Topic: Xbox Feelings

I don't want this to turn into a Hi my name is .... and I've been an Xbox player since AA meeting lol.

But for the past few weeks I played on my PS5 and I felt there was something missing in me, I like the fact you can stream on YouTube and there are exclusives, but that was it.

Where when I play on my Xbox, I feel more excitement and look forward to the game shows and Game Pass stuff, more than the PS+ stuff.

Is there something going on considering I had a PS1, 2, 3, 4 and now 5 and I just do the feel an attachment.

Sorry if this is all too mushy, but I had to write it somewhere, I've been feeling like this for months

lol. That kind of makes sense. It's like dating.
Xbox is that guy that sometimes makes some really dumb choices, or says the wrong thing at the wrong time. But they genuinely are trying to make an effort to be there and keep us.
Playstation on the other hand has increasingly felt like the guy that takes us for granted and always assumes we're going to follow them everywhere and so he just does whatever he wants.

Btw, I also love the PS1-4 so I get it.
Weird, lol.
Anyways, welcome to PureXbox!

@Vipor007 Well, I think it could maybe be the quality and how interactive Microsoft could be with their audience. I am also pretty excited for their game show next month!

Xbox has some features that PlayStation does not have, such as Quick Resume, which I have heard a lot of people here positively comment on. To add on, they have a huge focus on backwards compatibility and recently formed a new team to work on game preservation again; I have heard some opinions on it, and most say that Sony does fine or good on backwards compatibility, but don’t do it as well. I though, cannot give an opinion on it, as I think it would be unfair for me to comment on something I haven’t really used at all.

Game Pass has three versions; a PC version, a Console version, and Ultimate. PlayStation Plus similarly has this as well, being Essential, Extra, and Premium. While ordinary Game Pass does have differences with Ultimate and PC (the latter two coming with online multiplayer and an EA Play membership unlike the original version) most games, both new and old, are not locked away. PS+ has a library of older and newer games and does a lot of things similar to Game Pass, but older games are not available on the cheaper tiers, and you have to pay for the more expensive tier to get access.

I also think the excitement toward the game shows could be that Microsoft had announced several anticipated games, and likely has a ton of them in development that have yet to be announced, so I think the mystery surrounding some of these games makes it all the more exciting when brought up by Microsoft again.

For Sony, while likely having a ton of new games in development that I believe are for sure going to turn out great and get amazing reception, said they don’t plan on releasing any major first-party games this year, and I have heard PlayStation users also discuss how they feel Sony’s current roadmap and game plans are empty or unknown. To add on, they have unfortunately been having to cancel games behind the scenes after saying they were going to focus on developing live-service titles, which they appear to be backtracking on.

I’m just guessing a little here on why you might feel that way! I’m not trying to start a “console war” or hate on Sony and PlayStation at all. It’s fine if people don’t use an Xbox or prefer something else over it, and I still think PlayStation is good

@Utena-mobile I just spewed everything out, so I didnt know if it made sense lol

@Pastellioli I like both consoles, I just feel a bit more excited over what Xbox are doing

@Vipor007 I can understand too. I really like Xbox a ton and I am pretty excited about what Microsoft has been doing with it… I really can’t wait to see what they have to show in June!

Xbox has always been more on the fun side compared to playstation going all the way back to the OG XBOX & PS2. 4 controller slots for 4 player games , Xbox live, etc i always saw xbox as a mix between sonys hardware and capability, & nintendo’s quirkiness and fun. Playstation was for single players and their exclusives , while Xbox was for everything else including their own fun multiplayer exclusives . the xbox 360 furthered this sentiment with how interesting the dashboard was and xbox live arcade - it gave a since of community and an experience , while the ps3 was…dull . Though that nearly changed when the ps4 came out , and it was what i consider to be the spiritual successor to the xbox360 ; sony learned from the xbox360 and made the playstation experience as exciting as ever.

but for some reason they’ve did a complete 180 , and the ps5 is the opposite of what the ps4 was. it’s in my opinion, the worst and most boring playstation console to date simply coasting on the success of the previous generation; as phil spencer said - xbox chose the worst generation to lose, because the core playstation user base is too established in their ecosystem now.

with all that being said, i still love playstation , xbox, nintendo because i love video games and play wherever the fun game is. i always have my preferences but they’re always subject to change because each brand does something better for a while until another does. and despite me criticizing the ps3 , it’s actually my favorite playstation console of all time and 3rd favorite console of all time.

Haha. It feels a little weird to go back and read this after the doom and gloom news that came out today.

But you know what? I think it's best to just be happy with whatever console you play on. At the end of the day it's not really about the platform, but the games and the stories, experiences, and emotions those games bring.
I'm happy you're finding the Xbox exciting.

After the news yesterday, I must admit it was rather disappointing. No-one wants to hear about Job Losses or Studio Closures - when Xbox needs Games to release at least 1 'big' game a quarter, this seems to be somewhat counter productive.

I would have thought that Studio's/Devs would be the safest in this situation - can't say the same for the 'Publishing' side of Zenimax as they do the SAME job as MS's Publishing side - same with the PR and Events - Zenimax, ABK and MS all had their own 'events' and events teams.

As a Gamer, the last thing I wanted to hear about were Studio closures as that seems to directly impact on 'me' - fewer Studio's, fewer games in development etc.

However, I have had some time to think about the Situation. MS wasn't just buying the Studio's, it was buying the IP's, the Publishing rights etc and whilst they may have desperately wanted Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom or Wolfenstein, maybe even the Studio's and the tech behind those games, they may have had to take 'everything'. 2 of those Studio's had 'no' impact on me (Roundhouse and Alpha Dog Games) and of the remainder, I'd think that Tango/Arkane Austin were most at risk - Redfall and Prey certainly didn't sell that well, neither did the Evil Within 2. Whilst the Studio's maybe gone now, MS owns the IP's and Publishing rights. Whilst Arkane Austin is closing, Infinity Ward opened a new Studio in Austin, Texas so I hope that most staff can and/or are kept employed.

If I'm being honest, I think 343i were more at risk than Tango. MS wanted more impact on the Japanese market and Hifi Rush was Critically acclaimed and now on more Platforms too. 343i have disappointed in their time with Halo and with developers like id Software, MachineGames, Treyarch, Infinity Ward etc - developers of Doom, Wolfenstein, Call of Duty etc (some of the biggest FPS games), they have numerous studio's/tech to 'reboot' Halo.

I don't like hearing about closures or job losses, but I also know that Companies, especially when merging 2 (or more) extremely similar businesses will have MANY people doing the SAME jobs etc. I also know that they buy 'everything', even though they may not really want 'everything' (have to take the Trash with the Treasures - for want of a better analogy). At some point, they have to 'streamline' - its not as if Zenimax would still 'exist' if MS hadn't bought them, they could have been bought by Embracer for its IP's/Publishing rights and closed down too.

Maybe I'm trying to rationalise a bit in my head after hearing the news...

Like a you need to buy as a job Lot - everything must go type thing

@Vipor007 Well if you buy a 'Studio' like UnDead Labs for example - you are specifically buying the Creators of Games that may not own IP's or Publishing Rights to their games. Buying a Publisher, you may want the IP's and Publishing Rights, but may not want EVERY Studio or Every IP - Some 'old' IP's they acquire maybe 'dead' but you have to take them with the rest. No-one would complain if MS never made a 'Pitfall' game now they own that IP but they acquired that in getting Call of Duty.

MS also has its own Publishing division, Events division, Marketing division etc so a lot of cross-over jobs too. Don't need 3 events Managers (one for MS, one for Zenimax and another for ABK), that could be 'merged' into 1 job.

Another aspect that has occured to me over the past day or so is that we don't know how the ABK deal that we know took 'longer' than anticipated, it was due to complete by June 2023 but went on until Oct 2023. That may have 'Cost' MS more than expected and/or the Concessions they had to make to get it over the line could have had a bigger impact on their Future plans. Having to give Ubisoft Cloud Streaming rights in the UK for example may have affected MS's plans forcing them to cut back.

As I said, as a Gamer I am disappointed although if I am being honest, two of the 4 closures meant 'nothing' to me as Roundhouse and Alpha Dog never released anything of interest to me. Tango's last game I 'played' was Evil Within (I bought 2 but never played) and that wasn't great. Ghostwire and Hifi Rush never appealed. Arkane too haven't released Games I really enjoy - Redfall wasn't great, Prey had nothing to do with 'Prey' and I wanted 'Prey 2' much more than what we got so didn't play. I wouldn't play Deathloop either - it just doesn't appeal. But MachineGames, idSoftware and Bethesda, particularly the first 2, have released games I would buy - Doom, Wolfenstein, Fallout, Starfield.

In such a rapidly changing market, What was 'true' 2yrs ago can be completely different today. Since 2021, we have now seen Handheld PC's and several generations of RT/AI technology. You can 'almost' match a Series S on Specs now in such a small, handheld form factor. Growth has slowed down too - not just in Subscription Services, but in Hardware and Game Sales too so projections from 2 years ago would be very different. If the industry has Plateaued, they aren't getting the 'income' they projected and therefore can't 'invest' in as many Projects.

Anyway, I was just trying to be Rational despite being very disappointed and feeling angry at MS/Phil Spencer. I know it sucks for those Studios and people (inc us Gamers) that are affected, but we don't know the truth and throwing money just because they are 'MS' and earning money through other areas of their business at 'Gaming' to offset 'losses' is not great either.

@BAMozzy The Bethesda deal was what made me Seal the deal on getting the Seties X as I couldn't not play any future ID or Bethesda games in general

I think if they made Pitfall and other smaller games thrn it would help fill out Game Pass with the big COD games helping with the sales

@Vipor007 As I said, I'm just trying to rationalise the situation. When MS bought Zenimax, from my perspective at the time, Bethesda had disappointed (F76), wasn't interested in Deathloop/Ghostwire, didn't like Prey/Dishonoured and even Wolfenstein (Youngblood) seemed a miss-step after two great Games. Doom and Doom Eternal were Good fun.

Therefore If I was buying Zenimax - For its IP's/Publishing primarily as that's where the money is - Studio's need 'time' & 'money' to make Games to start making money, if things got tough financially, those 4 studio's would likely be the first to go.

What I meant by Pitfall was that its a 'dead' IP right now, no money coming in from it and no plan to bring it back. Therefore MS probably wasn't bothered about owning that IP but it came as part of the CoD, WoW, Diablo 'package' that they did really want. The fact they own 'Pitfall' now doesn't mean that they really wanted it and had long term plans for it. You could say the same for some of the Studio's - they may really of wanted Bethesda, MachineGames and id Software, wanted Doom, Wolfenstein, Fallout etc, maybe even the id tech engine and/or talent behind it and to get all that, they also had to take the rest of Zenimax too - whether they really wanted it and/or had long term plans.

Circumstances have changed quite a bit over the past few years and the world isn't investing as much of their Cash into Leisure activities as much - being far more selective and with more uncertainty and tensions rising globally, things are certainly not the way they were 2 or 3yrs ago. Markets that were 'open' to sell games are closed/restricted and an uncertain future is impacting the leisure market which would have a big impact on the 'big' Publishers and their predicted 'growth' roadmap..

My Feelings?

6 to midnight.

@DoomGuy_117 i dont get it but i still chuckled, haha

I've also had a PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 (and even a PSVita!), but for some reason PS5 doesn't resonate with me, I couldn't explain why, but it's not attractive to me. In any case, I think that Sony changed a lot with PS3 and since then it has not been the same.

To be honest, something similar happens to me with Xbox, the X360 was amazing, but XOne and XSeries for me have not been the same, although I still like them for GamePass and the achievement system, which I love.

What others may have missed, Since MS has acquired ABK, they have actually added 2 'new' Studio's to that group. Infinity Ward opened a new Studio in Austin, Texas and have just opened a New Studio in Poland - Elsewhere Studios.

MS has a few Studio's in Austin and may well have closed Arkane as it would have been too much to build that Studio up to get 'Product' from them whilst their other Studios already have games in development and may need some 'investment' and staff they could move from Arkane. They did say that the Studio was closing but not ALL staff were let go. They still have Arkane Lyon and ALL the IP's like Prey, Dishonored etc.

I keep hearing that MS can't afford to put CoD on Game Pass and lose out on Sales. However, the vast majority of CoD sales are on Playstation - they won't leave PS where the game costs £70 to play on their Hardware to spend £500 + a monthly Sub to play CoD. Over a year, it will cost them more in Sub fees to keep playing. On top of that, Game Pass only ever gives you access to the 'Base' Game - a game that has Season Passes as well as countless Cosmetic bundles, CoD points etc. You'll likely need the Prestige edition to get the 'first' Season Pass included and no doubt, MS will charge a fee to upgrade your 'free' game-pass base game to the 'Prestige' edition for the extra content. ABK would only get about 70% of sales on Xbox money anyway. Sell £100m worth of content, get £70m. On Xbox, MS get 100% now so effectively can sell 'less' to get the same money ABK had coming in from Xbox sales - and that's not just the 'base' game, but all the extras too.

Only sell 5m on Xbox, that's only 5m people they have to buy Season Passes, to buy Cosmetic Bundles, CoD points etc. Get 30m in because of Game Pass, that's a LOT bigger market to sell those extras too. Granted some of that 30m may not spend any extra, they had GP so used it to play the Campaign, then next month play whatever else was on Game Pass so stay Subbed anyway. Some of those will go on to buy extras etc but most of the '30m' would not have played as the game only sells about 5m on Xbox. Get 10m playing regularly, buying Season Passes and 'extras', the 'extra' players now on Xbox with MS getting 100% as Platform Holder/Retailer, Publisher, Developer and IP Owner, that may offset the losses. Don't forget MS also said they plan to release on more Platforms - like Nintendo. If they sell 5m on Switch for example to the 140m or so on Switch, that makes up for the money they would 'lose' from 5m sales on Xbox - its not as if you can't buy on Xbox because of Game Pass so I do expect some CoD gamers to buy their Favourite franchise to keep it indefinitely, pre-order the Prestige edition like they always have...