WildConcept6

Pretty even distribution on the poll so far!

I think Xbox Wire does the same thing. Still somewhat odd to me because I wonder what Xbox only gamers (as Helldivers is already on PC and PS) are looking up how to buy the game on Xbox on the PS website. I guess it's just standard practice. Also, I guess I'll eventually eat my socks. Because I myself am experiencing a change where I didn't pay attention to Sony showcases at the start of this generation (didn't own a PS5) but gradually more and more PS is showing off first party games going to PC and there's even less third party exclusives with many landing on Xbox day one. We also know the same applies to Xbox showcases and recently even Nintendo. These used to be very exclusive heavy events for fans of that platform only, but that's changed a lot over just the past 5 years and now any gamer would be amiss to not at least checkout what was revealed at each show regardless of what their main or only platform is. Maybe one day I'll be checking the PS blog weekly for games coming to Xbox 😳😳

1) I will never get over how badly the internet rejected the Series S. It was made a scapegoat for problems when reality constantly showed that optimizing for it made games better for everyone in this awful gen where developers brute forced games far too often. For me the Series S was my favorite console this gen and probably ever. The size and weight for it's power is insane. I've been able to get so much use out of it due to its design. It saddens me that Microsoft probably won't pursue a series S successor due to the unfair push back the console recieved. Really, it baffles me how gamers would defend AAA publishers cutting corners just to attack the series S.

2) It's genuinely disheartening how this generation went. Hardware wise Xbox really went hard. The engineers at Xbox are freaking magicians. The Xbox Series X is a beast that is STILL under utilized, has a great simple design, and is whisper quiet. This is a big reason why I hate that Xbox getting out of hardware is even tossed around as rumor. It'd be such a big blow.

But yeah, this generation was a lameduck. I don't think any of us expected how powerful of a shift in gaming habits the forever games would cause or how long last gen consoles would hold on. Not to mention all the real world issues. First COVID delayed everything and then there were just constant price increases due to "global economic conditions". Xbox itself also just had so many growing pains. They went from like less than 5 studios in 2017 to being one of the biggest publishers 8 years later all in the midst of the entire tech industry constantly downsizing with the gaming industry hit really (all while they all report higher profits and stock valuation than never... totally not concerning at all). The ABK case took up way too much of Xbox's focus.

3) I really choose to take this literally and hope they are wrapping up the Series X|S in 2025 and moving forward with new hardware and their next generation strategy in 2026. I wouldn't see any other reason to do this "send off" to the series consoles now of all times. And 2026 really is the best year for new gaming hardware. A lot of games will finally cut support for Xbox One/PS4 and there's GTA VI. Plus Xbox will have its big 25th anniversary + in theory Fable, Halo, Forza, and Gears (and even half of those would make for a huge Xbox launch year).

@CJD87 backlash for the Switch 2 also comes from what we're used to in the console market. Hardware is "supposed" to be cheaper and until recently subsidized. That's been changing. For the power and price of the Switch 2 the price is an insane leap over the OG model.

Gaming PCs have never had that so this ROG Ally has two things going against it price wise 😅 (between the tarrifs and PC hardware costs). So far the handheld PC market for the most part has skewed between $400 and $800. My fingers are crossed for $800 for the Xbox Ally X.

@CJD87 Glad to hear! Yeah it sounds like you won't have any issues. The only other thing I'd recommend is making sure those games you want to play are Xbox Play Anywhere or have some cross save feature (if you care about having your progress). Every new first party game is and most new games that join game pass these days are, but the vast majority of the total library still isn't. That said the New Doom, Expedition 33, and Blue Prince all are XPA. But if you wanted to go back and play Doom Eternal for example that's on PC Game Pass but it's a separate version from console version so progress isn't linked.

Yeah it will be expensive. This is a windows gaming OEM at its core, an ASUS device, with Xbox software optimization. The only hope people have is that Microsoft subsidizes it, but I'd be surprised. The current ROG Ally X goes for $800 and I'd expect that as a minimum. But unfortunately it wouldn't be surprising to see it reach $1000 or more (for the premium version) in the US due to the tarrifs and current market problems.

@CJD87
1) If the subscription is on YOUR account and you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate then yes. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gives you PC game pass in addition to the console titles. PC Game Pass is similar to what you can expect on console but there are some differences in the library (some games only available on PC and some only on console). The ROG Xbox Ally is a PC, so you'll have access to PC Game Pass, EA Play, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. However, you WILL NOT be able to play on both your Xbox and your PC handheld at the same time if it's on the same account. This should be the same as if you bought two Xboxes, put them both under the same account, and tried playing a game in your library on both devices simultaneously. I think any work around would require a different profile. Just a quick disclaimer that if you're looking to play the same time as your son, you might have to make a different profile or use a different PC launcher like steam.

2) Yes. Exactly as you said. I wouldn't worry too much about power too. That is if you're looking at the premium X device. I have a lenovo Legion go which is a Z1Extreme (the Xbox ROG ALLY X will be Z2E) and I can play pretty much anything as long as I tweak the settings. If you're curious about how games might play on this handheld I'd check out any of the currently available Z1Extreme PC Handhelds. This Xbox handheld for the X version will be that + a bump (the current Asus ROG Ally X would probably be best to look at). The base Z2A version we know less about until it's out and people are testing it in the wild. Otherwise say you can download and play offline. Same rules as Xbox though where you'll need to set it as your home PC on the Xbox App to use game pass offline.

3) Yes. This is literally just a gaming PC in handheld form with an Xbox logo slapped on and an Xbox App full screen mode update preloaded. It's even by ASUS an OEM hardware manufacture. You can do anything you can do on a PC. You can find posts online of people who buy a dock and turn their handheld PC into a desktop PC and then do work on it. You can download Steam, Epic, Amazon's weird one, GOG, and whatever your heart desires. The Xbox full screen mode is even meant to combine your entire PC gaming library and make it a seamless experience to use across launchers (though we're waiting for it release to see how that is in practice).

I feel like the fact that this is "controversial" shows the bias Xbox faces. There's no good reason to be against the Xbox controller having the option of AA batteries. With my Xbox controller I can buy a rechargeable battery pack (official or unofficial), buy $1 store AAs, buy rechargeable batteries themselves, or use a cord pluged into the wall or console and use no battery. These are all options and lets the consumer decide how they want to handle controller battery issues. The idea that anyone would want Xbox to follow suit with Playstation and take it those options away is insane to me.

@AlwaysPlaying Because Xbox is Microsoft. Be thankful they're doing and attending shows far more consistently and with more presence now than in years past. The dev direct and partner preview are really nice. And also that IGN indie showcase. In the past it was just suckling off of hopium from specifically the summer showcase the entire year. They didn't even consistently attend events.

Now if I were Microsoft I'd go way harder. I'd start my own Xbox convention. Xbox first party is now beyond big enough and it'd go a long way to not just build brand loyalty and recognition, but tie gaming to Xbox. I'd also do like Sega is with the sonic symphony and host rotating fan favorite music shows of Xbox franchises (which again, massive chose to choose from) and throw in some announcements there. I'd even look into leveraging AR tech to build an e-sports stadium that you can actually attend and experience and revitalize that market. That could save e-sports and jolo-lens. Heck, they could do the same with movie theaters and make gaming movie theaters or something. A lot of thinking would have to go into it but it's not impossible (none of this are impossible but the latter half of what I said would be an undertaking to say the least but it doesn't even matter what they do, it matters that they do something).

The problem is that Microsoft isn't a consumer oriented business in the slightest and they do not understand the importance of building brand loyalty and the value in good creative marketing that builds long lasting relationships. I mean look at windows. Not a single person likes windows. Anyone that says they do (like me) just likes what is available on it and probably just hate Apple and think Linux is intimidating (and also know Linux has less software support). There's a number of reasons why, and burning fans is one, but the big one is just that they don't really have any fans. Like where's the windowscon where you dress up as a blue screen of death? Where's even the Apple like cult? Microsoft doesn't understand how powerful building a cult is. Apple fans will defend anything Apple does to death and they'll praise whatever they do as genius innovation. Microsoft can't even keep it's in person stores open. They're a cutting edge software company that flops like a fish when it comes to marketing and thus they flail and fail at building an identity and through that identity long lasting VALUABLE relationships with consumers.

Check Xbox Wire a day later! One day I might go to Germany, but I don't think I'm winning that fan fest. I also WOULD watch the fan fest live stream or some live stream, but timezones really don't match up at all where I am, and I have a job + general life responsibilities, so that's a no-go-pogo 🤗.

Will this play work? That's a question for a time traveler. But being a time traveler myself (we all are) we can look at the past 20 years and see that trying to play by Sony's rules (by Nintendo's rules, by Sega's rules, and by Atari's rules) hasn't really worked for Xbox much at all. The closest they got was when the PS3 nuked itself with an Xbox One level launch, and even then the PS3 came back and squeezed out the 360 in the tail end. Xbox IS still reeling from their disastrous Xbox One launch, but the entire console market has also just matured. Nintendo combined it's home console & handheld audience and now rests in it's niche. Sony similarly has settled on its market size and is even following Xbox in expanding as a publisher that supports more platforms. No one is at their peak in terms of raw sales anymore (even Nintendo; the Switch was their best selling single console but it's also just about the usual combination of handheld + home console buyers; it's actually a lot less than the Wii + DSi combo by pure sales). Playtime is also being sucked up by forever games. And even upgrades have slowed down a lot.

I'm going to out on a limb and say that I honestly feel more secure as an Xbox gamer than I do as a PS or Nintendo gamer (I've been a gamer of all platforms since literally before I can remember with my family starting me on the N64). As gamers we're used to losing out libraries when generations change, but it's different now isn't it? Because everything is evolving. We no longer expect to lose our games because we understand that between the internet and digital purchases (especially the crap these companies put us through). The console wars truly died when cross-play became the norm because it no longer mattered where our friends play. Consoles are stagnating because while no one was looking the Fortnites took over. And kids are flocking to their tablets (mobile games) and PC gaming. In the face of everything, the console market looks bleak. I mean just the prices they're pushing to try and keep margins steady. I see Xbox as the only console really preparing for the future and trying to evolve to stay ahead of everything. And I think in doing so they'll keep the entire ecosystem alive (including homegrown consoles).

I'm not asking anyone to agree with me. I will ask everyone to read over this comment section and their own comments. Because I'm kinda baffled over here. I think there are certainly valid concerns over the future of Xbox. But I'm just saying I see people up in arms about Xbox's future over what we all agree is a third party controller announcement. Guys those have existed for eons. They've even let third parties handle their anniversary controllers for eons. Yet Microsoft hasn't axed their own controller or killed the design lab (it's even back up after changing payment systems which is a big undertaking and not something you do for a service you don't want to support). Is there, I don't know, the slightest possible chance Microsoft isn't going to nuke the vast majority of its userbase and a massive chunk of its 20 billion+ gaming business? Even before multiplatform and ABK that was 16 billion+. Xbox console consumers are some of the most valuable consumers Microsoft has period. I'd genuinely be shocked if Microsoft threw them in a bin and settled on a future where they make less money overall. I just think that Microsoft wants to expand and is properly recognizing their own strengths and weaknesses. They thrive with third party partners. There's a future where Xbox can become the defacto name in gaming if Microsoft just pushes out its adoption. Much like how Android dominates mobile phones and Windows PCs. Microsoft has never been strictly a consumer hardware business and acting like it for the past 24 years hasn't worked for them. I think Xbox is starting to go hard playing the game by the rules Microsoft has always thrived under.

I mean it deserves to be said how much more standard Xbox controllers are than any other console just because of how many third party options exist and how Microsoft made them the standard for PC gaming. Those are all called Xbox controllers too or at least have the official sticker. And Xbox in comparison hasn't left their own controller on the wayside. People joke that Xbox makes more controller variants than they do games and then there's the whole design lab. We see the same with headsets. Xbox has their standard self manufactured headset that's great value for a reasonable price and there's also plenty of more expensive higher end headsets and cheaper lower quality ones.

I only bring this up because a lot of the chatter has turned to Xbox expanding OEMs for more hardware in the future. Asus is clearly just teasing a controller here (a really special one I guess, maybe for $200) but it's the future we are naturally questioning. I just don't see the extremist idea that it's one or the other where console OEMs or PC OEMs come in and replace first party Xbox consoles. Microsoft still makes surface windows laptops, and those make less money than Xbox. Windows is only as big as it is due to OEMs. We all know how bad Microsoft is with consumer businesses. They suck at marketing and regional support and everything in between. I'll be cautiously optimistic. I think that the idea of Xbox OEMs will just expand support for Xbox overall. Both on PC and bringing in more XPA games and native Xbox launcher games and on traditional Xbox consoles with this building out the longevity of the Xbox overall. I don't think we'll lose console support or that Microsoft will stop making traditional consoles as those still make them a LOT of money. Just like they haven't stopped making their own controller or windows hardware. The OEMs just allow them to focus while letting their overall ecosystem reach grow. Xbox PCs might become all the rage in South Korea for example and that could bring us all a ton of support from more Eastern games through XPA. There's also still the cloud which runs off the same console infrastructure. They can't easily change that especially now that they support hundreds of games. Any chance of them abandoning consoles entirely to me only exists if they're able to bring the vast majority of Xbox users forward with them. And if they have the capability to do that then that's also not a terribly bad thing. All I'm saying is that Microsoft loves money, so I think the goal here is expansion through OEMs not replacement or detraction.

My first was the Steam Deck and then I purchased the Lenovo Legion Go, and it's become my secondary gaming device after my Xbox. Really they were also my first real trist with PC gaming. The Steam Deck is where I bought and played Baldur's Gate 3 like before it even came to PS. And I've put so many hours into Hades 2. Really I love my Legion Go and PC gaming. The amount of free games I've gotten through the different storefronts + my family's Amazon prime is bonkers. And I love having access to everything from Xbox to Steam games.

The Xbox Ally is a solid product in the handheld PC market, but Microsoft is underestimating people's understanding of this market. I don't think they're unaware of how niche it is, but I do think they're unaware of how unaware casual audiences are of the fact that it exists at all. The Xbox Asus Ally is basically the ROG Ally 2, but the Xbox branding is setting entirely different expectations for what this device is. I'd buy one but it's just not necessary for me to upgrade. The Z2E isn't more powerful enough to justify it. I am eagerly awaiting that Xbox experience mode. I hope Microsoft realizes that Xbox PC could be the one ring to unite them all and help kick off the PC handheld market proper. It is a great way to get into PC gaming. I don't expect rumor minimum $600 to Rog Ally and updwarss of 1k for the X, to suddenly sell like hotcakes. Or much at all. But Xbox just needs to nail the software and UX & UK for gaming on Windows overall.

@GeeEssEff only 30%. It'd be more valuable to MS who'd be reaching a far larger audience and making 70%. The switch audiences are probably even more likely to buy Microtransactions. Nintendo might actually be discussing things and wanting to avoid Sony's current issue where a handful of third party games control the platform's revenue and suck up most of the users' playtime. Thats just speculation. Anyway, I'm not saying Nintendo is uninterested, but I don't think its a top priority for them either.

@Fiendish-Beaver Next one definitely. You'd have to go way before your time not to. The one after that umm, eh they probably they gaming rigs in whatever afterlife you believe in (and if you reincarnate you're golden). Unless there's nothing post death. That's delving into a different subject. Though hey, I'll say that as a young man my concern is living long enough to live fallout. The doomsday clock gets closer to midnight everyday...

@cragis0001 garlic and crosses is a good one. I'll start using that instead of torches and pitchforks

@fatpunkslim For me its really if Xbox can pull consistent third party support for both features. Streaming is looking reslly good and XPA is looking better than it has before. I really just want 20% of all new games XPA ready and let's say 60% cloud gaming ready. At least.

@Kaloudz @AgnosticGamer @RZ-Atom
I just wanted to say that the internet has trained me to skip down to the list and skim as much of an article as possible. Take that as you will. I don't think there's anything destructive about opinion in a quick news post, but in terms of building community I'm not sure there's anything constructive about it either. This isn't a news site and the authors never proclaim to be professional journalists. Nothing to take seriously. But again I will say that I've specifically learned to skip any sign of opinion or skim these types of articles because it's often fluff and padding. Not exactly saying thats whats here (because I didn't read it), but I think words always carry a weight. Me personally for this type of post in terms of community I like it when commentary is saved at the end and the author says what they'll be streaming or something and asks what game everyone is most excited about. I wouldn't even call suggesting that Mafia is more exciting than the rest opinionated. Speaking bluntly its the exact type of filler sentence my brain would auto delete. In that case a bit about how Xbox is including new releases in the fold and there's a chance GTA VI or all new games could launch cloud gaming ready would be more interesting and spark discussion. This is a needlessly long comment to say that I don't think any of it matters. Most people have problem also been trained by the internet to skip to the list when there's a list. As long as there's not three 8 sentence paragraph before the list...

If we're really dropping Xbox One/PS4 after this year then Black Ops 7 is probably the best chance for a native COD on Nintendo Switch 2. Maybe a port down the line. Heck, maybe they're working to bring BO6 and the Modern Warfare reboots to Switch 2.

@GeeEssEff Nintendo hasn't had COD for ages. They don't care.

@Fiendish-Beaver On the bright side you're not a Tes massive fan. Or god forbidden a fallout one. The distance between major entries in game franchises is rivaling that of celestial bodies. And a lot write themselves into corners trying to exceed expectations 🤷🏾‍♂️

@Fiendish-Beaver Considering that they gave Xbox gamers who said Ultimate a free code no strings attached for this version, then yeah, it's 100% exactly that. This is a port with extra steps and less content to probably milk the franchise on PS as they drip feed the rest of the old games. Can't say I care too terribly. I got my free code 😆. And I bought the Gears Ultimate Edition dirt cheap ages ago and never played it so this is perfect for me.

@DennisReynolds I'm fine with 30fps games, but frame generation is god awful. And actually I wouldn't be fine with 30fps if I bought a PS5 Pro. Sheesh.

Yeah literally everytime I heard about BMW performance on any platform, I cared less and less that it got delayed on Xbox. Still those sales were insane. And I have to say that makes me terrified for the future of gaming just because as consumers we've now basically given a green light to that sort of behavior in development. They rushed the game out the door and got rewarded for it. And if people like it, good on them. I just don't get it. Like at all. I assume it's China, but it also got it's flowers in the west. And I just find that baffling.

@ilyn I don't agree on Master Chief being boring, but even there's nothing forcing the creative team behind any adaption project to write a story centered around Master Chief. Halo is incredibly rich in lore and world building. And it's already been successful in its story telling through its novels and adaptions like Halo Legends. It's really like Star Wars in that you can do ANYTHING with it and Star Wars started off more rigid and with less lore than Halo did. Even in the games ODST is one of the most beloved Halo games and it isn't from the perspective of Master Chief or even a Spartan, but instead the UNSC Marines.

Regardless this excuse just doesn't exist in writing. Nothing is "too boring" to work with. Especially not a universe as massive as Halo with as rich a lore and even as many gaps that could be explored further free from any Fandom outcry about changing things. Someone has literally taken a children's book's one note "I'm just evil" villian and crafted an entire world and compelling history around them (Wicked, I'm talking about Wicked). Comic book writers constantly tackle characters that fell out of popularity due to being boring and bring them back to them limelight all without even forcibly changing them but like just presenting them from a different angle or putting them in a situation that let's their character shine brighter than before. Literally if you're a writer and give us a mess of a show because the source material is "too boring" then it's literally a skill issue. The problem isn't the show, but you as a writer (or team of writers).

@Fiendish-Beaver sorry, just now seeing the above one. I can believe that a battle Royale is also in development. Its an old idea that they'd been planning for Infinite with certain affinity originally building it. They were giving updates on it too and then it just fizzled out along with the rest of Infinite. I did also see that multiple projects are in development. I can believe that a battle Royale or battle Royale like game (or maybe even that same certain affinity game) could also be in development as one of the projects.

@acmiguens Wait is Halo Wars not your XCOM style game? I don't know the nuances between RTS that well.

@guy_who_thinks_hes_C IIRC that was pitched as Halo Infinite but they were like positive the Fandom would kill them. Which probably, yeah. The Fandom nearly did so in the armor cores alone in infinite. Maybe a spin off. Or a mode in a more expansive multiplayer (which is what Infinite was supposed to be by the end of its lifespan).

@HardRockGamer *old Bungie. Let's not leave room to interpret that modern Bungie should be celebrated.

@DennisReynolds Technically? Yeah lmao. But I've also not heard much better about the PC version. Honestly the devs should've delayed everything while they figured out how to optimize for series S. Maybe then the game would be more stable on everything.

Lmao no. I'm not into souls likes so this isn't even really an option for me. But unlike say Elden Ring, I've also never heard anything really good about this game. The gameplay sounds generic and it has a ton of technical issues even on the highest end of of hardware. I don't know how it was even nominated for awards. The majority of sales just seem to come from China which makes sense to me. Like am I missing something? People would talk about it like it's okay or worse than okay and then also say it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Is there like a hypnotic light effect in the game? And to that point it seems to have completely disappeared. I don't see anyone talking about BMW at all in any context anymore. Compare that to Elden Ring, Lies of P, the original Dark Souls, and Nioh which people won't shut up. Both those in and outside of the genre.

I'm becoming increasingly interested in Invincible Vs and I don't even play fighting games 👀

@dreadful Halo can reach new audiences, but only if they stop butchering attempts. Fallout is a really good example of that. A good movie or TV show could being in a lot of young adults (under 30 at least). Something like a Lego crossover could bring in more kids. There are options. Doing them well is the issue. Oh! They could give us a new Halo Legends animated anthology! Anime is really big right now.

@Fiendish-Beaver That's exactly it. One thing I hate right now is this retroactive hatred of Infinite. It launched to fantastic reviews of its campaign and people praising the multiplayer core gameplay. It just was not done. The multiplayer didn't have the content AT ALL to keep its initial population (which was really big) and it took ages before 343 found a stride with live service updates. To make matters worse the on game economy was god awful. There were barely any cosmetics and it was all worsened by the locked armor cores. The shops prices were just always terrible and frustrated a lot of people.

The problem was that Halo Infinite wasn't done at launch, but I'm not sure they could've taken anymore time. A lot of it was bad design decisions. Those were then made worse by the fact that they were using a brand new engine AND Microsoft insisted on temporary contracted workers (which have unfortunately become the trend across the board as companies try to avoid paying benefits). All those new workers had to constantly learn a new proprietary engine that the studio itself was figuring out. I remember back in the first season update live stream way back when when they said they didn't know everything they could do with the new engine. It was when answering some community request, but they straight up said "Idk". That's a problem. They spent so much time fixing the technical debt early on and seasons were so, SO long. By the time they figured things out everyone, including Microsoft, had moved on. And it's so hard pulling gamers back into a game after they've given it a chance and decided its bad. It's just sad really. Infinite finds a stride and the ground is pulled out from under them.

I really hope the next release will be different. And it's partially why I'd like them to decouple the multiplayer and make it a separate game with its own team entirely. Gamers these days expect a lot more from everything. Dedicated teams with the time to deliver what they need on day one would be great.

@Fiendish-Beaver That's an odd rumor as the rumor before said campaign only CE remake.

Really all I can think about is how badly Infinite was botched. The state it's in now despite the skeleton crew barely keeping the lights on shows that. It's a great game that got stabbed in the knees every five seconds. It was supposed to be, and could've been, the forever multiplayer. I actually would not mind if they kept Infinite as the multiplayer and focused the majority of resources on building a complete Halo Campaign. Ready AT LAUNCH.

More and more I feel like new actual console hardware (not a windows OEM) in 2026 is the right move. If they don't have it ready then they should get it ready. With the forever games starting to move off last gen and GTA VI and supposedly Xbox having a bunch of iconic franchises returning, well I can't think of a better time to launch new hardware. I also think they won't get this chance again. The series consoles will probably hang on longer than the Xbox One did. If this generation is only really starting in 2026 after a 2020 launch, then who knows how long it'll be for the nest iteration of console hardware.

@Fiendish-Beaver I wouldn't even call them minor. It does a lot to have this stuff down in order to build a digital storefront that encourages consumer spending. Like as a business they want me to feel safe and secure while shopping. Those little unnecessary annoyances just impede consumerism. No operator of a digital storefront should be okay with that.

@Wakkawipeout I desperately need your first paragraph to be shouted from the hills. "Netflix of games" is such a lie becomes Game Pass keeps choice at the center of it all. Like I find it hilarious that all the arguments always boil down to essentially how much richer a gaming service offered by the world's biggest (or second biggest) company should be making said company. Xbox is reporting 20+ billion revenue in USD and 15+ billion back 3 years ago before ABK. I don't know isn't it weird how much consumers and journalists care about GP profitability? But fine. Let's just say they're worried. Do you know how privelege we even are to potentially be worried about how the service treats the games that launch on it? Because if this were Netflix that content would be exclusive to the subscription service and could be banished to the shadow realm for immediately not raising viewer numbers enough. As said, nothing in GP is exclusive. There's also the GP 10-20% discount on games on the service. Even GP day one third party games usually (I think always) publish at least on Steam.

If people are worried about GP being Netflix, why was that worry never passed on to Apple Arcade (they have exclusive mobile games and it's like high profile ones sometimes too; there's an exclusive Sonic game up now)? Or PS Now which came out as a way to gate lock backwards compatibility behind cloud gaming and a subscription service. Even Nintendo locks their back catalog behind a subscription. Xbox Game Pass is the least worrisome service when it comes to the future of the industry. If XGP fails then everything is still accesible and available to buy. Heck, if you have a favorite game you can buy it at any time on Xbox or any other platform to have it permanently. The same can't be said fir Netflix. And it also can't be said for every game on PS Plus or the Nintendo service or Apple Arcade.

@Pat_trick They're just different services. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gives you PC Game Pass in addition to all the console benefits and day one games. On the other hand PS Plus Premium gives users game trials and a Sony movies catalog. Both offer a LOT of value for $20 or less. Interestingly enough PS Now launched 10 years ago as streaming only and costing $20 monthly. Both services have evolved a lot. We can specifically cite game pass for PS lowering the cost of theirs and doing more to make it valuable to gamers.

@Fiendish-Beaver Haven't kept up with EGS. I wonder if they've just given up trying to disrupt the market from Steam's dominance on PC 😂.

That's actually good lead in to how I wanted to respond to your earlier comment. I don't think Microsoft offering their first party titles day one is a mistake. They started when they barely had any first party games (when they barely had any first party studios) and they've raised the price accordingly now that that's changed. I think the issue is that the iniative never really significantly contributed to pulling new users into the ecosystem and that's a wider industry issue. Sony doesn't put their games day one on PS Plus, but they're still porting to PC. Microsoft started porting to PC before Game Pass existed. Sony is now looking at porting more to other platforms (let's just say live service only to avoid tangents). The industry has just changed. Publishers aren't immune even if they're platform holders, probably especially if they're platform holders.

I see Game Pass day one games as a failure to combat the inevitability of it all. Xbox was doing a LOT late in the Xbox One gen and at the start of the series gen to attract new users and convert users from competing platforms. And nothing worked. You can say it was all pointless without exclusives, but expanding out to the entire console market well no one was really pulling in NEW users. Nintendo was the best and they were really just reclaiming their old ones and had merged their DS and home console (mostly Wii by that point) audiences. If anything game pass was an issue of too little too late. At least for it to affect that specific issue. It can do raw numbers on its own, but it's not really drawing people into the ecosystem at the rate they probably desired. If it had come at the start of the Xbox One launch (and that whole launch been better) then it'd be interesting to see how it'd affect user aquistion.

And to elaborate, I don't think Xbox lost to Playstation, I think they both lost to the forever games and PC and Mobile. I think this is why Xbox Game Pass now is doing a lot to offer long lasting perks for f2p live service games. It feels like the goal is to pull into gamers who just play those handful of games and hopefully make them more valuable as consumers.

@GuyinPA75 You're allowed to think whatever you want, but the writer in me is making me offer the advice of revision. I feel like you intended to end on a rhetorical question that supports the above paragraphs statement... but umm that's not a rhetorical question. GTA is a game that analysts are, for whatever reason, pushing to cost $100+ at launch for the base edition. In terms of value it isn't comparable to any other game that has ever released in the industry. Microsoft just tried to raise their game prices to $80 and got burnt for it. Borderlands tried to do the same and got burnt for it. As for Battlefield, EA does in fact offer day one launches for all their games including the premium editions of said games through their own subscription service EA Play+. It costs less than Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on a yearly basis and gives access to all EA games and their premium editions. However, for like the cost of a coffee a month you can get EA Play and enjoy Battlefield among all the rest of EA's backlog. The latest games also don't take that long to join EA Play's library (usually like 6 months to a year). Oh and look at that. EA has happily had a partnership to bundle EA Play with GPU for like five years now.

Again, I'd just revise the second paragraph. If anything it undermines your first.

@cragis0001 No one ever wants to talk about how Sony did it first with PS Now and Sony's model was original gate locking games behind it and streaming online. Even to this day PS Plus has a larger library than Xbox Game Pass. Game Pass just does a more curated library and day one games. Except PS Plus also gets day one games every now and then (like FBC Firebreak). Epic Games store will give you free ownership of games for literally no cost (not even an Xbox Live Gold membership) and no one cares. And they're good games. Some games that come to game pass and get made a big deal out of coming to game pass, have been monthly free to claim games on EGS that you get to keep forever after claiming them. Ubisoft+ does the same as GP with day one games and no one cares. Luna offers a streaming library and is far closer to Netflix and no one cares. EA play for a fraction of the cost of GP gives you a massive library and recent releases like half a year or a year after release. No one cares. EA Play Pro on PC gives subscribers access to all EA games ever and the most expensive editions of brand new releases for LESS than the cost of XGPU yearly. I also just checked and it's the same for Ubisoft plus. For the same price or less than the cost of GPU you get access to the entire Ubisoft backlog + brand new releases day one + the expensive premium editions of those releases (those things go for $100+ nowadays). And someone Game Pass specifically is the problem. Come off it. The stooges in gaming media (more like gaming rage click bait) need to stop pretending they even care about Game Pass's validity as a product. They just care about the brand attached to it and want to build a narrative about how it can't possibly be anything but a failure. I don't even blame the former corporate heads as much because their biases are crystal clear. What's insane is how much stock is put into what a former exec of a for profit company that's known for exploiting consumers thinks about a service offered by their former company's direct competitor.

It's genuinely embarrassing how obsessed these people are with game pass. Like I like it, and I don't think about it this much. This people act like it's their Roman empire. This isn't even the most out of touch obsessive take I've seen among gaming news. Seriously it's not that complex. Gamers, devs, and publishers are NOT children. We are not children. We're perfectly capable of making decisions and accepting any consequences (positive or negative) that may come as a result of those decisions. Seriously, especially to all these retired types or former XYZs, grow up. I can't believe I have to say that, but grow up. Look at yourselves in the mirror. This is sad. Everyone talking about it is largely unaffected by it at this point (both it's success or the idea of it being a failure and even the Idea of it being unsustainable and ruining the industry). These are very financially successful people who got out of the industry. They should go play golf or something. If gamepass fails they can do their "I told you so" dance and when it continues to not fail they can keep pretending like it isn't.

Cool! Even COD hasn't dropped Xbox One yet. It seems big to me that a forever game is moving on to Series consoles only. I wonder if Fortnite ever will... probably not. Regardless it does really look like 2026 is when next gen "starts" (all the big casual games move to Series consoles only). That's gotta be weird though. Xbox new consoles are expected in 2027 at the latest and 2028 for Playstation. Oh, man. That's just insane.

I'm not too into this genre at all and haven't played the game to speak on it, but I truly hope that this team builds Stalker 2 out into the best game they can and they get the recognition for it. Few they could say they've accomplished half as much in such a predicament as they've gone through.

@Fiendish-Beaver The Microsoft store in general desperately needs to figure out "editions". The Steam store for example will track if I own a game and what dlc I own with it, and it'll only sell me dlc I don't own. There's no reason for Microsoft to have a worse algorithm than Steam. 100% it's a massive problem that stuff you own (just from a different edition) aren't shown as own and you can even purchase it again (for yourself, not a gift) if you're really REALLY not paying attention. One thing that's been a big problem recently is that pre-order editions are all scene as a completely different version. Like if I buy a pre-order ultimate edition then on top of the store not showing me as owning the standard or deluxe edition, it also shows me as not owning the ultimate edition. It'll show that I own everything in each edition, but not the editions themselves. According to the store I'll simultaneously own nothing and everything. It really doesn't seem like rocket science to just fix stuff like that to me. Especially when the system will acknowledge you own the individual items, it just won't put together that this means you own XYZ editions too.

@TruestoryYep all the top ones are just "Forspoken 2" 😕

My biggest issue with YT comments is how painfully unfunny they've become. Likes have kinda ruined the concept because it's all just one liners seeking attention. And then it works and that's all the top comments. It feels devoid of life. People are just jumping on the bandwagon or straight up cheating and quoting a popular line from the video verbatim with no added commentary, just a literal quote from the video everyone watched... of course there's exceptions, but not on the Xbox YT channel. Woof that place has become bad.

Huh. The YouTube comment section on the Xbox trailer is more critical. BTW what has happened to the YouTube comment section? It's like a warzone these days...

Fortnite kinda teased it as well, right? I actually wouldn't be terribly surprised now.

@Questionable_Duck *Crazy we are getting Halo content in a Playstation Published game launching on Xbox.

2025: the year gamers won! 😊 (just don't ask about game pricing (actually don't mention the economy in general to anyone ever since the 2020s started))

@Gabrie I think an easy solution would be to incentivize good behavior (the behavior Xbox wants) in addition to punishing bad behavior like this.

For example with Xbox Play Anywhere, on PC Microsoft only takes a 12% cut but on Xbox consoles they take 30%. Raise that to 15% (this part is unnecessary but 12% irks me okay; why 12??) and make it clear to developers and publishers that if they have an Xbox play anywhere title then they'll pay the much lower PC store cut for sales on both PC and Console. Recently, Xbox has been showing off stats of gamers buying & playing Play Anywhere titles more than non-play anywhere titles. During whatever the Xbox game development process is, just have a little pop-up or blurp that says, "Hey, Xbox gamers buy & play XPA titles more, and we offer a better rate for games on our PC store that we'll extend to console for XPA titles. We have this easy tool to make any game XPA (or explain the process of whatever happens during dev work), why not take advantage of the power of Xbox Play Anywhere?" Something like that. Bottom line is that it must sound like it'd be more beneficial for developers & publishers to support Xbox Play Anywhere than to not support it.

It's the same for Smart Delivery though I have less ideas about how to make it beneficial. I'm not at all sure why it isn't being used. It was made to make things easier and cheaper for devs, publishers, and consumers. I guess something like increasing disxoverability of Smart Delivery games? I'm not wholly sure.