Ok, from a business and efficiency point of view, it makes sense: tightening teams, less management, more agility, etc.
As for Ninja Theory, now that they’ve gone through quite a bit of reorganization, please don’t shut this studio down — keep them. They’re a team of real talent; they just need strong management. Put them under Activision’s management, I don’t know… but don’t close Ninja Theory. These guys have incredible know‑how.
@FraserG Without trying to downplay anything, just to be clear and accurate: regarding the first wave, it wasn’t all layoffs strictly speaking , some studios also became independent. It’s still important to note that many people kept their jobs, just under a different entity.
All the devs at Bungie have bailed, not feeling very optimistic about Destiny’s future. And considering the PlayStation policies Bungie has to comply with (whether people admit it or not), I’m not sure they’ll have much room to maneuver.
exclusive games
pc games
the return of iconic licenses
New games (Blade please, and much better than the average Wolwerine please)
disc drive
affordable
quick resume
simple, clean and intuitive UI
More backward compatibility
option: digital to disc (after the disc to digital)
option: Extending disc to digital to Xbox 360 games would be insane, even though I know it seems technically complicated.
PS: I don’t understand people who don’t want additional storefronts. It’s just an extra option — if you don’t want that extra choice, don’t take it, but don’t stop others from having it. Not adding more stores would be a huge step backward and a massive disappointment for millions of players who are waiting for Helix specifically for that. If you don’t want it, fine, but let’s keep the choice. I can clearly see on social media that tons of PC players are waiting for this: accessing their PC library while keeping the comfort of a console, centralizing their entire game library — who wouldn’t want that, seriously?
If you’re saying that because of the price, you don’t actually know whether adding new storefronts will affect it. I trust Asha Sharma’s creativity and her ability to find solutions.
@RiverGenie Strangely, it didn’t really appel to me at first, but this game intrigues me. And I used to be a huge fan of Dune II (spent a few sleepless nights on it), even though it has nothing to do with this.
@Drewdub it’s not a mainstream game, but it does have a real fan community that plays it regularly. Personally, I’m also waiting for a new Fallout, or a remake of New Vegas — but with a real graphical overhaul and more modern gameplay
@Fiendish-Beaver Sorry to say it, but I’ve seen you be more persuasive before. To sum it up, your argument is basically “maybe yes, maybe no”… we’re not going to get very far like that.
About Xbox offering more choice, that’s a different topic — and yes, having a customizable, modular Game Pass would be a good idea if that’s what you mean. It’s already one of the most requested features on Xbox Player Voice.
As for the rest, I stand by what I said:
– The rumor‑making business absolutely exists, and some people abuse it.
– The pattern of a rumor is always the same: say credible things + add a “trigger” to generate buzz.
– Releasing something like this eight months in advance makes no sense, except for ResetEra to protect itself because everyone will have forgotten by then.
– Another important point: Asha has made a lot of decisions in a very short time — price drop, removing Call of Duty, adding cloud limits, bringing back exclusives, etc. So why would they suddenly wait eight months for this kind of announcement?
– Their denial is very clear to me: they regularly explore different approaches for Game Pass, but nothing has been decided yet.
as @Banjo- mentioned, there are already games announced as launching day one after 2027.
the rest of the rumor is just made up of things Xbox has already announced, so there’s nothing new there.
You can trust ResetEra based on old references (“it was only four games at the time”), even though technically it wasn’t false at that moment — they weren’t committing long‑term).
But the big difference now is that your examples don’t apply under the new leadership. You can clearly see Xbox is being far more transparent. So far, I haven’t seen any lies from them, and they’re being much more open than before.
Given that, I prefer trusting Asha Sharma rather than some random person on ResetEra who isn’t neutral and has a financial incentive behind it (buzz, traffic, monetization).
But you’re free to believe whoever you want. In the end, that’s always the same question: who do you trust — the one spreading the rumor, or the one denying it? that’s why rumors generate buzz — they create doubt, and they know there will always be people who believe them.
I really like the concept of fighters being chained together. It’s not completely new, but in the world of gladiators and in this genre, it feels pretty fresh, at least to me
@Llamageddon I don’t think so — it’s not that binary. It’s not one or the other. Players understand that not everything will be exclusive; they know very well that some games will be exclusive and others will be multiplatform.
As for day‑one releases, yes, today all first‑party games launch day one except Call of Duty. So the only realistic path isn’t “exclusive OR day one,” but rather adding more exceptions like Call of Duty (which makes sense, because it’s a franchise that truly stands apart due to its popularity and impact). That’s the only angle that makes sense.
But honestly, I don’t really believe that will happen, because adding even more exceptions would create confusion. People wouldn’t know anymore what is day one and what isn’t. And I’m not convinced Aasha wants to introduce that kind of confusion.
@electrolite77 @Fiendish-Beaver "We don’t have any changes to announce today or **plans that have been finalized**"
So, "We don’t have(...)plans that have been finalized"
So, The claim that Game Pass will lose day‑one releases in April is false, because no new Game Pass plan has been finalized. You can’t assert something that hasn’t even been decided yet.
So yes, the statement saying there will be no more day‑one games is false, since at this stage no definitive conclusion can be made.
ResetEra is just trying to generate buzz , that’s all there is to it. Announcing something like this eight months in advance is, by itself, proof that it’s fake news.
Where ResetEra is clever is in how they mix credible elements or things already mentioned by Asha Sharma , like the ad‑supported plan or the family plan , which makes the rumor seem believable. Then they add the “trigger” to create buzz: the supposed end of day‑one releases. It’s a classic way to build a rumor.
Rumors often follow this pattern: rely on credible and likely information, then add something sensational, even if it’s improbable.
It’s a business , rumors help certain people profit. It’s a form of growth marketing, in a way
@asdfghjklz it's a fake news ! If Xbox took the trouble to respond to this rumor, it’s because it’s fake news, and their denial is clear. What part of their message don’t you understand? In what world do people prefer to believe the nonsense of any random person instead of official statements? You really have to be naive not to see that rumors are a business — a business to create buzz, traffic, and therefore money! And why does it work? Because there are naive people ready to believe this kind of rumor. Resetera is clever: they take no risk saying this now, because they know very well that in 8 months everyone will have forgotten this false rumor. Meanwhile, they’ve collected traffic thanks to the buzz. What they didn’t expect was Xbox’s denial the very same day — and now they must be fuming, because they’re totally discredited.
@Banjo- Even with a denial as clear as day, there will always be people who believe the opposite and prefer fake news. As I said, the very idea of announcing such a rumor 8 months in advance makes no sense. Why 8 months? Has Xbox already planned changes to Game Pass for 8 months from now? Aasha has accustomed us to radical decisions within 3 months, so why wait 8 months in this case? Anyway, it all makes no sense, and it only adds to Resetera’s discredit, since they say a lot of nonsense.
@FraserG I think continuing to insist on this just gives too much credit to a fake news. If we had a denial the very same day, it was clearly meant to refute it — end of story.
We understood it was fake news. Xbox denied it in the best possible way, and that’s exactly the point I had made! Announcing such claims 8 months in advance makes no sense — that’s what makes the rumor completely non‑credible and proves it was just to generate buzz and drive traffic to their site. As Xbox said, they don’t plan Game Pass changes 8 months ahead, period, end of discussion.
Now, I’m not saying there won’t be changes down the line — ads plan, family plan, etc. — but removing day one releases makes no sense. That’s what created Game Pass’s popularity. Without day one games, there is no Game Pass. And they know very well that if they removed that, there would be waves of cancellations.
@devil76 Yes, the family plan and the ad tier are almost certainly part of the roadmap. As for the rest, it’s just to create buzz — they announce things everyone already knows, plus a trigger that will generate buzz (like the supposed end of day‑one releases).
@PsBoxSwitchOwner What’s clever about these rumors is that there’s a mix of credible and far‑fetched stuff. They blend plausible elements with nonsense. As for the ad tier, yes, that seems plausible, especially since it’s already been more or less announced. But removing day‑one games is highly unlikely, because that’s basically the definition of Game Pass (And ResetEra knows very well that this is what will create buzz).
The advantage of this kind of rumor is that they can always claim they were half right, even if the other half is false. That’s often what happens — they minimize the risk. Spreading rumors has become an art.
Meanwhile, Xbox keeps making good moves, while PlayStation does the opposite. Some people feel compelled to try to reverse the trend with this kind of nonsense. And to be very clear, it is nonsense, nothing more. Announcing something like this 8 months in advance? Who would the source be? Only Asha Sharma knows what she’s going to do, and even then I doubt she knows exactly what changes will be made to Game Pass in 8 months. Certainly no one else does. So unless the source is Asha Sharma herself and it’s already locked in, I don’t see how this rumor could be true. People are losing their minds.
ResetEra knows perfectly well that this kind of rumor drives traffic to their site. And in 8 months (That too is clever), everyone will have forgotten where the rumor came from, maybe even forgotten the rumor itself, . In the meantime, they rake in traffic at little cost. That’s all there is to it.
Don’t make sense at all. Nah, I don’t buy it. Maybe that idea was floating around at some point, but by April (8 months away, lol) things could be totally different. Honestly, I don’t believe it. If they ditch day-one games, Game Pass is basically just PS+ and loses all its appeal. I really don’t see that happening.
ResetEra knows perfectly well that this kind of rumor drives traffic to their site. And in 8 months (Smart to announce this rumor 8 months in advance) , everyone will have forgotten where the rumor came from, maybe even forgotten the rumor itself, . In the meantime, they rake in traffic at little cost. That’s all there is to it.
UPDATE: Xbox has already debunked this false rumor, and windows central too, end of discussion
@BacklogBrad The game was announced in January 2024, so it’s not that old. And it’s not even developed by PlayStation — it’s Kojima Productions developing it, with financial support from PlayStation and now Xbox.
What’s surprising is that this reveals PlayStation’s strategy: putting less budget into AAA games. We can see it clearly with Wolverine, which is disappointing — it recycles the Spider‑Man engine, reuses certain assets and mechanics, and ends up being very linear, with shallow gameplay and little creativity (apart from producing nice cinematics).
At the same time, they persist with live‑service titles like Horizon Hunters Gathering, which nobody cares about, or Marathon, which is struggling to survive. The cancellation of Physint is quite symptomatic of PlayStation’s future, in my opinion.
And yes, PlayStation struggles to understand that Kojima (and almost all third‑party publishers, really) no longer want to make exclusives — at least not long‑term. They don’t get that it’s financially unsustainable for third‑party publishers if they can’t release their games across all platforms.
On Xbox, Physint will be a timed exclusive for a year at most. But the value of the Xbox ecosystem doesn’t lie only in exclusive content — it’s also in exclusive services: Xbox Play Anywhere, Disc‑to‑Digital, Game Pass, free cloud saves (which PlayStation charges for), and an environment open to PC (Helix), etc. Rather than a closed, archaic digital ecosystem like PlayStation’s.
yep, "healthy competition" You’re absolutely right, because we can clearly see what happens when one company thinks it’s above the rest: it tends to monopolize everything, control prices, and make anti‑consumer decisions. That’s exactly what PlayStation is trying to do. The end of physical games isn’t just about higher margins on digital — it’s about controlling prices, since PlayStation offers no choice: everything goes through the PlayStation Store. PlayStation doesn’t sell its games on Eneba or other discount key stores — at least not directly (if you see PS titles there, it’s usually through third‑party resellers, not Sony itself). Whereas with others, like Xbox, you can buy on the Xbox Store but also on other stores, which naturally creates healthy competition.
There’s clearly a deliberate intent from PlayStation to lock players in and control pricing. That’s also what they’re doing with dynamic pricing, where the prices shown vary depending on the user profile (logged in/logged out, purchase history, likelihood to pay). For example: the same game might show a 25% discount for a “fan” and an 85% discount for a casual player. It’s basically like surge pricing or airline/hotel tickets that go up when demand is high.
Xbox tried something similar, but it’s not the same — it was simply about offering Game Pass discounts.
And regarding your point about closures, layoffs, etc… yes, unfortunately the whole industry is affected. The difference with Xbox, as you said, is that they actually deliver games and, more importantly, strong added value in their digital ecosystem with Xbox Play Anywhere, Disc‑to‑Digital, free cloud saves (which PlayStation charges for), gamepass, etc.
The PlayStation digital ecosystem is totally archaic in comparison — no choice, price control, outdated infrastructure. There’s clearly an attempt to abuse the consumer, and even the most loyal PlayStation fans are starting to feel fed up. I even see many hardcore PlayStation YouTubers turning against them, because they’re tired of this attitude.
You could ask yourself: what if it were Xbox in a monopoly situation? I think the philosophy at Xbox is different in any case — it’s based on openness and choice, which goes in the direction of the consumer. I’m not saying everything would be perfect either, but if I had to choose, I’d rather have Xbox as the leader than PlayStation, because we already see the imperialism and contempt that PlayStation shows.
@Llamageddon Sorry, I admit I'm not on Purebox all the time, and this comment thread is hard to follow.
You can also look at the recent PlayStation numbers with a bit more nuance. Yes, the latest financial results look flattering, but they’re also the consequence of several decisions: price increases on subscriptions, games, and even hardware. At the same time, Sony has been cutting costs everywhere — studio closures, layoffs, project cancellations, reduced budgets for AAA titles (you can already see it with Wolverine, which looks disappointing), lower risk‑taking, and a very limited first‑party output.
These numbers don’t erase the millions wasted on Concord, the cancelled projects, or the industrial disaster that Bungie has become — we’re talking about billions there. And then you have the huge marketing spending, influencer “incentives”, and the millions spent on timed exclusivity deals with third‑party publishers.
Basically, they’re surfing on their legacy, buying one‑year exclusivity partnerships, and pouring money into marketing. It’s a very short‑term strategy.
And it’s consistent with the cancellation of projects like Physint, while at the same time they keep investing in live‑service titles like Horizon Hunters Gathering, which nobody seems to want, or Marathon, which is struggling to survive.
They're desperately looking for money, and they seem to think the solution lies in live‑service games (even though some of those have already been cancelled). But I'm not convinced that's the right approach. It feels like they got carried away by the success of Helldivers 2 (which isn’t even a PlayStation game originally), and since then they've been trying to replicate that model — but so far it's been failure after failure. It really seems like they don’t understand their audience
So yes, the headline numbers look good, but they hide a much harsher reality — and they definitely don’t tell the whole story.
@RTGX PlayStation is a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment, it has to be accountable, it’s not the other parts of Sony that can compensate for PlayStation’s losses, so the question arises as to whether their financial health is really solid
It raises the question of whether they are really doing that well financially , sure, they sell consoles, but is that enough ?
We all know that the profit margin on consoles is very low. Added to that are game cancellations, millions spent for nothing, the Concord effect, live‑service games, the disaster they themselves created with Bungie, millions wasted on marketing, millions wasted on one‑year timed exclusives for third‑party games, etc. All of this has cost them several hundred million, so with all the anti‑consumer decisions they’re making, plus the cancellation of PHYSINT, one has to wonder if their financial health is really in good shape.
@FraserG Yes, it’s true that over the past few months we’ve really been seeing a shift in how the image of both brands is perceived. And it coincides with the arrival of Ashara Sharma. Since she came in, she has made a lot of good decisions that benefit players: lowering the price of Game Pass, putting the console back at the center of the strategy with plenty of updates, bringing back exclusives, listening to player feedback with Xbox Player Voice, Disc‑to‑Digital, confirming the new Helix console (even if some details are still missing), and also older pro‑player decisions like Xbox Play Anywhere, etc. You can already feel that it’s paying off in how players perceive the brand.
And at the same time, PlayStation keeps shooting itself in the foot , not just since the announcement of the end of physical media, but really since the beginning of this generation — with price increases without added value (game prices, subscription prices, console prices), shutting down stores without refunds (movies, TV shows, PS3 store, PS Vita, …), a very weak first‑party output, etc… but above all, an abyssal level of contempt toward players.
All in all, the perception has clearly shifted sides now , it’s very obvious when you look around social networks.
Great news, I also thought it was strange that Ubisoft wasn’t following Xbox on the disc‑to‑digital program, especially considering how close they are and the partnerships they have.
Now we’re just waiting for news from Square Enix and Sega, who should also be joining the disc‑to‑digital program soon, because that’s still not the case for now.
They’re mixing two quite different genres from the start, but it’s potentially a good idea on paper. The challenge is that you need to excel in both genres, and only some big studios have managed to do that. Rockstar took 10 years to make its driving system live up to the rest of the game, and we’re talking about Rockstar here. So the risk is ending up with a mediocre game in both genres, or with one genre that doesn’t measure up to the other. But well, we’ll see.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner thanks ! Honestly, I expect Asha to announce an upward revision of the limits and/or a 100% cloud plan. The current limit still feels pretty tight.
It checks several boxes for a mainstream game:
– a stylish, fun, male white protagonist… lol
– third‑person gameplay
– giant dragons
– big spectacular effects
– multiple weapons available
If it’s well executed, why not? But it also needs a good story, evolving gameplay, beautiful cutscenes, aerial combat on the dragon, etc.
But honestly, I’d prefer a return of Perfect Dark ten times over
Back then, PlatinumGames had no experience with Unreal Engine and knew nothing about the multiplayer side. Xbox, on the other hand, has solid experience in both — Unreal Engine and multiplayer — which would be an advantage. Anyway, I think the trailer is solid for a game that’s ten years old.
I don’t want to reply to everyone, but basically — in my opinion of course — this whole story doesn’t deserve that many comments. It was simply the logical next step: we’re moving from a free, unlimited beta version to a non‑beta version of much higher quality. At some point, the value increased while the price stayed the same as during the beta
. It’s logical that they stopped the unlimited model and started charging for extra hours. That’s how I see it, both as a consumer and as an entrepreneur. The fact is, nothing comparable exists, and nobody here knows the real costs of maintaining a functional cloud‑gaming service.
What’s certain is that every cloud‑gaming providers also impose limits on their free tiers: 1 hour per session and huge queues on GeForce Now’s free tier (basically unplayable), and also their paid tiers also impose a 100‑hour limit. The difference is that these providers only do cloud gaming, so it’s not directly comparable.
The only thing you could argue about is the 15‑hour limit — maybe it could have been a bit higher, say 30 hours — but even then, people would still complain. The fact that there’s a limit is absolutely not shocking given the current market.
As for the 4% who play a lot in cloud gaming, I think a special cloud‑gaming plan will probably arrive.
@Coletrain I don’t understand your sentence ‘why cloud gaming has failed enough to need extra payments.’ If people are willing to pay for cloud gaming (xCloud, GeForce Now, Boosteroid, etc.), that means there’s demand — not the opposite. So why would cloud gaming be considered a failure in that case?
As for the rest, yes, cloud gaming has always been a small bonus on top of Game Pass, especially the ability to test games before installing them. But I don’t agree with your conclusion: volume doesn’t make a feature more profitable. These are two different branches. The profit from the subscription can’t compensate for losses in cloud gaming. The subscription price doesn’t cover the cost of unlimited cloud gaming. Having 15 hours per month with no queue is already more than enough for most players (except the 4% who can always buy extra hour packs).
@Weebleman I quote you : 'Even if you say you were getting too much, you still paid for something.'
Well, no — if you’re given more than what you pay for, then you’re not actually paying for what’s given on top. That’s the whole point.
The thing is, people get used to things in the wrong way. When they’re used to having something — even if they don’t use it (only 4% of users go beyond the cloud‑gaming limits) — they experience it as a loss. That’s pretty natural and human, after all.
The mistake was offering this service for free from the start. But I think that was intentional: as long as it was in beta, it was free. Now that it’s no longer in beta, it becomes limited, and if you want to play beyond the limits, you can buy an extra hours pack.
@Coletrain It doesn’t work like that — companies don’t operate that way. They can’t wait until they reach 70 million subscribers before finally making a service profitable. GeForce Now has between 25 and 30 million subscribers, and they don’t give any discounts on their prices; they’re not waiting for 70 million users to start making a profit. Your way of seeing things is utopian.
Even if, in some cases, companies reduce their margins as much as possible to dominate a competitive market, that doesn’t mean they can afford to lose millions. You could say that right now, in the AI sector, we’re seeing something similar — but that has nothing to do with the cloud‑gaming market
@Coletrain "Somebody using game pass (whatever tier) is now going to pay the same amount and receive less"
I don’t see it that way. I actually think Game Pass was offering too much for too little, and that was a mistake from the previous leadership, who pushed Game Pass into a non‑profitable model. With the new leadership, we’re simply coming back to market reality, that’s all. How can anyone seriously believe that offering unlimited cloud gaming for almost nothing is viable? The price of Game Pass mainly covers the cost of the game catalog, day‑one releases, etc., but not the cost of providing such a complete cloud‑gaming service (available everywhere — TV, smartphone, PC, console, even older Xbox generations) with no limits. It’s just not possible. Nobody does that; it’s guaranteed bankruptcy, especially with datacenter costs.
In reality, you’re not getting less for the same price — it’s just that before, you were getting too much for the same price. A 15‑hour limit per month that only 4% of users exceed.
@Titntin Come on, The seervice is not comparable, tgame catalog isn’t comparable at all — no day‑one releases, very few recent games, and cloud gaming is limited: no smartphones, no TVs, no portable consoles (except the PS Portal). So the use of cloud gaming is much more restricted. But you’re free to stay stuck in PlayStation’s small ecosystem with all the limitations and constraints that come with it (no Xbox Play Anywhere, no Disc‑to‑Digital, more expensive games, etc.).
@themightyant You have to put things into perspective a bit. Do you actually use xCloud for more than 15 hours a month? According to the stats, only 4% go beyond those limits — unless you’re part of that 4%. Honestly, I don’t really understand the negative reactions, unless all those people are in that 4%, which seems unlikely. No one else offers a cloud‑gaming service with a full game catalog and all the associated features. The Game Pass offer is unmatched. If you take GeForce Now, it’s more expensive and you don’t get a game catalog, so you really have to keep things in perspective.
Basically, compared to other cloud‑gaming providers, xCloud was essentially free — people don’t realize it. It was almost equivalent to the most expensive GeForce Now tier, even though GeForce Now only offers cloud gaming. That’s simply not sustainable; they had to introduce limits. And anyway, you can still buy extra hour packs for xCloud, a pay‑as‑you‑go system that’s much more flexible and ultimately cheaper than GeForce Now
@PSGamer69420 lol, Have you seen other companies offering cloud gaming alongside a game catalog? No, because it doesn’t exist! xCloud was free and unlimited as long as it was in beta, but now that it’s in production (and the quality of xCloud has improved significantly), offering the service for free and without limits is no longer possible. Even GeForce Now has limits on its free tier.
So there’s nothing abnormal about this. The next step will probably be to offer a paid option for full access to xCloud. Everyone charges for cloud gaming — did you really think Xbox was going to keep offering a full cloud gaming service for free?
Honestly, I already think it’s pretty decent that they’re offering 15 hours of xCloud per month.
@FuzzieGinge88 What cynicism! You can do both, right? Please players and make money at the same time — it’s a win‑win. Transparency doesn’t bring any direct financial gain; the impact is indirect, mostly on brand image. They’re hoping their pro‑player actions will be appreciated by the community, and it seems to be working. And they hope it will have a positive effect on loyal‑player retention, new‑player acquisition, game sales, and hardware sales.
I definitely prefer this over PlayStation’s attitude and decisions, which lock players in, give them no choice, and make them pay as much as possible. They charge for features that are often free on Xbox, like cloud saves, Xbox Play Anywhere, FPS Boost, Auto HDR — all of that is free on Xbox. Same for Disc‑to‑Digital: it’s a free feature that gives digital functionalities (cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere) to physical games. Of course, all of this prepares for a future focused on digital, but at least Xbox offers an alternative, actual choice — whereas PlayStation offers none.
Moreover, nothing says that within the family of devices offered by Helix, there won’t be a model with a disc drive. And that’s clearly what seems to be happening based on Asha Sharma’s latest statements: she talks about choice, about families of devices, about affordability, and she explicitly says she knows players love physical games. So I’m actually pretty optimistic about that.
Effectively, since Asha Sharma arrived, you can really feel that Xbox is taking players into account and being much more transparent. It’s genuinely appreciated, and it’s rare enough among other actors in the video‑game industry (and even beyond) to be worth highlighting.
Yesterday someone commented that Xbox was having a lot of Xbox Live connection issues lately, whereas in reality it didn’t affect everyone, and apparently not consoles (I personally wasn’t affected). But transparency also creates the impression that there are more outages — that’s kind of the trade‑off, even though it doesn’t erase the fact that the issue did exist.
I really feel like playing The Blood of Dawnwalker, but I’ll finish Plague Tale: Resonance first, which is truly amazing , one of my top games this year. Asobo really masters the art of storytelling, staging, and the game is simply gorgeous, in case anyone still had doubts.
@Godot25 *I had the exact same thought. Now that they’re struggling financially, they finally want to make productions that can actually be popular and bring in money. It really feels like dealing with a spoiled child, and now that they’re backed into a corner, they’re finally asking themselves the right questions.
Anyway, I wish them success of course, but it’s a shame for them that they’re only waking up now and didn’t seize this opportunity earlier.
That said, Xbox could fund them in exchange for an exclusive — that would be a win‑win.
Comments 973
Re: Xbox Announces Four Major Studio Changes And Cuts 286 Jobs
Ok, from a business and efficiency point of view, it makes sense: tightening teams, less management, more agility, etc.
As for Ninja Theory, now that they’ve gone through quite a bit of reorganization, please don’t shut this studio down — keep them. They’re a team of real talent; they just need strong management. Put them under Activision’s management, I don’t know… but don’t close Ninja Theory. These guys have incredible know‑how.
Re: Report: Xbox Layoffs On The Way This Week, Multiple Studios To Be 'Consolidated'
@FraserG Without trying to downplay anything, just to be clear and accurate: regarding the first wave, it wasn’t all layoffs strictly speaking , some studios also became independent. It’s still important to note that many people kept their jobs, just under a different entity.
Re: 'We Are Ready To Do The Work' - Former Xbox Studio Bungie Outlines Plans For The Future
All the devs at Bungie have bailed, not feeling very optimistic about Destiny’s future. And considering the PlayStation policies Bungie has to comply with (whether people admit it or not), I’m not sure they’ll have much room to maneuver.
But let’s wish them good luck.
Re: Talking Point: What Would Seal The Deal For You With Xbox Project Helix?
exclusive games
pc games
the return of iconic licenses
New games (Blade please, and much better than the average Wolwerine please)
disc drive
affordable
quick resume
simple, clean and intuitive UI
More backward compatibility
option: digital to disc (after the disc to digital)
option: Extending disc to digital to Xbox 360 games would be insane, even though I know it seems technically complicated.
PS: I don’t understand people who don’t want additional storefronts. It’s just an extra option — if you don’t want that extra choice, don’t take it, but don’t stop others from having it. Not adding more stores would be a huge step backward and a massive disappointment for millions of players who are waiting for Helix specifically for that. If you don’t want it, fine, but let’s keep the choice. I can clearly see on social media that tons of PC players are waiting for this: accessing their PC library while keeping the comfort of a console, centralizing their entire game library — who wouldn’t want that, seriously?
If you’re saying that because of the price, you don’t actually know whether adding new storefronts will affect it. I trust Asha Sharma’s creativity and her ability to find solutions.
Re: 25+ Of The Best Discounted Games From Xbox's Tokyo Game Show Sale
I'd be very tempted by a Silent Hill game... the F or the 2 ? Both xbox play anywhere
Re: 10+ New Games Are Releasing Today, Including An XGP Shadow Drop From TGS 2026 (September 17)
@RiverGenie Strangely, it didn’t really appel to me at first, but this game intrigues me. And I used to be a huge fan of Dune II (spent a few sleepless nights on it), even though it has nothing to do with this.
Re: Here's What Fallout 76's Native Current-Gen Upgrade Looks Like On Xbox Series X|S
@Drewdub it’s not a mainstream game, but it does have a real fan community that plays it regularly. Personally, I’m also waiting for a new Fallout, or a remake of New Vegas — but with a real graphical overhaul and more modern gameplay
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
@Fiendish-Beaver Sorry to say it, but I’ve seen you be more persuasive before. To sum it up, your argument is basically “maybe yes, maybe no”… we’re not going to get very far like that.
About Xbox offering more choice, that’s a different topic — and yes, having a customizable, modular Game Pass would be a good idea if that’s what you mean. It’s already one of the most requested features on Xbox Player Voice.
As for the rest, I stand by what I said:
– The rumor‑making business absolutely exists, and some people abuse it.
– The pattern of a rumor is always the same: say credible things + add a “trigger” to generate buzz.
– Releasing something like this eight months in advance makes no sense, except for ResetEra to protect itself because everyone will have forgotten by then.
– Another important point: Asha has made a lot of decisions in a very short time — price drop, removing Call of Duty, adding cloud limits, bringing back exclusives, etc. So why would they suddenly wait eight months for this kind of announcement?
– Their denial is very clear to me: they regularly explore different approaches for Game Pass, but nothing has been decided yet.
You can trust ResetEra based on old references (“it was only four games at the time”), even though technically it wasn’t false at that moment — they weren’t committing long‑term).
But the big difference now is that your examples don’t apply under the new leadership. You can clearly see Xbox is being far more transparent. So far, I haven’t seen any lies from them, and they’re being much more open than before.
Given that, I prefer trusting Asha Sharma rather than some random person on ResetEra who isn’t neutral and has a financial incentive behind it (buzz, traffic, monetization).
But you’re free to believe whoever you want. In the end, that’s always the same question: who do you trust — the one spreading the rumor, or the one denying it? that’s why rumors generate buzz — they create doubt, and they know there will always be people who believe them.
Re: Xbox Quietly Adds Another Day One Title To October 2026's Game Pass Lineup
I really like the concept of fighters being chained together. It’s not completely new, but in the world of gladiators and in this genre, it feels pretty fresh, at least to me
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
@Llamageddon I don’t think so — it’s not that binary. It’s not one or the other. Players understand that not everything will be exclusive; they know very well that some games will be exclusive and others will be multiplatform.
As for day‑one releases, yes, today all first‑party games launch day one except Call of Duty. So the only realistic path isn’t “exclusive OR day one,” but rather adding more exceptions like Call of Duty (which makes sense, because it’s a franchise that truly stands apart due to its popularity and impact). That’s the only angle that makes sense.
But honestly, I don’t really believe that will happen, because adding even more exceptions would create confusion. People wouldn’t know anymore what is day one and what isn’t. And I’m not convinced Aasha wants to introduce that kind of confusion.
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
@electrolite77 @Fiendish-Beaver "We don’t have any changes to announce today or **plans that have been finalized**"
So, "We don’t have(...)plans that have been finalized"
So, The claim that Game Pass will lose day‑one releases in April is false, because no new Game Pass plan has been finalized. You can’t assert something that hasn’t even been decided yet.
So yes, the statement saying there will be no more day‑one games is false, since at this stage no definitive conclusion can be made.
ResetEra is just trying to generate buzz , that’s all there is to it. Announcing something like this eight months in advance is, by itself, proof that it’s fake news.
Where ResetEra is clever is in how they mix credible elements or things already mentioned by Asha Sharma , like the ad‑supported plan or the family plan , which makes the rumor seem believable. Then they add the “trigger” to create buzz: the supposed end of day‑one releases. It’s a classic way to build a rumor.
Rumors often follow this pattern: rely on credible and likely information, then add something sensational, even if it’s improbable.
It’s a business , rumors help certain people profit. It’s a form of growth marketing, in a way
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
@asdfghjklz it's a fake news ! If Xbox took the trouble to respond to this rumor, it’s because it’s fake news, and their denial is clear. What part of their message don’t you understand? In what world do people prefer to believe the nonsense of any random person instead of official statements? You really have to be naive not to see that rumors are a business — a business to create buzz, traffic, and therefore money! And why does it work? Because there are naive people ready to believe this kind of rumor. Resetera is clever: they take no risk saying this now, because they know very well that in 8 months everyone will have forgotten this false rumor. Meanwhile, they’ve collected traffic thanks to the buzz. What they didn’t expect was Xbox’s denial the very same day — and now they must be fuming, because they’re totally discredited.
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
@Banjo- Even with a denial as clear as day, there will always be people who believe the opposite and prefer fake news. As I said, the very idea of announcing such a rumor 8 months in advance makes no sense. Why 8 months? Has Xbox already planned changes to Game Pass for 8 months from now? Aasha has accustomed us to radical decisions within 3 months, so why wait 8 months in this case? Anyway, it all makes no sense, and it only adds to Resetera’s discredit, since they say a lot of nonsense.
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
@FraserG I think continuing to insist on this just gives too much credit to a fake news. If we had a denial the very same day, it was clearly meant to refute it — end of story.
We understood it was fake news. Xbox denied it in the best possible way, and that’s exactly the point I had made! Announcing such claims 8 months in advance makes no sense — that’s what makes the rumor completely non‑credible and proves it was just to generate buzz and drive traffic to their site. As Xbox said, they don’t plan Game Pass changes 8 months ahead, period, end of discussion.
Now, I’m not saying there won’t be changes down the line — ads plan, family plan, etc. — but removing day one releases makes no sense. That’s what created Game Pass’s popularity. Without day one games, there is no Game Pass. And they know very well that if they removed that, there would be waves of cancellations.
Re: Xbox Responds To Rumour That Game Pass Could Drop Day One Releases In 2027
So ... Another Fake news. Thanks @FraserG for reporting this update.
Re: Moss Developer Polyarc Games Shutting Its Doors After 12 Years
Really sad, the video game industry is ruthless
Re: Shaky Rumour Claims Xbox Game Pass Could Be Getting Major Changes In 2027
@devil76 Yes, the family plan and the ad tier are almost certainly part of the roadmap. As for the rest, it’s just to create buzz — they announce things everyone already knows, plus a trigger that will generate buzz (like the supposed end of day‑one releases).
Re: Shaky Rumour Claims Xbox Game Pass Could Be Getting Major Changes In 2027
@PsBoxSwitchOwner What’s clever about these rumors is that there’s a mix of credible and far‑fetched stuff. They blend plausible elements with nonsense. As for the ad tier, yes, that seems plausible, especially since it’s already been more or less announced. But removing day‑one games is highly unlikely, because that’s basically the definition of Game Pass (And ResetEra knows very well that this is what will create buzz).
The advantage of this kind of rumor is that they can always claim they were half right, even if the other half is false. That’s often what happens — they minimize the risk. Spreading rumors has become an art.
Meanwhile, Xbox keeps making good moves, while PlayStation does the opposite. Some people feel compelled to try to reverse the trend with this kind of nonsense. And to be very clear, it is nonsense, nothing more. Announcing something like this 8 months in advance? Who would the source be? Only Asha Sharma knows what she’s going to do, and even then I doubt she knows exactly what changes will be made to Game Pass in 8 months. Certainly no one else does. So unless the source is Asha Sharma herself and it’s already locked in, I don’t see how this rumor could be true. People are losing their minds.
ResetEra knows perfectly well that this kind of rumor drives traffic to their site. And in 8 months (That too is clever), everyone will have forgotten where the rumor came from, maybe even forgotten the rumor itself, . In the meantime, they rake in traffic at little cost. That’s all there is to it.
Re: Shaky Rumour Claims Xbox Game Pass Could Be Getting Major Changes In 2027
Don’t make sense at all. Nah, I don’t buy it. Maybe that idea was floating around at some point, but by April (8 months away, lol) things could be totally different. Honestly, I don’t believe it. If they ditch day-one games, Game Pass is basically just PS+ and loses all its appeal. I really don’t see that happening.
ResetEra knows perfectly well that this kind of rumor drives traffic to their site. And in 8 months (Smart to announce this rumor 8 months in advance) , everyone will have forgotten where the rumor came from, maybe even forgotten the rumor itself, . In the meantime, they rake in traffic at little cost. That’s all there is to it.
UPDATE: Xbox has already debunked this false rumor, and windows central too, end of discussion
Re: Former PlayStation Boss Reveals His 'Surprised' Reaction To Kojima's New Xbox Partnership
@BacklogBrad The game was announced in January 2024, so it’s not that old. And it’s not even developed by PlayStation — it’s Kojima Productions developing it, with financial support from PlayStation and now Xbox.
What’s surprising is that this reveals PlayStation’s strategy: putting less budget into AAA games. We can see it clearly with Wolverine, which is disappointing — it recycles the Spider‑Man engine, reuses certain assets and mechanics, and ends up being very linear, with shallow gameplay and little creativity (apart from producing nice cinematics).
At the same time, they persist with live‑service titles like Horizon Hunters Gathering, which nobody cares about, or Marathon, which is struggling to survive. The cancellation of Physint is quite symptomatic of PlayStation’s future, in my opinion.
And yes, PlayStation struggles to understand that Kojima (and almost all third‑party publishers, really) no longer want to make exclusives — at least not long‑term. They don’t get that it’s financially unsustainable for third‑party publishers if they can’t release their games across all platforms.
On Xbox, Physint will be a timed exclusive for a year at most. But the value of the Xbox ecosystem doesn’t lie only in exclusive content — it’s also in exclusive services: Xbox Play Anywhere, Disc‑to‑Digital, Game Pass, free cloud saves (which PlayStation charges for), and an environment open to PC (Helix), etc. Rather than a closed, archaic digital ecosystem like PlayStation’s.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Taking Over From PlayStation On Hideo Kojima's New 'PHYSINT' Game
yep, "healthy competition" You’re absolutely right, because we can clearly see what happens when one company thinks it’s above the rest: it tends to monopolize everything, control prices, and make anti‑consumer decisions. That’s exactly what PlayStation is trying to do. The end of physical games isn’t just about higher margins on digital — it’s about controlling prices, since PlayStation offers no choice: everything goes through the PlayStation Store. PlayStation doesn’t sell its games on Eneba or other discount key stores — at least not directly (if you see PS titles there, it’s usually through third‑party resellers, not Sony itself). Whereas with others, like Xbox, you can buy on the Xbox Store but also on other stores, which naturally creates healthy competition.
There’s clearly a deliberate intent from PlayStation to lock players in and control pricing. That’s also what they’re doing with dynamic pricing, where the prices shown vary depending on the user profile (logged in/logged out, purchase history, likelihood to pay). For example: the same game might show a 25% discount for a “fan” and an 85% discount for a casual player. It’s basically like surge pricing or airline/hotel tickets that go up when demand is high.
Xbox tried something similar, but it’s not the same — it was simply about offering Game Pass discounts.
And regarding your point about closures, layoffs, etc… yes, unfortunately the whole industry is affected. The difference with Xbox, as you said, is that they actually deliver games and, more importantly, strong added value in their digital ecosystem with Xbox Play Anywhere, Disc‑to‑Digital, free cloud saves (which PlayStation charges for), gamepass, etc.
The PlayStation digital ecosystem is totally archaic in comparison — no choice, price control, outdated infrastructure. There’s clearly an attempt to abuse the consumer, and even the most loyal PlayStation fans are starting to feel fed up. I even see many hardcore PlayStation YouTubers turning against them, because they’re tired of this attitude.
You could ask yourself: what if it were Xbox in a monopoly situation? I think the philosophy at Xbox is different in any case — it’s based on openness and choice, which goes in the direction of the consumer. I’m not saying everything would be perfect either, but if I had to choose, I’d rather have Xbox as the leader than PlayStation, because we already see the imperialism and contempt that PlayStation shows.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Taking Over From PlayStation On Hideo Kojima's New 'PHYSINT' Game
@Llamageddon Sorry, I admit I'm not on Purebox all the time, and this comment thread is hard to follow.
You can also look at the recent PlayStation numbers with a bit more nuance. Yes, the latest financial results look flattering, but they’re also the consequence of several decisions: price increases on subscriptions, games, and even hardware. At the same time, Sony has been cutting costs everywhere — studio closures, layoffs, project cancellations, reduced budgets for AAA titles (you can already see it with Wolverine, which looks disappointing), lower risk‑taking, and a very limited first‑party output.
These numbers don’t erase the millions wasted on Concord, the cancelled projects, or the industrial disaster that Bungie has become — we’re talking about billions there. And then you have the huge marketing spending, influencer “incentives”, and the millions spent on timed exclusivity deals with third‑party publishers.
Basically, they’re surfing on their legacy, buying one‑year exclusivity partnerships, and pouring money into marketing. It’s a very short‑term strategy.
And it’s consistent with the cancellation of projects like Physint, while at the same time they keep investing in live‑service titles like Horizon Hunters Gathering, which nobody seems to want, or Marathon, which is struggling to survive.
They're desperately looking for money, and they seem to think the solution lies in live‑service games (even though some of those have already been cancelled). But I'm not convinced that's the right approach. It feels like they got carried away by the success of Helldivers 2 (which isn’t even a PlayStation game originally), and since then they've been trying to replicate that model — but so far it's been failure after failure. It really seems like they don’t understand their audience
So yes, the headline numbers look good, but they hide a much harsher reality — and they definitely don’t tell the whole story.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Taking Over From PlayStation On Hideo Kojima's New 'PHYSINT' Game
@RTGX PlayStation is a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment, it has to be accountable, it’s not the other parts of Sony that can compensate for PlayStation’s losses, so the question arises as to whether their financial health is really solid
Re: Xbox Is Officially Taking Over From PlayStation On Hideo Kojima's New 'PHYSINT' Game
It raises the question of whether they are really doing that well financially , sure, they sell consoles, but is that enough ?
We all know that the profit margin on consoles is very low. Added to that are game cancellations, millions spent for nothing, the Concord effect, live‑service games, the disaster they themselves created with Bungie, millions wasted on marketing, millions wasted on one‑year timed exclusives for third‑party games, etc. All of this has cost them several hundred million, so with all the anti‑consumer decisions they’re making, plus the cancellation of PHYSINT, one has to wonder if their financial health is really in good shape.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Taking Over From PlayStation On Hideo Kojima's New 'PHYSINT' Game
@FraserG Yes, it’s true that over the past few months we’ve really been seeing a shift in how the image of both brands is perceived. And it coincides with the arrival of Ashara Sharma. Since she came in, she has made a lot of good decisions that benefit players: lowering the price of Game Pass, putting the console back at the center of the strategy with plenty of updates, bringing back exclusives, listening to player feedback with Xbox Player Voice, Disc‑to‑Digital, confirming the new Helix console (even if some details are still missing), and also older pro‑player decisions like Xbox Play Anywhere, etc. You can already feel that it’s paying off in how players perceive the brand.
And at the same time, PlayStation keeps shooting itself in the foot , not just since the announcement of the end of physical media, but really since the beginning of this generation — with price increases without added value (game prices, subscription prices, console prices), shutting down stores without refunds (movies, TV shows, PS3 store, PS Vita, …), a very weak first‑party output, etc… but above all, an abyssal level of contempt toward players.
All in all, the perception has clearly shifted sides now , it’s very obvious when you look around social networks.
Re: Six New Console Features Begin Rolling Out Today For Xbox Insiders (September 9)
@carlos82 I think for now it’s just a test for insiders, and there will probably be more options for startup animations in the future.
Re: Six New Console Features Begin Rolling Out Today For Xbox Insiders (September 9)
"Remote Play streaming, with support for up to 1440p resolution and increased video bitrates" > Cool !
Re: Loads Of Ubisoft Games Have Suddenly Joined Xbox Disc To Digital Overnight
Great news, I also thought it was strange that Ubisoft wasn’t following Xbox on the disc‑to‑digital program, especially considering how close they are and the partnerships they have.
Now we’re just waiting for news from Square Enix and Sega, who should also be joining the disc‑to‑digital program soon, because that’s still not the case for now.
Re: 'It's Been A Very Positive Experience' - Denshattack! Director On Recent Xbox Game Pass Launch
Very good, very fun. I haven’t finished it yet, I need to get back to it once I’m done with the future GOTY A Plague Tale: Resonance
Re: Clutch Developer Doesn't Want To 'Kill' Forza Horizon, But Improve On Its 'Fairly Weak' Areas
They’re mixing two quite different genres from the start, but it’s potentially a good idea on paper. The challenge is that you need to excel in both genres, and only some big studios have managed to do that. Rockstar took 10 years to make its driving system live up to the rest of the game, and we’re talking about Rockstar here. So the risk is ending up with a mediocre game in both genres, or with one genre that doesn’t measure up to the other. But well, we’ll see.
Re: Poll: How Many Hours Of Xbox Cloud Gaming Do You Use Per-Month?
A few hours to test games before installing them... or not
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@PsBoxSwitchOwner thanks ! Honestly, I expect Asha to announce an upward revision of the limits and/or a 100% cloud plan. The current limit still feels pretty tight.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@FraserG it seems some users receive this message: Xbox cloud gaming limit DOES NOT apply to current subscriptions
Re: 'Let's Make It Happen!' - Scalebound Dev Wants Asha Sharma To Revive The Cancelled Xbox Exclusive
It checks several boxes for a mainstream game:
– a stylish, fun, male white protagonist… lol
– third‑person gameplay
– giant dragons
– big spectacular effects
– multiple weapons available
If it’s well executed, why not? But it also needs a good story, evolving gameplay, beautiful cutscenes, aerial combat on the dragon, etc.
But honestly, I’d prefer a return of Perfect Dark ten times over
Back then, PlatinumGames had no experience with Unreal Engine and knew nothing about the multiplayer side. Xbox, on the other hand, has solid experience in both — Unreal Engine and multiplayer — which would be an advantage. Anyway, I think the trailer is solid for a game that’s ten years old.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
I don’t want to reply to everyone, but basically — in my opinion of course — this whole story doesn’t deserve that many comments. It was simply the logical next step: we’re moving from a free, unlimited beta version to a non‑beta version of much higher quality. At some point, the value increased while the price stayed the same as during the beta
. It’s logical that they stopped the unlimited model and started charging for extra hours. That’s how I see it, both as a consumer and as an entrepreneur. The fact is, nothing comparable exists, and nobody here knows the real costs of maintaining a functional cloud‑gaming service.
What’s certain is that every cloud‑gaming providers also impose limits on their free tiers: 1 hour per session and huge queues on GeForce Now’s free tier (basically unplayable), and also their paid tiers also impose a 100‑hour limit. The difference is that these providers only do cloud gaming, so it’s not directly comparable.
The only thing you could argue about is the 15‑hour limit — maybe it could have been a bit higher, say 30 hours — but even then, people would still complain. The fact that there’s a limit is absolutely not shocking given the current market.
As for the 4% who play a lot in cloud gaming, I think a special cloud‑gaming plan will probably arrive.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@Coletrain I don’t understand your sentence ‘why cloud gaming has failed enough to need extra payments.’ If people are willing to pay for cloud gaming (xCloud, GeForce Now, Boosteroid, etc.), that means there’s demand — not the opposite. So why would cloud gaming be considered a failure in that case?
As for the rest, yes, cloud gaming has always been a small bonus on top of Game Pass, especially the ability to test games before installing them. But I don’t agree with your conclusion: volume doesn’t make a feature more profitable. These are two different branches. The profit from the subscription can’t compensate for losses in cloud gaming. The subscription price doesn’t cover the cost of unlimited cloud gaming. Having 15 hours per month with no queue is already more than enough for most players (except the 4% who can always buy extra hour packs).
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@Weebleman I quote you : 'Even if you say you were getting too much, you still paid for something.'
Well, no — if you’re given more than what you pay for, then you’re not actually paying for what’s given on top. That’s the whole point.
The thing is, people get used to things in the wrong way. When they’re used to having something — even if they don’t use it (only 4% of users go beyond the cloud‑gaming limits) — they experience it as a loss. That’s pretty natural and human, after all.
The mistake was offering this service for free from the start. But I think that was intentional: as long as it was in beta, it was free. Now that it’s no longer in beta, it becomes limited, and if you want to play beyond the limits, you can buy an extra hours pack.
I don’t find it complicated to understand
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@Coletrain It doesn’t work like that — companies don’t operate that way. They can’t wait until they reach 70 million subscribers before finally making a service profitable. GeForce Now has between 25 and 30 million subscribers, and they don’t give any discounts on their prices; they’re not waiting for 70 million users to start making a profit. Your way of seeing things is utopian.
Even if, in some cases, companies reduce their margins as much as possible to dominate a competitive market, that doesn’t mean they can afford to lose millions. You could say that right now, in the AI sector, we’re seeing something similar — but that has nothing to do with the cloud‑gaming market
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@Coletrain "Somebody using game pass (whatever tier) is now going to pay the same amount and receive less"
I don’t see it that way. I actually think Game Pass was offering too much for too little, and that was a mistake from the previous leadership, who pushed Game Pass into a non‑profitable model. With the new leadership, we’re simply coming back to market reality, that’s all. How can anyone seriously believe that offering unlimited cloud gaming for almost nothing is viable? The price of Game Pass mainly covers the cost of the game catalog, day‑one releases, etc., but not the cost of providing such a complete cloud‑gaming service (available everywhere — TV, smartphone, PC, console, even older Xbox generations) with no limits. It’s just not possible. Nobody does that; it’s guaranteed bankruptcy, especially with datacenter costs.
In reality, you’re not getting less for the same price — it’s just that before, you were getting too much for the same price. A 15‑hour limit per month that only 4% of users exceed.
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@Titntin Come on, The seervice is not comparable, tgame catalog isn’t comparable at all — no day‑one releases, very few recent games, and cloud gaming is limited: no smartphones, no TVs, no portable consoles (except the PS Portal). So the use of cloud gaming is much more restricted. But you’re free to stay stuck in PlayStation’s small ecosystem with all the limitations and constraints that come with it (no Xbox Play Anywhere, no Disc‑to‑Digital, more expensive games, etc.).
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@themightyant You have to put things into perspective a bit. Do you actually use xCloud for more than 15 hours a month? According to the stats, only 4% go beyond those limits — unless you’re part of that 4%.
Honestly, I don’t really understand the negative reactions, unless all those people are in that 4%, which seems unlikely. No one else offers a cloud‑gaming service with a full game catalog and all the associated features. The Game Pass offer is unmatched. If you take GeForce Now, it’s more expensive and you don’t get a game catalog, so you really have to keep things in perspective.
Basically, compared to other cloud‑gaming providers, xCloud was essentially free — people don’t realize it. It was almost equivalent to the most expensive GeForce Now tier, even though GeForce Now only offers cloud gaming. That’s simply not sustainable; they had to introduce limits. And anyway, you can still buy extra hour packs for xCloud, a pay‑as‑you‑go system that’s much more flexible and ultimately cheaper than GeForce Now
Re: Xbox Is Officially Putting Time Limits On Cloud Gaming For Game Pass Members
@PSGamer69420 lol, Have you seen other companies offering cloud gaming alongside a game catalog? No, because it doesn’t exist! xCloud was free and unlimited as long as it was in beta, but now that it’s in production (and the quality of xCloud has improved significantly), offering the service for free and without limits is no longer possible. Even GeForce Now has limits on its free tier.
So there’s nothing abnormal about this. The next step will probably be to offer a paid option for full access to xCloud. Everyone charges for cloud gaming — did you really think Xbox was going to keep offering a full cloud gaming service for free?
Honestly, I already think it’s pretty decent that they’re offering 15 hours of xCloud per month.
Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From September's State Of Play
@FraserG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHP48v7vyg
Re: Roundup: All The Biggest Xbox Reveals From September's State Of Play
@FraserG FYI FF resonance demo: https://www.xbox.com/en-us/games/store/final-fantasy-resonance-demo/9nc4pglsz341
Re: 'Your Transparency Is Remarkable' - Xbox Fans Are Loving The New Insight Into Server Outages
@FuzzieGinge88 What cynicism! You can do both, right? Please players and make money at the same time — it’s a win‑win. Transparency doesn’t bring any direct financial gain; the impact is indirect, mostly on brand image. They’re hoping their pro‑player actions will be appreciated by the community, and it seems to be working. And they hope it will have a positive effect on loyal‑player retention, new‑player acquisition, game sales, and hardware sales.
I definitely prefer this over PlayStation’s attitude and decisions, which lock players in, give them no choice, and make them pay as much as possible. They charge for features that are often free on Xbox, like cloud saves, Xbox Play Anywhere, FPS Boost, Auto HDR — all of that is free on Xbox. Same for Disc‑to‑Digital: it’s a free feature that gives digital functionalities (cloud, Xbox Play Anywhere) to physical games. Of course, all of this prepares for a future focused on digital, but at least Xbox offers an alternative, actual choice — whereas PlayStation offers none.
Moreover, nothing says that within the family of devices offered by Helix, there won’t be a model with a disc drive. And that’s clearly what seems to be happening based on Asha Sharma’s latest statements: she talks about choice, about families of devices, about affordability, and she explicitly says she knows players love physical games. So I’m actually pretty optimistic about that.
Re: 'Your Transparency Is Remarkable' - Xbox Fans Are Loving The New Insight Into Server Outages
Effectively, since Asha Sharma arrived, you can really feel that Xbox is taking players into account and being much more transparent. It’s genuinely appreciated, and it’s rare enough among other actors in the video‑game industry (and even beyond) to be worth highlighting.
Yesterday someone commented that Xbox was having a lot of Xbox Live connection issues lately, whereas in reality it didn’t affect everyone, and apparently not consoles (I personally wasn’t affected). But transparency also creates the impression that there are more outages — that’s kind of the trade‑off, even though it doesn’t erase the fact that the issue did exist.
Re: 15+ New Xbox Games Are Out Today, Including A Day One Game Pass Release (September 3)
I really feel like playing The Blood of Dawnwalker, but I’ll finish Plague Tale: Resonance first, which is truly amazing , one of my top games this year. Asobo really masters the art of storytelling, staging, and the game is simply gorgeous, in case anyone still had doubts.
Re: Xbox Live Returns To Normal Following Multi-Hour Server Outage
yep, All services up and running
Re: Seven Big Showcases Xbox Fans Should Look Out For In September
It won’t surprise anyone, but I’m going to watch all of them — except the State of Pay 😉
Re: 'We Aren't Joking' - Double Fine Promises Brütal Legend 2 If They Can Fundraise Enough Money
@Godot25 *I had the exact same thought. Now that they’re struggling financially, they finally want to make productions that can actually be popular and bring in money. It really feels like dealing with a spoiled child, and now that they’re backed into a corner, they’re finally asking themselves the right questions.
Anyway, I wish them success of course, but it’s a shame for them that they’re only waking up now and didn’t seize this opportunity earlier.
That said, Xbox could fund them in exchange for an exclusive — that would be a win‑win.