BacklogBrad

I don't expect it to ever get fully utilized. It will probably be supported far into the next generation as well. Games take way too long to develop and cost way too much to really push the boundaries of any system.

Add in the desire for developers to target handhelds like switch 2 and mid level pcs, we probably won't see much of a leap in games for a long time.

Limbo and Inside might be delisted soon too. They only announced the GOG versions are being delisted without giving a reason but all signs point to a legal dispute between the founders of the studio.

Something to keep an eye on.

I like the sound of this. I am always looking for an excuse to dive back into this game. One of my recent favorites.

@Millionski the whole "why would they even bother competing with (product x)?" is the most anti-innovation take ever. Thankfully xbox isn't thinking that way.

Having a better pc store where all the xbox store games are natively playable on a very capable console, pc/pc handheld, and streaming is a very appealing prospect. That is why gamepass is one of my favorite things in gaming, I can play the same save seamlessly in my office on the high end rig, on the sofa of the living room, in bed or traveling on my Rog Ally, etc.

They don't need to overtake steam (that would never happen) but they can live along side it just like Epic and GOG do. Just like they already do with Nintendo and Playstation, they dont have a realistic chance of overtaking either of them. It would really just be merging the gaming portion of the windows store into the xbox app and making the xbox games compatible which they seem to be doing.

Steam is rumored to be working on a "console" as well. I don't get why people would want xbox to limit itself to one device, give me as many ways as possible to buy games everywhere.

(Of course, the biggest threat to Microsoft is losing the windows stronghold as market leading OS. They need to fend off Steam OS, Linux, etc. Xbox can help them do that.)

@Fiendish-Beaver only the play anywhere titles and gamepass games can be played natively on the xbox pc app.

It's not actually microsoft or xbox sharing this image. Its one person on his personal LinkedIn account. Is it a bad pic? Yes, but we can't treat this dudes LinkedIn profile as an official xbox or MS ad. Honestly, doesn't sound too bad to work for this guy, he probably wouldn't notice you taking it easy on the clock.

This would have happened with or without layoffs. This is a pretty long reach to try to connect the two. It probably would have happened with or without the massive AI investment from Microsoft.

@Fiendish-Beaver you can purchase games there but can't play the majority of them.

I like where it sounds like xbox hardware is headed. I am hoping it gets to a point where the full xbox store will be there on any pc and any pc store will be available on the xbox hardware.

The recent steam reviews (over 21 thousand reviews) have it at "mostly negative" but the overall (over 200 thousand reviews) is still "very positive."

Apparently the console release forced them to censor the game on pc as well and pc players are considering this a worse version of the game. Im not sure if I will play this one yet but censoring a game everywhere because one specific region or platform requires it always bugs me.

I have been in a racing mood for a few weeks now. Usually I have one racing game installed to play here and there but the genre has taken over. I am playing need for speed heat, forza motorsport, hot wheels unleashed, nascar '15, forza horizon 3, aqua moto racing utopia, and far cry 4.

Skipping multiplayer would be a mistake.

This also screams free update to previous owners on xbox and an excuse to get the game on playstation/switch like a lot of their recent remasters.

It would be a really poor decision to take an exclusivity deal as a third party publisher in today's landscape. Those deals should be rare going forward. Good riddance.

I love Starfield. I have replayed it a couple times now after my initial barrage of 4 playthroughs. My 2023 goty and an all around great game.

I would like to see an update or dlc dedicated to base building/mining. That seemed like it was so close to being really fun. There could be a good story around building up your own space empire.

I disagree. If a game is still in a bad spot after 7-10 years it's time to cut the cord. If it is still in a bad spot after so long it will probably never make it to a good place. You can't just give them an endless time frame and budget on something that simply is not working.

I actually think xbox gave Rare a strangely long leash for a game that infamously didn't have a proper direction or gameplay hook years into development. That game never should have been shown and should have gotten axed a long time ago. It is surprising they were given so much time to turn that into something.

I think playstation realized that mlb forcing the show to go multiplat was the best thing to happen to the franchise. They are going to release more multiplat games going forward.

It is ironic that the company that "trains consumers not to buy games" is selling more games than anyone else.

I think the 360 hardware failures were more impactful on the xbox one's poor reception than any of the one's issues. They managed to convince the majority of console gamers to buy their 360 console then gave them the worst experience imaginable. Its not surprising that everyone jumped ship the next generation. The 360 destroyed xbox's credibility big time and it never fully recovered.

I feel like we have been over this dozens of times already.

Microsoft is not going to keep the service around for this long if it's not profitable. They are probably the most profit conscious company in the world and its been almost a decade, they would have axed this so long ago.

Let me know when it's someone in the accounting department questioning the sustainability.

If we have to spend the better part of a decade wondering if it's sustainable for one of the most profit conscious companies in the world then it probably is sustainable.

If it was not sustainable then they would have canned it years ago.

Playing halo 3 and reach splitscreen with my roommates in college on a massive projection screen in our dirty party torn basement.

Halo infinite has been my favorite halo game though. I love love love that game.

I'm almost to the point of just going all in on pc. I buy and play most games there now. I'm hoping xbox makes the full plunge on pc architecture for their next console or at least gets the full xbox store and library on a pc app. I don't plan on purchasing a playstation next gen and haven't fully decide yet but leaning towards skipping the switch 2.

I just don't see the appeal of a closed eco system with a monthly charge for online gaming. Seems insanely outdated.

Between the cost of making a game and the popularity of the switch, games should stay in this current spec range for years to come.

Let nightdive remake the old game and see how interested people are in the franchise. I don't think this game was going to be very popular.

I think the spiderman games eventually make it to xbox. It makes too much sense to sell those to as many people as possible. And I hear Disney likes money too.

Nascar games are a guilty pleasure of mine. Heat 5 is pretty fun, especially with a steering wheel.

I bet Matt and Phil do that choreographed dance at every developer meeting. Execs gotta butter them up whenever they visit.

I wouldn't put too much stock in internal reviews.

@Millionski xbox said specifically that they are making the hardware. There will probably be other 2nd party devices too.

But a windows based xbox made by xbox would in fact be an xbox. No one will ever convince me otherwise. It's wild to move the goalposts so far to say that the xbox made device is not actually an xbox. It's pretty wild to think an official xbox branded device isn't an xbox too but I will that slide.

The steam deck is designed as a gaming device with a gaming UI and is every bit as much of a gaming console as ps5, series x/s, switch.

@Millionski I was making fun of all the people that thought or still think xbox is leaving the console space simply because they put games on Playstation.

Xbox has literally said the exact same thing that they are committed to hardware but people still insist they are leaving.

I don't actually think playstation or xbox are going to be leaving the console space.

Based on past discourse, the only logical conclusion from this is that Playstation plans to exit the hardware business and focus solely on its software.

Or they are starting to think like Microsoft and like the idea of more game sales and money.

My takeaway from yesterday is that they canceled two games that were not going to make it to release in a reasonable time frame if they did at all. Games that already have had long development cycles and almost nothing to show for it. Games in very bad states.

Sometimes it doesn't work out, they definitely tried to make it work in both cases. I bet cancelations happen a lot more than we realize behind the scenes. Maybe don't reveal games until there is a little more validity to their existence. Had they not shown us that these games exist, they might have cut the cord much earlier and they would be years into the next project instead of square one or shut down.

Its still pretty revealing that a minute of footage was so doctored just to be shown. It clearly wasn't just showing the best parts of a largely playable version. They struggled to get a minute of footage to show. This game was never in a good place.

It's not surprising that this game was canceled. Brand new studios are very hard to start up and a huge reason why buying studios is so much better.

It will definately help if heckdivers 2 sells well on xbox but I think sony will be looking at xbox for more titles in the future. Making the games available to more potential buyers makes too much sense not to do it.

People told me it would never happen but here it is. This will not be the last time playstation ports a game to xbox.

Multiplatform is the future.

Good news that he is staying! Xbox is better off with him in charge. "Anytime soon" is open to interpretation but hopefully he's got years ahead of him at xbox.

It would be interesting to know how many are able to get rehired within the company, within the industry, and how many find a new industry.

More than 9000 people only being 4% of Microsoft is pretty wild.

@NishimuraX what kind of made-up, subjective term is traditional console hardware? Shouldn't every generation have a goal of innovating in some way?

Is the switch traditional Nintendo console hardware? The xbox one with the focus on bringing all forms of entertainment onto the gaming console, the first disc based consoles, the first ones to offer digital games, etc....

People will still try to say xbox hardware is dead.

Had to go with Warcraft but Crypt Custodian and the Alters were both excellent. Easy A for one of the few months that don't have a new 1st party release.

The most surprising thing is that xbox gave them so much time to try to work this one out. It shows how much confidence a game like sea of thieves will get a studio from the execs.

@Medic_alert oh you mean sell Rare and their legacy titles. It sounded like sell them rights to everwild specifically.

I think Rare is doing well as their live service machine. Sea of thieves is easily the most successful thing they have ever done.

@Medic_alert what value does the name and ip hold? What's the incentive for anyone to buy the rights to that? I would argue that calling a game everwild, scalebound, etc at this point would negatively impact its future. Nintendo would be better off with something original or it's wide array of existing ip.

@Exerion76 the 360 era was awful from xbox's perspective. Very few 1st party games, an absolute dumpster fire of a console with a 50% fail rate. It was arguably the worst piece of hardware the industry has ever seen.

The 360 era was the golden age for publishers like Ubisoft, EA, etc. but certainly not xbox. They are in a much, much better place now.

I would flip the list upside down. I like 7-10 way more than 1-6.

I love grounded. I can't wait to dive into the second one.

The sad part is that we will be playing new xbox 1st party hardware 20 years from now but still listening to people claim xbox is dead.

I can't imagine what it's like to see xbox sign a long term contract with AMD to make hardware and only days later claim that xbox hardware is dead. What is it like to think like that?

I assumed they would have had an external studio handling the remaster, which is likely just a free upgrade for xbox while bringing the game to ps5.

@Questionable_Duck they have clearly explained what gamepass is to consumers. It doesn't take an advanced degree to understand a subscription service. Netflix for games, I think everyone can wrap their heads around that.

AAA blockbuster system-seller is a subjective made up title. They have released big titles in Gears, Halo, forza in the last 10 years and had plenty of others like Starfield.

Why would any consumer want the traditional console model to carry on unchanged? It was due for a drastic overhaul years ago. Buy box a to play these games and box B to play those games, while these games are only on pc and other games are only on plastic box C and the next boxes wont be backwards compatible yada yada yada. I am glad xbox is pushing the industry towards multiplatform and pc integration. I am more excited about xbox's future than the other console business lines.

My thoughts are usually if the original is still great then a remake is not necessary. Black Flag is still fun in its original form and I enjoy going back to it from time to time.

I don't think I will pay anything close to full price for a remake of a game I still enjoy in original form. When it gets to that $20 or less range I will probably check it out. Oblivion has kind of cemented this stance of not getting too excited even when it's a remake of an absolute favorite of mine.

I disagree. They are right to pivot to something else when it's not working. Its also good to have multiple fronts to the business instead of picking one lane and only doing that. Gamepass, for instance, I don't think anyone wants that to be the sole focus with exclusive games/content just for the subscription.

Should we expect Sony to keep focusing mainly on live service games since that is the lane they chose? No it's not working, pivot to something else. Businesses should be fluid.

Ubisoft is a great example of a company sticking to its lane through thick and thin.

Civ7
Doom dark ages
Avowed

Playing a lot of warcraft 1-3 and some civ7.