Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@BlueOcean I saw that on Twitter too. I also did not have a 360 and have not experienced blades UI but everyone I know it is a big fan of it and was sad to see it go

@Balta666 At least on the website it looks nice.

With the final Gears 5 season over, the game icon has returned back to its launch state (the big image of Kait in her winter outfit from the campaign) which is a nice touch. I don't know whether the splash screen is also from launch as I didn't buy Gears 5 at launch but it isn't a season splash screen.

@Grumblevolcano I saw that when an update popped up for it yesterday. It's not a major thing, but I was still happy to see that as I think the ever changing game icons for games that have multiplayer seasons like that is pretty stupid.

The media notices PS5 games are more expensive to buy than Xbox games:

https://www-nme-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nme.com/news/g...

@BlueOcean "Despite this, Xbox has still failed to reach the affordability of Nintendo and its most popular franchises. Critically acclaimed games such as Metroid Dread and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl both released at the £50 mark. However, it could be argued that this is because Xbox is working with more advanced hardware."

Wow, talk about looking at things from an outside perspective. Nintendo games are affordable? They never go down in price! At least the prices of both Xbox and PlayStation games get drastically reduced over time.

But yeah, if there's one console that has affordable games, it's Xbox. Not only are the games cheaper to buy than PS5 games, you can also play them through Game Pass. This is on top of Microsoft offering Series S as a cheaper system than Series X. Their focus on affordability will definitely help them gain more traction in the long run.

@LtSarge The part about Nintendo is jarring. Nintendo is the most expensive long-term: first-party games are priced AAA even when they're not AAA and pay low salaries to a small team (Metroid Dread), prices stay high four years later (Breath of the Wild), ports are overpriced and there is no cross-buy option nor backwards compatibility since Switch, previous accessories are not compatible since Switch...

I guess nobody really said that you have to be smart to work in the media.

This is very interesting:

Granted, it's only one week but I still can't help but think that Xbox is steadily gaining more momentum in Japan when compared to PlayStation. Affordability with Series S and accessibility with Game Pass are surely the primary reasons why a person in Japan would choose an Xbox over a PlayStation, especially when considering that Microsoft is doing a decent job of including Japanese games in the service.

It's also worth mentioning that these are only hardware numbers. It would be more interesting to see how many people are subscribed to Game Pass in Japan.

@LtSarge Very interesting, indeed. More than the media noticing that PS5 are more expensive @KilloWertz 😲 but the pricing getting included in the equation is meaningful because it's usually about the "exclusives" and how better PS exclusives supposedly are. I've read articles that say "PS have the exclusives. Xbox has Game Pass" What do they mean? That you can buy Xbox games on PC or that Xbox don't have exclusives? Or that only PS exclusives matter?!

It's amazing seeing Xbox performing so well in Japan. I honestly didn't expect it.

@BlueOcean Did I get accidentally tagged?

While I'm here though, I would take it that they mean that Xbox doesn't have the exclusives. In a sense, I would agree with them, although that narrative will have to change within a few years at most. Things are finally getting back to the way they were way back in the day.

Because of that comment 😂.

The narrative should change. Quiet first year on both Series X and PS5, in between.

@BlueOcean The thing is that the PS exclusives that Sony is known for aren't really that popular in Japan. Games like Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Spider-Man and so on appeal more to a Western audience. Even a game like Ghost of Tsushima, which takes place in Japan, has still that western feel to it. If anything, it's Nintendo exclusives that the Japanese people want more. That's why Microsoft has to approach the Japanese market cautiously so that they won't push their "Western titles" on them. And honestly, I think their current approach with Game Pass is going great so far but there's still a long way to go. More Japanese offerings need to be added to the service and I personally think it would be awesome if Microsoft could acquire at least one publisher in Japan in order to make that happen. I've mentioned this before but I would love for Square Enix to be part of Xbox Game Studios. I don't think Microsoft needs more than them. After all, they have Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, the Chrono series, the Mana series, SaGa and those are only the JRPG franchises. Add to that Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Just Cause and Life is Strange and you got some series that will appeal to a Western audience as well.

I truly believe that if Microsoft acquired Square Enix that it would be an absolute force to be reckoned with in the Japanese gaming market. The Japanese people already love playing their games on smart devices. Now imagine if you could access any Square Enix games on your smart devices with Project xCloud. Since Japan has a great online infrastructure, that would make Game Pass Ultimate such an appealing service for them.

@LtSarge Xbox is selling much better than previous gen but I would not read that Xbox is very close to ps5 in demand atm. I believe is more a case of Sony ignoring Japan and not providing systems.

@BlueOcean to be fair PlayStation is trying to do the same thing as Nintendo in terms of exclusives. Why would they lower the peixes if the games keep selling regardless. I would even add that one reason games like FF vii or guardians of the Galaxy underperformed is because people know games for third parties lower their preciso ratter quickly.
Also the biggest markets factor of PlayStation is their exclusives and of Xbox is game pass. I don't see nothing strange about that (gamepass was the reason I bought a Xbox and not a ps5 for instance)

@LtSarge That would have a great impact on the Japanese market, indeed. I have considered smaller companies like Koei Tecmo.

@Balta666 The fact that it has already surpassed Xbox One even if that means that is selling "more than nothing" is meaningful.

I agree, Sony is becoming like Nintendo in that sense, they're making their exclusives more expensive than ever and first-party sales are being restricted. They used to be 50% off and now they are 33% off. They also said that people have to buy the PS5 version of PS4 games separately but, because of the backlash, they backtracked. Nintendo is the worst with their overpriced ports and their A and AA games priced as AAA games, though.

I partially agree as Xbox one is not an example as it sold only about 100000 units... Xbox 360 sold around 1.6M and that is something a new system from Microsoft should target imo to be consider successful in the market

@Balta666 If Series X/S sell more than 1.6M in Japan that would be a resounding success because we have to consider the fact that Cloud didn't exist until now.

@BlueOcean is hard for me to agree that Nintendo is worst than Sony in this regard when the prices on the US went up 10$ but in europe, canada, Australia, etc went up double than that in most cases. It is kind of ridiculous