Honestly, I’ve been pretty critical of Xbox the past couple years, but this kind of thing actually makes me curious what Asha’s longterm vision is for the brand and makes me suspect that maybe it does align more with what I want out of the industry. Maybe she really is trying to bring Xbox back to that 360 era when Xbox wasn’t afraid to be weird and bring compelling and weird exclusives to the market. I mean, stuff like Alan Wake is what kept me on Xbox just as much as Halo did back in the day. Kojima’s my favorite, so seeing him align with Xbox makes me feel like Xbox really might turn things around, and I’m honestly more excited for it than I thought I would be.

@Millionski Everything I’ve cared about has been a timed exclusive minus Forspoken. Sony’s exclusives went from strong early Gen to weak, and it feels like Sony’s burned bridges trying to keep that exclusivity.

I’m out of town this weekend, so I’ll be playing whatever my son needs help with on the Switch or whatever Mario Maker 2 level he’s cooked up. I did do a playthrough of Super Luigi Bros U this week.

Outside that, I suppose I’m playing waiting for Fire Emblem, which will very soon consume all my gaming time, as I’ve no doubt it’s massive. I doubt I’ll conquer that one by the time Control comes out. I have a feeling I’ll be saying I’m juggling those two games for a couple weeks soon enough… at least until I’m also juggling Castlevania, Ocarina, and GTA6 too! Let’s see if I can finish five more games this year…

@Millionski Personally, with Physint being gone, as much as I was looking forward to Intergalactic, I’m not sure I NEED it anymore. Astro Bot 2 is the tether for me. Love that little guy.

@Millionski I’m sort of expecting Gamepass to be a relic shortly after this generation or very much different from what it is. Gamepass was the sole focus for far too long

I think the biggest problem in the gaming industry is that there’s different industries in gaming and we’re all being lumped together a lot of the time. There’s your live service gamers, your EA sports gamers, your AAA gamers, your indie gamers, etc. They’re very different groups. Asking why Netflix isn’t working is like asking why rap fans aren’t listening to punk music. We’re much more genre specific in gaming and right now everything is being compared to the metrics established by things like Fortnite and CoD and it’s frankly having a disastrous effect to most of the industry.

Double Fine really should get their games on Switch where their audience might be more compatible.

@Balaam_ The future is in Fortnite and Roblox. And every first party game this generation can be remastered, including the remasters. Be optimistic. There’s plenty of space to be monetized well.

@dskatter I’ve been digital on PlayStation for a few years, but all this Sony getting rid of physical disks thing has made me lean back into picking up games physically on Switch 2. It’s weird how that works.

@dskatter I feel the same. I cancelled a few preorders yesterday and shifted them to my Switch 2. I have three games left in my preorders and unless we see a really good gesture from Sony, I may be done with them on the basis of everything they’ve done this year.

@Millionski I’ve got GTA6 preordered, but I’ll be honest, I’m really curious how it will review. I suspect that they will not allow reviews prior to launch “to prevent leaks,” not that reviews will matter for this one anyway, but I’m curious if it’ll be worth all the hype.

Xbox was going bad enough this generation where I sort of stopped buying anything on the platform and just focused on Gamepass. I haven’t played my Series S in over a year right now. Closing all those studios really upset me and, even if they picked up Physint, I’m not feeling totally favorable on Xbox for closing most of my favorite studios for the brand. We’ll have to see if Xbox can rebuild from the ashes yet, but honestly PlayStation’s managed to catch up to all the damage Xbox did earlier in the generation in only a few months. It’s spectacular how the blow out has been! All I know is that Sony really doesn’t seem to care about what I want out of gaming and it’s pretty clear. I look back at this generation and Death Stranding, Ratchet and Clank, and Astro Bot are the only pillars that kept PlayStation above Xbox for me, now that everything else exclusive I enjoyed is multiplat.

Realistically, you could get this game and Persona 4 and fill a year of gaming no problem.

@Millionski I’ve been lamenting Sony’s choices for a few years now, but they’ve burned through their goodwill in an incredible way the last few months. If Xbox didn’t start the generation by digging a hole, we might not be at this point, but Xbox has a huge opportunity to win trust back when Sony is losing it rapidly.

Personally, I’ve shifted to basically buying everything I can on Switch 2, and waiting to see if Xbox or Sony can actually get it together to see where I should go for new games that aren’t on Switch. Right now, Control and GTA are the only games that I can’t get on Switch that I really care about.

I’ll sleep through that one, but will be happy to read your coverage in the morning! 😄

I can’t believe how much Sony has forsaken their fanbase this year. I honestly can’t believe how bad it’s gotten. They managed to end me today. Final Fantasy 7: Revelation might be the last PlayStation game I buy until Herman goes and the only reason I’m getting that one on PS is because I played the other two there and want to wrap up in the same place I started.

Not particularly a fan of where Xbox has been headed yet, but this is the kind of thing that could bring me back in a big way.

I’m just waiting to see what’s on the docket from the Direct to decide whether I buy Ocarina at launch or not because money’s tight. Honestly, I have more faith in OoT as it’s Nintendo and it’s OoT. I mean, the game’s already a 10, and Nintendo’s been a remarkably consistent first party developer.

I’m getting GTA6, but I’m definitely not sold on it in the way that I am for Fire Emblem, Control, or Castlevania. It’s more the cultural event of it that sells me. If anything, I’m concerned GTA6 won’t have the storytelling Rockstar was known for and that I won’t be able to enjoy the wanton violence of the game in the same way so many years later. It feels weird to say, but I don’t actually know if GTA6 is for me and I say that as someone that loved Rockstar games years ago. That gap since RDR2 and even longer gap since GTA5 concerns me.

@Tenderkid Looking at the future, Xbox and Sony both seem totally out of touch with what I want out of gaming and Nintendo seems locked in. It’s weird how much I don’t like Xbox or PlayStation’s trajectory right now.

When I was on Gamepass, I used it A LOT. Like, to the point where I probably played on the cloud far more than I downloaded games. I’m not cloud averse like a lot of people are. I liked my Stadia.

Wasn’t it rumored about there being a big surprise sequel that would get everyone excited at Gamescom from Xbox?

…if so, I didn’t realize that Kingdom 3 was so big in the world and that’s a great thing! But seriously, I’m so happy a new game in the series is coming next year. Since the original came out, it’s one of my comfort food games that I return to year after year and you can bet I’ll be back again now! I love my big, crazy AAA games, but sometimes something simple in appearance and feel is the most immersive. Seriously, I’m so happy about this one.

Just Fable and Tomb Raider for me so far. Hope tomorrow’s showcase has a bit more to be interested in.

Im going to play God of War (2018) and some co-op in Halo probably.

@Stoned_Patrol Could be that Sony was trying to make that happen and they were unsuccessful? Or maybe Xbox just tried harder to get it on the platform? If I recall correctly, the dev never responded about exclusivity originally.

I thought Tides of Annihilation was a PS exclusive based on how it’s been marketed. I can’t wait to see more Megaman! Hopefully we see OD too. Not gonna lie, this is a better line up than Xbox typically scores.

I’m surprised this wasn’t already an intention to have a CoD studio “modernize” or reboot Halo with the Activision acquisition. I mean, I love Campaign Evolved and don’t like CoD, but from a business perspective, I’m surprised we haven’t gone there already.

It’s a really cool retro throwback. I’m about halfway through it and would recommend it to anyone that likes its artstyle. It’s another Mouse PI, in my opinion. Solidly designed game that’ll be a 6, 7, or 8/10 for you, depending on how much you appreciate the artstyle. It’s an 8 for me.

Future Knight, Halo, and the Woodo demo, for sure.

@RiverGenie Honestly, a strike would be more impactful. No bonuses for the suits if their employees aren’t working. If you want to hurt executives, the pocket is the heart.

Hopefully the rat caused Asha some personal embarrassment for the sweeping layoffs.

@Weebleman @8th_Observer Lol, yes, “for the greater good.” I just don’t get it. It’s a clear management problem and it’s certainly not fixed. I mean, some of Asha’s hires have already jumped ship because AI companies have offered them better salaries. These are the great minds at the top of the pyramid. Not the ones that worked at their desks for years, but the money hungry tech bros with no attachment to the concept of community and instead a passion for shareholder satisfaction. Do we really want to champion THAT vision of business?

It’s really interesting to see the comments section be so anti-employee and pro-corporate. With as fat as these executive bonuses are, they could’ve cut executive bonuses to slow the bleed instead of annihilate positions in a mass cut. Show leadership and executive level accountability.

It’s good to see Microsoft employees retaliate against the mass layoffs. Laying off thousands of people has a net negative impact of company morale. I can’t imagine any Xbox employee feels comfortable that their position may be around longterm. Whether the financial decision needed to be made or not, the continuous rounds of mass layoffs makes for an ornery workforce. Asha’s lucky that union workers haven’t had a walkout or a strike at this point.

I used to love Overwatch. In 2016, I genuinely considered it a GotY contender, but I really don’t prefer many of the changes Blizzard has made to it over the years and really disliked the adjustments made when it became Overwatch 2. With these F2P games, I can honestly say I have no idea who is playing them, as it sort of feels like people have moved on from Overwatch a while ago, but apparently not!

I also don’t quite get how StarCraft and Warcraft aren’t on Xbox in any capacity. The Activision purchase was a weird thing in that it almost feels like Xbox has turned into Activision rather than the other way around.

@Fiendish-Beaver @Shinato2024 if anything, I would imagine that Sharma may have disenfranchised her entire working staff with all the sweeping cuts. While, yes, this could be chocked up to “business as usual,” but, at the end of the day, they do need to have motivated staff to complete projects. If there’s a fear to complete projects, that reduces efficiency and increases costs. If there’s a fear to fail, it forces grind and burnout which leads to sloppy work. The staff’s in a catch-22. It’s sad to see, really.

How can anyone have any feeling of job security at Microsoft?

The only ones that seem safe are the executives… I’m surprised we haven’t seen a strike organize yet in the gaming industry somewhere.

Right now, 2027 looks sort of empty. That said, that empty release schedule has Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Megaman, and Fable, so I’m booked already! 🤣 Seriously, next year looks great. Hopefully this is a good showcase. TGS doesn’t tend to have megaton announcements, but they’re decent for updates.

Can’t wait to see what we’ve got coming next year.

The success of those Black Ops ports is insulting and honestly why a lot of us will be complaining more about the industry in the future as the casual fanbase incentivized low effort, buggy, hacked ports over something like this. Without multiplayer, it’s sort of an apples to oranges comparison, but Microsoft won’t see it that way and will likely now be emboldened to make more lazy ports for quick cash and the casuals will keep eating them up.

I’m not the biggest fan of remakes, but Halo 1 is ancient at this point, so it’s great to reintroduce the series to a new generation that hasn’t known it as well. I’d say that, honestly, the lack of a multiplayer component is what diminished the sales here. If they’d have remade Halo 1’s multiplayer too, I think we would’ve seen a bigger launch. Hopefully the world’s most obvious cash grab in recent history doesn’t ruin Halo’s momentum.

Famitsu is basically the least reliable gauge for how good a game is, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the reviews! Apparently the embargo ends in 12 hours…

I’ll probably play some Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. Played quite a bit of the dlc yesterday and I quite like all the added characters and modes. I had a good time playing the ludicrous Yamcha story mode last night.

Also, I’m taking my son to the office and he’s bringing the Switch 2. I’ve catered his selection of games, so he tries new things: Link’s Awakening, Breath of the Wild, Pikmin 4, that Layton game without Layton in it, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, Ori, etc. I told him he could bring it if he tries new games. And Mario Maker 2, but I’ll delegate he make me a level, so I can play on a break! 😁

It sounds good, but obviously we won’t know how successful Asha’s vision is for about 5 years or so. Hopefully she can ramp up Xbox into something more worthwhile.

Gears 1, but I honestly can’t say I’ve ever particularly liked the series. I’ve never completed a game in the series and stopped trying by the time Gears 3 came out. The series just isn’t for me.

Not trying to yuck anyone’s yum here. Just answering the question.

If Microsoft would’ve put effort into marketing Psychonauts, it could’ve been something far bigger. I truly stand by that. Any kid that I’ve seen play it loves it. I thought Xbox might’ve been the perfect partner for Double Fine to allow them creativity and also keep them in line, but obviously not.

My Xboxes are DVD players and multimedia machines rather than something I use regularly for gaming at this point. Haven’t heard any complaints from my kids while I’m at work and I know they were going to watch a movie today!

It’s almost like it’s a good thing to hire people that are actually passionate about the industry rather than people that want a salary large enough to feed a small country while thousands are being laid off. Hmm.

@CallMeDuraSouka I agree. We keep hearing how digital is the future because physical isn’t selling. Can we see the data that shows a comparison? Toss in some revenue from large scale used game sales outlets as well. Let’s see the whole picture.

Last year, we were getting data that people were buying less than one game a quarter. If that’s true, what does the industry actually look like? Where is the actual engagement?

There’s so many numbers that are missing to make a comprehensive assessment here.

I say this as someone who largely purchases games digitally too. I just think there’s a lot of incomplete data being shared to argue one way or the other and I haven’t seen anything that feels fully rounded.

Aren’t we also seeing trends that show that people in general are only buying a few games a year too? To me, this doesn’t exactly read like physical sales are just down, but overall sales are down while overall income is up thanks to microtransactions if we zoom a little further out at the big picture.

She says this as if she has been any part of their success. I’m sorry, but every time she speaks on these things, it feels like empty suit speak.

Day 1 is the only selling point of Gamepass, in my opinion

The only flaw in this argument is that Moore believes that people will buy home computers instead of buying consoles when home computers are also spiking in price and suffering with the same issues. If people can’t afford consoles, they can’t afford high end PCs, they can’t afford high end TVs. If items aren’t affordable, people will just simply stay with their outdated tech and the industry slowly corrodes.

If there isn’t innovation to make tech more accessible, tech will stop selling. The consoles of the future will show us a pivot in what they bring to the table. If I were to guess, I’d say the world might be ready for the infrastructure Stadia was bringing to the table. If Sony or Microsoft did it, there would be larger brand faith if it’s a more affordable option in comparison to expensive boxes. There’s more longterm money in subscriptions than in boxes. Fully digital, cloud-based gaming is the future. Either that or mobile will start to grossly outpace the console market.

Rhythm Heaven Groove for sure. It’s just such a relaxing, fun, casual game that eats up a little bit of free time.

@CallMeDuraSouka Bethesda’s slowed down ever since Fallout 4 realistically. The time between most of their games was 2-3 years before that while releasing consistent expansions. After Fallout 4, it took 4 years for Fallout 76 and that one launched in an embarrassing state. If we remove 76 from the equation, it took 8 years to get Starfield. That’s a crazy long development time. By these time tables, it makes me think ES6 will release in 2031-ish.

Whether 76 is a different team or not, they are resources used by the studio and it does pivot a studio’s headspace having something like this.

If they aren’t exclusives, there’s no point to own an Xbox next generation. If they aren’t making exclusive content, what other selling point will they use?

@Balaam_ Totally agree. Oblivion Remastered, to me, only highlighted how old the game felt all these years later. I’d rather they save the resources and make new games than give us a 7/10 experience of a game that used to be a 10/10 decades ago. This reeks of “We need to cash grab to sustain the not yet started development cycle for Fallout 5. Please be patient. Hopefully we’re all still breathing by the time it releases. We know that you were a kid when we released the last game, but your grandkids will love the new one.”

Hopefully Elder Scrolls 6 sees the light of day before Skyrim is 25.

I sort of think Fallout 76 ruined Bethesda because it has the responsibility of running a continuous content machine in the live service aspects of that game. I know a lot of people love it, but their development times have diminished a lot since that one.

It was HALO.

Been playing since the beginning.

Personally, I think the top brass at Microsoft is actually the problem, especially when their enormous bonuses are public knowledge and they profit over job loss.

Responsible leadership is absolutely something I’d like in businesses going forward, especially in gaming. We need to shoot down the golden parachute mentality of this business.

I totally understand the desire for mass profitability, but we’re at a point where we, as a culture, are forgetting collective sustainability and legacy content creation. Satoru Iwata showed us that gaming CEOs can do the right things for the sake of employees and course correcting the business. His decision to put the fans and his employees first over himself worked long term and Nintendo rebounded with a robust platform and lineup after failure from it. This kind of thing should be an inspiration, not an anomaly.