Surprise! Xbox's Avowed Has Been Confirmed For Another Platform

Pretty sure it was "RockStar" Playstation 5 🙂

It's not a "platform". It's a launcher (or client).

@MeanBeanEgg People don't like Microsoft Store versions of games on PC.

Perhaps it's another alternative that isn't Microsoft Store, but one where Microsoft still gets 100% of the revenue.

Oh, rofol. I saw the headline and was like, PLAYSTATION?A?
wtf! ( ! A !)/

Yeah…I agree with @Echtzeit. This isn’t a platform per se, it’s a client/launcher. Still interesting news though!

@MeanBeanEgg I know I prefer it - though I have a ton of free games spread across Epic and GOG as well.

I also bought a few oldies off GOG.

Steam gets the most attention.
Epic Games takes second because I have a TON of free games from them
GOG is 3rd.

I have GPU until like 2026 or so, so I will definitely be using it for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Indiana Jones, and Avowed in the near future.

@MeanBeanEgg LMFAO 😂😂!!!!!!

@GamingFan4Lyf i agree. They still take the cut of money and have a more liked store front. Plus for all the whining that all games are going to PS5. This isn’t announced for PS5 yet. Nor is Starfield and many other titles. I don’t think MS is taking all the momentum out of their platforms for big launch games. At least not yet. Not that it bothers me, but everyone is acting like they can sell their Xbox or skip the next one and just play all their games and we haven’t seen that yet. When or if they say PS day and date then i will understand people leaving the platform.

@GamingFan4Lyf If there is something people less like than Microsoft store, it is the Blizzard launcher.

Only thing liked less is Epic Store.

I will wait for reviews as I like exploring and action.
It’s will have to be a very very special game to get on release or shall wait for 60fps.
It’s the only way my snob arse eyes and mind will let me play nowadays.

@OldGamer999 Don't blame you for waiting for reviews after seeing Sonys last releases, one done well, one was so bad it was recalled and cancelled, the other most recent one only scored 71% on Metacritic.

lol ! What a disappointment for ponies ! Phil's strategy has created false expectations, it's working. It generates publicity and a desire to play Xbox games, leading to Game Pass subscriptions, game purchases (Xbox Store, Steam, Battle.net), or buying an Xbox. They win in all cases, and the player benefits too because they have choices !

@Liam_Doolan I think at quick glance the title insulates that this might be coming to another console platform, as opposed to what people see as another PC launcher, but I understand the point of the title is to increase the click through rate by keeping it vague so that's fair.

@Rog-X
Of late it’s always best to wait for reviews.
But then again sometimes it’s personal taste.
Like I’m really enjoying dragon age at the moment.
But I think the dragon age super fans did not like the direction it took.

@Rog-X
You do really have to laugh at all the goings on in the industry this year, else it’s enough to make you cry. 😢

@GamingFan4Lyf When you say about MS getting 100% of the revenue it brings up and interesting facet of it being on Battlenet. At the Auction House in WoW you can buy the Wow token for in game gold and convert it to battlenet balance which you can then use to buy games on the store. I was raiding last night and there where already people interested because the game is going to be free for them due to how easy it is to get gold in WoW.

@Wisegamer Battlenet is also 1000 times better than the Xbox launcher which is stil hot garbage at best. I think it stems from the fact that the ship it as standard with windows so put zero effort into making it a quality platform.

@Ilyn That's interesting that you can do that. I haven't played WoW since like 2007.

Battle. Net is a massive PC launcher and storefront with a long history and large user base. It makes sense that they can't just sunset it like they did Bethesda's, so why not utilize it by putting first party games on a first party storefront where they make 100% of the purchase. It'd be interested to see if this continues in the future. In the court case we got a memo that they want to integrate the launcher into the Xbox app, but that has to be a LONG way off and even then they'd give it a long time to ease over long time battle net users. For the short term and foreseeable future the goal might just to be to increase the first party offerings of Battle net and make it mor lucrative for Xbox as a store front. The last interview also included Phil Spencer talking about the importance of Xbox play anywhere and talking with ABK so that when you buy an ABK game on Xbox consoles you get access to game on PC with cross save. It's possible they enable this functionality on battle net and more deeply integrate it within the Xbox ecosystem. Really shouldn't be too much rocket science. Probably something like linking your Xbox/Microsoft account and deeper integration behind the scenes.

@MeanBeanEgg 1) As mentioned Battle Net has its own nicely sized user base. Just because Steam is the biggest gaming storefront on PC, doesn't make it pointless to support others (especially when you own one of the others and don't have to pay a cut). After a quick search, I found a figure of 26 million active users on Battle net as of 2023. I'm going to be conservative and drop that down to 15 million. That's still more than worth the minimum effort required to put a PC game on another storefront (and one that's also now first party). 2) Okay this one is super interesting, and I'll start by linking the store page currently up on Battle net for Avowed https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/avowed?p=1884119 so in addition to selling Avowed, much like the Xbox console and PC storefront, Battlenet is offering gamers that they can play day one without purchasing with Game Pass. Unlike steam this truly looks like a first party storefront offering inside Battlenet. PC gamers with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC don't need to use the Xbox PC app at all to play an Xbox Game Studios release through game pass. Very interesting play. I really think Xbox is trying to take advantage of their making ABK first party and using all the assets they now have access to. This could become another major channel for Game PC and reaching PC gamers. If nothing else they might convince WOW gamers to play more Xbox games. Someone already mentioned wow gamers buying it through converting in game currency to battle net. We might also soon seen WOW perks and that being a gateway to get wow gamers on gamepass... and game pass games (at least first party) might also arrive same day on battle net so they don't have to leave. Heck, if they do bring Xbox play anywhere to battle net and really start to fill out it's storefront maybe some WOW or Overwatch PC gamers pick up a series S for their living room. It's hard to say where this will go honestly. Right now it kinda feels like when Disney gained control of Hulu and are just very slowly folded it into Disney+. Now Hulu still exists as a separate app, but if you pay for the bundle you can get Hulu just inside of Disney+. Maybe we see something similar for Battlenet and the Xbox app (as the latter stops being stuck in the stone ages (tfw it's 2024 and Xbox PC app just got a homescreen for the first time)). Who knows, it's all just speculation.

@HonestHick I always found the "I'm buying a Playstation and throwing away my Xbox" humorous. Like at this stage if you truly only care about exclusives then just buy a PC or a Nintendo if you're a masochist as well (only Nintendo could sell two of the same low effort Pokémon games at the same time with a launch price of $60 and it be a top seller). Sony isn't far off from day and date PC themselves (no matter what they want you to think). You haven't NEEDED to own an Xbox since their play anywhere initiative first started and they began bringing all first party games day and date to PC nearly 10 years ago now. I game on Xbox because I see it as offering the most value. Not because I get the privelege of playing games other people on other consoles don't. I'd argue Xbox's move for expansion is why they offer the only ecosystem where you can buy a game once and own it twice (on console and PC). It's not bad to me that Xbox has to actually offer value to keep gamers in their ecosystem.

@OldGamer999 Dragon age also truly became a case study in how split gamers have become. Reviews from new and old fans seem split down the middle and general comments as well. Some people seemed like they WANTED to hate the game, others saw good criticisms, still others saw no flaw, and so on. I'm probably going to wait for a sale. Does seem like my cup of tea, but I've spent too much on recent releases this season. Hmm, I guess Xbox was smart to delay. Ignoring their first party lineup, Avowed would have launched in the same quarter as Methapor ReFantazio and Dragon Age. And we talk about cannibalizing first party content sales, but it should be remembered Xbox is a platform and storefront. Microsoft makes money when people buy dragon age or metaphor on their console. Xbox has a lot to think about when timing game releases.

@WildConcept6 i 100% agree with you, they have been saying for around 4 years or longer that all screens is a Xbox and they want gamers to have choice in where they play so long as they are playing MS games. Sony themselves admitted to wanting this and said they are behind on having the infrastructure to do so. All the biggest games in the industry are on every platform. You can play Fortnite on a smart fridge screen or a Tesla Car. I game on Xbox by choice and to your point then go sell your Xbox and get a PS or PC and continue to buy MS games there and give them your money. Either way they are getting your money. But you could save money and play on GP or buy the game once and own it twice to your point. Well said !!

@MeanBeanEgg A SEGA avatar, and you're seriously wondering where my nick comes from 😂😂??

Super click bait title. Smh. We know what attention you were aiming for with that one.

@GamingFan4Lyf Indeed, The simple fact that its appeared on the Battlenet account and you can still use your GP for some games on that launcher / store makes me think its even more likely that in future we will see some form of GP WoW to roll all the subscribers into the GP family to boost the numbers as traditional subs are staying level now.

@Ilyn I'd play WoW again if it was part of my GPU subscription.

@GamingFan4Lyf I don't currently have a GP sub, I did have one but cancelled as they had very few game I wanted to play. But if they did a something like a combined GP PC / GP WoW sub for a discounted £16 then I would likely be interested.

And I imagine it would give WoW a substansial boost in players.

I was gonna laugh my butt off if they announced it for Playstation.

It's still on the same platforms. Just supporting a new service/launcher.