electrolite77

Good move for MS. There are still a lot of players out there that haven’t jumped to PS5 or XSX. Might see them pick up a few.

@ValentineMeikin

Exactly. All they gave away was COD which they were always going to do and Cloud Gaming which was small beer. They didn’t have to give anything else.

The year 2024 and people are still obsessing about exclusives. As if a game is somehow more enjoyable if other people can’t play it.

@ValentineMeikin

The only concession MS made to Sony as a result of the ABK deal and court case was COD

Really hope this is true. Should be something pretty special.

Seems to be reviewing well, averaging 81% on Metacritic with a lot of the top reviews being from multi format sites. Think there was always going to be a slightly divisive element to this one. Looking forward to giving it a go.

Working really hard here to encourage and get a few clicks off the doomlords who believe they’re going to quite hardware 😆

@Grumblevolcano

Buying a Sony or Nintendo platform to get Xbox exclusives would only make sense if all Xbox exclusives were on those platforms. However they aren’t and there is no sign of such a thing happening.

Good to hear. Personally I’m sceptical about how big the leap will actually be but they’re clearly planning on releasing new hardware, despite some of the bizarre claims elsewhere that they’re leaving the hardware business.

@Th3_Highlander @Lowcut

Thanks 😊

What’s the maximum you can get in a month now? Is it enough to pay for GPU?

Not sure I’m too surprised at this. Microsoft were effectively giving away recurring Game Pass subscriptions and more on top. It was a hugely pro-consumer move, even giving the current Rewards points is more than they need to do. At least its actual free stuff rather than digital collectibles like Sony and Nintendo.

As somebody who bought PS4 Pro (which was pretty poor) and Xbox One X (which was excellent) last gen I have absolutely no interest in a mid-gen upgrade. I’ve made that mistake before and will learn from it.

PS5 Pro looks a similarly half-hearted upgrade to the PS4 Pro. If I really thought my PS5 and Series X were underpowered I’d fix the problem properly and buy a PC. PS5 Pro won’t make much of a dent on the mainstream at all. Xbox is better trying to make a proper generational leap in a couple of years.

This is also pretty much BS. He’s covering his own backside in classic exec style. He threw everything into stopping the merger altogether and signed a deal when he absolutely had to.

@NEStalgia

Nicely put. I’ve been a PlayStation fan since buying my first PS1 in January 1996 and Ryan has been dreadful.

It’s OK but recently I’ve found I’m queuing a lot, which I simply can’t be bothered with. Defeats the point entirely.

“we still feel like we're not 100% sure on where Xbox will be in 10, 15 years”

Nobody does 😂 There’s not a person out there who actually knows what Xbox, or the industry as a whole, will look like in 15 years. Look at how much has changed in the last 15, and the 15 before that. Time machines still aren’t a thing, and frankly who cares?!

@Ken_Kaniff

Not sure that figure is right. Even if they didn’t increase ABK’s profitability at all the profits from that bit of the business alone would cover the purchase cost within 10 years.

I think you are overreacting a bit. They answered most of the ‘questions’ fairly clearly. Thing to remember is most of these ‘questions’ were stirred up by Internet gossip and hysterical overreaction. Now it seems some are determined to keep that hysteria going.

And the ludicrous hype for next gen begins!

Believe this when I see it but the main thing is it reiterates that they’re committed to hardware.

@themightyant

I agree, it isn’t that impressive a figure if you include Gold conversions. As an aside, they had less Gold subscribers that weren’t taking Game Pass than I thought.

Interesting figures too, thanks for doing the calculations. I think long term the cost saving comes from filling up the GP library with first party content at the expense of big third party deals. Yes games are expensive to make but once made they stay in GP for years, precluding the need for different third party games every few months. They’ve obviously got the ABK library to utilise too.

While we have to keep perspective and remember it’s a really healthy number and a big business they’ve built for themselves you can see why moving some titles onto other platforms while keeping them Day 1 on Xbox/GP and on GP after publication elsewhere makes sense.

That’s not a great figure if it includes Core numbers. Not convinced of that.

As expected, all a big load of nothing. A couple of smaller games and GAAS titles going multi platform. There will probably be more, if Game Pass/multiplatform is what’s needed to fund niche titles like Pentiment so be it.

A huge disappointment for anyone who genuinely (bafflingly, to me) thought xbox was quitting hardware and putting everything multiplatform. Dont believe what you read Online people.

This is something I would love to happen. The Switch is brilliant and all, I use mine far more than my Xbox/PS Consoles, but some co petition would keep them on their toes. Handhelds have always been hugely popular with both kids and adults for obvious reasons and it’s strange to me MS have never had a go at that market.

Smaller, quirky titles this moving over after a period of exclusivity makes sense. I’d still rather try them in Game Pass myself anyway. I’d expect to see GAAS titles ported too.

“ a prime example of Chinese whispers or people just making s*** up to capitalise off the hysteria”

I rather suspect in a few days that’ll be a very accurate summary of the situation

@UltraBEAR

Out of 4 posts 2 have been you saying they’re going third party which you describe as ‘only a matter of time.’

You also posted this-

“ Most exciting time in consoles since Sega going 3rd party. I couldn’t be more on the edge of my seat. Microsoft knows that the inky way to make up for those huge investments is to go fully 3rd party. Kudos for not dragging this out.”

We can only go off the evidence in front of us, which supports what I said.

@UltraBEAR

I think you’re confusing what you want with what is likely to happen

@Valkyrian

They’ve put out one comment about how they’ll have an update next week. Thankfully they don’t respond to every hysterical fanboy panic and they have absolutely no need to.

@InterceptorAlpha

There’s very little chance of Gamepass being on PlayStation or Nintendo for that matter.

Third party licensing fees are a huge business, they’re basically free money. As much as Sony get praised for their exclusives, revenue from third party games is a much more important revenue stream for them as seen in the filings for the ABK court case.

It’s possible to make money from system hardware and peripherals which are also hardware is another revenue stream with a very high mark up.

The only times anyone has thrown in a decent Video Game hardware business has been when they’ve had to because the company is about to go under like with Sega/SNK/Atari. That’s the only time it makes sense, and MS aren’t in that position.

@Valkyrian

If companies spent their time responding to hysterical rumours on the internet they’d never get anything else done

Not as much as the hysteria suggests. A few older games going to other platforms. A general idea that most of their games will launch first on Xbox and onto Gamepass but some will only be timed exclusives on a case-by-case basis. Possibly the announcement of a streaming box.

@InterceptorAlpha

It’s hard to see how that makes financial sense. Even if all they did this generation was match last gen’s nearly 60 million sales that’s a massive revenue stream to give away. Not just the hardware sales but peripherals and the licensing fees they get from every single game sold on Xbox. It could also potentially cost them a shedload of Game Pass subscribers.

@Ade117

“ Microsoft still has an audience of 50 million loyal customers as evidenced by the sales of the Xbox One even after its disastrous start.”

Exactly. Thats a huge business including third party and hardware revenues and a major (the main?) driver towards Game Pass and the ecosystem. Thats why the idea here going to ditch Consoles is very far fetched and would be extremely bad for the industry.

@UltraBEAR

That speculation is fine, it’s just internet chatter. Its still publicity that draws attention to the option to play those games now via GP/PC/Xbox.

Be interested to see what the vision is. I can see a future where they launch their big games first on Xbox/PC/GP and then launch selected titles on other platforms to pick up a few extra dollars and generate franchise awareness later. Would be a pretty smart move IMO.

@rustyduck

Absolutely no info says this

This was inevitable after the merger but that doesn’t make it any less horrible. Hopefully those affected are well looked after.

A Quake reboot in the form of the recent Doom games would be (Homer Simpsons drooling GIF)

@Tharsman @K1LLEGAL

Cool. Fingers crossed then.

This doesn’t mean they’re all this year does it?

(Falls off chair)

@CharlieChooChoo

Exactly. They especially don’t care about squealing kids on the Internet getting all upset because some more people might be able to play a game.

Got a sneaky feeling this might be Psychonauts 2 on Switch. It’s already on PlayStation anyway.

But Hi Fi Rush or Pentiment would also make sense. Word of mouth for the games to help build towards a possible sequel and more people aware of stuff they can play on Game Pass.

@somnambulance

Exactly. Just how it should be. The more games people think are worthy of GOTY the better.

@brn70121

It was voted for by the readers.

@ozkrmz

Oh grow up. People have different opinions to you. That’s how the world works.

@Tacoborn

It was voted for by the readers

Only just started on Starfield and really enjoying it.

Very strong list overall.