@IOI In fairness, Concord looked horrible from the get-go with its dime store Guardians of the Galaxy created by faceless committee vibe.
This at least has a more distinctive style. It certainly isn’t for me, but I definitely think it’ll do better than Concord. Not that this is a HIGH standard to exceed, of course!
I genuinely don’t care about backgrounds on my consoles these days. I want the shortest path from locating game to launching said game and I don’t need pretty pictures distracting me from that.
@LonR Given that preorders for the Switch 2 don’t start till next week…
@jesse_dylan It does enhance some Switch games out of the box. Nintendo announced a few like Mario Odyssey, LoZ Link’s Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom, as well as Captain Toad. And dear god, those two LoZ titles need the boost, speaking from personal experience…
It isn’t all money-gouging game upgrades. There’s free boosts out there too.
@awp69 Interesting that there’s no MS first party games on the list, except for the companies MS absorbed after the games on the list themselves were released so MS themselves bears zero credit.
Interesting how Nintendo has three all by themselves.
@fatpunkslim Call me crazy, but I believe small studio that said something similar to Larian Studios regarding BG3 and the series S more than massive faceless corporation trying to cover itself and its lower-powered console they demand all games also support.
I’m sure other XBox owners would like to find that out for themselves though, regardless of what your opinion of the game is and what other games someone else is currently playing.
@Dalamar73 PCs can be upgraded. Consoles cannot. They are static. Can’t pop in a new graphics card or cpu and say “yup, I’m ready for version 2.52 of Popular MMO now!”
That’s the part you’re missing. Imagine if they kept FF14 running on the PS3 and held the whole thing back just to placate those owners.What a horror show that would be. They discontinued it for that platform in 2017 for not being able to handle things, and now in 2025 it would be an utter joke.
You don’t hold the entire class back because one or two students can’t keep up.
@Kaloudz @Dalamar73 Heck, let’s pour one out for all those PS3 owners who got left behind when the Stormblood expansion came out for FF14 back in 2017 and were forced at gunpoint to go to PS4!
Tech moves on. Games move on. If someone is THAT heavily invested in BDO (and if they are, I have to question their choices in life anyway…) I’m sure they’ll either upgrade eventually when money allows or move on with their life and seek greener pastures!
@HonestHick The PC market is larger than the Xbox market, and WAY larger than the folks who only play gamepass games on XBox.
I’m sure they’ve done the cost/benefit analysis at a much more detailed level than us rando commenters could ever do, and the fact that they AREN’T porting games to XBox is all we need to know.
Also, PC users certainly do buy games. Steam wouldn’t be successful as a storefront if they didn’t.
@BacklogBrad Agree to disagree! Sony clearly feels no need to test the waters beyond LEGO Horizon on Switch, and even on that they excluded the XBox completely. And you’ll notice that neither the Spider-Man series or the forthcoming Wolverine games are for any console but the PS!
You’re 100% right about MLB forcing the multiplatform release for sure. But whatever the reason, it technically IS a Sony game on XBox.
Time will tell, but MS is clearly not banking completely on their own gaming consoles anymore.
MS needs multi platform since “every device is an XBox.”
Sony does not need multi platform since Helldivers 2 exists for PS and PC, and Sony is pretty good with keeping only PlayStation consoles as PlayStations.
Helldivers won’t come to XBox. Sorry, folks. MS has pretty much guaranteed that games will flow from XBox to PS, not from PS to XBox.
I’m not saying this as a Sony fanboy (though I do favor PS over XBox) but as a realist. And also as one who does fight for Super Earth on occasion and would absolutely welcome our green brethren in the fight against the democracyless legions of the galaxy!
@RentedPanda I’m just making it clear that “players” doesn’t equal “impactful income” and Ubisoft is essentially giving us a rather meaningless statistic.
We’ll see what they say a month from now. Or three to six months from now when it drops to $30.
It doesn’t differentiate between someone who bought and kept it, bought it on Steam then tried it and refunded it, or Ubisoft plus players who paid whatever monthly fee it is to play it.
This is like EA celebrating “engagement” with Veilguard. It means exactly nothing.
In a world where MS currently considers the underpowered series S a required supported device, there is currently zero reason for them to release a new console by 2027.
@Millionski My X is a decent console, and I’ve definitely gotten some use out of it. But now that I’ve dipped my toes into the green side, I’m content with hanging out in the blue and red areas of the pool for future hardware.
At least Sony and Nintendo consistently use industry standard storage in the form of M.2 SSDs and microSD respectively. Having to get an expansion card for my X is annoying, even with a 2 TB external hard drive for my XBone/360 games.
@donv2135 I…am not an XBox fan. I have a PS5 as my main console, along with my Switch. The Series X was bought to play some BC games and some previous exclusives like Halo and such. I’m glad I did, don’t get me wrong, but there’s just not much incentive to stick with the platform.
I guarantee this is my last XBox, especially with Forza Horizon coming to PS. Horizon 4 and 5 are what let me to keep the series X in the first place…
It will also be my last XBox. MS has given me zero faith in their seriousness about consoles, and I’ll be content giving my money to Sony for the PS6 down the road (assuming they aren’t dumb enough to nix the optical drive in it) and the Switch 2 sooner.
@themightyant glances at Veilguard after EA touted “engagements” instead of “sales”, then glances at all the writers and such from said game having been almost instantly laid off
Translation: “please subscribe so we can boast of engagement numbers instead of sales numbers like they did for Veilguard if/when this sells like…well, Veilguard!”
Oh, well. I already owned it quite genuinely on disc for PS5 and digitally due to the code my physical PS5 copy of AW2 came with. I’ll survive having the Xbox digital copy vanish into the ether.
Kinda reminds me of the few times this sort of thing happened on Sony’s side. I still have access to the glitched-free games they had, like a couple of digital PSP games as well as the God of War 1&2 PS3 remasters.
Sony never revoked access to those. Guess MS is more of a stickler, or Remedy kicked up that much of a fuss since they just barely made a profit on AW2 and need the cash from actual sales!
The best thing that could happen for the AC IP is for another company to take the reigns and divorce it from ALL of the current management.
Shadows is (whether you agree with the reasons or not) so tainted in many folks’ eyes that even if it breaks even (which it may not, given delays and Ubisoft continually Ubisofting) it won’t do much for the compaly’s bottom line at this point.
I have zero plans to buy another XBox after this. Partially because I’m a PS/Nintendo gamer first and foremost, partially because I got the Series X to play some previous exclusives for the first time ever…and now that MS has apparently given up on those, I have zero reason to buy MS hardware again.
I also REALLY dislike Smart Delivery. Like, really dislike it.
@JON22 You mean the console that requires you to download a platform-specific version of the game to play it, even if you wanted to play the XBone version contained on the disc? That console that, if those servers ever go away, will suddenly have far fewer games playable on it since the smart delivery copy will be inaccessible?
@Kaloudz Again, YOU see no connection. Neither did Ubisoft.
Japanese folks? Oh, a good number of them saw the connection, whether unintentional or not. I’m 100% sure it was unintentional, but dang Ubisoft seems to keep doing it.
But what you or I think is utterly meaningless. We (at least, I, can’t speak for you) aren’t Japanese and we aren’t qualified to speak towards what Japanese people are allowed to find objectionable or acceptable, as it is a completely different culture.
It amuses me when people like us think we can dictate what other cultures should accept or decry. The fact is that the offense is there.
@Kaloudz I think it’s the whole “Japan is the only country that has been nuked and the partially destroyed Torii gate is currently a symbol related to that devastation” thing that is the point.
Literally no one is saying that there’s never been a partially destroyed one of these. But CURRENTLY it’s kind of a thing that has more meaning after…you know…
Comments 573
Re: Roundup: The First Impressions Of Marathon Are In
@IOI In fairness, Concord looked horrible from the get-go with its dime store Guardians of the Galaxy created by faceless committee vibe.
This at least has a more distinctive style. It certainly isn’t for me, but I definitely think it’ll do better than Concord. Not that this is a HIGH standard to exceed, of course!
Re: Roundup: The First Impressions Of Marathon Are In
I’m a Sony fanboy, and I still have no interest in Marathon-in-name-only. More power to those who want this, I’m just not one of them.
Re: Metro 2033 Redux Gets 100% Discount On Xbox To Celebrate Anniversary
Still not showing as free on Xbox.com, maybe it’s different on console? I’ll have to check when I get home from work.
Re: Metro 2033 Redux Gets 100% Discount On Xbox To Celebrate Anniversary
Will keep an eye out! Amusingly it isn’t free on PSN but does appear to be discounted to $4.99.
Re: Bungie's 'Marathon' Gets September Release Date For Xbox, Closed Alpha This Month
As I said on Push Square, I’d rather have a modern remake/reimagining of the original Marathon Trilogy.
Bungie could have called this thing by any other name, but using Marathon just rubs me the wrong way.
Re: Ubisoft Lawyers Say You Can't Complain About Being 'Deceived' By The Crew's Shutdown
@NishimuraX This is a very wise decision, and I fully support it!
Re: Ubisoft Lawyers Say You Can't Complain About Being 'Deceived' By The Crew's Shutdown
@NishimuraX Ubisoft probably won’t exist in its current form by this time next year, they just have to wait it out!
Re: Ubisoft Lawyers Say You Can't Complain About Being 'Deceived' By The Crew's Shutdown
Just one more reason to despise Ubisoft.
As if we needed more.
Re: PS5's New Backgrounds Are More 'Dynamic' Than The Xbox Versions, But There's A Catch
I genuinely don’t care about backgrounds on my consoles these days. I want the shortest path from locating game to launching said game and I don’t need pretty pictures distracting me from that.
Re: Former Xbox Exec Throws Shade At Switch 2, Says It's A 'Hard Pass'
@LonR Given that preorders for the Switch 2 don’t start till next week…
@jesse_dylan It does enhance some Switch games out of the box. Nintendo announced a few like Mario Odyssey, LoZ Link’s Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom, as well as Captain Toad. And dear god, those two LoZ titles need the boost, speaking from personal experience…
It isn’t all money-gouging game upgrades. There’s free boosts out there too.
Re: BAFTA Announces List Of Top 21 Most Influential Games Ever
@awp69 Interesting that there’s no MS first party games on the list, except for the companies MS absorbed after the games on the list themselves were released so MS themselves bears zero credit.
Interesting how Nintendo has three all by themselves.
Re: BAFTA Announces List Of Top 21 Most Influential Games Ever
I get that it’s a good game, but KC2 being on the list of ALL TIME given that it’s only been out for a couple months is ludicrous.
Re: Xbox Is Hosting A Massive 'Spooky Games' Sale This Week
Unless you’re terrified of bad games, I don’t think the Suicide Squad game fits the criteria of “spooky” games…
Re: Sony Causes A Stir Among Xbox Fans With Black Myth: Wukong Comment
@fatpunkslim Call me crazy, but I believe small studio that said something similar to Larian Studios regarding BG3 and the series S more than massive faceless corporation trying to cover itself and its lower-powered console they demand all games also support.
Re: Sony Causes A Stir Among Xbox Fans With Black Myth: Wukong Comment
@M20B25 Dave the Diver deserves a release on EVERY platform for sure!
Re: Sony Causes A Stir Among Xbox Fans With Black Myth: Wukong Comment
@Kaelliellie Okay.
I’m sure other XBox owners would like to find that out for themselves though, regardless of what your opinion of the game is and what other games someone else is currently playing.
Re: MMORPG 'Black Desert' Is Getting An Xbox Series X|S Upgrade, But There's A Catch
@Kaloudz You intolerant monster! How dare you not stand with the 12 year old console owners! XD
Re: MMORPG 'Black Desert' Is Getting An Xbox Series X|S Upgrade, But There's A Catch
@Dalamar73 PCs can be upgraded. Consoles cannot. They are static. Can’t pop in a new graphics card or cpu and say “yup, I’m ready for version 2.52 of Popular MMO now!”
That’s the part you’re missing. Imagine if they kept FF14 running on the PS3 and held the whole thing back just to placate those owners.What a horror show that would be. They discontinued it for that platform in 2017 for not being able to handle things, and now in 2025 it would be an utter joke.
You don’t hold the entire class back because one or two students can’t keep up.
@Runex2121 Perfectly stated.
Re: MMORPG 'Black Desert' Is Getting An Xbox Series X|S Upgrade, But There's A Catch
@Kaloudz @Dalamar73 Heck, let’s pour one out for all those PS3 owners who got left behind when the Stormblood expansion came out for FF14 back in 2017 and were forced at gunpoint to go to PS4!
Tech moves on. Games move on. If someone is THAT heavily invested in BDO (and if they are, I have to question their choices in life anyway…) I’m sure they’ll either upgrade eventually when money allows or move on with their life and seek greener pastures!
Re: Poll: As Forza Horizon 5 Cruises To PS5, Are You Still Playing It On Xbox?
FH4 and 5 are the entire reason I ended up keeping the Series X I bought a year ago as my first Xbox.
I absolutely fire it up every so often, just to enjoy the pretty graphics and the VROOM VROOM!
Re: Talking Point: Which MMORPGs Would You Love To Play Natively On Xbox?
I look forward to WoW running on XBox with the overbearing chat censorship that FF14 experienced on this platform…
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Gets First 'Hotfix' Update, 8GB On Xbox Series X|S
@OldGamer999 Not too surprising, the PS5’s compression tech is likely responsible. Games are just bigger on Series S/X due to that.
Re: Helldivers 2 Xbox Petition Passes 130,000 Signatures, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
@HonestHick The PC market is larger than the Xbox market, and WAY larger than the folks who only play gamepass games on XBox.
I’m sure they’ve done the cost/benefit analysis at a much more detailed level than us rando commenters could ever do, and the fact that they AREN’T porting games to XBox is all we need to know.
Also, PC users certainly do buy games. Steam wouldn’t be successful as a storefront if they didn’t.
Re: Helldivers 2 Xbox Petition Passes 130,000 Signatures, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
@BacklogBrad XBox owners are, for better or worse, Gamepass people. Gamepass people rarely outright buy games these days.
Sony doesn’t crow about “engagement” numbers like EA and Ubisoft do. They go by actual sales, with some exceptions for PS Plus of course.
Sony has no real monetary incentive to port and sell games on a platform they’d sell fewer games on.
Re: Helldivers 2 Xbox Petition Passes 130,000 Signatures, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
@BacklogBrad Agree to disagree! Sony clearly feels no need to test the waters beyond LEGO Horizon on Switch, and even on that they excluded the XBox completely. And you’ll notice that neither the Spider-Man series or the forthcoming Wolverine games are for any console but the PS!
You’re 100% right about MLB forcing the multiplatform release for sure. But whatever the reason, it technically IS a Sony game on XBox.
Time will tell, but MS is clearly not banking completely on their own gaming consoles anymore.
Re: Helldivers 2 Xbox Petition Passes 130,000 Signatures, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
@BacklogBrad Technically they’ve released a couple. MLB The Show, anyone?
@Onlyboxmatters I…genuinely can’t tell if you’re serious or not!
Re: Helldivers 2 Xbox Petition Passes 130,000 Signatures, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
MS needs multi platform since “every device is an XBox.”
Sony does not need multi platform since Helldivers 2 exists for PS and PC, and Sony is pretty good with keeping only PlayStation consoles as PlayStations.
Helldivers won’t come to XBox. Sorry, folks. MS has pretty much guaranteed that games will flow from XBox to PS, not from PS to XBox.
I’m not saying this as a Sony fanboy (though I do favor PS over XBox) but as a realist. And also as one who does fight for Super Earth on occasion and would absolutely welcome our green brethren in the fight against the democracyless legions of the galaxy!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 22-23)
Xenoblade Chronicles X currently, then Atelier Yumia eventually.
I like my Japanese games MADE by Japanese people, with Ghost of Tsushima being the sole exception to that rule.
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Racks Up One Million Players In Less Than 24 Hours
@RentedPanda I’m just making it clear that “players” doesn’t equal “impactful income” and Ubisoft is essentially giving us a rather meaningless statistic.
We’ll see what they say a month from now. Or three to six months from now when it drops to $30.
Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Racks Up One Million Players In Less Than 24 Hours
That’s players.
It doesn’t differentiate between someone who bought and kept it, bought it on Steam then tried it and refunded it, or Ubisoft plus players who paid whatever monthly fee it is to play it.
This is like EA celebrating “engagement” with Veilguard. It means exactly nothing.
Re: Talking Point: Is It Too Early To Release A New Xbox Console In 2027?
In a world where MS currently considers the underpowered series S a required supported device, there is currently zero reason for them to release a new console by 2027.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Sales Now Trailing Almost 20% Behind Xbox One In The US
@Millionski My X is a decent console, and I’ve definitely gotten some use out of it. But now that I’ve dipped my toes into the green side, I’m content with hanging out in the blue and red areas of the pool for future hardware.
At least Sony and Nintendo consistently use industry standard storage in the form of M.2 SSDs and microSD respectively. Having to get an expansion card for my X is annoying, even with a 2 TB external hard drive for my XBone/360 games.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Sales Now Trailing Almost 20% Behind Xbox One In The US
@donv2135 …because I own an XBox? Or are people who own multiple consoles not welcome here, regardless of which one they prefer?
I never said I didn’t enjoy the one I have. But definitely going to be a one and done for me, though I’ve picked up quite a few discs for it.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Sales Now Trailing Almost 20% Behind Xbox One In The US
@donv2135 I…am not an XBox fan. I have a PS5 as my main console, along with my Switch. The Series X was bought to play some BC games and some previous exclusives like Halo and such. I’m glad I did, don’t get me wrong, but there’s just not much incentive to stick with the platform.
I guarantee this is my last XBox, especially with Forza Horizon coming to PS. Horizon 4 and 5 are what let me to keep the series X in the first place…
Re: Xbox Series X|S Sales Now Trailing Almost 20% Behind Xbox One In The US
I’m glad I got a Series X as my first XBox.
It will also be my last XBox. MS has given me zero faith in their seriousness about consoles, and I’ll be content giving my money to Sony for the PS6 down the road (assuming they aren’t dumb enough to nix the optical drive in it) and the Switch 2 sooner.
Re: Hands On: Assassin's Creed Shadows Feels Like A Timely Refresh For The Series
As long as reviewers don’t use the phrase “a return to form for Ubisoft,” then maybe things will be okay.
Re: Ubisoft Plus Gets Massive Discount On Xbox Ahead Of Assassin's Creed Shadows Launch
@themightyant glances at Veilguard after EA touted “engagements” instead of “sales”, then glances at all the writers and such from said game having been almost instantly laid off
Re: Ubisoft Plus Gets Massive Discount On Xbox Ahead Of Assassin's Creed Shadows Launch
Translation: “please subscribe so we can boast of engagement numbers instead of sales numbers like they did for Veilguard if/when this sells like…well, Veilguard!”
Re: Talking Point: What Should Microsoft Call The '2027' Xbox Console & Handheld?
@LogicStrikesAgain You forgot the XBox U!
Re: Talking Point: Two Years Later, Is It Finally Almost Time For 'Forspoken' On Xbox?
Trust me, my Xbox friends, you don’t want this game. You really don’t.
I got the disc for $5 a few months ago and…I just can’t make myself even put it in my console.
Re: Random: Oreo Xbox Series S Owner Shows Off Their 'Monstrosity' Of A Console
That is definitely a fugly console, but I have to admit that I’d enjoy having it in my tv stand!
Re: Alan Wake Remastered Free Copies Are Being Revoked By Xbox
Yeah, got the message from MS last night.
Oh, well. I already owned it quite genuinely on disc for PS5 and digitally due to the code my physical PS5 copy of AW2 came with. I’ll survive having the Xbox digital copy vanish into the ether.
Kinda reminds me of the few times this sort of thing happened on Sony’s side. I still have access to the glitched-free games they had, like a couple of digital PSP games as well as the God of War 1&2 PS3 remasters.
Sony never revoked access to those. Guess MS is more of a stickler, or Remedy kicked up that much of a fuss since they just barely made a profit on AW2 and need the cash from actual sales!
Re: Microsoft Has Reportedly Discussed Acquiring IP From Ubisoft
The best thing that could happen for the AC IP is for another company to take the reigns and divorce it from ALL of the current management.
Shadows is (whether you agree with the reasons or not) so tainted in many folks’ eyes that even if it breaks even (which it may not, given delays and Ubisoft continually Ubisofting) it won’t do much for the compaly’s bottom line at this point.
Re: Xbox Is Delivering Some Of Its 'Biggest Updates Ever' As Forza & Age Move To PS5
@JetmanUK True, I guess they want to focus on polishing the PS5 version without having to make allowances for PS4 and PS4 Pro, perhaps.
Might make it easier when Horizon 6 comes, since I’d wager that’ll drop support for last-gen.
Re: Xbox Is Delivering Some Of Its 'Biggest Updates Ever' As Forza & Age Move To PS5
@JetmanUK Forza Horizon 5 is PS5 only.
Re: Talking Point: If The Next-Gen Xbox Is More 'PC-Like', Will You Still Buy It?
I bought my first Xbox last year, a series X.
I have zero plans to buy another XBox after this. Partially because I’m a PS/Nintendo gamer first and foremost, partially because I got the Series X to play some previous exclusives for the first time ever…and now that MS has apparently given up on those, I have zero reason to buy MS hardware again.
I also REALLY dislike Smart Delivery. Like, really dislike it.
Re: Xbox Login Raises Concerns About Preservation Of Forza Horizon 5 On PlayStation
@JON22 You mean the console that requires you to download a platform-specific version of the game to play it, even if you wanted to play the XBone version contained on the disc? That console that, if those servers ever go away, will suddenly have far fewer games playable on it since the smart delivery copy will be inaccessible?
Okay.
Re: Control Ultimate Edition Is Getting A Brand-New Patch That Brings PS4 Exclusive Mission To Xbox
It’s good to see Control getting some more love retroactively.
Re: Talking Point: Assassin's Creed Fans, Do You Think Feudal Japan Will Live Up To The Hype?
@Kaloudz Again, YOU see no connection. Neither did Ubisoft.
Japanese folks? Oh, a good number of them saw the connection, whether unintentional or not. I’m 100% sure it was unintentional, but dang Ubisoft seems to keep doing it.
But what you or I think is utterly meaningless. We (at least, I, can’t speak for you) aren’t Japanese and we aren’t qualified to speak towards what Japanese people are allowed to find objectionable or acceptable, as it is a completely different culture.
It amuses me when people like us think we can dictate what other cultures should accept or decry. The fact is that the offense is there.
Re: Talking Point: Assassin's Creed Fans, Do You Think Feudal Japan Will Live Up To The Hype?
@Kaloudz I think it’s the whole “Japan is the only country that has been nuked and the partially destroyed Torii gate is currently a symbol related to that devastation” thing that is the point.
Literally no one is saying that there’s never been a partially destroyed one of these. But CURRENTLY it’s kind of a thing that has more meaning after…you know…