Weebleman

@Fiendish-Beaver I absolutely will take up your advice on the Chinese food. Not so much the skinny dipping you wild man 😂😂

@Fiendish-Beaver didnt know you were a Plymouth local my man. My other half's family are all Plymouth based and we visit a few times a year. Ive had many (many!) a good Guinness down the barbican.

@swedetrap sadly, if windows is involved anywhere in the process, all those things you dont want are inevitable.

@IronMan30 100%. I imagine they planned to as they thought subs and sales would shoot up. When they didnt, you sell the games elsewhere.

Ive said all along that the hardest thing MS had to do was get folks to walk away from digital libraries they had built on a different box.

@IronMan30 are these the same suspects that argued you dont spend billions of dollars not to make games exclusive, and then tell us exclusives arent important?

@Fiendish-Beaver honestly, its like we have to have a travel tablet before reading these threads with all the spinning going on.

You nailed it on the head there. What some call a steep decline still means outselling xbox 3 to 1. The rog ally is an example but was previously classed as selling well but not counted. Its almost like they make it up blindly isnt it.

Hope you had a good Christmas and new year buddy.

@fatpunkslim thats because its not an xbox(despite everything allegedly being an xbox).

Will be good to get some actual numbers on the ally though just to see where its at. Without knowing what was released, we cant say how much difference it makes. I mean, I could make ten sandwiches and have an 11th person ask for one. I sold out and cant meet demand. Doesn't mean its moving the needle in the sandwich world.

Has a strong whiff of Sega about it all.

@Skedaddle without numbers it means nothing.

@BattleMonkey christ knows what that will cost with the state of things at the minute.

@NeoRatt well good to know theres two of them out there.

I bought a series s for 75 quid off gumtree. I disagree.

@Markatron84 I dont feel anything anymore. Just a husk of confusion remains.

@NeoRatt if they can afford a tv that streams the games, I assure you they can afford a console. You cant access it through budget brand models.

Id also argue that the cost of gamepass now also puts this out of reach to people who cant afford a console. Buying a pad and a month of ultimate is not far off a used Series S price.

Again, ive seen nobody, anywhere, either saying they play games via stream, or playing them via stream, outside of places like this.

And I know people from all walks of life, I assure you.

@BattleMonkey I popped a link in my original comment from Tom Warren in 2021 where Sony announced it was selling the OG at a profit in an earnings call.

Edit : apologies, I missed your original reply.

@TheGameThrifter oh im with you. I dont like the direction MS is heading and moved away from the eco system a fair bit once it started to look glum. I tend to buy physical so I have the games but MS stopped putting them on discs (among others).

Troubling times.

@BattleMonkey I imagine the pro was priced and sold for profit from the get go, as it was never going to be aimed at anyone but the enthusiasts.

@TheGameThrifter while true, it all depends on existing stock in the chain etc...

Who knows though, its not like we make anything off it eh

@TheGameThrifter its been selling at a profit since 2021. This was announced by Sony in an earnings call so you would think it would be true, yes.

I cant see them saying its only a few dollars though? Gotta link for that bit?

@Decoy_Snake Blue Prince also launched free on PS Plus. Mr Mozzy tends to ignore that bit.

@FraserG I think theres going to be a certain beaver delighted when he spots this poll

@fatpunkslim

Edit: you know what, forget about it. Happy New Year my man, and to all the folks and staff here.

@Markatron84 😂 god damn you, now im going to have to Google it as well!

Im in love with your dead grandmother has game of the year all over it, surely.

@TheGameThrifter PS5 has sold for a profit for a number of years now. No idea about the pro though.

For reference:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/4/22609150/sony-playstation-5-ps5-loss-profit

I am yet to know, see or have anybody, anywhere, ask if i fancy a game of something and then launch game cloud to play it on any device.

Not sure why the last one got removed as I absolutely was not flaming or arguing anymore than the other persons comments who remain; but I was just highlighting that using figures from 2025 for Microsoft and then using figures from 2023 onwards for Sony makes your argument falter as its not a like for like comparison.

Happy new year

@fatpunkslim I mean id be interested in the data but it seems to just link briefly to your file and then straight to porn. Id probably remove that mate and get a proper one.

@Master_Cthulhu70 care to break down that booming eco system they got going when next to nobody is buying into it?

@themightyant apologies you got dragged into the silliness. Hope all is well with you and the family.

@fatpunkslim I repeatedly said there were highlights which were outweighed by negatives.

By all means, run the spreadsheet my friend. Happy to have a look.

@fatpunkslim there is a huge difference in stating what you percieve as facts and actual factual statements.

Id argue that the blinkered view you hold means you view these 'facts' through a slightly distorted lense. Seeing the good and bad as a whole benefits everyone and makes people/companies push to be better.

The other facts are that MS now puts all its games on rival platforms. This would not happen if they were succeeding. This is confirmed by Phil Spencer previously stating to Parris in a tweet that he chuckled when he saw Parris had figured out their plan. For clarity, the statement Parris made was 'you dont spend 7.5 billion to not make them exclusive' in relation to Bethesda. They are now shipping tentpole franchises - Gears, Forza and Halo - on the box they paid 7.5 billion, and 79 billion in terms of ABK, to keep games off.

They doubled the price of gamepass and locked day one releases behind the highest tier. This would not happen were it succeeding to planned levels.

Their console sales fell off a cliff which likely led to the consequences detailed above. As Phil said, they lost the most important generation, meaning the one where people built digital libraries.

Their new 'premium' box is likely going to cost a fortune due to the ongoing ram crisis. This will affect everyone, but only MS are positioning their console as a premium box that already had expectations to be close to a grand. This is speculation. Just to clarify the difference with facts.

While it may appear that I dump on MS, i actually enjoy what they put out. I like games as opposed to the box that plays them or the company that provides them. Competition breeds innovation and we reap the benefits of this. Yet it factually has not been a good year overall for MS/Xbox. There have been some lovely highlights, but unfortunately they appear to be in the minority this year. Hopefully its a different story next year.

Happy new year to you and yours to my friend and, as always, good health to you to.

@Darylb88 yep, gamepass is panning out so well they just had to double the price of it and lock day ones behind a top tier.

Going swimmingly over there 👍

@fatpunkslim let's just call it there my man as I cant keep up with the gymnastics.

All the best to you and yours.

@fatpunkslim they laid off 15,000 people dude and shut some highly established, and frankly, highly regarded, studios. Compare that to Sony laying off around 1600 and its apples and pears.

All redundancies suck to be clear, but to say its blown out of proportion is an insult to those affected by them.

@fatpunkslim They all get negative press, but xbox had a lot more this year. Sony and Xbox shuttered and canned things throughout the year (lest we forget the debacle of Concord), yet every week was something for xbox.

For every negative xbox sales update, Sony/nintendo mainly recieved a positive sales update. The PS5 Pro price was soon put aside when MS increased a 2tb series x to cost even more.

The indiana jones going to PS5 articles, Forza going to PS5, etc... while all positive for a publisher (Microsoft games), it is not positive for xbox in the slightest.

I know you will never agree. Ive seen you spinning things faster than a windmill on the Scottish coast during my time here, so i expect no different here.

On a side note, hope you and yours had a good Christmas (if you celebrate), or just a nice break if not.

And let's be honest, if it was going as well as planned these games wouldn't be cross platform and gamepass wouldn't be doubling in price.

I dont think this is a positive thing at all. The bulk of articles are price rises, lay offs, poor sales, games going cross platform, etc...

Articles were folks were saying they arent being stocked in places and articles denying these articles.

You'd have to be pretty blinkered or just a pure fanboy to think this has been a good year for them. As demonstrated above.

Merry Xmas all!

Folks are getting real heated over this one i see. Both decent games for me. GT7 is the better one imo but that doesn't mean FM is a bad game.

Absolutely awful news. Just not words. RIP

@Markatron84 every article should just be titled 'GAMES' from now on 😂

@swedetrap its weird as I struggled with Tsushima yet, after absolutely burning myself out on AC Origins to the point I couldn't bare 5 minutes of any that followed, I really loved Shadows.

I havent played Yotei yet because GoT was a struggle to get through for me, but I do intend to try it at some point. Lovely game to look at, it just felt a bit copy and paste with the battles, settlements and side quests (for me personally).

Not to say that any are bad games or your opinion is wrong, of course. The fact we all like different things makes the world far more interesting.

Aren't they just 'Games' as opposed to xbox games? I thought this was going to be about highest rated xbox games, or is there another article on the way as we head to the new year?

If not, I think i have an idea for article to pop out before new year... 😂

GT7 in Vr is one of the most phenomenal racing experiences I have ever had in a game. Its just unbelievable.

Saying that, it does saddens me that FM basically got left to rot as its a wonderful game.

Imagine a world where Microsoft had budget constraints.

@Fiendish-Beaver man, im sorry to hear all what happened to you and for the loss of your wife. Always remember you have friends on places like this and im glad you found gaming, otherwise I wouldn't get to read your posts on it. Raising a glass to you and yours my man.

@ZeD Its more of an action game than a souls like according to the developers. Devil May Cry was thrown out as a comparison if I remember rightly.

Subtle amazon... real subtle 😂

Its pretty crazy that its took so long to have this in the app. Glad its there now though.

@OldGamer999 Quadruple A!