Comments 951

Re: 'We'll Start To See Radically Different Business Models' - Xbox Boss Talks Future Of Consoles

Weebleman

Its nice to hear she is aware of the concerns most folks have raised with helix in that a premium machine will not sell the numbers needed (mass market). As it stood, as most folks said, it would be a niche, expensive machine.

She does contradict herself a little in saying it wont sell and then saying it will be a performance leading machine, as that would require all the parts that are through the roof at the minute. On the other hand though, if this gen has taught us anything, power doesnt translate into sales. The SX on paper is more powerful than the PS5 but returns are so diminishing nowadays, I dont think you need to be all about raw power.

Re: Xbox Employee Responds To New Trailer Showing PS5 Logo For Gears Of War E-Day

Weebleman

@Questionable_Duck which they should have just said in the first place. That would tie in with Asha filming her part for the show and makes sense. I just wish they would be upfront about all this from the get go. Trust in the brand is low at the minute. They need to be crystal clear out the gate on everything now to rebuild it. It shouldnt be a forced hand in response to a tweet.

On a seperate note, I imagine someone will get it in the neck over that trailer. On an official podcast no less 😂

Edit: just saw his response. He said they are moving fast, yet booty and the other chap said they dont want to move fast and make sure the decisions are right. Again, it just feels like they are contradicting each other.

Re: 'This Is The Start Of A Program' - Xbox Exec Addresses Questions Around Exclusivity

Weebleman

@Banjo- two current execs said anything announced will remain that way. They announced all halo titles will be multiplatform. They have made that clear about anything announced Twice now.

They never announced platforms for E Day or any gears of war other than reloaded.

Future Halo games was announced after Forza 6 which remains multiplatform.

Either they break their current stance, or they all go multiplatform. Which is it?

Re: 'This Is The Start Of A Program' - Xbox Exec Addresses Questions Around Exclusivity

Weebleman

The one question I have is Halo. Now, before folks throw accusations, I have all the consoles, im happy with exclusives, I absolutely think they should have them as it sells the box/brand and we need that to create competition.

Forza 6 was announced as coming to PS5 on 1 October 2025. We know thats coming. On 25 October 2025 it was announced that all future Halo titles will be coming to PS5.

What are they going to do there? As confirmed by multiple execs now, everything already announced will stay multiplatform. So that would suggest that, based on what we know, Halo will remain multiplatform.

Now. This is a situation where the mother of all flagship titles lands in their bracket of games that they have confirmed will remain everywhere. Or they break the statements that two execs have made when providing clarity on it.

They can keep all of the titles exclusive for me, im not affected. But the whole thing whiffs of a snap reaction to appease while they figure out how they do it.

Re: Matt Booty Explains Xbox's Plans For Exclusive Games Going Forward

Weebleman

Jeff Grubb just put out that there is an essentially finished version of E Day with the developers. Basically confirms it was a knee jerk decision. If they had said exclusive for Senua, State of Decay or the others, it would at least make business sense. This just feels like something to keep the dogs settled while they figure things out and a big missed opportunity to get a chunk of money in.

Re: Matt Booty Explains Xbox's Plans For Exclusive Games Going Forward

Weebleman

E Day feels like a knee jerk 'we have to give something' reaction taken at the last minute as everything else around it contradicts their points.

This isn't xbox is back. This is essentially still managing your company on the fly while appesing the hardcore who flew off the handle over logos in videos. Despite it ironically being surround by those logos on pretty much everything else.

Re: Matt Booty Explains Xbox's Plans For Exclusive Games Going Forward

Weebleman

@Deshalu its literally launching this year and widely reported to have been pulled in the last few days. To the point it was submitted to the regulatory board for a rating. Are you suggesting that nothing was was in place despite this yet games currently still in development, some of them early, have something?

Re: Matt Booty Explains Xbox's Plans For Exclusive Games Going Forward

Weebleman

So, in a nutshell, we are right back where we where in the first place when it was just 4 games. No better, no worse, no clear plan.

It feels like E Day was pulled to appease folks, Clockwork gave those same folks something to help believe and yet, here we are again. Nothing has changed and you can replace Starfield with Gears this time round.

The plan is the plan until its not the plan. Again.

Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The Xbox Games Showcase 2026?

Weebleman

@awp69 that E Day code for PS5 is written. It will likely be finished off at some point as well. If it does not shift numbers then it will be wheeled out under 'we said we would review case by case' or 'we said there would be tough decisions '. In the meantime it will sit there as we see how this pans out.

We have seen it before with 'just four games', yet they just confirmed Halo's release date on PS.

I want the needle to move for them. I also will have no surprise when they say later on these games are now going elsewhere.

Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The Xbox Games Showcase 2026?

Weebleman

Just catching up. Some decent games in there but, as a show, it was flat for me. Simply because it lacked a wow moment and it all felt a little rushed to be honest. Nothing was given room to breathe and, at the same time, there was nothing I didnt know about that took my breathe away. I turned it off when it finished on COD.

Some good games, nothing at the level of some of the ones I saw in state of play or SGF for me personally.

Re: Xbox Games Showcase 2026: Date, Start Times, What To Expect & More

Weebleman

@Fiendish-Beaver This has a faint whiff of the Activision deal to it. The same folks screamed for it to go through, while other folks said no good will come of it.

With COD losing enough money to be pulled from gamepass day one while the price is hiked, its safe to say anything in the Activision deal will remain multiplat as most of their IP's won't pull in many console purchases and will lose to much if they arent on everything. E Day may be a water test to see how it performs and then set a direction accordingly.

You touched up on it yourself regarding Gamepass. Its a superb deal for gamers, but it clearly hasn't panned out that way for the company. There is an elephant in the room regarding day one on there in that we clearly know it doesnt bring enough money in. Anyone already tied in - or stacked for years - brings zero new revenue to the table. The only way to recoup that is increase the price or dont release day one or put the games everywhere. If you make things timed exclusive they miss out on sales generated by the buzz, Indy is a good example of this. You make everything day and date, you lose new hardware sales.

Asha has a minefield either side she chooses on that decision. I imagine E Day will give a clear view from the exclusive side while Fable, as already announced, will give a clear example of day one everywhere for them.

Interesting to watch and, folks like me and you who dont tie to a platform, get the best of all worlds either way it (hopefully works out).

Re: Xbox Games Showcase 2026: Date, Start Times, What To Expect & More

Weebleman

@Fiendish-Beaver they are certainly in a spot. I've been open that while I do think exclusives matter, I just couldn't see them walking from the cash multiplatform would bring. However, i do kinda hope they get a big push as we all need these companies to be competing to make them all better for us.

Its a huge gamble though as the last thing we want is more cuts and folks losing their jobs. I imagine that if it doesnt pull enough, then that PS5 code they already have will see the light of day after a period of time. I mean its not like they will have deleted it.

It will also be nice to see aclear path. This is the company that called exclusives antiquated and no walled gardens was the mantra not that long ago (same for a few of the vocal folks here) and now they matter again. The constant flipping is something that just gets tiring.

Have a plan, stick to it and be clear about it.

Re: 'It's A Tough Topic' - Xbox CEO Shares Her Latest Thoughts On Exclusives

Weebleman

@Millionski it will appeal to some, absolutely. But if you pay 79 billion to get call of duty on there 'day one', then take it off and still charge more than it was, then a lot will see the value as dropped. Obviously not everyone care for COD, myself included, or fortnite. So it just feels like a straight up increase with no increased value.

It definitely did not work as thats why they went multiplatform in the first place. The 12% increase would mean more with a number. We dont know what its 12% of. It also still sold less, admittedly by a few 100, than its competitor who's sales dropped by 50%! If it still sold less after that huge drop, how big was the gap in other months? That 12% could be a drop in the ocean for all we know.

As we have both said before, without more info, who knows, but a massive, highly rated triple A title didnt even pull them over a rival who's sales absolutely plummeted. So its safe to say it won't work, just like it didnt for them last time.

In my opinion of course and genuinely happy to be wrong. We need all consoles pushing each other to be better.

Re: Xbox Boss Wants To Create The 'Number One' Gaming Company By 'Resetting The Business'

Weebleman

Shipped more what? Back to original gamepass numbers or just up from being down?

One statement says they returned to growth and the next says they need to change to return to growth. Surely you have already returned to growth if you shipped more of something and numbers were up?

There is a fine line between execs and politicians. Both answer everything and nothing at the same time. Shouting where the world plays over and over feels like watching Boris just saying get brexit done to every question before he climbs in a fridge.

Re: 'It's A Tough Topic' - Xbox CEO Shares Her Latest Thoughts On Exclusives

Weebleman

@Millionski competing with steam is a whole othere ball game isn't it. I have no idea how they do that. They already have a PC store that has exclusives and it hasn't made a dent in steam. Folks saying make them exclusive again are essentially saying do what you already did/do even though it didnt work. That applies to consoles as well.

They have folks who are committed and love xbox (50 mill over two gens, as you say) and they should focus on them. If doing that means games go multiplatform, then thats not a bad thing if the money coming in keeps those 50 mill happy with gamepass and, more importantly, more games.

While I am a believer in exclusives, if it wasnt working before, going back to it wont make it work again. Better to keep serving those folks than going back to a place they may need to push gamepass prices higher or worse to bring in more revenue. Those 50 mill aren't gonna double their spending unless they up prices.

Growth is revenue. Growing a platform simply means more people using your stuff. You put your stuff everywhere, your platform grows.

Re: 'It's A Tough Topic' - Xbox CEO Shares Her Latest Thoughts On Exclusives

Weebleman

They want gamers to have access to games everywhere. This is very interesting as while they are saying we are starting new, and removing things like everything is an xbox, this isn't new. This is a carry over line from Sarah and Phil. This would suggest this is still the plan that MS want to remain.

This is the first time she has said more than just they are looking into it and, in my opinion, its the first bit of reasoning to the faithfull as to why they will stay multiplatform. They are a huge publisher and they ultimately need to publish those games were people will buy them.

100 days in and the only thing she has done is reduce the price of gamepass, to a price still higher than it was, but with less content.

This is gonna be a case of fresh face, different words but multiplatform stays. I mean, while no decisions are made, all those games are still being developed for all platforms as that is still the stance they hold. If it was changing, that would have been stopped. It hasn't. Instead of folks asking when it will happen, the real question is if its coming, why haven't they stopped them instead of continuing to put money into them.

Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From June's State Of Play

Weebleman

@Millionski as I said to banjo, yesterday, they already had the same situation previously. Money in is money in. They dont need to port a game when its developed across both systems.

The only thing we know is simply that we dont what they will do. From a business perspective, going back to what they were doing wasn't making what they wanted. I just dont see them going back to that when it wasnt enough.

Newer games, not remakes will be the real test. I imagine most games this year will already be deep in development for all platforms. They arent gonna throw them away now as thats money burnt. Let's not forget, we had their own studio developers waxing lyrical about the freedom they now have with all platforms on the table. They turned the green light on for them and even if they turn it off, its gonna be a while before its stops. I think they have dug a hole that doesn't have an easy way out. If it was a decision they could make without issue, it would have been announced immediately. Those difficult decisions asha referred to, in my opinion, was to prep folks who think they will stop before they tell them they won't. All these little PR goodwill things are just sweetening folks for news they won't like.

Obviously this is just my opinion. If im wrong then im alright with that, i do believe they should have exclusives. It breeds competition and innovation which, at the end of it all, benefits me as im not locked to one box.

Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From June's State Of Play

Weebleman

@Banjo- im not having a pop so please dont think I am. Its just everything you suggest will change the way its going, already happened and it led to where we are now.

They looked at the data, took a strategic approach based on it and went multiplatform.

Lego batman as you say sold more on xbox than steam. It sold even more on PS. The folks who made it benefit most from that. Thats a strategic decision and the data shows that games on all 3 platforms makes more money. I simply dont see MS looking at that and going backwards to appease people when it didnt bring enough to the table in the first place.

On a different note, did you enjoy the fatal frame remake?

Edit: absolutely not an argument my man. Just because we disagree doesn't mean its not a conversation between two folks that enjoy games 🙂