Topic: General Xbox Series X|S Thread

@BAMozzy Honestly if I wanted to play Xbox on the go I have my phone. All I would have to get is something like the Backbone. I would sooner do that then by a handheld console, and it's cheaper too.

@Banjo- Yeah guess we dont know how the system at MS works. I was more thinking about the possibility to stack up after the change when the new system is in place.

The way I see it, MS's new Game Pass changes have now become more akin to Sony's PS+
PS+ Essential/Game Pass Core - offers Online access and 24-36ish Games - Sony's are offered monthly and MS's are always available but will get rotated out. Both $10 a month but GPC is $75 vs Sony's $80 a year
PS+ Extra/Game Pass Standard - offers a large Collection of old and 'newer' games but won't get the big First Party AAA games Day/date (nothing to say either won't offer indies or some 3rd party games day/date, maybe Online games with other monetisation built in - like Season passes etc) but neither offer their biggest 1st party games day/date. Both of these are also $15 a month

The 'Premium/ultimate' tier is different in that Sony offers PS1-PS3 titles where as MS will offer Day 1 new Releases. You do get Game Pass PC, Game Pass Cloud and EA Access too with Ultimate but its the 'top' tier in both Services and more tailored to each individual platform holder. So maybe the Day 1 vs 'old' PS1-PS3 games is why this is the most expensive of the two 'premium' tiers at $20 vs $18 on Sony

I'm not happy about the Price increase either - especially after it went up relatively recently and they did say they wouldn't put prices up. We all know though that you can shop around to get 'better' prices than stated.

So whilst I am NOT happy with the Price increase, it would still seem to be in-line with the Market Leader (as in Sony). Game Pass Core and Standard have the same monthly cost, Game Pass Standard and PS+ Extra have the same monthly cost and neither offer 1st Party Big releases day date and its their Premium sub services where they differ - one offering really old games, the other offering new releases day/date but slightly more expensive a month.

Again NOT justifying MS's price increases but trying to put it into perspective. You can often shop around, do activities (MS Rewards for example) and/or find loopholes to get things cheaper on both platforms so I'm only comparing based on both Sony and Microsoft's own Blog posts on pricing - but the fact is that the pricing isn't that different on EITHER console. Whether it's still 'worth' it though will come down to individual choice - its not as though any game is 'exclusive' to a Sub Service and if you don't Subscribe, you can't buy the game to play instead. Its more about whether you'd rather have the option to play on a Sub service instead of having to pay £70 up front for, having a Sub service for a library of games to try (even if not Day 1) to bulk out your options, or just paying for online access and whatever 'games' that lets you play is a bonus - whether the extras of each 'higher' tier offers enough of a reason (like Day 1 releases, Play Anywhere on PC/Cloud, EA Access etc) to justify the cost to you.

In my case, with a Gaming Laptop & Handheld PC as well as a Series X, its still a no brainer to remain on GPU as I get the benefits of Game Pass for PC. I also have a Samsung TV with Game Pass built in so I can take advantage of Game Pass Cloud. And with games like BO6, Stalker 2, Indiana Jones and Avowed expected in the next 'few' months left of 2024, I'll get my moneys worth. I still get 'value' - maybe 'more' now because MS seem to have 'more' games coming - MSFS, Fable, Perfect Dark, Clockwork Revolution, South of Midnight, Doom the Dark Ages, Gears of War: E-Day etc....

@Tasuki yeah - I think that's what MS would expect most to do so making their own Handheld Console probably wouldn't sell in the quantity they'd need to make it 'cheap' enough with Bulk orders of Chips etc..

It seems better to support existing Hardware like Mobiles (hence buying King too) and Handheld PC's as that is where the bulk of the market is...

General question to all; how do you feel about Microsoft not marketing to EMEA (assuming the rumors are true)? As someone living in Kuwait, I’m definitely disappointed by this. Xbox is already not very popular here despite the price and benefits it has. If this is true, it’s likely a tone-deaf move on Microsoft’s end or a big sign of things to (not) come. There’s really one more console left tops, after that it’s gonna be pretty bizarre if this current site becomes about a legacy system.

I’m obviously not one to sing doom n gloom so soon but there’s very little positive signs to latch onto. All the small negatives are piling up, all the rumors turn out true, game pass becomes less appealing, this is really a death by a thousand papercut scenario, it’s only when you look at the totality of it all rather than isolate incidents that a very clear picture is painted.

Oh well, preserving this photo in case it turns into a capsule into my final wishlist. Didn’t even make it with that in mind, things only hit me now.

@Yousef- While I do not think that the Xbox will be done anytime soon or that Microsoft is going to leave the console market very fast, I do believe that parts of the strategy they have are bad, even though I have Xbox as my main gaming console and like it a lot and think it has some good games on there.

Every time Microsoft does something good and seems to turn things around, they always follow it up with a bad, heavily disliked move that alienates its userbase, and to add, Microsoft is poor at communicating when stuff like this pops up. Remember when rumors ran rampant back in February or March about every single Microsoft exclusive game becoming multiplat and Microsoft did not immediately state anything about it to quell worries about Xbox not having a future or to lessen the damage done to the brand? They don't communicate with their consumers well, and it just results in so much damage in the long run. The poor communication is probably why out of the Big Three, Microsoft seems to have the most negative rumors made about them that everyone believes easily, since bad decision-making is pretty much expected from them.

I don't mind the games going multiplatform, since I do think games for everyone on every console is great and I think it could work (as long as it is not ALL the games) but the stuff like the constant Game Pass price hikes and how much they are downgrading the cheapest sub to push for people to purchase the expensive subs is just a really bad move, and I pretty much won't be subbing to Game Pass anytime soon because of that. The last time I'll likely use it is with the $1.00 Game Pass Ultimate deal for 14 days, but after that, I don't know if I will resubscribe since the fee buildup will be too much for me. I found so much value in it initially despite what people had been saying before this point, but now I sort of don't now that the Console sub is permanently retired and is going to be replaced with a worse version soon. Microsoft potentially ceasing marketing in certain territories is pretty bad since it'll lower console sales. Even though Xbox does poorly and is not well known in the EMEA, some consoles sold are better than none, so why would they stop there?

I don't think Microsoft, however, will stop selling Xboxes soon or cease game development now since they poured billions and billions into buying and establishing studios to make games, plus they still have several titles (both known and unrevealed) that are to drop on the console in the future. I'll likely still be using my Xbox until the day I die, but I really do wonder now what Xbox will be like in the future, given that a lot of consumers don't want to stick around for longer with what they have been doing as of late. I also do wonder what will happened to the game club on this site, given everyone has stated that they are now unsubscribing.

@Banjo- Will likey do the same.

@Yousef- As much as we LOVE the Console, its clear that it's not the ONLY option for gamers or for Microsoft to get gamers into their ecosystem. With Cloud and PC options too, MS can still reach that market and get people into their ecosystem. If they can't sell enough Consoles because those markets are 'choosing' to access Xbox primarily through PC or Cloud, then why keep pushing money into trying to get those into the Console.

SteamDeck and Handheld PC's, whilst not 'Xbox' Consoles also offer 'Xbox' games day/date and if they 'prefer' to play on the go, they'll buy these over a Series S/X too and now with Samsung TV's and Amazon Firesticks, they can get the 'casual', the gamer on a 'tight' budget etc - a small monthly fee to play a LOT of games.

By the time the 'next' gen of Consoles comes, who knows what 'Mobile' tech can offer - not just 'streaming', but the chips inside these 'small' and portable devices - inc Handheld Gaming PC's. AI too is advancing so these devices could use AI upsampling, AI frame gen etc to deliver fantastic visuals, play the latest games etc and have a 'bigger' library than ANY Xbox or Playstation console. So maybe gamers will dictate if there is still enough of a 'Console' market for Microsoft or whether their Strategy has moved those gamers more towards PC (for Native gaming) or Cloud. After all, Streaming is the most popular way people consume other Media but Hardcore Music or Movie buffs for example will still prefer high end hardware for the 'best' experience. With MS, they have the streaming option and 'custom' Hardware option (PC) ranging from 'Handheld' low spec hardware up to the very best Desktop build to suit a wide range of budgets.

As I said, I'd like to think that there would be enough of a Market for a Console from MS but I think it will become the 'least' popular device for playing 'Xbox' with PC's dominating the 'native' experience and Cloud becoming the most common. You don't see 'Hifi' systems these days or really Bluray/DVD players that much anymore. So I do wonder whether we will see Consoles as Chips get more and more powerful, AI too is advancing rapidly so maybe people will not buy 'consoles' when their hardware already plays those games.

Instead of a 'new' Xbox, maybe we will get a Surface Handheld PC with some way to 'dock' to a Monitor/TV for the 'big screen'...

Game Pass Standard not offering Day 1 despite MS saying 'every' game will come to Game Pass Day 1 - funny how a year ago when 'Gold' became 'Game Pass' Core, that no-one expected Day 1 games or complained about MS saying every game will come to Game Pass day 1 and now should expect to get Day 1 in that too...

I bet no one even knew they had a 'Game Pass Console' tier or subscribed to it - because they would also 'need' Game Pass Core - 2 Subscriptions. Therefore they either chose Core for Online access or 'Ultimate' for Day 1 Games and big Library in 'one' convenient package.

Until they changed, Game Pass tiers were 'odd'
Game Pass Core - online access and 30ish games - NO Day 1
Game Pass Console - a larger library of games inc Day 1, but NO Online access
Game Pass Ultimate - Game Pass Core, Console, PC and Cloud as well as EA Access

So you'd need Core and Console to play ALL the games/Content in the Console tier otherwise a large amount of that content was behind another Paywall

Now
Game Pass Core - online access and 30ish games - NO Day 1
Game Pass Standard - Game Pass Core + a much larger Library (no Day 1)
Game Pass Ultimate - Game Pass Standard + Day 1 and Game Pass PC/Cloud as well as EA Access

Now each is a Single Sub and each allows you access to the FULL Content (inc Online) offered - whether 30ish games with Core or Day1 with Ultimate...

Apart from the 'price' increase to Ultimate, I'm NOT affected and I bet the entire Console playerbase aren't affected either (other than prices) as none were Subscribed ONLY to Game Pass 'Console', the ONLY tier that has changed by swapping out Day 1 in favour of enabling Subscribers to play 'Online' and have access to ALL content offered in Game Pass, not just 'offline' content (without a 2nd Subscription to GPCore). As I said, I bet 99.999% of Console Game Pass Subscribers either sub to Core (no Day 1 but Sub for Online access) or Ultimate because it was the most convenient and single Sub solution.

@Yousef- @Pastellioli There have been way too many negative rumours about Xbox that were false since the Zenimax acquisition. Microsoft will still be making consoles because there is no reason not to for a software and hardware company that has become one of the most important -if not the most- publishers worldwide and that is ahead of Sony in gaming revenue after the acquisition of ABK.

Their business strategy and economy includes, of course, PC and mobile, so I'm not sure how much will they market consoles in the future. In most territories, Xbox consoles haven't been advertised for years. They probably should try harder about that, because consoles are part of the business, even if the console market is limited.

There is an "Xbox is doomed" mantra online and a new Xbox drama every week, but numbers say that everything is fine, because the number of consoles sold doesn't mean much this generation, just look at Sony and how worried they are about their exclusives not selling enough on PS5. The important thing here is that Microsoft earn billions just with subscriptions every year, not to mention the digital store. Nintendo is doing great with hardware and software, especially because many of the games are full-priced ports, but I don't know if Switch successor will be as profitable. I doubt it.

EDIT: On top of the drama, there are fake news, like when it was reported that Hellblade II was not even the 100th best-selling game at launch, Ben using a physical releases chart as source. Hellblade II wasn't released physically. Truth is, it debuted in 10th on the Steam (digital) charts, in spite of being a Game Pass title on console and PC.

@Banjo- I don't believe the "Xbox is doomed" thing, also cuz it's been done to death so many times. I still doubt that Microsoft is going to retire the Xbox entirely also because of the studios it has under its helm (Xbox Game Studios, ZeniMax Media, and Activision-Blizzard) and I do feel that is a very unrealistic thing for most people to believe. While it is good to hear that the Xbox is still financially stable and that they are working on the next console already, I still think that they should improve upon parts of their strategy, like trying harder to market them instead of possibly stopping marketing them in certain countries and not always hiking up the prices of Game Pass, since that is alienating a lot of people right now. When fake news does come around on the internet, I think Microsoft should be faster with addressing the "news" to stop more damage from spreading and to quell worries. It's something I don't think they are good at doing.

I do think the fake news that is being made is also detrimental to the brand because although it did turn out that Microsoft is going with the multiplatform strategy for a few of their games, every single "leaker" claimed that every exclusive is going multiplatform but I am sure Microsoft did say that there still would be exclusives, and not every title would go multiplatform. Plus, in a lot of those reports, most of the time it's said that a specific game going multiplatform is "considered" and not decided on yet, so plans could change and aren't set in stone. It's why I don't take some news and "leaks" seriously or with a grain of salt, since some people do easily believe them and it can spread false info, plus, there was this whole fiasco last month during the summer gaming season with these two trusted "leakers" who completely fumbled their jobs and are pretty much not trusted anymore.

@Banjo- @Pastellioli it does seem like Microsoft in general needs a better PR mouth piece. Phil has been kinda acting out that role but I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s got his hands tied behind his back.

Also truth be told here, I’ve had a much longer, much more extensive reply in mind. But my internet crapped on me and it got deleted by my device and I can’t remember most of what I said since that was two days ago and I’m still annoyed by it so this is incredibly shorter. I hope I’ll remember more later.

@Pastellioli Everything you said is right. The fake news and made-up rumours spread quickly, but also when they are denied officially, you barely see anyone referring to the facts! Like the example I posted above, but there are dozens of them.

Microsoft could certainly market Xbox a lot better, but I'm not completely sure about denying every piece of fake news or rumour, because Nintendo and Sony don't address them and being the only one doing so is like accepting being targeted constantly.

Xbox is targeted constantly, anyway. When the "leakers" and "insiders" said that Microsoft was dropping hardware, releasing every game for PS5 and that Call of Duty was not going to be included in Game Pass, Microsoft denied all that around a week later in a podcast. A few days later, more gloomy rumours started showing up already. Some people have made a living out of this.

The agony of Xbox is an online mirage exaggerated by some posters. If you talk in real life (or party chat), 99.99% of Xbox players aren't worried about any of this. I'm sure that Microsoft isn't that worried either when they see their financial reports.

However, Microsoft shouldn't rest on their laurels. Firstly, they need to supervise all their teams properly, because some of them have been working in chaos, like The Initiative until Crystal Dynamics came to the rescue. Secondly, they should improve their current marketing efforts, even if it's as simple as marketing certain games and the platforms where you can play them on. I thought that they stopped doing that because of the ABK acquisition, so we might be surprised by a marketing campaign when Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is out come October.

@Yousef I know how that feels.

Good list. A lot of titles hold up. Onenchenbara and OG Ninja Gaiden 2 come to Mind.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CvgOBmyrBF4&t=278s

What do you guys been up to lately? Any games you’re playing or excited for? I’m planning to pre order a few games close to their release. Besides that, I’ve just been on my steam deck a lot.

@Yousef- I beat a few games and posted about them on Last Game You Beat.

I just noticed that Crash Bandicoot N.sane Trilogy is the third most popular title on Game Pass right now, just behind FC24 and Minecraft, sandwiched between them, Forza and Call of Duty. This proves that Xbox users do like platformers. Please, Microsoft, time for Banjo-Kazooie!

@Banjo- thank you, and I agree. Platformers belong on Xbox too!

@Banjo- Oh golly oh gosh, I would die if a new Banjo game happened…I need one so badly! So many of Rare’s platformers are in need of modern revivals…

@Pastellioli You couldn't have said it better! I was surprised to see Crash so high on the ranking. There are so many great IPs there, especially Rare's IPs: Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, Viva Piñata, Jet Force Gemini and, well yeah, Grabbed by the Ghoulies. I loved that one on Rare Replay (1080p 60fps).

@Banjo- So many of their old IPs had so much potential and a ton of great ideas that could have been expanded upon a lot with new entries. I wish a few of them made it in the modern day...