@Fiendish-Beaver That's certainly true, but it's not like Microsoft is a victim in this situation. They put themselves here through their own decision-making.
That said, I imagine every developer wants their games released everywhere. I'm sure it's even true for Sony first-party teams.
I am absolutely loving Arc Raiders. Most addicted I've felt to a game in a quite a while. Playing solo is fantastic for getting resources and quests done and then playing in a group is great for PvP.
@EVIL-C In general, I agree. I did stop buying physical this generation though. Too many games don't have the full package on disc and I got a little tired of having to switch out discs all the time. My middle-aged knees were complaining.
This is obviously in response to lawsuits against publishers for deceptive advertisements. This isn't a new concept or practice, it's just new that they explicitly say you're buying a license.
@themightyant @Gen4Fan Even with physical discs, you're still just purchasing the license.
@ElkinFencer10 This may be why people are incentivized to engage in piracy, but piracy is never ethical. Two wrongs don't make a right.
@AverageGamer With all due respect, you're playing semantics and you know well what I mean.
If a game was released only on Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series, and never had a PC port, you cannot play that game on the Xbox Ally. If a game was released on PC and is playable on other handheld PCs, like the ROG Ally, you can play it on the Xbox Ally.
If you can't take your Xbox library with you to the Ally, it fills no purpose as an Xbox.
I'm just not a big Black Ops guy, so I'll probably be skipping this year, especially with BF6 coming out. I just don't really like how Treyarch games feel to play. It always seems like I'm on ice skates. I vastly prefer the slower pace and heavier feel of IW entries.
@Kaloudz They haven't said one way or the other, but my assumption is it will work similarly to BGS games, where activating mods forces that save file into a "modded" save, disabling all achievements going forward.
Edit: Wow, just realized your comment was from months ago 😂
Maybe a hot take, but with the exception of Sonic Team Racing, the Sonic racing games have been leagues ahead of Mario Kart since Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing.
@AverageJoseph That's a bummer to hear about FP2. I love the first game. Got it on a whim and ended up putting dozens of hours into it, buying all the DLC.
I wish they'd make a game in that universe that was more personal. Like, if they took the gameplay of The Alters and gave it a Frostpunk coat of paint.
@Fiendish-Beaver AC4 is definitely in my top 3 for the franchise. Well worth the playthrough. Regarding the modern day plot, they can definitely be good or bad depending on the game. For AC4 and Rogue, it didn't really work for me. It's first person and is just solving visual puzzles in a corp environment. You're an Abstergo employee who is recruited by the Assassins to essentially perform espionage at work, which sounds cool, but wasn't really implemented well.
I was tempted to get one when they were cheaper and before Xbox starting porting a lot of games to PlayStation, but at this point, it's a pretty hard sell.
I have an Xbox One and use it as my Halo campaign machine and as a means to access my 360 digital library, but haven't really found myself hankering for much else, sad to say.
Far Cry 4 is probably my favorite of the bunch. I loved the pseudo-Nepalese setting and thought Pagan Min was a fantastic villain. The story put the player at the center of the story, while also making you feel like an outsider. It also just took what worked in Far Cry 3 and expanded upon it.
@Lup I disagree, in that I think he's referring more to 1st party devs and the bleeding effect. Bethesda, Activision, Blizzard, and Xbox Studios developers don't get a say in whether their games are on Gamepass day 1.
I think the argument of "no one is putting a gun to their head" is a pretty simplistic way of looking at the situation. What Layden is describing is a lack of inspiration incentive in the hearts of developers. The floor may be raised, but the ceiling is lowered. If you just work for a paycheck without the hopes of your work really exploding, you don't have a drive to push yourself to make something better.
Gamepass is great for customers in the short term, but I agree with Shawn Layden in that it is destructive to the industry, particular in the long term. His comparison to Spotify is apt.
I'm old enough to remember a time before Spotify and Napster when music was really valued. While it may have been harder to "break through," selling albums was a genuine revenue stream. Now, the vast majority of people don't feel they should have to buy music and musicians, because of this audience training, have to resort to putting their music on Spotify just for exposure, in hopes that it drives people to concerts. No one is putting a gun to their heads either, but the damage has been done on the grander, industry-wide scale.
@Kaloudz I'd happily get back in if they released either a Destiny 1 Remaster or Destiny 3. But there are wayyy too many systems upon systems upon systems and insanely convoluted lore to get back into Destiny 2. I dropped off after year 1 and couldn't ever find a good onramp since then.
If you want to have a real exercise in frustration, try downloading MW2019. They changed the install packs multiple times, but didn't remove the old ones, so you're shooting in the dark trying to figure out what needs to be installed and what doesn't. In order to get the game to function properly, I had to install everything, which made MW2019 basically take up 200Gb. Absolute insanity.
@Kaloudz Highly doubt it. I don't think that movement actually has much weight in legal terms. If anything, it will only put pressure on future games to build offline modes in, rather than have past games patched.
This may be a bit of a stretch, but does anyone else think there's a possibility that this is the studio making Fallout 5? BGS is tied up with TES6, Fallout 76, and Starfield, so I'm not sure they have the bandwidth.
Since MachineGames now has a good working relationship with Todd Howard, maybe this is one of the projects?
@Kaloudz We seem to be having lots of back-and-forths today 😂. I agree that MW3 launched in a pretty lackluster state. The campaign was bad (I didn't even finish it) and all the maps were remakes, BUT the game is in a great place now. They added so many MP maps post launch that there are like 50+ in rotation for TDM and Dom, which are my preferred game modes and, by and large, the maps are great. I actually still play MW3 way more than BO6.
I'm not sure if it's an active choice by the dev teams to distinguish them, but I prefer the way IW and SH maps feel when compared to Treyarch's. They're a little more varied in map design, where Treyarch's tend to stick to the more traditional run-and-gun 3-lane format.
That said, I'm really digging the futurist vibes from the BO7 trailer. Raven clearly knows how to make a campaign, so if Treyarch can bring the pain with the MP maps, I think this has a lot of potential.
@Kaloudz As far as I know, it's very commonplace, but is just baked into the cake, as it were. We don't hear about it because most games work around it during development. For example, on PlayStation, you can't mention Taiwan as an independent state from China. I also can't really think of examples where the Chinese state is portrayed as an antagonist in a game, as opposed to Russia, for example. My assumption is China is such a dominant market that Sony doesn't want to jeopardize being able to sell there and builds these guardrails in to play it safe.
@Kaloudz Yeah, I have much more critical views of the platforms' actual terms of service with regards to censorship, particularly to appease certain governments. But I don't begrudge developers acquiescing to get their games to market. It's a "hate the game, not the player" kinda situation.
@Kaloudz My understanding of the situation is these alterations are just to make the game compliant with PS5 and Xbox platform publishing terms. The devs also indicated that they just didn't want to manage multiple versions to reduce the likelihood of bugs, which I can respect.
One could certainly make the "slippery slope" argument here, but I for one am not losing sleep over them removing references to sexual violence against minors.
@Questionable_Duck @Kaloudz As a general practice, I'm against censorship as well, but if we're talking about the fact that "they got rid of some nudity, a few small details involving minors, and post-mortem dismemberment", then people throwing a fit over this should really self-reflect. None of that is political, none of that is philosophical. We're talking about nudity, kids, and corpse mutilation. Is that seriously the hill people want to die on?
Um. Where the hell did this come from and how did I miss it? This looks incredible! Love the setting, love the vibes. Also one of the most gorgeous isometric games I've ever seen.
If this doesn't have MP, then that would be a catastrophic mistake. As much as people love the campaign (myself included), the game needs MP if you want staying power, especially if this is supposed to be the first Halo on PlayStation.
Exclusivity deals are good if you're worried that you won't break even for your game or if you're struggling to find funding, but if you're confident the game will be profitable, it makes no sense to limit your audience.
@Rafie @Nexozi It depends on who you ask. Internally, Helldivers is considered 1st party, since Sony owns and funded the game, even if they don't own the developer.
I also wasn't insinuating that Sony would open the floodgates and bring everything over, but if Helldivers doesn't do well, they won't bring anything over after this.
@Nexozi I hope that's not the case, considering tons and tons of Xbox players were asking for the port. If people don't show up for Helldivers, then I think it will be the last time Sony makes any effort to appease the Xbox community.
Honestly, it was release day of Halo 4, which I remember quite vividly. It was Election Day in the USA, so I skipped all my college classes to go back home, cast my vote, and pick up Halo 4 from my local GameStop on the way back to my college apartment. Once I got back, I proceeded to smoke wayyyyy too much weed and then just mainlined Halo 4 with my roommates for the rest of the day. Absolute peak.
@Lrapsody For me, it's just the map layouts, which I find a bit lacking. Maybe it's the more traditional 3-lane design Treyarch tends to go for? I think gunplay and movement are amazing though, even if I do tend to prefer the heavier feel that IW guns have.
Regarding maps, MW3 started with just a bunch of MW2 2009 remakes, but then quickly added a bunch of originals (most of which are fantastic), some more remakes, and then brought a bunch of MW2 2022 maps over.
If you play MW3 now, there are like 50 maps on rotation for TDM and I really enjoy just about all of them. I never get bored playing it.
I felt a bit let down by BO6's multiplayer, to be honest, and still spend most of my CoD time on MW3 MP. I'm hoping the jump to pseudo-sci-fi will reinvigorate and add a bit of freshness.
Please please please, Treyarch, remember that the MP maps are most important. Not the game modes, not omnimovement, not even the campaign. MP maps need to be solid.
@Questionable_Duck I broadly agree with everything you said. And don't get it twisted: I would much rather have a strong, independent, and competitive Xbox.
This whole back and forth started with another guy saying that Sony was scared of Microsoft, which is why they won't publish games on Xbox. I just don't think that's anywhere close to true. Sony knows that their brand is secure and that they don't need to play nice with Microsoft because Microsoft is coming to them anyway without any concessions from Sony.
While Microsoft could have probably made things work without all the acquisitions and Gamepass, that's the lane they went down, which has ultimately brought them here.
@Questionable_Duck I would agree that Xbox is nowhere near losing money and are quite profitable now, but you also have to take into account that while gross revenue is up, so is overhead. Granted, margins are up, too, but not as drastically and they'll need to continue to grow substantially to earn back the $70b that Microsoft frontloaded to get ABK in the first place. I would also note that those revenues added by ABK are, for the most part, on the PlayStation end of things.
Yes, Microsoft didn't strictly need to do anything, but growth demanded that they open up their revenue streams to satiate their shareholders. Shareholders aren't interested in console market paradigms; they're interested in dividends. I would also say that Microsoft is more interested in being the largest publisher of games in the market, rather than being the 3rd largest console manufacturer in the market.
The console wars are just for fans. Microsoft just cares about making money through Xbox. They don't much care how they do it.
@Kaloudz I thought it was pretty fun in Infinite Warfare, but I get it wasn't to everyone's tastes, particularly in MP. The gameplay felt a little too quick for CoD, especially Infinity Ward games.
That said, a more grounded (quite literally) approach seems the best option.
I'd say 2027, but could be sooner. Xbox needs a console gen reset as soon as possible. They basically need some feasible way to drop the Series S albatross around their proverbial necks.
@Gabrie Dovetailing off of what @DennisReynolds said, Microsoft first pivoted to the Gamepass model because they needed something to let them compete with Sony in the console market.
The Xbox One generation was going so bad for them that they needed something, anything, to distinguish them from the competition because 1st party exclusives weren't selling consoles the same way that they were for Sony.
Since the Xbox One and PS4 were the first true "digital" consoles, customers were quickly imbedding themselves in their preferred ecosystems. Once imbedded, it would be too late to switch because customers want to keep their libraries and achievements/trophies.
Now that console sales have plummeted even further with the Series generation, Microsoft needed to pivot to a multiplatform approach because Gamepass and game sales were not meeting revenue expectations.
This is all to say that, while I applaud Microsoft for being able to pivot when it needs to, none of this has to do with Microsoft/Xbox wanting to change. It has everything to do with them needing to change. If Xbox games didn't go multiplatform, generating tons of revenue through actual game sales (not subscriptions), I would expect Microsoft to pack up the entire project.
Sony isn't afraid of Xbox. They love Xbox because now they get a 30% cut of every single sale that Xbox games have in their own ecosystem. They just have no interest in playing the same game as Xbox - they simply don't need to.
@Tasuki I love the MP maps in MW 2019, but that's just taste, so I can't really say you're wrong for not liking them. SBMM makes just about every match sweaty, but I've never agreed that it "punishes good players and rewards bad players." It just means that high-skill players don't get the feeling of being a god when playing with players well below their skill level. Finally, while I agree that I don't like "off-brand" skins, go back and play any older CoD games (including WW2) and you'll find plenty of wildly out-of-pocket skins. It's not a new phenomenon.
MW 2019 is the clear highpoint of the Xbone era, but WW2 is great, too. The campaign and MP are fantastic, but the gunplay and MP maps for MW 2019 are just a cut above.
@Kezelpaso FF is an anthology series, so not knowing anything about the world is expected. None of us did when we first booted it up. I'm also not a big JRPG guy and I loved XVI. Show some support to Square and pick it up! You won't regret it!
I suppose how you come down on this argument hinges on a couple things: do you care more about future Xbox games or the Xbox console ecosystem and your current library?
Full disclosure, I was a Xbox 360 user, but switched to Sony in the PS4 generation. I have a Xbox One that I bought from a friend a couple years ago and use it every once in a while to play the MCC, Witcher 2, etc., but by and large, I'm a PlayStation user.
With all that said, I think Microsoft has done lots more pro-consumer moves than Sony since the Xbox One generation (I'm thinking Play Anywhere and Back Compatibility, specifically). Was that due to Microsoft's desire to stay competitive when they were bleeding users? Probably. But those features remain pretty exceptional for their userbase.
I totally get the resistance in the Xbox userbase to Microsoft moving to a 3rd party publisher model. You don't want your existing library to become segmented off from the future of gaming, nor do you want to be forced to relinquish those pro-consumer features to a colder, less friendly ecosystem.
BUT, given the perpetual state of games libraries in today's era and users' unwillingness to relinquish those libraries, I don't see any scenario where Xbox gains console users from PlayStation in the future, unless as a secondary console.
So, if Microsoft wants to be profitable with an increasingly shrinking console userbase, they need to publish elsewhere. My hope is that they use that cashflow to keep their console ecosystem alive, but Sony will never willingly seed that ground, so Microsoft needs to play by Sony's rules to stay alive.
Comments 59
Re: Xbox Developers Are Reportedly 'Thrilled' To Release Their Games On PS5
@Fiendish-Beaver That's certainly true, but it's not like Microsoft is a victim in this situation. They put themselves here through their own decision-making.
That said, I imagine every developer wants their games released everywhere. I'm sure it's even true for Sony first-party teams.
Re: ARC Raiders Hits Incredible Player & Sales Numbers Across All Platforms, Including Xbox
I am absolutely loving Arc Raiders. Most addicted I've felt to a game in a quite a while. Playing solo is fantastic for getting resources and quests done and then playing in a group is great for PvP.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Xbox's Release Schedule Looks Like For 2026?
Lol. I love that pretty much everyone agrees that Fable will be delayed again.
Re: New Silent Hill F Xbox Advertisement Makes It Clear You're Only Buying A 'License'
@Prof_Thiccboi Lol, what? Ethics are a weakness? That’s a seriously sociopathic hot take. Your last name Tate, by any chance?
Re: New Silent Hill F Xbox Advertisement Makes It Clear You're Only Buying A 'License'
@EVIL-C In general, I agree. I did stop buying physical this generation though. Too many games don't have the full package on disc and I got a little tired of having to switch out discs all the time. My middle-aged knees were complaining.
I do miss adding to the shelf collection, though.
Re: New Silent Hill F Xbox Advertisement Makes It Clear You're Only Buying A 'License'
This is obviously in response to lawsuits against publishers for deceptive advertisements. This isn't a new concept or practice, it's just new that they explicitly say you're buying a license.
@themightyant @Gen4Fan Even with physical discs, you're still just purchasing the license.
@ElkinFencer10 This may be why people are incentivized to engage in piracy, but piracy is never ethical. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Re: Sarah Bond Says Fans Will Soon Be Able To Play PlayStation Studios Games On An Xbox Device
@AverageGamer With all due respect, you're playing semantics and you know well what I mean.
If a game was released only on Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series, and never had a PC port, you cannot play that game on the Xbox Ally. If a game was released on PC and is playable on other handheld PCs, like the ROG Ally, you can play it on the Xbox Ally.
If you can't take your Xbox library with you to the Ally, it fills no purpose as an Xbox.
Re: Sarah Bond Says Fans Will Soon Be Able To Play PlayStation Studios Games On An Xbox Device
@AverageGamer What I mean is the Ally can't play any Xbox formatted games. It can only play PC versions of games, which makes it a PC and not an Xbox.
Re: Sarah Bond Says Fans Will Soon Be Able To Play PlayStation Studios Games On An Xbox Device
Say it with me, folks: The. Xbox. Ally. Is. Not. An. Xbox.
It is an Xbox-branded handheld PC. If it can't play Xbox games, it's not an Xbox.
Re: Report: AAA The Lord Of The Rings Game In Development With Third-Person Gameplay
Curious subtitle, considering Embracer owns the rights.
Re: Call Of Duty Dev Admits 'Worry' About Franchise Fatigue With Black Ops 7
I'm just not a big Black Ops guy, so I'll probably be skipping this year, especially with BF6 coming out. I just don't really like how Treyarch games feel to play. It always seems like I'm on ice skates. I vastly prefer the slower pace and heavier feel of IW entries.
Re: The Witcher 3 Is Getting Mod Support On Xbox, But It's Been Delayed To 2026
@Kaloudz They haven't said one way or the other, but my assumption is it will work similarly to BGS games, where activating mods forces that save file into a "modded" save, disabling all achievements going forward.
Edit: Wow, just realized your comment was from months ago 😂
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Say About New Xbox Kart Racer Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
Maybe a hot take, but with the exception of Sonic Team Racing, the Sonic racing games have been leagues ahead of Mario Kart since Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing.
Re: Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (September 18)
@AverageJoseph That's a bummer to hear about FP2. I love the first game. Got it on a whim and ended up putting dozens of hours into it, buying all the DLC.
I wish they'd make a game in that universe that was more personal. Like, if they took the gameplay of The Alters and gave it a Frostpunk coat of paint.
Re: If The Assassin's Creed Black Flag Remake Is Real, It Could Be Very Different From The Original
@Fiendish-Beaver AC4 is definitely in my top 3 for the franchise. Well worth the playthrough. Regarding the modern day plot, they can definitely be good or bad depending on the game. For AC4 and Rogue, it didn't really work for me. It's first person and is just solving visual puzzles in a corp environment. You're an Abstergo employee who is recruited by the Assassins to essentially perform espionage at work, which sounds cool, but wasn't really implemented well.
Re: Opinion: The Value Proposition Of Xbox Series S Is Better Than Ever In 2025
I was tempted to get one when they were cheaper and before Xbox starting porting a lot of games to PlayStation, but at this point, it's a pretty hard sell.
I have an Xbox One and use it as my Halo campaign machine and as a means to access my 360 digital library, but haven't really found myself hankering for much else, sad to say.
Re: Opinion: Far Cry Should Double Down On What Made It Great, Not Become Another Live Service
Far Cry 4 is probably my favorite of the bunch. I loved the pseudo-Nepalese setting and thought Pagan Min was a fantastic villain. The story put the player at the center of the story, while also making you feel like an outsider. It also just took what worked in Far Cry 3 and expanded upon it.
Re: Helldivers 2's Player Count Spikes Massively Following Xbox Series X|S Release
@InheritNegative I dunno man. 300k-400k concurrents on a weeknight is crazy good. Not sure what you were expecting.
Re: Ex-PlayStation Exec Still Not Convinced By 'Dangerous' Xbox Game Pass Model
@Lup I disagree, in that I think he's referring more to 1st party devs and the bleeding effect. Bethesda, Activision, Blizzard, and Xbox Studios developers don't get a say in whether their games are on Gamepass day 1.
I think the argument of "no one is putting a gun to their head" is a pretty simplistic way of looking at the situation. What Layden is describing is a lack of inspiration incentive in the hearts of developers. The floor may be raised, but the ceiling is lowered. If you just work for a paycheck without the hopes of your work really exploding, you don't have a drive to push yourself to make something better.
Gamepass is great for customers in the short term, but I agree with Shawn Layden in that it is destructive to the industry, particular in the long term. His comparison to Spotify is apt.
I'm old enough to remember a time before Spotify and Napster when music was really valued. While it may have been harder to "break through," selling albums was a genuine revenue stream. Now, the vast majority of people don't feel they should have to buy music and musicians, because of this audience training, have to resort to putting their music on Spotify just for exposure, in hopes that it drives people to concerts. No one is putting a gun to their heads either, but the damage has been done on the grander, industry-wide scale.
Re: Two Destiny 2 Add-Ons Get Insane 'Just For You' Discounts On Xbox
@Millionski @Kaloudz I'm honestly just hoping for a D1 Remaster. Smaller game. Better game. Taken King > anything D2 😉
Re: Two Destiny 2 Add-Ons Get Insane 'Just For You' Discounts On Xbox
@Kaloudz I'd happily get back in if they released either a Destiny 1 Remaster or Destiny 3. But there are wayyy too many systems upon systems upon systems and insanely convoluted lore to get back into Destiny 2. I dropped off after year 1 and couldn't ever find a good onramp since then.
Re: Call Of Duty's File Size Is Getting Reduced As Xbox Prepares To Launch Black Ops 7
If you want to have a real exercise in frustration, try downloading MW2019. They changed the install packs multiple times, but didn't remove the old ones, so you're shooting in the dark trying to figure out what needs to be installed and what doesn't. In order to get the game to function properly, I had to install everything, which made MW2019 basically take up 200Gb. Absolute insanity.
Re: Two Major Xbox Games Are Being Delisted In August 2025
@Kaloudz Highly doubt it. I don't think that movement actually has much weight in legal terms. If anything, it will only put pressure on future games to build offline modes in, rather than have past games patched.
Re: Indiana Jones Team Confirms Multiple Games In Development, 'Excited' For Its Future
This may be a bit of a stretch, but does anyone else think there's a possibility that this is the studio making Fallout 5? BGS is tied up with TES6, Fallout 76, and Starfield, so I'm not sure they have the bandwidth.
Since MachineGames now has a good working relationship with Todd Howard, maybe this is one of the projects?
Re: Xbox's Full Black Ops 7 Reveal 'Kicks Off' Gamescom 2025 In August
@Kaloudz We seem to be having lots of back-and-forths today 😂. I agree that MW3 launched in a pretty lackluster state. The campaign was bad (I didn't even finish it) and all the maps were remakes, BUT the game is in a great place now. They added so many MP maps post launch that there are like 50+ in rotation for TDM and Dom, which are my preferred game modes and, by and large, the maps are great. I actually still play MW3 way more than BO6.
I'm not sure if it's an active choice by the dev teams to distinguish them, but I prefer the way IW and SH maps feel when compared to Treyarch's. They're a little more varied in map design, where Treyarch's tend to stick to the more traditional run-and-gun 3-lane format.
That said, I'm really digging the futurist vibes from the BO7 trailer. Raven clearly knows how to make a campaign, so if Treyarch can bring the pain with the MP maps, I think this has a lot of potential.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The 'Ready Or Not' Reviews Are Saying Ahead Of Its Xbox Release
@Kaloudz As far as I know, it's very commonplace, but is just baked into the cake, as it were. We don't hear about it because most games work around it during development. For example, on PlayStation, you can't mention Taiwan as an independent state from China. I also can't really think of examples where the Chinese state is portrayed as an antagonist in a game, as opposed to Russia, for example. My assumption is China is such a dominant market that Sony doesn't want to jeopardize being able to sell there and builds these guardrails in to play it safe.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The 'Ready Or Not' Reviews Are Saying Ahead Of Its Xbox Release
@Kaloudz Yeah, I have much more critical views of the platforms' actual terms of service with regards to censorship, particularly to appease certain governments. But I don't begrudge developers acquiescing to get their games to market. It's a "hate the game, not the player" kinda situation.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The 'Ready Or Not' Reviews Are Saying Ahead Of Its Xbox Release
@Kaloudz My understanding of the situation is these alterations are just to make the game compliant with PS5 and Xbox platform publishing terms. The devs also indicated that they just didn't want to manage multiple versions to reduce the likelihood of bugs, which I can respect.
One could certainly make the "slippery slope" argument here, but I for one am not losing sleep over them removing references to sexual violence against minors.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The 'Ready Or Not' Reviews Are Saying Ahead Of Its Xbox Release
@Questionable_Duck @Kaloudz As a general practice, I'm against censorship as well, but if we're talking about the fact that "they got rid of some nudity, a few small details involving minors, and post-mortem dismemberment", then people throwing a fit over this should really self-reflect. None of that is political, none of that is philosophical. We're talking about nudity, kids, and corpse mutilation. Is that seriously the hill people want to die on?
Re: Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream Brings Its Stealth Adventure To Xbox This Week
Um. Where the hell did this come from and how did I miss it? This looks incredible! Love the setting, love the vibes. Also one of the most gorgeous isometric games I've ever seen.
Re: Rumour: Halo 1 Remake/Remaster Started Development In 2023, May Not Include Multiplayer
If this doesn't have MP, then that would be a catastrophic mistake. As much as people love the campaign (myself included), the game needs MP if you want staying power, especially if this is supposed to be the first Halo on PlayStation.
Re: Final Fantasy Dev Suggests PS5 Exclusives Are A Thing Of The Past For The Series
Exclusivity deals are good if you're worried that you won't break even for your game or if you're struggling to find funding, but if you're confident the game will be profitable, it makes no sense to limit your audience.
Re: Forza Horizon 5 Set To Overtake 2024's Game Of The Year With Over 3 Million Sales On PS5
@Rafie @Nexozi It depends on who you ask. Internally, Helldivers is considered 1st party, since Sony owns and funded the game, even if they don't own the developer.
I also wasn't insinuating that Sony would open the floodgates and bring everything over, but if Helldivers doesn't do well, they won't bring anything over after this.
Re: Forza Horizon 5 Set To Overtake 2024's Game Of The Year With Over 3 Million Sales On PS5
@Nexozi I hope that's not the case, considering tons and tons of Xbox players were asking for the port. If people don't show up for Helldivers, then I think it will be the last time Sony makes any effort to appease the Xbox community.
Re: Talking Point: What's Your Favourite Backwards Compatible Xbox Game?
Witcher 2, no question.
Re: Talking Point: To Celebrate Bungie Day, What's Your Favourite Halo Memory Of All Time?
Honestly, it was release day of Halo 4, which I remember quite vividly. It was Election Day in the USA, so I skipped all my college classes to go back home, cast my vote, and pick up Halo 4 from my local GameStop on the way back to my college apartment. Once I got back, I proceeded to smoke wayyyyy too much weed and then just mainlined Halo 4 with my roommates for the rest of the day. Absolute peak.
Re: Helldivers 2 Is Officially Releasing For Xbox This August
Team Green better turn up for this if you want more ports!
Re: Two New Black Ops 7 Game Modes Leaked Via Call Of Duty Xbox App
@Millionski Very active! I've never struggled to find a match.
Re: Two New Black Ops 7 Game Modes Leaked Via Call Of Duty Xbox App
@Lrapsody For me, it's just the map layouts, which I find a bit lacking. Maybe it's the more traditional 3-lane design Treyarch tends to go for? I think gunplay and movement are amazing though, even if I do tend to prefer the heavier feel that IW guns have.
Regarding maps, MW3 started with just a bunch of MW2 2009 remakes, but then quickly added a bunch of originals (most of which are fantastic), some more remakes, and then brought a bunch of MW2 2022 maps over.
If you play MW3 now, there are like 50 maps on rotation for TDM and I really enjoy just about all of them. I never get bored playing it.
Re: Two New Black Ops 7 Game Modes Leaked Via Call Of Duty Xbox App
I felt a bit let down by BO6's multiplayer, to be honest, and still spend most of my CoD time on MW3 MP. I'm hoping the jump to pseudo-sci-fi will reinvigorate and add a bit of freshness.
Please please please, Treyarch, remember that the MP maps are most important. Not the game modes, not omnimovement, not even the campaign. MP maps need to be solid.
Re: PS5's Stellar Blade Could Move To Switch 2, But What About Xbox?
@Questionable_Duck I broadly agree with everything you said. And don't get it twisted: I would much rather have a strong, independent, and competitive Xbox.
This whole back and forth started with another guy saying that Sony was scared of Microsoft, which is why they won't publish games on Xbox. I just don't think that's anywhere close to true. Sony knows that their brand is secure and that they don't need to play nice with Microsoft because Microsoft is coming to them anyway without any concessions from Sony.
While Microsoft could have probably made things work without all the acquisitions and Gamepass, that's the lane they went down, which has ultimately brought them here.
Re: PS5's Stellar Blade Could Move To Switch 2, But What About Xbox?
@Questionable_Duck I would agree that Xbox is nowhere near losing money and are quite profitable now, but you also have to take into account that while gross revenue is up, so is overhead. Granted, margins are up, too, but not as drastically and they'll need to continue to grow substantially to earn back the $70b that Microsoft frontloaded to get ABK in the first place. I would also note that those revenues added by ABK are, for the most part, on the PlayStation end of things.
Yes, Microsoft didn't strictly need to do anything, but growth demanded that they open up their revenue streams to satiate their shareholders. Shareholders aren't interested in console market paradigms; they're interested in dividends. I would also say that Microsoft is more interested in being the largest publisher of games in the market, rather than being the 3rd largest console manufacturer in the market.
The console wars are just for fans. Microsoft just cares about making money through Xbox. They don't much care how they do it.
Re: Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 Won't Go Super-Duper Futuristic, Confirms Activision
@Kaloudz I thought it was pretty fun in Infinite Warfare, but I get it wasn't to everyone's tastes, particularly in MP. The gameplay felt a little too quick for CoD, especially Infinity Ward games.
That said, a more grounded (quite literally) approach seems the best option.
Re: Poll: When Do You Think Xbox's Next-Gen Console Is Coming Out?
I'd say 2027, but could be sooner. Xbox needs a console gen reset as soon as possible. They basically need some feasible way to drop the Series S albatross around their proverbial necks.
Re: PS5's Stellar Blade Could Move To Switch 2, But What About Xbox?
@Gabrie Dovetailing off of what @DennisReynolds said, Microsoft first pivoted to the Gamepass model because they needed something to let them compete with Sony in the console market.
The Xbox One generation was going so bad for them that they needed something, anything, to distinguish them from the competition because 1st party exclusives weren't selling consoles the same way that they were for Sony.
Since the Xbox One and PS4 were the first true "digital" consoles, customers were quickly imbedding themselves in their preferred ecosystems. Once imbedded, it would be too late to switch because customers want to keep their libraries and achievements/trophies.
Now that console sales have plummeted even further with the Series generation, Microsoft needed to pivot to a multiplatform approach because Gamepass and game sales were not meeting revenue expectations.
This is all to say that, while I applaud Microsoft for being able to pivot when it needs to, none of this has to do with Microsoft/Xbox wanting to change. It has everything to do with them needing to change. If Xbox games didn't go multiplatform, generating tons of revenue through actual game sales (not subscriptions), I would expect Microsoft to pack up the entire project.
Sony isn't afraid of Xbox. They love Xbox because now they get a 30% cut of every single sale that Xbox games have in their own ecosystem. They just have no interest in playing the same game as Xbox - they simply don't need to.
Re: PS5's Stellar Blade Could Move To Switch 2, But What About Xbox?
Sony published Stellar Blade. Therefore, not coming to Xbox.
Re: Opinion: The Best Call Of Duty Of The Xbox One Era Hits Game Pass Later This Month
@Tasuki I love the MP maps in MW 2019, but that's just taste, so I can't really say you're wrong for not liking them. SBMM makes just about every match sweaty, but I've never agreed that it "punishes good players and rewards bad players." It just means that high-skill players don't get the feeling of being a god when playing with players well below their skill level. Finally, while I agree that I don't like "off-brand" skins, go back and play any older CoD games (including WW2) and you'll find plenty of wildly out-of-pocket skins. It's not a new phenomenon.
Re: Opinion: The Best Call Of Duty Of The Xbox One Era Hits Game Pass Later This Month
MW 2019 is the clear highpoint of the Xbone era, but WW2 is great, too. The campaign and MP are fantastic, but the gunplay and MP maps for MW 2019 are just a cut above.
Re: Opinion: I've Never Liked JRPGs, But Xbox's New FF16 Demo Has Me Hooked
@Kezelpaso FF is an anthology series, so not knowing anything about the world is expected. None of us did when we first booted it up. I'm also not a big JRPG guy and I loved XVI. Show some support to Square and pick it up! You won't regret it!
Re: Reaction: Xbox's Third-Party Strategy Is Finally Making Sense To Me
I suppose how you come down on this argument hinges on a couple things: do you care more about future Xbox games or the Xbox console ecosystem and your current library?
Full disclosure, I was a Xbox 360 user, but switched to Sony in the PS4 generation. I have a Xbox One that I bought from a friend a couple years ago and use it every once in a while to play the MCC, Witcher 2, etc., but by and large, I'm a PlayStation user.
With all that said, I think Microsoft has done lots more pro-consumer moves than Sony since the Xbox One generation (I'm thinking Play Anywhere and Back Compatibility, specifically). Was that due to Microsoft's desire to stay competitive when they were bleeding users? Probably. But those features remain pretty exceptional for their userbase.
I totally get the resistance in the Xbox userbase to Microsoft moving to a 3rd party publisher model. You don't want your existing library to become segmented off from the future of gaming, nor do you want to be forced to relinquish those pro-consumer features to a colder, less friendly ecosystem.
BUT, given the perpetual state of games libraries in today's era and users' unwillingness to relinquish those libraries, I don't see any scenario where Xbox gains console users from PlayStation in the future, unless as a secondary console.
So, if Microsoft wants to be profitable with an increasingly shrinking console userbase, they need to publish elsewhere. My hope is that they use that cashflow to keep their console ecosystem alive, but Sony will never willingly seed that ground, so Microsoft needs to play by Sony's rules to stay alive.