It’s not really a question of price in the end, but of performance‑to‑price ratio. If Project Helix costs less than an equivalent PC, that’s what really matters. That said, it still shouldn’t cross a certain psychological threshold, no matter how powerful it is.

However, from what I understand, Xbox has already said they want to offer affordable solutions, and several manufacturers will be able to release cheaper versions

@shiny-enzo I agree , the game was probably shown to Sony, and they likely turned it down because it didn’t fit their checklist of standardized, formulaic projects. And this actually echoes yesterday’s news where Sony’s CEO said they want to use AI as a creative tool, which I find really concerning.

If Xbox had announced something like that, it would’ve caused a massive media tsunami, but here, strangely, I only see a few people complaining on social media, with almost no major media outlets picking it up.

OD is exactly the kind of game an AI would never come up with, because it breaks away from the usual patterns AI models are trained on.

Well, that shuts down the false rumors about reversing course on exclusives. Even though Jez Corden already debunked it, the rumors kept going. At least now it’s clear and set in stone — or well, set in the UI

I was waiting for the Resident Evil remake to drop a bit in price, but it’s still more expensive than on sites like Eneba.

@DennisReynolds You’re right, I hadn’t noticed that, even though the ambiguity is understandable. Treyarch says ‘the original Black Ops and Black Ops 2’, and the fact that they use the word ‘original’ is probably not accidental — it clearly means something. So what I understand now is that it’s the original games being ported as they are.

@Tasuki Please respect others and keep your certainties to yourself. You can say ‘I think that’ or ‘I disagree with you’, but you shouldn’t imply—explicitly or implicitly—that what others think is ridiculous.

As for me and i guess many others, I don’t agree with you. A mouthpiece for who? She’s the CEO of Xbox! The decisions she has made so far go against everything that was done before, and even against Satya Nadella’s previous statements.

I think this is just a communication mistake from Treyarch. This port has probably been in development for many months, long before Xbox’s new leadership with Aasha. And this decision to release it only on PS5 was most likely never approved by the new management.

What’s good about Malioman’s tweet is that now they’re aware of the situation, and Xbox and PC will probably get their own ports too. Honestly, I have Black Ops 1 and 2 myself, and I haven’t really seen any major issues when I played them, but I definitely wouldn’t say no to a 1080p upgrade.

@Millionski The backtracking on exclusives is a fake news (debunked by Jez Corden) like many others, Just like the fake news about the cancellation of Avowed 2, and surely others that haven’t been debunked yet.

Truly incredible — Impressed by the destruction possibilities — you can see pieces of tiles breaking off, the bullet impacts accurately placed on every part of the environment, The lighting, the reflections, etc… which really shows the attention to detail.

You can really see where the 400 million dollars went. Probably the most beautiful game of the generation after Hellblade 2

I think at some point it’s better to wait for official announcements rather than spreading rumors or speculation. There will probably be changes, but what they are and to what extent — nobody knows.

What’s certain is that we’re hearing a lot of nonsense right now, and it would be good for Xbox to speak up soon and tell us what’s really going on. But if they haven’t said anything yet, it’s because nothing is finalized at the moment, and in reality these rumors are based on speculation without any real foundation.

Honestly, I don’t believe any of these rumors. Maybe it was considered at some point, but I really don’t think it’s relevant anymore. The game has already been announced for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere. So the idea of making Ninja Theory independent doesn’t make much sense to me, especially before any kind of deal has even been negotiated with this supposedly future independent entity.

I feel like there’s a lot of speculation and fake rumors with nothing truly concrete in the end.

What would really help is for Xbox to speak up quickly, because unfortunately this kind of silence just fuels all sorts of nonsense.

Yes, Xbox has a pretty huge franchise potential. And from what I’ve understood, that’s exactly the direction they’re heading in. It’s no coincidence they’re running surveys here and there to find out which franchises people want to see return. And that also lines up with the recent statements from Asha Sharma and Matthew Ball. They absolutely need to prioritize exploiting this goldmine.

That doesn’t mean they should stop creating new franchises, but it’s clearly less of a priority — we’ve seen that taking risks doesn’t always pay off, especially when it comes to niche genres (Keeper, Kiln, etc.).

The number of social media and Reddit posts that make no sense is pretty unbelievable — it really feels like an army of bots and anti‑Xbox fanboys are piling on and saying anything

Don’t come telling me it’s Xbox’s fault, because it clearly isn’t.
The current period, with possible studio closures, probably encourages this kind of behavior, but let me remind you that it’s happening everywhere in the industry — and it doesn’t justify trolling or spreading fake news.

I think they’ve found common ground.

double fine and rare

@oopsiezz @Dodoo I’d be surprised if Rare were shut down! It feels like Sea of Thieves is still attracting millions of players across all platforms. But it’s true that aside from that, they haven’t done much lately — they seem a bit stuck in the past.... All they do is maintain an old game with mechanics that (in my opinion) feel outdated.

Thank you for your contributions to Xbox over all these years. Not much more to add — it’s just the normal course of things. Some people join, others move on; nothing unusual.

Honestly, the delay feels like a smart move. It gives Fable the space it needs to shine and avoids getting buried under huge releases. If the extra time means a better, more polished game, it’s hard to see it as anything but a win.

If it had been Nintendo, they would have filed a lawsuit for plagiarism. It’s true that you can find a lot of elements from Forza Horizon in it, even though Horizon is still ahead in terms of physics and graphics.

I’m so eager to get my hands on it — it’s probably the game Xbox has invested in the most, and it’s exclusive, which shows they’re really betting big on exclusive titles, on the Xbox identity, and on strengthening the Xbox ecosystem as a priority.

These aren’t the 12 labors of Hercules, they’re the 5 labors of Asha! All of this seems very ambitious.

In any case, I trust that she’s doing what needs to be done, and so far she’s proven it, so I trust her.
But at the end of the day, it’s still business — there will be positive outcomes, but some of them will inevitably come with pain for a few people.
If we’re talking about reducing complexity and readjusting investments, that means putting more on one side and less on others that are less essential.

In the end, I see this as something positive for players and for the Xbox brand, but you can’t make a good omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Xbox isn’t escaping the reality of the industry, unfortunately. Job cuts are affecting every player in the industry, and Xbox is no exception. Let’s hope the damage won’t be too big.
What’s somewhat reassuring — if I can put it that way considering people’s jobs are at stake — is that Xbox’s game pipeline is very well stocked

"It was bought at a time when our strategy was predominantly on the core consoles"

I admit I don’t really understand that statement because it seems wrong to me. Back at the time of the ABK acquisition, Xbox’s strategy was already becoming less and less console‑centric, and the deal accelerated that shift — especially with the obligation to keep Call of Duty multiplatform, a decision they later extended to other franchises.

That said, we can’t deny it’s a golden goose in terms of revenue. But of course, it had no impact on console sales — how could it, when the game remained multiplatform?

What’s certain today is that ABK is far from being just about Call of Duty. Xbox holds a goldmine of franchises they haven’t fully tapped into yet (From ABK, bethesda, xbox studios) , and that’s very good news. Xbox has a huge reservoir of games and the potential to launch exclusives and true system sellers.

As always, it’s a matter of balance: multiplatform games and exclusives.

Given her background, she knows what she’s talking about. AI can help with productivity processes and other tedious tasks, but when it comes to pure creativity, I believe humans still have a bright future. All an AI really does is mix together what already exists, without true originality or creativity.

In any case, this interview is full of valuable insights.

@Banjo- Thanks for quoting me

It’s a powerful symbol of the great Xbox years (especially the Xbox 360 era). And it marks this deliberate return to Xbox’s core fundamentals, with dynamism, innovation, creativity, exclusives, and everything that defines what Xbox is

In Asha we trust !

It’s a matter of balance. But the more big exclusive franchises there are, the better it will be for the whole ecosystem — for Game Pass, for the hardware, for game sales, and I’d even say especially for Xbox’s brand image, which directly or indirectly affects the sales of Xbox hardware, content and services.

@Banjo- What I also forgot to mention in my previous message, besides the OEM versions, is that AI will also play a role in lowering console prices. I’m thinking of things like FSR, Neural Texture Compression, and other AI technologies that can improve graphical quality and performance without increasing the GPU’s raw power.

Basically, the NPU will play an important role by offloading work from the GPU. It’s all a matter of optimization, which ultimately also helps reduce costs.

But when it comes to distribution and competitive pricing, the most effective approach is to use multiple manufacturers. This creates competition between them, which mechanically drives prices down for the benefit of consumers. It’s a major advantage compared to a single manufacturer like PlayStation, which tends to overprice its hardware.

Tom Warren is so simple‑minded it’s almost funny. What Aasha is talking about when she mentions new business models is exactly what they’re doing with ASUS, for example. On one side, they have their own premium first‑party console, and on the other side, other manufacturers can create more affordable OEM versions to build Xbox home consoles. That’s all it is.

As for xCloud, that’s the second part of her sentence: “And we must think about the experiences that we're creating outside of that as well to reach new audiences.”

It’s really not that hard to understand.

I may not be the most objective, but objectively speaking it’s obvious that the Xbox Showcase outshone all the other gaming events, with a lineup of truly legendary games.

@FraserG Kingdom Hearts IV and Kingdom Hearts collection (I, II, III) and final fantasy resonance are Xbox play anywhere:

@somnambulance @carlos82 @Banjo- The next Senua game is a third entry in the Hellblade series, but it’s not titled Hellblade 3 — it’s simply called Senua.

I was also surprised that Senua isn’t exclusive, because it’s exactly the kind of game that could have been. But since it’s a spin-off and not really Hellblade, maybe they’re saving exclusivity for Hellblade 3…

What’s certain for any player today is that if you want to be sure to play Xbox games, you need either a PC or an Xbox. That alone sends a very strong message to all gamers.

It’s also clear that the two games announced as exclusives are just the beginning of a pipeline of exclusive titles. Given the number of Xbox franchises, this promises many more exclusives to come. Halo was clearly a mistake to announce so early as multiplatform, but since it’s just a remake, the next Halo sequel will almost certainly be exclusive

Xbox had said they would only show games releasing within the next 12 months. That at least shows that Blade is highly anticipated, and that some people — myself included — are impatient to see more.

This lineup is really massive. Game Pass is getting a huge upgrade all at once, and this is just a small preview because plenty of other games are still coming.

@Fiendish-Beaver: You’re not taking into account the arrival of new Game Pass subscribers, nor those who re‑subscribe. You can’t only consider the people who don’t buy the game because they’re subscribed — that’s the whole point of the system: one compensates for the other.
Game Pass has proven profitable so far, with a rough patch during the price increase. But with the price drop, this kind of lineup announcement, the brand image being much stronger, etc., it’s obvious this will attract new subscribers and bring back former ones.

And one last thing you’re forgetting: you can have Game Pass AND buy games. I’m one of those people — one doesn’t prevent the other. It’s even proven that Game Pass users buy more games on average than non‑subscribers.

Let me summarize:

• New subscribers
• Returning subscribers
• Game Pass users also buy games — and even more games than others
• Game Pass has already proven the model is profitable, no need for yet another test
• The visibility a game gets on Game Pass also helps it sell on other platforms too. This has been proven multiple times as well. Some players will be pushed to subscribe , while others — the ones who really care about ownership — will prefer to buy the game instead, And some will also buy on Xbox instead of Steam, especially thanks to Xbox Play Anywhere (a huge advantage).

So in the end, you forgot a lot of factors.

Xbox console exclusives are back! And it's just the beginning

The Xbox ROG Ally X has really become the best value for money today, especially since the massive price hike of the Steam Deck, which went up by $300 all at once. And also thanks to Windows performance improvements, Xbox mode, Auto SR, etc., I feel like Windows is taking the lead in portable console technology compared to the Steam Deck.

The screen size, the OLED, and the TMR sticks are very interesting updates. And with the included glasses, it’s like playing on a 171‑inch screen at 4 meters — curious to see what that looks like in real life.

I thought they would at least give us a small teaser for Project Helix, but I was clearly wrong. It’s a shame, because the Xbox Showcase is watched by millions of people — not just Xbox fans — and it would have been a great opportunity to give the project some major visibility.

But on the other hand, they can’t really talk about it for just two minutes before or after the game presentations, I suppose. It probably deserves its own dedicated conference, so they don’t mix everything together and can take the time to go in-depth. That said, a little tease would have been nice anyway, but oh well!

“Makes sense — I think there are too many releases at the same time, and if they also push the PS5 port to 2029, that works for me too 🙂

Everything is very encouraging — clearly, the choices made so far have been very positive. For those who say it’s minor, they’ve already forgotten the Game Pass price drop, which is far from anecdotal and extremely rare in this industry, especially when others like PlayStation recently increased PS+ prices…

When she talks about difficult choices, I think she’s referring to bringing back exclusives. That’s something hard to get Microsoft’s upper management to accept — just like it must have been difficult to stop the ‘This is an Xbox’ campaign (millions invested in that campaign), or to lower the price of Game Pass, or to discontinue Copilot on Xbox. These are difficult decisions, not necessarily for the players themselves, but for Microsoft, which now has to approach Xbox differently. And by the way, it’s Xbox again, not ‘Microsoft Gaming’, which proves that Xbox now has the freedom to make decisions that were previously impossible.

I’m surprised to see Clockwork Revolution listed as ‘coming soon’ on Game Pass, considering we haven’t seen much of the game so far.

Very curious to see more about Clockwork Revolution, the most ambitious game from inXile Entertainment.

It’s obvious that Project Helix will be shown at the Xbox Showcase. In what form, we don’t really know yet — will we get the final name of the console, will we actually see what it looks like, will they present its features? We’ll find out soon enough.

@oopsiezz Yeah, for Fable, it’s hard to go back now. But I also imagined they would eventually make it exclusive again, because it’s exactly the kind of game that can sell consoles. Anyway…I really hope that won’t be the case anymore for the next games.

Honestly, the single‑player campaigns in Call of Duty are little gems. I’ve played several of them — from the Black Ops games (except the last one) to the latest Modern Warfare, which I replayed recently on Game Pass — and they’re masterpieces in terms of staging, realism, and attention to detail.
They’re just often too short, which I can understand in a way, because they push everything so far — the tech, the animations, the cinematics, the direction, etc. — that I’m willing to forgive them.

In any case, I’m glad to see that the next installment is shaping up to be excellent.

Yes, it’s looking good, but we shouldn’t get carried away either. We’re still waiting for real strategic decisions — especially regarding exclusives.
As for the analysts who joined the team, we should be careful, because some of them were the ones who advised Phil Spencer back in the day to go all‑in on multiplatform (without considering the damage to the brand, the fanbase, the hardware, etc.).

I’d say the best member of the Xbox team is still its own community. I’m not saying they should listen to every random request, but at least pay attention to the things that come up the most — like we saw with Xbox Player Voice.

@abe_hikura Fallout London is about 120 MB.

Good news for fallout 4, Personally, I played it on PC because of that, actually.

@FraserG : "we don't know why Xbox Series X and S are getting boosted to 100GB while the PS5 isn't"

It seems obvious: the idea is to prioritize Xbox consoles, just like the new Xbox leadership and Aasha Sharma have been repeating and proving for months. The goal is to make PlayStation consoles a second‑tier platform. They’re simply not a priority anymore, that’s all.

And this will also be reflected in Aasha Sharma’s future exclusivity strategy: PlayStation consoles are no longer a priority and will be pushed far behind, which is exactly what Xbox fans want.
It might not apply to every Xbox franchise — especially long‑time multiplatform ones like Fallout — but it’s clear that Xbox won’t aim for parity between consoles. The priority will be Xbox hardware first.

@Bartig Yes, exactly what I was thinking — it’s way more fun like this.

All of this is possible because Satya Nadella has finally understood that Xbox’s strategy needed a deep overhaul. That’s why Asha now has so much freedom to make changes — much more than during the Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond era.
Or maybe Asha Sharma just has more cojones than the other two, lol.

In any case, it’s a positive sign for changes in Xbox’s exclusivity strategy.

@TrollOfWar Yes, they need every incentive they can get, but honestly, there are already very few incentives to begin with, and they relied heavily on third‑party exclusives — 90% of PlayStation’s exclusives used to come from third‑party publishers. Except now, third‑party publishers don’t want to make PlayStation exclusives anymore, or far less than before, and that trend is only going to continue.

On top of that, they produce very few first‑party single‑player games, so in the end you end up with very few actual PlayStation exclusives.

Meanwhile, the PC catalog has 30% more games than the PlayStation catalog.

No matter how you look at it, this is a financial loss for PlayStation, especially in a home‑console market that has been flat for years, compared to the PC and cloud markets which continue to grow at double‑digit rates. It’s a gamble PlayStation is taking, but it feels more like a communication tactic. They’re clearly afraid of the impact of Project Helix — I don’t believe in coincidences. I’m almost certain they’ll walk it back at some point, once they’ve sold enough PS6 units. It wouldn’t be the first time they treat us like fools with their “we’ll never release games on PC” speech right before launching a new console, only to change the plan a few months later.

And in your reasoning, you’re forgetting Steam players. You also need to think in terms of users, not machines, and PlayStation is clearly shooting itself in the foot regarding the potential audience it could reach.