lacerz

Just more poor messaging from Microsoft. We should all be used to this by now.

Are they just trying to drum up interest in The Coalition to offload the developer? Never know nowadays.
😂🤣💀

Apparently the Xbox Games Showcase reveal of Senua wasn’t for the Xbox faithful but rather for potential investors to drum up interest in selling off Ninja Theory. Now you’re going to have to question the intent of game reveals at future showcases! Is this legit or is it a marketing stunt?

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/06/new-senua-game-reveal-used-as-a-way-to-sell-ninja-theory-to-suitors

@Schonks
I don’t think anyone is boo hooing over the exclusives. I think there’s some morbid curiosity as to how, with this much pressure being applied and top down visibility, Xbox remains viable without a 93 million user base, especially with GamePass cannibalizing sales. It’s been a fascinating watch since the Activision acquisition.

“There are no conversations and have been no conversations…”

So the plan is the plan until it isn’t the plan. I think we’ve come to understand that about Xbox.

Remember when it comes to hardware components, AI > Xbox.

“We’ve become too reliant on vendors to operate our systems and must become more self-reliant as an engineering culture to build for the future. We must increase the value we ship to players while decreasing the time it takes to do so. Going forward, we’ll evolve and rebuild our stack and look at capabilities across all of XBOX and potential M&A to help us win in hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming.”

This is a very AI Data Center viewpoint. Due to supply chain constraints and lead times, many companies are starting to manufacture their components internally instead of sourcing them.

That Activision purchase has been devastating to Xbox. Layoffs in January, May and September 2024, along with July 2025. Cancellation of Perfect Dark and Everwild. Closures of Tango, Arkane Austin and The Initiative…and now this.

And to top it off, even with rising hardware costs and a $500 million decline in revenue, they’re turning their back on a user base with over 93 million users!

This will be interesting to watch.

If COD is a $7 a month premium, remove it from Game Pass and let those who want it buy it. It’ll save everyone money over the course of a year.

This was a game that never should have been an exclusive. It was and it saved me $70. I’ll buy it when it’s down to $15.

@Aswannsong
Dude, take a chill pill. You’re overly aggressive about something that equates to zero for IRL matters. These are games. Enjoy them or bounce.

I tried Marathon’s server slam and had no clue what anything I looted equated to. Using the knife was easier than gunning. Hard pass.

Do the Xbox controllers not have built in mics like the DualSense?

As if Phil Spencer didn’t “hear” fans? He did, but there was nothing he could do about it and he was replaced. Does anyone realistically believe that this momentous shift was for Nadella to replace Spencer with someone who would challenge him on the future of Xbox? Because if so, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona I’ll sell ya dirt cheap!

Not sure if it’s been posted already, but there were a loooooot of negotiations by Sony and Marvel to get Spider-Man on PlayStation, including Sony loaning the Spider-Man movie licensing rights back to Marvel for the MCU Endgame story.

Edit: And to be fair, Sunset Overdrive never got ported to PlayStation despite Sony owning the IP after purchasing Insomniac. When last asked on X about porting they responded “We’re busy working on Wolverine!”

"We just want to make sure the games are being enjoyed by gamers everywhere; consoles, PC, mobile, cloud, or TV."

And there it is.

@JumpingJackson
That was actually posted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It’s embarrassing.

So this is Microsoft’s vision for the future of Xbox? Sounds exciting. I’ll take my PlayStation.

@Balaam_

Xbox isn’t a console. It’s a brand now. A brand that is everywhere. PC, PlayStation, Nintendo, Smart TVs, etc. Microsoft buying Activision changed everything for Xbox.

PSVR2 support seals the deal. It redefines Gran Turismo 7. I can only imagine what it’ll do here

@Jenkinss The trajectory may have been set, but this accelerated it to warp speed.

As someone invested in the PlayStation ecosystem, I was more upset with the Zenimax acquisition. Those are games I’m actually interested in and enjoy, and they were being converted to Xbox exclusives. Never would I have dreamed that the Activision purchase would result in the Zenimax games pivoting back to multiplat.

And the timing…Jim Ryan’s live service push wasted years of development which is being felt now, just as Microsoft starts to release Xbox staples like Forza and Gears on PlayStation as a result of ABK.

Crazy world.

Adam Orth says hello…

“ This is the fourth mass layoff at Xbox in the last 18 months.”

Xbox acquired Activision in October 2023. 18 months back from today is January 2024, or 3 months after acquiring Activision. The ramifications keep coming.

That Activision deal keeps rearing its ugly head. My expectation is that we’ll start seeing new releases going multiplat day one so they can capture the hype. Let a game sit for six months or more and it loses its luster.

Now bring VR support to Forza Horizon 5 and Microsoft Flight Simulator! And support the PSVR 2 when you do!

I’m just curious to see how the announcements go. We were told that they’d be upfront about what consoles would be included in their release strategy. Will that hold true? Will the Xbox strategy “pivot” once again? Inquiring minds want to know!

I think the biggest winners in the Activision acquisition were PlayStation owners.

Xbox is killing it as a third party publisher!

I prefer subscriptions like GamePass. Not necessarily for me, but it opens up a previously exclusive ecosystem to allow me to choose games of my choice for the console of my choice.

It makes sense. PlayStation are the “paying” consumers while Xbox are the “lunch pass” consumers. There’s a difference when it comes to profitability, which is being demonstrated with the Indiana Jones release. GamePass subscribers are already getting the game. They need to market it to the people actually buying the game.

The shift to digital during last gen sealed the deal for me. GamePass isn’t enticing for me. I have over 800 games in my digital library, 345 of which are PS+ games. I could never buy another game again and still have a backlog until I die.

Back in the console war days when the “Xbox has no games” or “Halo, Gears, Forza” comments ran rampant I could understand this, but now that Xbox is a third party publisher it seems unnecessary. And dating back to 2020 isn’t needed. I’m interested in the future, not the past.

It is cool seeing the release schedule for upcoming games. Nice to know what to expect in the future of gaming! Especially after PlayStation’s whiff on Live Service games.

Copilot: Git gud

IMO it’d be better to incentivize a login similar to other third party publishers like Ubisoft and EA, but I understand Microsoft’s desire to bolster their “engagement” numbers for shareholders. If you’re going third party, you need money and metrics to prove it’s working. It is what it is.

@Jenkinss
Nice analysis. And I agree. The fact that Xbox still exists after Nadella took over is a testament to the work put in to keep Xbox alive.

The Activision purchase completely changed Xbox. We’re just beginning to see that change manifest. Im curious if the Xbox faithful are still happy with that purchase.

Xbox has become a PlayStation developer. PureXbox reports on Xbox. Should PureXbox ignore what Xbox has become or embrace what Xbox has become? It’s a multi-platform site now. Embrace the change.

Agree that VR is going the way of the 3D TV. But I have both and I’m happy I do!

I understand the allure of an all access, Day One game subscription service, but it doesn’t check with reality. The amount I spend on purchasing licenses on a yearly basis to “own” the games in my library is less than a year of the Standard subscription.

Of course, I have a massive backlog, don’t suffer from FOMO and prefer building my library through sales than renting games. And time. There just isn’t enough time for it to ever be a value.

And if you’re “gaming” the system, that’s fine…I do something similar with my meal delivery plans so I get discounted boxes every delivery. But that isn't really supporting the service, now is it?

The issue that damaged Xbox and put them in the situation they’re currently in was the Xbox One. The marketing was wrong. The forced Kinect was wrong. Which led to the $100 price difference, which was required but wrong. When digital libraries started becoming mainstream, the Xbox One went out and PS3’d itself.

The question becomes, would this have been Xbox’s path forward if they hadn’t acquired Activision? The logic would be the same, but Microsoft’s attention to the Xbox division spiked during the acquisition. Things have changed since that time.

This sounds like a great GamePass (or heavily discounted) game.

PlayStation and Xbox supporters have their own frustrations.

PlayStation owners in the know are cursing Jim Ryan’s live service push. Such a waste of talent, money and…most importantly…time. But at least he was honest about the direction he was moving PlayStation.

Xbox owners have been flat out lied to. Pure Xbox should put together a timeline of Philspeak to document his messaging over the past two years. I bet it would be a fascinating read.

PSVR2 support and it’ll be a Day One. I was never a Gran Turismo fan until I played 7 in VR. I tried the 3D version on the PS3 (GT5?) but wasn’t that impressed. VR changes everything!

But when they zoomed in 30x I could tell the foliage edges were much smoother! Day 1!

Not.

I’m curious if a PS5 version of Starfield will be announced after Shattered Space releases in September. If I recall correctly the rumor was that it would be announced after the DLC launched, and the majority of the “take it with a grain of salt” rumors have turned out to be true.

Xbox as a brand isn’t going anywhere. If you want an actual console, you’ll need to go PlayStation or Nintendo, or both.