@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah of course, friendish‑beaver — Xbox needs you, PureXbox needs you, I need you

As for the actual game, we’ll see if you end up liking it or not. From what testers are saying, it seems promising, and personally what I’ve seen makes me want to play. So for now I’m feeling pretty reassured.

And about exclusive content, don’t worry — Xbox has three times more franchises than anyone else. And contrary to what you think, Gears E‑Day would’ve been a massive hit on PlayStation, that’s obvious. It’s a flagship franchise and the game looks absolutely stunning, way more impressive than Wolverine, which technically feels more like a Spider‑Man spin‑off — but hey, that’s just my opinion.

@FuzzieGinge88 Seriously, this is not the right place for that debate, but you’re definitely in the minority thinking that here. It’s not about fanboys, it’s about market and business. And contrary to what you believe, Xbox didn’t make this decision to please fanboys — it’s actually to make more money. Going back to exclusives is the condition for growth: building the community, selling more consoles, etc. Sure, it might mean losing short‑term revenue, because obviously these games would sell like crazy on PlayStation, but in the end it positions Xbox to win in the medium and long term.

Honestly, this debate has been settled for a long time — there’s near unanimity on it. That’s how it works everywhere: Nintendo, PlayStation, Netflix, HBO… without exclusive content, growth is extremely difficult. Xbox can’t go against the market. What you’re suggesting was already tried under Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, and we all saw how that turned out. Good thing you’re not Asha Sharma’s advisor 😉

@Fiendish-Beaver Fortunately, most players don’t have tastes as complicated as yours, lol.

Seriously, I can’t wait to play it, it just looks awesome.

@HelloCraigo I think the new movement options were necessary for a modern game. It’s no longer acceptable to have a game where the character can’t jump and is limited only to a cover system. I’ve always liked Gears’ cover mechanics, but I admit that after a while it gets repetitive. With these new movements in Gears E-Day, it feels like there’s more gameplay depth and we’re not restricted to just one style of play, which I think is a good thing.

Even for the multiplayer side, this should make matches much more interesting as well.

@Jaxx420 @Yooka-Laylee Yes, that’s right , English isn’t my first language, sorry about that. I’ll try to give clearer translation instructions so the result sounds more natural, like something a native speaker would say

As mentioned by other comments above, yes — this clearly shows that Microsoft was financially supporting studios that weren’t profitable. At some point, Tim Schafer’s creative experiments are fun, but without profitability behind them, it’s simply not sustainable.

They absolutely need to combine both: creativity and profitability. Tim Schafer should have a safeguard in place — someone capable of realistically assessing the future success of a project. Someone who can say: “No, you’re going too far. What’s the actual goal here? To please ten geeks in the back of the class? Rewrite your pitch and come back with a project that’s financially solid and viable.

And in reality, this is exactly what Xbox should be doing with its current studios. Creative freedom is fine, but not at the expense of profitability. Otherwise, the studios end up shooting themselves in the foot and putting Xbox in an impossible situation, forcing them to make tough decisions.

I get the sense that the recent management simplifications and new hires are moving in that direction. It’s essential to measure the potential of each project and not just let developers create anything without oversight. Developers can sometimes get stuck in their own bubble, disconnected from market realities.

That’s also why Aasha decided to refocus on strong franchises — the safe bets. That doesn’t mean they should stop creating new IPs, but it must always be done with the condition that the project is solid and financially viable.

In any case, I appreciate Xbox’s transparency and commitment to taking this issue seriously so it doesn’t happen again — or at least not for this long. To put things into perspective, we’re still far from the recurring problems of PSN, with not only frequent outages but also major security issues. PlayStation’s digital ecosystem is archaic compared to Xbox’s, which makes their push toward a 100% digital future even more surprising, especially since it would give them a de facto monopoly on game prices, as there’s no alternative to buying on the PS Store — unlike on Xbox or even PC.

You can really feel over the past few months that user feedback is being taken into account, with initiatives like Xbox Player Voice and more transparency in communication. It’s a very pro‑consumer approach, and it’s quite a contrast with what we see elsewhere…

It lasted a long time — over 15 hours. I think it’s the first time it’s ever been this long. I really wish I knew what caused all of it.

Give players the choice — give the choice to those who already have a catalog of disc games, give the choice to players who still want to ‘own’ their games, even if that term is somewhat misleading (since even on CD you don’t fully own the game, but still a bit more than in digital). It’s also another way for Xbox to differentiate itself and prove once again that it is consumer‑friendly, unlike PlayStation which has shown since the start of this generation that they don’t really care about their community, whereas Xbox keeps multiplying pro‑player initiatives.

The mistake in analysis is focusing only on game sales. We quickly forget that the same player can buy both digital and physical games — which is the case for many players. For example, someone might buy 70% of their games digitally and 30% physically. What do we do with those people? Yet they are included in the stats!

Turns out the issue didn’t last long after all, but it’s crazy how fast news moves.

@MinervaX76 GeForce Now also limits you to one hour of play in the free tier. The difference is that you face very long queues, and GeForce Now also blocks certain AAA games that are too demanding. That doesn’t seem to be the case here — Xbox lets you play all the games you own in addition to free‑to‑play titles.

As for your idea of inserting ads in the middle of gameplay, that’s exactly what most players don’t want. You’re probably one of the few who would prefer that

@SodaPop6548 Is this a joke? With this free Xbox Cloud Gaming plan, Xbox lets you play at no cost, without any extra hardware and without needing a console — just a smart TV is enough! Of course, they have to earn revenue somewhere to cover the cloud servers, since running them isn’t free for Xbox.

Or maybe you didn’t read the article carefully, because your comment doesn’t really make sense.

@Aidax89 Yes, you can also play free‑to‑play games with the free version of GeForce Now, but the experience is very limited with long waiting queues, making it almost impossible to play unless you’re extremely patient. With the free Xbox Cloud Gaming plan, there are no queues — you only see an ad at the beginning. In both cases, the game session is capped at one hour, but I find the Xbox Cloud solution much more elegant. Between waiting 30 to 60 minutes before playing or watching a one‑minute ad, the choice is obvious.

And with the free version of GeForce Now, access to certain AAA games is blocked because they are too demanding

Since the premium edition grants early access, I hope this will be fixed quickly. In any case, we can commend their responsiveness , we know they’re already working on it, and we can expect news fairly soon.

@SmokeEmAll Lol yeah, I hadn’t noticed. Xbox is trying to lend Bungie a hand by promoting them, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough to save Marathon

Cool ! Another nice QoL improvement. It’s true that the download speed is sometimes a bit slow, even for updates.

@betterthings Yes, that would be really cool. I think they’re aware of it and working on it. I even believe it’s already present in Xbox Player Voice — you can leave your vote

@Banjo- Yes, it’s encouraging. As I said, things can actually move quickly. Apart from players who have large libraries on one platform and for whom it’s difficult to switch, most players are casual gamers, so it’s very easy for them to switch — not to mention those who genuinely want to change because they’re tired of a platform.

Objectively, the Xbox ecosystem has a lot of advantages; it’s just that few players really know about them. Still, the ideas of Xbox exclusives returning, Xbox Play Anywhere, game preservation, backward compatibility, etc., are concepts that are starting to resonate with more and more players.

@GamingGod According to that same source from Mat Piscatella

Switch 2: ~348K ; -78% YoY
PS5: ~169K ; -43% YoY
XBS: ~123K ; +86% YoY
NSW: ~38K ; -62% YoY

So the gap in volume isn’t that big — we’re not talking about ×2, but about ×1.3.

Of course, this is only for the month of June. But it means several things:

nothing is inevitable

with the right decisions, sales can restart very quickly

the acquisition potential remains significant

We’ve seen other examples recently with Forza Horizon 6 , the simple fact that it was exclusive gave sales a boost.

Here, I think we’re looking at a mix of different causes as explained in the article: upcoming exclusives (e.g., Gears E‑Day), the future price increase, Xbox’s new strategy, Sony’s backlash which certainly has an impact too, etc

Honestly, it’s really cool, it feels great. And beyond that, Xbox’s commitment to game preservation is just fantastic, especially when compared to others. Sorry to mention PlayStation, but frankly, they’re at the bottom of the class when it comes to preserving games or digital products in general. I won’t even go into the fact that they removed more than 500 movies and series from their store, making them inaccessible to those who had purchased them. I’ll just cite the shutdown of the PS3 store and the PSP Vita store last August.

@logash You’re not the only one, don’t worry. I think many people would prefer buying on the Xbox Store if all games were available there, if the pricing were more aggressive, and if mod integration were better, etc. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Xbox ecosystem also has many advantages, notably Xbox Play Anywhere, better integration with the Xbox ecosystem, a stronger rewards system, integration with Game Pass, and an interface that I personally find more pleasant than Steam’s, which I consider overloaded with banners and pop‑ups of all kinds.

Regarding Ubisoft and other publishers, it’s a very good sign — the Xbox Store continues to emancipate itself, even if it’s not yet perfect, as the article shows.

I wish the best for Compulsion Games, and hope they continue collaborating with Xbox. I’m certain these awards will also help them find other partners. But as mentioned earlier, at some point, spending eight years developing a game that achieved only critical success without commercial success is complicated. Their talent is undeniable, and I’d say it’s not entirely their fault — better management and clearer direction for the studio could have made a difference. Unfortunately, the new leadership arrived a bit late and found the damage already done, even though I think they could have given them a second chance.

Speaking of that, any news from Arkane Lyon?

It’s a good idea to pursue this kind of partnership; it’s an additional source of funding and a way to attract other players. I remember a similar initiative with Discord. I also recall that many people hadn’t understood and hadn’t read the article: this is not a new Game Pass plan, but rather a bonus offered with other existing subscriptions. Let’s see if this time the comments are more intelligent.

It’s not about what they want — what matters is what players want. And honestly, without Game Pass, some games wouldn’t sell well. We have to be honest about that. Of course that’s not the case for games like Fable, Gears, etc., but I’m thinking of games like Avowed which, to me, is a success because I loved it — but I’m not sure that many players would have tried it if it hadn’t been on Game Pass.

They should think a bit further ahead! The Day One games on Game Pass are good for the Xbox ecosystem, and therefore indirectly for them as well. A weak ecosystem would be disastrous for them in the medium term, and it would be worse than not selling their games directly. And don’t forget that Xbox always gives players the option to buy the game, whether on Xbox or on Steam. So in the end, if the game is good, it will still sell. I really don’t see what they’re complaining about.

It’s pretty much the only thing that’s going to work on the PS Vita. The PS Vita store is shutting down in August, just like the PS3 store. This once again shows how weak PlayStation’s commitment to game preservation is, especially after abandoning physical releases

@Onlyboxmatters i like your energy

@Fiendish-Beaver It’s a rather simplistic line of reasoning: the number of people isn’t directly proportional to how fast a game can be released — it’s not that mathematical. We don’t really know the exact role of the people who left, either. I’m not saying that’s the case here, but sometimes too much management actually slows development down. That’s precisely one of the points they tried to simplify overall with this Xbox reset.

The real question is: what interest would he have in saying that? He clearly has no reason to claim they’re sufficiently staffed , in fact, it’s quite the opposite, he has no intent saying they could handle more cuts.

So this leans toward him simply telling the truth. Unlike spokespersons who sometimes slip into politics and damage control, I don’t think he falls into that category. Hugo Martin is above all an artist, a creative person , not a communications expert or someone who manipulates public perception. So I really don’t see why he would lie.

So great news ! Very reassuring for the upcoming games and for id Tech.

@Markatron84 It also depends on what we mean when we talk about exclusivity. A purely Xbox-only exclusivity (not on PC or other consoles) would lose money in the short term, but it’s a medium-term bet to grow the Xbox ecosystem.

If it’s a console-only exclusivity — meaning it comes out on PC but not on other consoles — then it wouldn’t make much difference in the end. These are games that would sell well enough on Xbox and PC, and anyway, the bulk of Xbox game sales are always on PC and Xbox, not on other consoles.

But this goes back to my earlier comment: ideally, in my view, the best approach is to keep an Xbox/PC exclusivity for three or four years. That’s long enough to make it attractive and draw in fans of these franchises, while still generating extra revenue later when releasing it elsewhere.

That said, this is just step one. Ideally, at some point Xbox should move to step two or three — meaning releasing games exclusively on Xbox and not on PC, but still only temporarily. For me, permanent exclusives are totally pointless

It’s Asha and Matt Booty who make the decisions, not Todd. One could assume that since these are historically multiplatform licenses, they would remain so, but with the shift in strategic direction, that’s much less certain. Personally, I’m still convinced that timed exclusivity is the best path — it combines the best of both worlds. But it has to be long-term exclusivity, like three or four years

@MrStark Thanks ! Very interesting, no spoiler

It might be a fake tweet, but it could very well turn out to be true in the end. I’m not sure it will be integrated directly into the console, but even if it ends up being an external drive, that’s perfectly fine — it gives people a choice. Of course, the external drive shouldn’t cost a fortune, but for an average consumer, an external reader usually costs around $20.

What’s certain is that even before this tweet, Xbox had already said they were thinking about this topic. I believe the popularity of the tweet will only reinforce the direction they’re likely to take.

@TrollOfWar Thanks, I already have that one — really good

Even if everything isn’t perfect, since Aasha Sharma took over there’s been a major effort to listen to players — with projects like Xbox Player Voice, the improvement and expansion of the Insider Hub, and new tools put in place to better take player feedback into account. It’s really appreciated.

Hi @Balaam_ I just bought Ikaruga — I love this kind of game. Do you have any other hidden gems you’d recommend?

I really appreciate the renewed focus on quality‑of‑life improvements for the console platform. Every update — from basic social features to library layout changes, requested options like disabling Quick Resume, and even the new poster art design — genuinely makes a difference.
It feels like we’re all benefiting from having a product person like Asha leading XBOX right now.

yeah cool ! It took some guts to release a train game that mixes Tony Hawk and Jet Set Radio—it looks super fun.

This is exactly the type of game that can be enjoyed across platforms—console, handheld, and more, and fortunately it supports Xbox Play Anywhere

Cybersecurity is unfortunately becoming an increasingly common problem, and it affects all companies. In large corporations like Microsoft, there is inevitably a heavy reliance on automation, which makes it difficult to get your voice heard and finally have a human truly address the issue.

It definitely made me want to get back into it, that’s for sure. And the id Tech engine fits perfectly with Asha’s strategy of becoming more independent from external tools (especially Epic) by betting more on XBOX own in‑house technology — even if the recent layoffs seem to contradict that. But clearly, the core team is still there and fully operational.

At this point, anyone can make their own guesses. As the article says, there are still far too many unknown factors to make any kind of meaningful forecast — there’s simply no real data to work with.
We don’t know the price, whether a physical disc drive will be included, the RAM situation at that time, the exclusive game lineup on each side, the exact specs of each console, and so on.

Trying to produce this kind of “analysis” without any actual data really shows the level of seriousness at S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan… which is basically none.
No serious company should publish a report like this when so many key elements that influence purchase decisions are missing.

There’s a real return to simple games, with immediate fun and no headaches. Nostalgia works because the average age of players is getting older, around thirty and above, so it makes sense.

Xbox currently has many opportunities to stand out and please players: a commitment to physical releases, the return of iconic franchises (first or third party), more backward-compatible games, etc

Yeah, that’s a strange news story! I’m surprised that Microsoft submitted 300 pages for its defense!! 300 pages filled with what exactly? And all that just for $400 worth of games? I’m starting to wonder if this story is even real! After all, it could be completely made up — you read that kind of stuff on Reddit sometimes.

After Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Beast of Reincarnation and the new Plague Tale, a big August ahead.

Xbox treats PlayStation players like cash cows. And honestly, they're right to—PlayStation has been milking its own players for years. There's no reason for Xbox to do any differently.

If anything, it just reinforces the strength of the Xbox ecosystem. You might as well stick to the native Xbox versions, which remain the best way to play and are significantly cheaper.

So another fake news debunked, thanks Purexbox

It’s nice to see that Toys for Bob is keeping good relations with Xbox, just like the studios that recently became independent, such as Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Double Fine.

And yes, Xbox needs big franchises like Banjo‑Kazooie. But it’s not about staying stuck in nostalgia without modernizing anything. These are old games with outdated mechanics — their gameplay absolutely needs to be completely reworked while keeping what made them charming in the first place.

@Banjo- The question of IP ownership is a very good one. I think it’s handled on a case‑by‑case basis and is part of the negotiations. The statement from Compulsion Games goes in that direction: “we will retain the rights to Contrast, We Happy Few, and our award‑winning South of Midnight.” This means it’s not automatic, and that it was part of their departure 's deal.

We’ll have to see how it works for the other studios, but I really hope Blade remains Xbox’s property. And I think that’s the case, because Marvel negotiated directly with Xbox for that license, which would make sense — but we’ll see. Same for Hellblade, But I have less hope in this case — Ninja Theory without the Hellblade IP is basically dead.

She’s not wrong about Xbox underinvesting in Minecraft. When you look at the revenue it generates compared to the investment, the ratio must be absolutely insane. There are surely plenty of possible spin‑offs around the Minecraft universe. After all, mods like RLCraft, Hexxit, and Roguelike Adventures already exist, and they clearly show that there’s community demand for this kind of initiative.

@Mr-Cage Yes, up to 14 layers of management, is huge, and in that case justifies a simplification, ideally 5 or even 3, according to her tweet