literally Saved Their Life
The controller... Toast.
The console... Battered.
The player... Alive.
Even if he'd had a helmet, he'd have come away a lot worse than the console without it being there to take the pain.
Re: These 50+ Games Are Cheaper Than Ever In The Xbox Black Friday Sale 2024
I'm looking at getting the Pixel Remasters and PS1 era Final Fantasies over the course of several weeks next year. This Black Friday however has allowed me to get the eyewateringly expensive FFX and FFXII rereleases without breaking the bank, with enough left over for one of the PS1 games.
Re: Xbox Is Making Big Changes To Avatars In January 2025
Understandable why they're not retiring the XBOX 360 Avatar program, since there's dozens of games which use it in some way that are part of the BC program.
Meanwhile, they never found a use for them the same way on XBOX One, so... Poof.
Re: Xbox Introduces 'Stream Your Own Game' Feature With 50 Titles Supported At Launch
@S1ayeR74 The situation with Flight Sim 2024 is already well on the way to being fixed, and it was outright that they didn't expect that many people would be using it.
Outside of that, xCloud is stable, and I've only had a couple of issues that were not deal-breaking. If the future of gaming is in the cloud, Microsoft are uniquely positioned to move into the cloud ecosystem without changing very much at all.
Yes, moving the entire of a game into the Cloud, that failed rather badly. But streaming gameplay... That's worked for years, and I'm not going to ever say xCloud is doomed to fail.
Re: Xbox Fans Left Surprised By 'Insane' Download Size For Genshin Impact
Reasons to play it on Cloud -
1. Controller Support out of the box on any and all devices.
2. You can have Ultra graphics settings on an Android or iPhone that can't run it above Medium settings.
3. You can run it on an Android without needing to make space for it.
Re: Xbox Fans Left Surprised By 'Insane' Download Size For Genshin Impact
I'm going to find it hilarious when the World Of Warcraft console version appears on XBOX and the X|S version is something like 200-250 GB, and we have this same argument, while wondering how many of the people here have the entire Call Of Duty series and are grumbling since they need to uninstall the Call Of Duty Hub to get Genshin Impact into the space.
Re: Xbox Fans Left Surprised By 'Insane' Download Size For Genshin Impact
The PC version is over 80 GB and the PS4/5 version is over 100 GB as well, so this isn't as 'staggering' as people make out.
When the Playstation version launched, it was about the same size as the PC version is now. Active MMOs are notorious for slowly growing with every update, so this isn't shocking to me.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Today's Xbox Partner Preview Event?
It was... underwhelming. Over half of what was announced, including the shadow drop, aren't Game Pass games, and most of what was is so far into the future, it doesn't have any excitement to it.
It was just a bunch of trailers and the occasional narration, no real draw to it.
Re: Xbox Cloud Gaming Will Reportedly Let You Stream Your Own Games Very Soon
I was expecting something like this to happen eventually after the release of Fortnite on the XBOX Cloud Gaming site. I can also see Genshin Impact releasing on Cloud Gaming mid-November outside this program.
The fact publishers can opt out is something that worries me, since that was what almost killed Geforce Now and did kill several previous attempts.
One major change I would like this to do is end that a game leaving Game Pass means it also leaves XBOX Cloud Gaming. With this in play, it doesn't have to leave if you bought it at the time.
Re: DOOM 1+2 Treated To Surprise Xbox Update, Here Are The Patch Notes
Suddenly have a really good reason to boot this collection up with the keyboard connected.
Re: Random: Xbox Extends Phil Spencer's PS5 Controller Joke
Hell, you add a Z and C button in the top right, and you'll realise that (Sega and) Microsoft have been using the same button layout since way back on the Genesis.
Each of the three companies have their way of doing it, and they've not changed in four decades.
Re: Review: Looney Tunes: Wacky World Of Sports (Xbox) - A Mediocre Collection That Still Has Plenty Of Charm
The biggest flaw with the game, and the massive deal breaker, would be the lack of online support. Yes, it might seem nitpicky, but not everyone is like the staged friend/family group that is all over Nintendo's current adverts in the West.
I personally struggle to get more than two people playing on my XBOX at once, and justify in general installing any party or co-op game as a result.
It doesn't matter how 'charming' or 'enjoyable' the game is, if it needs more than two people in the same room, it's not happening.
Re: Six Games Announced For Xbox Game Pass At Tokyo Game Show 2024
Would prefer the Mana Collection, but we're eating REALLY good today.
Re: TMNT: Shredder's Revenge Scores 'Radical Reptiles' DLC Update
'Today' apparently means 'soon'. That's why the trailer went private. Some idiot pressed the wrong button.
Re: Review: Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Xbox) - Nintendo Wii Classic Gets A Modern Makeover
@shoeses These 'Rectification Remasters', i.e releases that purely release something locked to Console X a decade or more ago, are often expensive, especially with how much you can get the original for.
The new Sonic (and Shadow) Generations release has enough to just about justify not going with the XBOX 360 version, but this...
If they fused Epic Mickey 1+2, maybe even threw in a unlockable bonus of the 3DS game, it would actually feel worth it. Half it's price for what's here, maybe, but not full price.
Re: Poll: How Excited Are You For Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 On Xbox Game Pass?
I have a few hundred other games that give me a better reason to keep my subscription going. Black Ops 6 is not one of them.