@IllusiveMan There are the loyalists on one side and the haters on the other. Who told you the studio was going to shut down? The truth is usually somewhere in the middle.
I’ve always appreciated Asobo’s style, and these early impressions are reassuring. Can’t wait to play it through Game Pass — maybe even buy it eventually
It looks very well made, but personally it’s the kind of game I get bored of after about 10 minutes. I’m not ready to pay full price for it, but I’d be happy to play a few sessions from time to time if it’s available on Game Pass.
Honestly, after the Sony CEO’s statements about wanting to fully use AI as a creative tool, and now EA saying the same thing, it really feels like they’re trying to take us for fools. We can clearly see that for them, it’s all about cutting costs. But for players, it actually means the death of creativity, replaced by soulless, formulaic games.
Honestly, I never believed in the success of the Steam Machine for plenty of reasons (The fact that it’s arriving at the end of the console generation is a big issue, limited power, game compatibility issues, unclear target audience, a poorly designed controller, etc.), and I already expected it to flop just like it did 10 years ago.
But unfortunately for them, with prices like these, they’re only digging the hole deeper. At this point, it’s obvious it’s going to flop hard. I don’t know if we can blame everything on RAM prices. The controller costs $90 — what’s the explanation for that? There’s no RAM in a controller…
And I’d even say that for the few people who actually buy it, it’s a big risk , they might end up with a machine that stops being supported in a few months, or maybe a year or two, simply because the budget won’t be there.
To answer the question, this is actually an opportunity for Xbox Helix, which on paper is already capable of doing far more than a Steam Machine — it can run all PC games and Xbox games, while the Steam Machine ironically can’t even run all Steam titles, nor all games from the Xbox console catalog.
@oopsiezz Stop saying nonsense, please. There is an overlap between the most‑played games on Steam and the games available on Game Pass, which clearly shows the overall quality of the Game Pass catalog.
If that perceived quality doesn’t match your personal tastes, and if you don’t enjoy what the majority of players like, that’s your own issue — but it’s not a problem with Game Pass.
It’s part of Xbox’s DNA to innovate and to dare to do things others wouldn’t. Xbox has always been at the forefront of innovation and has often pushed the gaming industry forward, so I think it’s great to give space to creativity and originality at a time when so many games look the same.
Of course, we just have to hope it’s worth it — there’s always a risk. It could either be a masterstroke that leaves a lasting mark on gaming, or a complete miss. What’s certain is that this game won’t leave anyone indifferent.
What is he even talking about? He’s talking about things he doesn’t know anything about! Saying that Xbox studios haven’t released good games in recent years is nonsense and pure bad faith. It completely discredits everything he says.
Xbox is the 5th publisher in terms of Metacritic scores, ahead of PlayStation which is 12th.
This guy has been holding a grudge and hatred toward Xbox for years, it’s ridiculous. He talks about things he doesn’t understand at all.
Game Pass has helped many games grow; I’d even say that the latest GOTY, Clair Obscur, owes a lot to Game Pass. Even though Clair Obscur is a good game, without the visibility offered by Game Pass, a title made by a brand‑new studio would have gone completely unnoticed among the thousands of games released every year.
Very often, 4 or 5 of the top 10 most‑played games on Steam are also available on Game Pass. And if that’s the case, why is he only attacking Game Pass? Wouldn’t PS+ be “harmful” too by his logic?
This clearly shows that his irrational hatred completely distorts his judgment.
Honestly, it really feels like a big copy of Forza Horizon. I get the impression that the narrative and action‑adventure part with the driver is very secondary and not on the same level as the rest. It feels like that aspect of the game is more of a pretext to claim it’s different from Forza Horizon. The only original thing is the grappling hook, but honestly, for now I don’t really see the point of this game
I’m really impressed by Playground Games. For a first attempt at an action‑adventure RPG, they’ve managed to bring a real breath of fresh air to the genre, with RPG elements we’ve never really seen before — like the unique reputation system and how your actions have different consequences depending on the regions and characters. I’m honestly blown away.
Visually, it’s pretty insane how detailed everything is. As for the faces, I watched the video and it looks very good to me. It’s sometimes a bit uneven, but overall it’s great — the pig’s face, for example, is really well done! 😄
Asha has only been in charge for three months, and making these two games exclusive in such a short time is already a very strong start. Of course, for games that were already announced for other consoles — like Evolved and Fable — it would’ve been complicated to walk that back. But this is just the beginning. I can easily see the next Blade being exclusive, and the same for the next Halo, since Evolved is just a remake.
Xbox has so many franchises, so much potential, so many future exclusives — an enormous amount of system‑seller power.
@Juanalf This Halo is a remake, not gears e-day, and given the direction things are heading, I’m almost certain the next Halo will be exclusive — it just seems obvious. The thing is, this “Evolved” entry is a remake, and it had already been announced for PS5 before Asha Sharma took over.
Third‑party publishers who still play these kinds of little games, it’s ridiculous. Too bad, it just ends up being bad PR for Remedy. On the PlayStation side, they’re still clinging to these micro‑exclusives — that shows their desperation!
If I understand correctly, the difference with a Forza Horizon is mainly the more story‑driven aspect with a cinematic PvPvE approach. That sounds interesting, and it’s also a good direction for improvement for the Forza Horizon franchise, which at some point will need to evolve and not keep circling around the festival concept.
It’s a good strategy — it pushes Discord users to subscribe to Game Pass, and it pushes Game Pass subscribers to subscribe to Discord. It’s a win‑win.
@fatpunkslim: And yeah, I also understood that it’s not a new subscription, not something you can get without already being subscribed to Discord. It’s basically just a perk.
Great news ! It’s a big price drop for Game Pass, so getting Call of Duty a year later in exchange is perfectly fine for me. Anyway, the real Call of Duty fans buy the game, they don’t need Game Pass. And for people like me, who enjoy it but not enough to pay full price, waiting a year is totally fine. It’s still a great deal, because even after a year, COD games stay expensive.
@Fiendish-Beaver It’s exhausting to read you, you’re borderline spamming with all your comments. 8 of the 27 comments come from you, which means you account for 30% of the comments. YES, Xbox is developing Project Helix themselves, it’s a first‑party console. Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, confirmed it in his keynote at GDC 2026. Here’s the quote:
“Our team is deep in development on our next generation Xbox console, Project Helix. We’re continuing to push innovation for our next 25 years with our team hard at work on our next‑generation first‑party console.
@fraserG So full Xbox backward compatibility would remain exclusive to first‑party machines, if we believe KeplerL2. It’s good for players because they get more choice with cheaper versions, however the full experience with complete backward compatibility stays on the first‑party version, which encourages consumers to choose the first‑party model. In any case, it’s good for players and for Xbox, because they can flood the market with Xbox‑based devices, whether first‑party or third‑party. In the end, it’s beneficial for the Xbox ecosystem.
@Fiendish-Beaver Definitely not. With the old leadership, I might have agreed with you, but with the Asha / Matt Booty duo, that’s clearly not the direction they’re taking.
I don’t really see the point of creating a subscription that only includes Xbox first‑party games. Even if Xbox studios are among the most productive in the industry (unless I’m mistaken), they’ll never be able to deliver a new game every month, and I don’t see people paying for a subscription if they don’t get new games regularly. And if they do go that route, the price would have to be very low.
But honestly, this isn’t a priority, and I don’t think Xbox will do that. Asha mentioned making Game Pass more flexible, so I can definitely see them releasing a customizable subscription, which would make more sense.
@MrReaps PlayStation isn’t ‘doubling down’ on anything, for several reasons:
1/ The main one is that they make very few first‑party games, so it doesn’t really change much for them — unlike Xbox, which produces three times more games.
2/ This is only a rumor, nothing official at this stage. And honestly, I really doubt it’s true. I don’t see PlayStation suddenly stopping PC releases altogether.
And for the record, Forza is not multiplatform — at least not day one. Xbox’s idea, in my opinion, isn’t necessarily to make games permanently exclusive. Same for PlayStation: I don’t see them going backwards and stopping PC releases one or two years later.
And since when is Gears multiplatform???
Games like Forza, Halo, Gears, Fable, Hellblade (even though the first one was multiplatform originally — it’s the second one that became a timed exclusive), Blade, elder scrolls 6, etc.. should have a two‑year exclusivity window. That’s enough to create some frustration and push people toward the Xbox ecosystem
Yes, I agree with what was said above. Xbox has plenty of exclusive games and continues to have them — the real issue was that they weren’t communicating about them. They were mostly communicating about putting their games everywhere instead!
That said, Asha really needs to deeply rethink the exclusivity policy for the major franchises, with a long enough timed exclusivity window on Xbox console and PC — something like two years.
In any case, since Asha took over, things feel really good. You can tell Xbox has opened its ears wide to listen to the players, and that’s great to see
@IOI On the topic of exclusives, we’re not completely aligned. We agree that this strategy needs to be strengthened — that part is clear — but going back to permanent exclusives seems unrealistic.
Also, I don’t agree with you when you say games don’t sell one or two years later. Just look at Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation: it sold extremely well even though it came out 4–5 years later, same thing for sea of thieves. Same for Starfield — pre‑orders are already very high even though the game launched almost three years ago.
What really matters is keeping the games updated, and Xbox is very good at that. They know how to support their titles over time.
Where we do agree is that whatever they choose to do, they need clarity, to avoid speculation and rumors that damage the brand
@Balaam_ It’s simply a matter of cost. That said, it doesn’t only affect very small studios , it also concerns larger ones . Every year, there are more games released on PC, and therefore more PC exclusives, than exclusive games on PlayStation or Xbox consoles.
I’m thinking for example of Kingmakers, Samson: A Tyndalston Story, Heroes of Might and Magic, Light No Fire, Deadlock, Blight Survival, etc. Some of these are well‑known PC franchises or genres designed specifically for PC. But among them, there are real gems that are missing on consoles — for example the upcoming Blight Survival or Light No Fire (from Hello Games), which are currently announced only for PC.
The PC game catalog is roughly 30–40% larger than on consoles. Sure, a lot of that is small indie titles (and some gems), but not only — there are also big, ambitious games, even if some of them might eventually get ported to consoles later.
In any case, this is a trend that’s only going to grow, and we already see it in many gaming showcases: lots of Steam‑only titles. Fortunately, the next Xbox console will allow players to access them through the Steam store, but also through the Xbox Store, since porting will be much easier and almost cost‑free for developers.
@Fiendish-Beaver Alright, no worries bro. I just found the coincidence a bit strange, along with some of your other comments that tend to be on the negative side. But hey, I haven’t been here for long, so it’s probably just a misunderstanding on my part.
@Fiendish-Beaver I see we can always count on you to nitpick! We could do the same with other publishers, you know… But between this and your damage control by bringing up Concord to excuse PlayStation’s bad Metacritic score in 2025 (concord didn’t even come out in 2025), I find it pretty surprising. Though I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, right?
@Banjo- Yes, I think the core issue behind the Game Pass price increase is all the extra perks players never asked for and end up paying for even though they don’t use them.
@FraserG : I don’t know if it’s been done already, but an article comparing the different possible Game Pass subscription models, with a small poll, would actually be really interesting.
And then you could send the results to your friend Asha — she is your friend, right?
@SMJ But I hadn’t thought about structuring the offer that way — it’s a good idea, because the challenge is to keep things both simple and customizable, and your approach really ticks all the boxes.
That said, if I understand correctly, your idea implies a fixed price for each subscription tier, which means every perk would need to have the same value. And that seems complicated to implement.
Another option would be to keep the same subscriptions we have now, and simply add a fully customizable tier, with a progressive pricing system based on the number of perks selected:
@fatpunkslim Yes absolutely ! Another idea would be to create a pick‑and‑choose subscription, where the player selects exactly what they want, resulting in a fully customized plan.
This is definitely a game I’ve been keeping an eye on!
@Questionable_Duck To be fair, PlayStation doesn’t really have that many more exclusives either — in fact, it’s almost the opposite when you look at how many former PlayStation exclusives are now coming to Xbox and PC, especially with Square Enix titles and others.
We’ll see what Asha decides regarding exclusivity policy, but for now, we still have a decent number of exclusive games that are still coming out, funnily enough. Among the recent or upcoming ones: Albion, Replaced, Forza Horizon 6, Subnautica 2, Nova Roma, Bravely Default, Ark 2, and more. Yes, some are early access and/or timed exclusives — but that’s also the case for many PlayStation exclusives.
I don’t want to restart the debate you start about exclusives, but honestly, it’s a bit of a relic of the past. Nintendo is really the only one still fully committed to that model today. Whether it’s Xbox or PlayStation, most exclusives are temporary anyway, with Xbox possibly leaning even more into timed exclusivity depending on what Asha decides.
In my view, the real battleground today is the ecosystem: being able to play on multiple devices with a single game purchase, having access to a library that’s much larger than the console‑only catalog, and so on.
And on that last point, there are far more PC‑exclusive games today than PlayStation or Xbox exclusives. Every year, tons of games release only on PC — for example, future titles like Longevity Yin and Yang, Samson, Heroes of Might and Magic, Windrose, Kingmakers, Blight Survival, Light No Fire, Deadlock, and many others.
PC is the platform of choice for developers, and we’ll see more and more games launching exclusively on PC and not on PlayStation — but still playable on the next Xbox console...
Another very useful addition. Being able to switch from a cloud‑played game to another device, or from PC to console, is something I really appreciate in the Xbox ecosystem. I’ve personally never had a single sync issue, even though I switch back and forth between PC and console all the time. But I guess it can happen more often depending on the situation, and this indicator makes it easy to be sure you’re actually using the latest save.
Since ASHA took over, it really feels like things are moving faster on the console‑update side. So far, she seems to be keeping her promise to put Xbox consoles back at the center of the experience.
@IOI What you’re saying is simply not true — the game clearly has issues on Steam and on consoles as well, so it has nothing to do with the Xbox PC version. You can check Reddit yourself if you need proof: <https://www.reddit.com/r/CrimsonDesert/comments/1rz0z3h/crimson_desert_crashes_right_after_launch_steam/>
As for the supposedly slower updates, I really don’t see what you mean. The game launched on March 19, it’s now the 23rd, and this patch was released at the same time on all platforms…
That said, it’s possible that sometimes developers are a bit slower to react on Xbox PC compared to Steam, simply because Steam is more popular. But I’ve personally bought several games on the Xbox Store for PC and I’ve very rarely had issues , and when I did, they were very temporary.
Logically, with Project Helix , which precisely unifies and simplifies the development tools , we should see fewer and fewer differences between Steam versions and Xbox versions.
What used to take a month of porting will take just a day to make a game compatible everywhere: PC, cloud, handheld console, Xbox console, and even older Xbox consoles. That’s an absolutely massive hardware ecosystem for a really minimal gain‑to‑effort ratio.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Sorry, but I agree with fatpunk! This is just one example among others, and even for Hellblade 2, a 3‑point difference is huge when it comes to an average across multiple sites , it clearly shows a trend.
Your example, and I quote: ‘61 and one 84’, makes no sense. It’s pure exaggeration meant to discredit someone’s point, and it’s really bad faith. Of course we would never see such a massive gap , we’re not talking about a scam or a completely broken game. At some point, the scores still need to be at least somewhat realistic and credible.
Logically, when you rate the same game on different platforms, the average should be the same, period , maybe with a 1‑point margin at most, especially when the same outlet reviews the same game.
What I find surprising is how some people show zero tolerance and can’t listen to others’ opinions without becoming insulting
@fatpunkslim Yes, I feel the same way. It may seem strange to some commentators who easily fall into media drama, but for many reasons, I’m very optimistic as well !
Anyway, with Xbox it’s always a roller coaster in the media. Xbox Developer Direct: “Xbox is back!” Leadership change: “Xbox is dead!” Forza Horizon 6 topping the charts on Xbox and PC: “Xbox is back!” Xbox cancels one game: “Xbox is dead!” Xbox Games Showcase: “Xbox is back!”
According to some media outlets and influencers, Xbox has died 30 times and come back to life 30 times.
Yet Xbox is still here, and the only metric some people seem to care about is console sales, even though Xbox is the publisher that sells the most games, and leads in content, services, cloud, backward compatibility, cross‑play, and more.
Honestly, the lack of perspective from some people is pretty depressing.
@Kezelpaso Minecraft "multiple video game publishers" ?? “Mojang Studios, is a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, so Microsoft ... which means 5 microsoft games in TOP 20.
For Call of Duty black ops 7, it shows how strong the franchise still is despite the criticism. Most of the criticism is about the campaign anyway, because the multiplayer is actually very good.
Yeah, really a shame. I did a bit of research and I’m pretty surprised to see that since 2022 they’ve cut more than 1,200 jobs , even at Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla , which is nearly 12% of their entire workforce. That’s pretty wild.
And for the studios that were shut down, I counted PlayStation London Studio, Firewalk Studios, Neon Koi, and probably others I’m forgetting.
It’s almost as many job cuts as Xbox in terms of raw numbers, but as a percentage of total staff, since PlayStation is about three times smaller, it’s actually much worse. I didn’t expect it to be that bad. It really shows that behind the console sales numbers, there’s a very different reality.
No wonder they’re pushing so hard toward live‑service games and remasters , quick ways to bring in cash.
And yeah, I think Xbox would have a lot to gain by buying them. So many franchises that deserve a second life.
Not really my cup of tea, but I’m still curious, and I’ll buy it on Series X anyway, knowing it will run in better conditions with the next Xbox console. I hope it will be Xbox Play Anywhere when it comes to PC, but I’m not sure Rockstar will play along, unfortunately. I really hope I’m wrong.
I enjoyed a lot of the game at first, but over time I developed a real frustration with how often the same points of interest kept repeating. I think that’s why many players started out liking it, but after 50 or even 100 hours, ended up turning against it. For me, it’s the opposite of a game designed for hundreds of hours — it works for a while, then steadily wears down as the repetition sets in.
That was really the only aspect I strongly disliked. Sure, there are other areas that could be improved, but the constant repetition was the only thing that truly broke the experience for me
Comments 54
Re: Xbox Announces Worldwide Price Increases For Series X|S Consoles
Some people have a short memory — PlayStation raised its prices a few months ago, and now Xbox is simply aligning itself with PlayStation’s pricing.
Re: Xbox Layoffs Seemingly Begin As Devs Reveal They're 'Open To Work'
@IllusiveMan There are the loyalists on one side and the haters on the other. Who told you the studio was going to shut down? The truth is usually somewhere in the middle.
Re: Round Up: The Previews Are In For Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
I’ve always appreciated Asobo’s style, and these early impressions are reassuring. Can’t wait to play it through Game Pass — maybe even buy it eventually
Re: Round Up: The Previews Are In For Star Wars: Galactic Racer
It looks very well made, but personally it’s the kind of game I get bored of after about 10 minutes. I’m not ready to pay full price for it, but I’d be happy to play a few sessions from time to time if it’s available on Game Pass.
Re: Senior EA Exec Credits Generative AI For A "Real Rise In Creativity"
Honestly, after the Sony CEO’s statements about wanting to fully use AI as a creative tool, and now EA saying the same thing, it really feels like they’re trying to take us for fools.
We can clearly see that for them, it’s all about cutting costs.
But for players, it actually means the death of creativity, replaced by soulless, formulaic games.
Re: What Does A $1049 Steam Machine Mean For Xbox's Project Helix?
Honestly, I never believed in the success of the Steam Machine for plenty of reasons (The fact that it’s arriving at the end of the console generation is a big issue, limited power, game compatibility issues, unclear target audience, a poorly designed controller, etc.), and I already expected it to flop just like it did 10 years ago.
But unfortunately for them, with prices like these, they’re only digging the hole deeper. At this point, it’s obvious it’s going to flop hard. I don’t know if we can blame everything on RAM prices. The controller costs $90 — what’s the explanation for that? There’s no RAM in a controller…
And I’d even say that for the few people who actually buy it, it’s a big risk , they might end up with a machine that stops being supported in a few months, or maybe a year or two, simply because the budget won’t be there.
To answer the question, this is actually an opportunity for Xbox Helix, which on paper is already capable of doing far more than a Steam Machine — it can run all PC games and Xbox games, while the Steam Machine ironically can’t even run all Steam titles, nor all games from the Xbox console catalog.
Re: "The Catalogue Was Just Nowhere Near Good Enough" - Ori Creator Likens Xbox Game Pass To A "Slop Factory"
@oopsiezz Stop saying nonsense, please. There is an overlap between the most‑played games on Steam and the games available on Game Pass, which clearly shows the overall quality of the Game Pass catalog.
If that perceived quality doesn’t match your personal tastes, and if you don’t enjoy what the majority of players like, that’s your own issue — but it’s not a problem with Game Pass.
Re: "They Said That I'm Crazy" - Hideo Kojima Says Many "Big Companies" Rejected His New Horror Game Before Xbox Snapped It Up
It’s part of Xbox’s DNA to innovate and to dare to do things others wouldn’t. Xbox has always been at the forefront of innovation and has often pushed the gaming industry forward, so I think it’s great to give space to creativity and originality at a time when so many games look the same.
Of course, we just have to hope it’s worth it — there’s always a risk. It could either be a masterstroke that leaves a lasting mark on gaming, or a complete miss. What’s certain is that this game won’t leave anyone indifferent.
Re: "The Catalogue Was Just Nowhere Near Good Enough" - Ori Creator Likens Xbox Game Pass To A "Slop Factory"
What is he even talking about? He’s talking about things he doesn’t know anything about! Saying that Xbox studios haven’t released good games in recent years is nonsense and pure bad faith. It completely discredits everything he says.
Xbox is the 5th publisher in terms of Metacritic scores, ahead of PlayStation which is 12th.
This guy has been holding a grudge and hatred toward Xbox for years, it’s ridiculous. He talks about things he doesn’t understand at all.
Game Pass has helped many games grow; I’d even say that the latest GOTY, Clair Obscur, owes a lot to Game Pass. Even though Clair Obscur is a good game, without the visibility offered by Game Pass, a title made by a brand‑new studio would have gone completely unnoticed among the thousands of games released every year.
Very often, 4 or 5 of the top 10 most‑played games on Steam are also available on Game Pass. And if that’s the case, why is he only attacking Game Pass? Wouldn’t PS+ be “harmful” too by his logic?
This clearly shows that his irrational hatred completely distorts his judgment.
Re: Halo Studios Unveils Six Hours Of Footage From Campaign Evolved's Main Menu
@dskatter Campaign Evolved has a physical release on Xbox... that said, you have to download content to play, But it’s the same for the PS5 version.
Re: Here's Your First Look At Gameplay For Clutch, Releasing On Xbox In Spring 2027
Honestly, it really feels like a big copy of Forza Horizon. I get the impression that the narrative and action‑adventure part with the driver is very secondary and not on the same level as the rest. It feels like that aspect of the game is more of a pretext to claim it’s different from Forza Horizon.
The only original thing is the grappling hook, but honestly, for now I don’t really see the point of this game
Re: Xbox's 30-Minute Fable Gameplay Is Getting Great Feedback, Aside From Minor Concerns
I’m really impressed by Playground Games. For a first attempt at an action‑adventure RPG, they’ve managed to bring a real breath of fresh air to the genre, with RPG elements we’ve never really seen before — like the unique reputation system and how your actions have different consequences depending on the regions and characters. I’m honestly blown away.
Visually, it’s pretty insane how detailed everything is. As for the faces, I watched the video and it looks very good to me. It’s sometimes a bit uneven, but overall it’s great — the pig’s face, for example, is really well done! 😄
Re: Matt Booty Explains Xbox's Plans For Exclusive Games Going Forward
Asha has only been in charge for three months, and making these two games exclusive in such a short time is already a very strong start. Of course, for games that were already announced for other consoles — like Evolved and Fable — it would’ve been complicated to walk that back. But this is just the beginning. I can easily see the next Blade being exclusive, and the same for the next Halo, since Evolved is just a remake.
Xbox has so many franchises, so much potential, so many future exclusives — an enormous amount of system‑seller power.
This is the way ! Xbox is back Baby !
Re: Halo: Campaign Evolved Gets July 2026 Release Date For Xbox, PC & PS5
@Juanalf This Halo is a remake, not gears e-day, and given the direction things are heading, I’m almost certain the next Halo will be exclusive — it just seems obvious. The thing is, this “Evolved” entry is a remake, and it had already been announced for PS5 before Asha Sharma took over.
Re: Here's Everything That Was Revealed At The Xbox Games Showcase 2026
Epic showcase ! Ans so much great games on gamepass, that's huge!
Re: Xbox's State Of Decay 3 Returns With A Gameplay Reveal & New Release Window
They’ve definitely upgraded it compared to the previous trailers, in my opinion.
Re: Five Xbox Game Pass Titles Get Fresh Looks At Summer Game Fest & DOTD 2026
Stranger Than Heaven looks great ! And with Tupac and Snoop in the mix, I’m definitely not complaining.
Re: Control Resonant Early Access Is Exclusive To PS5, Even Though It Costs The Same On Xbox
Third‑party publishers who still play these kinds of little games, it’s ridiculous. Too bad, it just ends up being bad PR for Remedy. On the PlayStation side, they’re still clinging to these micro‑exclusives — that shows their desperation!
Re: Ex-Forza Horizon Director Reveals 'Clutch', A New AAA Racer Coming To Xbox In 2027
If I understand correctly, the difference with a Forza Horizon is mainly the more story‑driven aspect with a cinematic PvPvE approach. That sounds interesting, and it’s also a good direction for improvement for the Forza Horizon franchise, which at some point will need to evolve and not keep circling around the festival concept.
Re: Discord Partners With Xbox For 'Starter Edition' Of Game Pass, Includes 50+ Titles
It’s a good strategy — it pushes Discord users to subscribe to Game Pass, and it pushes Game Pass subscribers to subscribe to Discord. It’s a win‑win.
@fatpunkslim: And yeah, I also understood that it’s not a new subscription, not something you can get without already being subscribed to Discord. It’s basically just a perk.
Re: Call Of Duty Titles Will No Longer Join Xbox Game Pass On Day One
Great news ! It’s a big price drop for Game Pass, so getting Call of Duty a year later in exchange is perfectly fine for me. Anyway, the real Call of Duty fans buy the game, they don’t need Game Pass. And for people like me, who enjoy it but not enough to pay full price, waiting a year is totally fine. It’s still a great deal, because even after a year, COD games stay expensive.
Re: Xbox Announces Price Reductions For Game Pass Ultimate & PC Game Pass
Good News ! Asha’s arrival is really doing a lot of good! Thank you!
Re: Xbox Exec Chimes In As Rumours Suggest Project Helix Chip Will Be Used For 'Other Machines'
@Fiendish-Beaver It’s exhausting to read you, you’re borderline spamming with all your comments. 8 of the 27 comments come from you, which means you account for 30% of the comments. YES, Xbox is developing Project Helix themselves, it’s a first‑party console. Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, confirmed it in his keynote at GDC 2026. Here’s the quote:
“Our team is deep in development on our next generation Xbox console, Project Helix. We’re continuing to push innovation for our next 25 years with our team hard at work on our next‑generation first‑party console.
Source: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/11/project-helix-building-next-generation-of-xbox/
Re: Xbox Exec Chimes In As Rumours Suggest Project Helix Chip Will Be Used For 'Other Machines'
@fraserG So full Xbox backward compatibility would remain exclusive to first‑party machines, if we believe KeplerL2. It’s good for players because they get more choice with cheaper versions, however the full experience with complete backward compatibility stays on the first‑party version, which encourages consumers to choose the first‑party model. In any case, it’s good for players and for Xbox, because they can flood the market with Xbox‑based devices, whether first‑party or third‑party. In the end, it’s beneficial for the Xbox ecosystem.
Re: Report: New Game Pass Tier Exclusive To First-Party Games 'Under Consideration' At Xbox
@Fiendish-Beaver Definitely not. With the old leadership, I might have agreed with you, but with the Asha / Matt Booty duo, that’s clearly not the direction they’re taking.
Re: Report: New Game Pass Tier Exclusive To First-Party Games 'Under Consideration' At Xbox
I don’t really see the point of creating a subscription that only includes Xbox first‑party games. Even if Xbox studios are among the most productive in the industry (unless I’m mistaken), they’ll never be able to deliver a new game every month, and I don’t see people paying for a subscription if they don’t get new games regularly. And if they do go that route, the price would have to be very low.
But honestly, this isn’t a priority, and I don’t think Xbox will do that. Asha mentioned making Game Pass more flexible, so I can definitely see them releasing a customizable subscription, which would make more sense.
Re: Xbox's New Dashboard Update Is Now Available For All Users
The first thing I noticed was the green gradient in the main menu. Well, with the next update adding an HDR interface, I’ll be happy
Re: GameSir Unveils Tarantula Pro For Xbox & PC, Described As 'The Best Xbox Controller In Symmetry'
symmetry ??? why ? Nope ! I’m too used to the comfort of asymmetric controllers. I even found an old study showing that performance is better with asymmetric controllers: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74614-8_70
And various Reddit polls also show that most players prefer asymmetric controllers.
Re: Xbox Is Having 'Very Big Discussions' About Exclusivity, Says Reporter
@MrReaps PlayStation isn’t ‘doubling down’ on anything, for several reasons:
1/ The main one is that they make very few first‑party games, so it doesn’t really change much for them — unlike Xbox, which produces three times more games.
2/ This is only a rumor, nothing official at this stage. And honestly, I really doubt it’s true. I don’t see PlayStation suddenly stopping PC releases altogether.
And for the record, Forza is not multiplatform — at least not day one. Xbox’s idea, in my opinion, isn’t necessarily to make games permanently exclusive. Same for PlayStation: I don’t see them going backwards and stopping PC releases one or two years later.
And since when is Gears multiplatform???
Games like Forza, Halo, Gears, Fable, Hellblade (even though the first one was multiplatform originally — it’s the second one that became a timed exclusive), Blade, elder scrolls 6, etc.. should have a two‑year exclusivity window. That’s enough to create some frustration and push people toward the Xbox ecosystem
Re: Xbox Raises Eyebrows By Mentioning 'Exclusives' On The Series X|S Dashboard
Yes, I agree with what was said above. Xbox has plenty of exclusive games and continues to have them — the real issue was that they weren’t communicating about them. They were mostly communicating about putting their games everywhere instead!
That said, Asha really needs to deeply rethink the exclusivity policy for the major franchises, with a long enough timed exclusivity window on Xbox console and PC — something like two years.
In any case, since Asha took over, things feel really good. You can tell Xbox has opened its ears wide to listen to the players, and that’s great to see
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (April 14)
hades 2 and replaced i'm good
Re: Xbox Boss Declares Game Pass Is 'Too Expensive' And Needs A 'Better Value Equation'
"better value equation and more flexible system"
That’s what I wanted to hear, now let’s see the actions.
Re: Microsoft Issues Statement On Why 'This Is An Xbox' Campaign Has Been Retired
@IOI On the topic of exclusives, we’re not completely aligned. We agree that this strategy needs to be strengthened — that part is clear — but going back to permanent exclusives seems unrealistic.
Also, I don’t agree with you when you say games don’t sell one or two years later. Just look at Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation: it sold extremely well even though it came out 4–5 years later, same thing for sea of thieves. Same for Starfield — pre‑orders are already very high even though the game launched almost three years ago.
What really matters is keeping the games updated, and Xbox is very good at that. They know how to support their titles over time.
Where we do agree is that whatever they choose to do, they need clarity, to avoid speculation and rumors that damage the brand
Re: 'Please Don't Expect Console Ports' - Retro Rewind FAQ Addresses Xbox & PS5 Demand
@Balaam_ It’s simply a matter of cost. That said, it doesn’t only affect very small studios , it also concerns larger ones . Every year, there are more games released on PC, and therefore more PC exclusives, than exclusive games on PlayStation or Xbox consoles.
I’m thinking for example of Kingmakers, Samson: A Tyndalston Story, Heroes of Might and Magic, Light No Fire, Deadlock, Blight Survival, etc. Some of these are well‑known PC franchises or genres designed specifically for PC. But among them, there are real gems that are missing on consoles — for example the upcoming Blight Survival or Light No Fire (from Hello Games), which are currently announced only for PC.
The PC game catalog is roughly 30–40% larger than on consoles. Sure, a lot of that is small indie titles (and some gems), but not only — there are also big, ambitious games, even if some of them might eventually get ported to consoles later.
In any case, this is a trend that’s only going to grow, and we already see it in many gaming showcases: lots of Steam‑only titles. Fortunately, the next Xbox console will allow players to access them through the Steam store, but also through the Xbox Store, since porting will be much easier and almost cost‑free for developers.
Re: Xbox Partner Preview Showcase March 2026: Date, Start Times & What To Expect
@Fiendish-Beaver Alright, no worries bro. I just found the coincidence a bit strange, along with some of your other comments that tend to be on the negative side. But hey, I haven’t been here for long, so it’s probably just a misunderstanding on my part.
Re: Xbox Partner Preview Showcase March 2026: Date, Start Times & What To Expect
@Fiendish-Beaver I see we can always count on you to nitpick! We could do the same with other publishers, you know… But between this and your damage control by bringing up Concord to excuse PlayStation’s bad Metacritic score in 2025 (concord didn’t even come out in 2025), I find it pretty surprising. Though I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, right?
Re: New Xbox Boss Has Considered 'Pricing Revamp' For Game Pass, Claims Report
@Banjo- Yes, I think the core issue behind the Game Pass price increase is all the extra perks players never asked for and end up paying for even though they don’t use them.
@FraserG : I don’t know if it’s been done already, but an article comparing the different possible Game Pass subscription models, with a small poll, would actually be really interesting.
And then you could send the results to your friend Asha — she is your friend, right?
Re: New Xbox Boss Has Considered 'Pricing Revamp' For Game Pass, Claims Report
@SMJ But I hadn’t thought about structuring the offer that way — it’s a good idea, because the challenge is to keep things both simple and customizable, and your approach really ticks all the boxes.
That said, if I understand correctly, your idea implies a fixed price for each subscription tier, which means every perk would need to have the same value. And that seems complicated to implement.
Another option would be to keep the same subscriptions we have now, and simply add a fully customizable tier, with a progressive pricing system based on the number of perks selected:
Essential
Premium
PC Game Pass (need to be rebranded)
Ultimate – full list of perks
Custom – build your own Game Pass
Re: New Xbox Boss Has Considered 'Pricing Revamp' For Game Pass, Claims Report
@fatpunkslim Yes absolutely ! Another idea would be to create a pick‑and‑choose subscription, where the player selects exactly what they want, resulting in a fully customized plan.
Re: Albion Online Is Finally Making Its Xbox Console Debut In April 2026
This is definitely a game I’ve been keeping an eye on!
@Questionable_Duck To be fair, PlayStation doesn’t really have that many more exclusives either — in fact, it’s almost the opposite when you look at how many former PlayStation exclusives are now coming to Xbox and PC, especially with Square Enix titles and others.
We’ll see what Asha decides regarding exclusivity policy, but for now, we still have a decent number of exclusive games that are still coming out, funnily enough. Among the recent or upcoming ones: Albion, Replaced, Forza Horizon 6, Subnautica 2, Nova Roma, Bravely Default, Ark 2, and more. Yes, some are early access and/or timed exclusives — but that’s also the case for many PlayStation exclusives.
I don’t want to restart the debate you start about exclusives, but honestly, it’s a bit of a relic of the past. Nintendo is really the only one still fully committed to that model today. Whether it’s Xbox or PlayStation, most exclusives are temporary anyway, with Xbox possibly leaning even more into timed exclusivity depending on what Asha decides.
In my view, the real battleground today is the ecosystem: being able to play on multiple devices with a single game purchase, having access to a library that’s much larger than the console‑only catalog, and so on.
And on that last point, there are far more PC‑exclusive games today than PlayStation or Xbox exclusives. Every year, tons of games release only on PC — for example, future titles like Longevity Yin and Yang, Samson, Heroes of Might and Magic, Windrose, Kingmakers, Blight Survival, Light No Fire, Deadlock, and many others.
PC is the platform of choice for developers, and we’ll see more and more games launching exclusively on PC and not on PlayStation — but still playable on the next Xbox console...
Re: Xbox Console Updates Continue As New 'Cloud Save Sync' Indicator Rolls Out To Insiders
Another very useful addition. Being able to switch from a cloud‑played game to another device, or from PC to console, is something I really appreciate in the Xbox ecosystem. I’ve personally never had a single sync issue, even though I switch back and forth between PC and console all the time. But I guess it can happen more often depending on the situation, and this indicator makes it easy to be sure you’re actually using the latest save.
Since ASHA took over, it really feels like things are moving faster on the console‑update side. So far, she seems to be keeping her promise to put Xbox consoles back at the center of the experience.
Re: Crimson Desert Patch 1.03 Is Making Major Improvements On Xbox & PC
@IOI What you’re saying is simply not true — the game clearly has issues on Steam and on consoles as well, so it has nothing to do with the Xbox PC version. You can check Reddit yourself if you need proof:
<https://www.reddit.com/r/CrimsonDesert/comments/1rz0z3h/crimson_desert_crashes_right_after_launch_steam/>
As for the supposedly slower updates, I really don’t see what you mean. The game launched on March 19, it’s now the 23rd, and this patch was released at the same time on all platforms…
That said, it’s possible that sometimes developers are a bit slower to react on Xbox PC compared to Steam, simply because Steam is more popular. But I’ve personally bought several games on the Xbox Store for PC and I’ve very rarely had issues , and when I did, they were very temporary.
Logically, with Project Helix , which precisely unifies and simplifies the development tools , we should see fewer and fewer differences between Steam versions and Xbox versions.
What used to take a month of porting will take just a day to make a game compatible everywhere: PC, cloud, handheld console, Xbox console, and even older Xbox consoles. That’s an absolutely massive hardware ecosystem for a really minimal gain‑to‑effort ratio.
Re: Xbox's Starfield Is Already One Of The Top Three Pre-Orders On PS5
@PsBoxSwitchOwner Sorry, but I agree with fatpunk! This is just one example among others, and even for Hellblade 2, a 3‑point difference is huge when it comes to an average across multiple sites , it clearly shows a trend.
Your example, and I quote: ‘61 and one 84’, makes no sense. It’s pure exaggeration meant to discredit someone’s point, and it’s really bad faith. Of course we would never see such a massive gap , we’re not talking about a scam or a completely broken game. At some point, the scores still need to be at least somewhat realistic and credible.
Logically, when you rate the same game on different platforms, the average should be the same, period , maybe with a 1‑point margin at most, especially when the same outlet reviews the same game.
What I find surprising is how some people show zero tolerance and can’t listen to others’ opinions without becoming insulting
Re: Microsoft's 2026 GDC Booth Showcases An Impressive Look At The History Of Xbox Consoles
@Gemini53 Yeah, We'll find out soon enough
Re: Poll: How Optimistic Are You Feeling About The Future Of Xbox?
@fatpunkslim Yes, I feel the same way. It may seem strange to some commentators who easily fall into media drama, but for many reasons, I’m very optimistic as well !
Anyway, with Xbox it’s always a roller coaster in the media.
Xbox Developer Direct: “Xbox is back!”
Leadership change: “Xbox is dead!”
Forza Horizon 6 topping the charts on Xbox and PC: “Xbox is back!”
Xbox cancels one game: “Xbox is dead!”
Xbox Games Showcase: “Xbox is back!”
According to some media outlets and influencers, Xbox has died 30 times and come back to life 30 times.
Yet Xbox is still here, and the only metric some people seem to care about is console sales, even though Xbox is the publisher that sells the most games, and leads in content, services, cloud, backward compatibility, cross‑play, and more.
Honestly, the lack of perspective from some people is pretty depressing.
Re: Xbox Had The Best-Selling Multiplatform Game Of January 2026 In The US
@Kezelpaso Minecraft "multiple video game publishers" ?? “Mojang Studios, is a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios, so Microsoft ... which means 5 microsoft games in TOP 20.
For Call of Duty black ops 7, it shows how strong the franchise still is despite the criticism. Most of the criticism is about the campaign anyway, because the multiplayer is actually very good.
Re: Sony's Bluepoint Games Might Be Gone, But We'll Never Forget Their 'Impossible Port' For Xbox 360
Yeah, really a shame. I did a bit of research and I’m pretty surprised to see that since 2022 they’ve cut more than 1,200 jobs , even at Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla , which is nearly 12% of their entire workforce. That’s pretty wild.
And for the studios that were shut down, I counted PlayStation London Studio, Firewalk Studios, Neon Koi, and probably others I’m forgetting.
It’s almost as many job cuts as Xbox in terms of raw numbers, but as a percentage of total staff, since PlayStation is about three times smaller, it’s actually much worse. I didn’t expect it to be that bad. It really shows that behind the console sales numbers, there’s a very different reality.
No wonder they’re pushing so hard toward live‑service games and remasters , quick ways to bring in cash.
And yeah, I think Xbox would have a lot to gain by buying them. So many franchises that deserve a second life.
Re: Poll: As Things Stand, Will You Be Buying GTA 6 On Xbox This November?
Not really my cup of tea, but I’m still curious, and I’ll buy it on Series X anyway, knowing it will run in better conditions with the next Xbox console. I hope it will be Xbox Play Anywhere when it comes to PC, but I’m not sure Rockstar will play along, unfortunately. I really hope I’m wrong.
Re: Popular Xbox Games Drop To Their 'Lowest Price Ever' In New ID@Xbox Multiplayer Sale
@Elbow Thanks, I just bought it based on your recommendation — good co‑op games are so rare
Re: Bethesda Says Starfield's Next Update Will 'Change The Game' But 'It's Not Starfield 2.0'
I enjoyed a lot of the game at first, but over time I developed a real frustration with how often the same points of interest kept repeating. I think that’s why many players started out liking it, but after 50 or even 100 hours, ended up turning against it. For me, it’s the opposite of a game designed for hundreds of hours — it works for a while, then steadily wears down as the repetition sets in.
That was really the only aspect I strongly disliked. Sure, there are other areas that could be improved, but the constant repetition was the only thing that truly broke the experience for me