themightyant

@Tasuki the rage bait is strong with this one 🤣

Nope. Trying to not buy much as my backlog is so large + Game Pass. I did buy the Soul Reaver 1&2 remake and Lorelai and the Laser Eyes on PS though.

I did pick up Anthem for £1 though... I actually quite enjoyed it for all it's obvious flaws.

@ZeD Last years Xbox showcase. But assuming you did see it then, I don't blame you for not remembering, it looked nothing like APT only the name. We are also inundated with hundreds and hundreds of announcements that week so some get lost/forgotten.

Hmm... not actually that many I am really excited about yet, at least without knowing more. But then the same was probably true at the start of 2025 and that ended up being a banging year!

There will be many surprises, some we will know little if anything about right now, as well as some disappointments, but I hope it matches or betters 2025, that would be great.

You expect hardware sales to be down going into year 6 of a console cycle... but not by 39% YoY, that's huge... and not on top of previous bad years. Hardware sales have been disappointing for Xbox this generation, especially as the Series X is such a great bit of kit.

But it's also not that surprising considering all their bad business decisions that have shaken many gamers confidence in the brand.

However it's also true that Xbox is now more than just a console, so units sold isn't the only important metric, and Xbox more generally is doing fine as a publisher and Game Pass service provider.

@Gabrie I still love the wii controls for this version most. Aiming manually added to the tension.

Anthem before the servers go down in a week. It’s much better than I expected, some really strong elements let down by some weak ones. But I’m having fun.

Spend less time on live services. Stop putting off long games that are GOTY candidates just because they may be 50-100+ hours: e.g. Elden Ring, Hades, Cyberpunk, FF Rebirth, Persona 5, Yakuza (whole franchise) etc.

@Jenkinss @RBRTMNZ @Lup Interesting. I never played it, but I never saw any hate for it, in truth I never saw very much about it at all. It came, scored mid scores, and went.

Without knowing much I had sort of filed it into that category of decent, but not amazing games, of which many fail to find an audience along with Immortals of Aveum, Atlas Fallen and others. And without anyone championing the game in comments it never even catches a second wave. That’s a tricky box to find yourself in with the sheer volume of games released.

Personally I still wanted to play it, but also can’t keep up with the number of seemingly far better games released. Too many games not enough time.

@TheGameThrifter Yes and No. If you ONLY compare it to their own previous console sales and that of the competition than it is a failure. I agree with that.

But I think it's more complicated than that. If you accept Microsoft has changed the game, and console sales are no longer the only metric that is important to "Xbox" success - PC is also big for them for example - then it's not so clear cut. Xbox's financials seem very healthy for a "failure".

If you only consider the first group I can understand why people might think they are leaving hardware behind, but I think it's more complicated than that, I'm sure there will be another Xbox. Whether there is another in 2035+ who knows.

(BTW Cloud is still in it's infancy, a nice to have bonus but not yet ready to be a service on it's own.)

As for Game Pass, my top 3 games of the year were all included day 1 (E33, Silksong and Blue Prince) though in truth they were all so good I ended up buying them anyway and played the latter 2 on PlayStation as Blue Prince was also Day 1 on PS+.

But that's still amazing curation from Xbox, keep it up, it's been an amazing year of games on the service.

This is very sad. Albert wasn't often front and centre, but whenever he was he came across as a passionate but level headed lead who was at Xbox for years and spear headed a lot of great initiatives. Thank you for all your contributions to gaming.

Thoughts with his family and friends. Cancer sucks.

Blue Prince is a masterpiece of Game Design. There's nothing quite like it, with layers and layers of depth. To say much more would be to spoil it, it's a game you have to experience for yourself.

It won't be for everyone, and if you fall off before you dive down it's labyrinthine rabbit hole it may not ever click for you... but if it does... boy what an experience! Unique.

It's very slightly let down with frustrating RNG in the later stages, slowing progression, and not always being able to do what you want to do but if you get that far you will have already been utterly absorbed and had your money's worth, this is a small blotch against it. If you have a chance try it.

I put $800 BUT it really depends what it is, what it can do and how well it does it. For example if it really is a PC like device that goes under the TV but crucially with all the convenience of a console while unifying ALL the PC stores, Xbox, including backwards compatibility, all in one device... and is as powerful as reported i'd consider paying over $1000. But I suspect it's unlikely to tick ALL those boxes and do it well. Fingers crossed.

I'm playing Anthem right now, it's better than I expected with some really good elements, but the connective tissue holding it together and some of the multiplayer / live service elements drag it down. A shame as some of the core gameplay, lore, and world are great.

Also a shame as I can't see any reason Anthem couldn't have been pretty easily patched to be single player without servers, i'm playing it now solo.

Here’s my 5. Riffing on yours.

1. I agree it’s a big year for Xbox, not just the anniversary, but they need to build momentum going into next-gen potentially in 2027.

2. I’m not convinced GTA6 will arrive this year to be honest. Every game I can think of that gave a specific launch date over a year in advance has slipped. My money is on 2027.

Instead of GTA I’d say they need to give us a reason to own an Xbox. Without exclusives Game Pass needs to overdeliver as that is their main differentiating factor.

3. They need to refresh those tentpole releases. I’m not especially excited about a second remake / remaster of a 25 year old Halo game, though I’m sure I’ll play and enjoy it with Game Pass. Nor is a sixth Forza Horizon that thrilling unless they do something to shake up the same old formula. Hopefully Gears E-Day also feels fresh and not just Gears 6/7. These series feel quite stagnated and need new ideas else those “tentpoles” will look rickety and tired. Hard to do, but needs doing, look to what Nintendo do with Mario and Zelda to keep long established franchises feeling evergreen. Good luck.

Personally I’m far more excited about Fable, Clockwork Revolution and a few others, so hopefully they launch in 2026 and deliver. Fable in particular was announced in 2020 so we really need an update. They also gave a lot of other studios that haven’t released games in a while so I expect some surprises here. How are Arkane getting on with Blade for example? Or State of Decay 3?

4. Meanwhile Xbox Play Anywhere needs to become far more widespread if “everything is an Xbox” is to succeed. Currently it only works for a fraction of the library and you have to check on a game by game basis if the game you are playing, or want to play, is compatible. There’s too many asterisks, too much jumping through hoops, it doesn’t “just work” yet. If/when it does it can be a game changing feature, it’s not yet.

5. Lastly I think Xbox need to rebuild trust with their fanbase, as many of us have been disappointed with the key decisions they have taken recently, especially since buying ABK. It would be great to go through a year with few awful stories whether that’s mass layoffs, game cancellations, studio closures or price hikes, etc. etc. Stick to their plans and be clearer about them. Consistency.

——

TLDR: the best thing Xbox can do is stay away from negative press and quietly just deliver top notch games one after another both from first party and especially on Game Pass. If they do that it will be a great 2026, give gamers a reason to specifically own an Xbox snd build momentum for next-gen. Fingers firmly crossed.

@rhyno_888 true, you’re right about the date, but it’s still just a rough estimate, we can’t really take that and subtract PS5 to extrapolate accurate Xbox numbers. (Additionally their “consoles outstanding” is vague, is that sold or shipped?)

Either way they are all in a similar ballpark.whether it’s a max of 36 of 37 million now makes little difference. Everyone is pointing to similar units sold give or take a few million.

@TheGameThrifter It’s only a “failure” if you comparing it directly to Nintendo or Sony’s console numbers. But Xbox is far more than consoles sold nowadays, it’s also PC, cloud etc.they have a different business model now, so I don’t read too much into that one number other than noting it’s a sharp decline of consoles sold this gen.

@Markatron84 I agree with all of your statement except I think some WON'T buy the next Xbox as they may be priced out if reports and not-so-cryptic statements from the president of Xbox are to be believed.

@rhyno_888 I said it was likely VG charts was in the right ballpark “within the 32-36 million range” and most of those figures correlate with that. Only Welfares’ is higher but he’s the upper limit and as you said may be based on shipped not sold.

FYI the Take Two report is from just over a month ago, November 2025, so no Xbox certainly will not have sold another 2 million units in that time! But also the 107 number is just an estimate using an “approximately equal” “~” symbol I wouldn’t read too much into it.

It’s the right path to stay on for now, and has a lot of potential for the future, however it’s half baked at the moment. Only a small amount of new games are Xbox Play Anywhere making many of those devices a poor Xbox, you have to check on a game by game basis if a game is compatible, you can’t just pick up your phone/tablet/other device and KNOW it will work. Sadly it’s doesn’t work that way yet.

Hopefully from next gen they will mandate that EVERY game going forward will be playable on your Xbox console but also Play Anywhere & Cloud, then it will be great. Until then it doesn’t “just work” quite yet.

Happy new year everyone. 2025 ended up being a banger year for great games. Bring on 2026.

Lots of good games! Glad Blue Prince made the list that is an all timer in terms of genius game design.

@darylb24 very interesting, both the timings and the ps5 day/dates, I guess time will tell.

But while I absolutely want them to take all the time they need to make great games this would also be personally disappointing as Fable and Clockwork Revolution are my most anticipated upcoming Xbox titles now that Perfect Dark has been cancelled, probably alongside Blade and then Elder Scrolls 6 further away. I was expecting the first two in 2026, especially Fable.

Personally I’m currently not THAT excited about FH6 or Gears E-Day unless they shake up the tired formulas; and Halo is just a remake of a game I’ve played so many times already, hence it’s less exciting. But that can all change with good showings in a showcase, and I’m sure I’ll play them all on Game Pass regardless. Hopefully they will all be good games.

@dskatter I find this kinda hilarious, it’s not only that Microsoft didn’t consider anyone playing beyond 2025 it’s that they actively put a limit in at all. It’s actually MORE work to do this and program an arbitrary restriction than not have one at all. Bizarre decision for some reason.

@Weebleman you too dude. Merry Christmas and happy new year. Hope all is well with you and yours, you got games under the tree and some time to play them!

That's a little off the wall, a streamer led showcase, but no bad thing to have new games highlighted. But ive never heard of any of them except Luke Stephens who I find irritating.

As so often nowadays, waiting to play is often the best option!

Whichever one GTA6n isn't releasing in!

To be honest every month is busy nowadays, but some are less stacked, it's a minefield. I think I agree with @BacklogBrad to release when ready and polished and the rest should hopefully follow.

@fatpunkslim I followed the thread fine thanks. I’m aware you were trying to use @Weebleman’s words back against him, but use them you did regardless. But as usual you are being highly selective and ignoring the part where you called others biased and accused them of trying to influence things while doing exactly that yourself.

As for nuance… so far no one you’ve replied to has said it was a bad year for Xbox @Fiendish-Beaver and I mentioned positives and negatives, as did @Coletrain and others, @Weebleman said you had to be “blinkered or just a pure fanboy to think this has been a good year for them” because there were ups and downs, he didn’t in fact say it was all bad as you keep claiming. In fact, the only person seemingly not weighing both pros and cons, despite constantly preaching otherwise… is you.

Who is the one actually dealing in black and white? Ignoring the pros and cons, or any nuance? Not us. Look… if you genuinely feel it’s been a very good year for Xbox good for you, you are of course entitled to your own opinion, but trying to tell everyone YOUR subjective opinion is objective fact is always going to rub everyone up the wrong way.

Lastly, seeing as you like undeniable objective facts and analytics so much perhaps consider this. So far you have written 6 comments on this thread, and as of time of writing no one has agreed with you or even given your comments a single like, zero, zip, zilch… now look at the replies… I’ll let you do the math! Or perhaps we’re all struggling with that too!

I assume if they are sending influencers PR packages then it is arriving sooner rather than later in the year. I had expected Fable first tbh.

Mixed year for Xbox. They’ve released a lot of good games, though I’d personally argue few great ones, and Game Pass has been strong. But they’ve also had dozens of awful decisions too that have garnered a lot of bad press from multiple price hikes on everything from consoles to game pass, multiple rounds of lay offs, multiple games cancelled, studio closures, a $1000 console, etc. etc. A very up and down year, but highly newsworthy.

@fatpunkslim The irony in calling others views blinkered, biased or trying to influence, and then claiming subjective things as “facts” while pushing your own blinkered narrative and trying to influence. Pot calling kettle black.

@Fiendish-Beaver Totally agree. Hopefully Microsoft have gotten most of their massive bad news events out of the way in 2025 and 2026/27 is better. But sadly I wouldn’t count on it, rumours are Microsoft are having another large round of layoffs imminently.

Never been happier to play almost exclusively solo with all the sharing and social features hidden or unused.

@TheGameThrifter do you have a link to that? Not doubting, just haven’t seen it. I have seen others saying 30 million+ in recent years.

Either way whether it’s 28 million or 34+ million it’s all in the same sort of ballpark.

@TheGameThrifter @Naughtyottsel92 VG Charts isn’t reliable for game sales numbers, but their console unit sales are typically within a couple of million of actual numbers whenever they are released so it’s highly likely it’s within the 32-36 million range.

@Cakefish THIS is the important point many don’t understand, delaying it would mean that next gen arrives later with older technology, that isn’t good. At the same time RAM prices are crazy the cost is 4-6x more than it was at the start of the year and still rising. There are no good options. Will be interesting to see what happens.

@smoreon Personally I’ve loved all of Naughty Dogs other outings I’ve played from Jak & Daxter to Uncharted to The Last of Us, so perhaps I should try Crash 2. Yes I quit halfway (ish) through the first one. There was a bridge level that just had HORRIBLE game design and I quit.

Expedition 33, Silksong, Blue Prince, Metaphor ReFantasio, Doom TDA are my 5, but there’s dozens of great games added this year. Strong.

I never played Crash or Spyro back in the day, so I have no rose-tinted goggles, but I tried both remasters and Spyro was wonderful, Crash was… errr… not good. I can’t understand what the fuss is all about, gave up half way through and I finish most things I start. Would welcome a new Spyro though.

Thanks for this @FraserG as this is mostly a popularity contest, I always prefer the stats behind them, and the outliers more than the actual ranking. Loads of great games this year.

I’m away for Christmas and don’t have my list on me but off the top of my head across platforms I finished 30+ games, including many on Game Pass. This includes Expedition 33, Silksong, Blue Prince, Doom TDA, Metroid Prime 4, Keeper, Alan Wake 1, 2 and American Nightmare, Control, Ninja Gaiden Black & 2 Black, Sword of the Sea, Viewfinder, Rollerdrome, Days Gone, Sonic Frontiers, Vampire Survivors, Sayonara Wildhearts, F.I.S.T., Metroid Dread, Ghost of Tsushima, Immortals Fenyx Rising, RE2 & RE3 remakes. Maybe a third were on Xbox.

Been a great year.

Expedition 33, Silksong and Blue Prince for me. All on Game Pass ftw.

Merry Christmas one and all. May you find games under the tree and the time to play them!

Just one... Anthem for £1 physical from CEX (FOMO purchase to play before the Jan 10th cutoff). Tend to just use Xbox as a Game Pass machines everything else has been PS5, Steam or Switch.

Looking forward to Mio, and fingers crossed for Replaced after all this time. Not convinced by the others, but the beauty of game pass is we can try ourselves risk free.

@Sol4ris totally agree on Dishonored (and Prey for that matter) wonderful ImSim games, so replayable, some of my all time favourites. Looking forward to this from Arkane, hopefully of a similar type and calibre. Also voted 2027 🤞

Looking forward to this and praying it’s great from Arkane.

A live service is a game that is designed to make you pay money.

@Allenspurs why do you think the in game economy is stingier than past GT titles and they have an in game store to allow you to buy cars? It may not be as severe as some live service games, but that’s because it’s also a full priced game, it’s live service-lite, but still live service.

The reality with most live services, even F2P is that the vast majority of players will pay nothing (does that make them not a live service? Of course not) but a few will spend a LOT. It’s about additional monetisation through MTX beyond point of sale.

@Fiendish-Beaver same. That is absolutely no age. RIP Lamarr

I need to give this another go. I found the animation and gameplay pretty jarring when I tried it briefly.