I'd prefer a MCC style collection, the multiplayer experience of the 360 games are either only finding bots or you come across a load of cheaters that warp all over the place with infinite ammo and much faster than usual fire rate. A MCC style collection would allow PC players to experience the campaigns and allow Xbox players to relive the multiplayer.
I really liked how there was only a small gap between announcement and release for Forza Horizon games (it was always announce at E3, release in Fall/Holiday the same year). While Fable has been announced for over 2 years at this point, it would be cool if the re-reveal to launch cycle was close to the FH cycle.
@EvilSilentFrame Not exactly lie but they did use smoke and mirrors on the whole "legacy" thing. The way it was worded strongly suggested that games like Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 would be coming to PS because the franchises have a legacy there but that's not the case.
That's what Phil Spencer is doing regarding these acquisition statements, where the most common interpretation of the statements are something that benefits all platforms but you look a lot deeper and the actual meaning is something which only benefits Xbox. For example, what he means regarding still releasing CoD on Playstation is likely that the FTP multiplayer experience releases on Playstation but the single player campaigns are only on platforms which have Game Pass.
It's good that a regulatory body is finally calling Microsoft out on these smoke and mirror attempts.
It further seems like Microsoft sacrificed Halo to acquire CoD, what a huge shame. As for split-screen cancelled, it looks like another situation where ditching the XB1 would've gone a long way to resolving problems.
I'd honestly go for Forza Horizon 5 Expansion 2 to be honest, that is technically TBA meanwhile all the games listed here at the moment I'm not interested in.
The presence of Minecraft Legends but absence of Forza Motorsport, Redfall and Starfield makes me think that if there aren't delays out of the 12 month window that the timing is something like:
@Richnj I agree it didn't need to compete with CoD, I was looking more that from 2015 onwards CoD was the shooter franchise for Playstation but if Killzone/Resistance/SOCOM stayed CoD would've been a shooter franchise for Playstation (still the biggest but just an option).
It's like how there'd still be plenty of people who would buy Nintendo hardware for JRPGs like Xenoblade and Fire Emblem even if the Pokemon franchise ended with Scarlet/Violet.
@Richnj CoD is easily to blame for the end of Killzone, Resistance and SOCOM. Sony got the CoD marketing and timed exclusivity deal in 2015 then following that they released 0 FPS/TPS games.
Sony's right when they say CoD is in a league of its own but they are to blame for that. What Sony did was the equivalent of if Microsoft killed off franchises like Halo and Gears in 2009.
I don't think it'll be shadow drop, September has Grounded and Microsoft seems to want to aim for that 1 1st party release a month release setup. I'm leaning towards early December.
July - As Dusk Falls + Hot Wheels DLC August - ? September - Grounded October - ? November - Pentiment + Halo Infinite Season 3 December - ?
It can't be August because of the exclusivity deal and October would be rather busy for Xbox if the acquisition passes by then so they'd probably save Deathloop for December along with FH5 expansion 2.
Xbox in general has been rough since April, not just Game Pass. Like big showcases usually act as a beacon of hope for a platform but the Xbox Showcase in June felt very off and the Gamescom lineup also seems off. Makes me think that Microsoft are heavily relying on the Activision acquisition going through sooner rather than later to get a massive quantity of games added to Game Pass in one drop. It wouldn't improve my opinion of Xbox but it would for others.
@Rangers420 Unfortunately Microsoft is too busy buying up everything instead of improving what they already have. I'd absolutely rather have had a situation where Halo Infinite was the best Halo game and MCC didn't have microtransactions than the outcome where Halo is killed off because buying Activision gives Microsoft CoD for example.
@Kaloudz I definitely remember Forge competitions for MCC (Halo 2 Anniversary) and Halo 5 to create maps that would appear in matchmaking. Forge maps also appeared in Reach and 4 but don't know if they were maps created by the community.
@themightyant I think the biggest benefit Forge will give for the general player is more maps. Instead of 2 maps every 6 months we'll likely see a load of player created maps from Forge added into the multiplayer matchmaking rotation. Forge would create other benefits as well but not if there isn't a custom games browser launching alongside it and we've heard nothing about that.
@Royalblues When the Yakuza games came to Xbox, PS+ Extra/Premium didn't exist so SEGA knows that Game Pass helped the franchise be a big success on Xbox. Persona's popularity on Xbox is yet to be seen.
@Royalblues What I think happened was all PS+ Collection games had to be relicensed because of the new tiers (extra/premium) and Microsoft prevented Persona 5 from being relicensed because of the Game Pass deal for Royal to try to show that Xbox players care about JRPGs.
Microsoft does exactly the same though like Persona 5 got removed from PS+ Collection a month before Persona 5 Royal was announced for Game Pass and Bethesda games got removed from PS Now after Microsoft acquired them.
February: Focus on February - August, tease a few games that are further out
June: Focus on June - December, tease a few games that are further out
September: Focus on September - March, tease a few games that are further out
Further out shouldn't be years away though, stuff like the reveal of Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2017 and Bayonetta 3 at Game Awards 2017 were way too far in advance. Stuff like Bayonetta 3 reappearing in the September 2021 Direct is better fit (the game releases in October 2022) for "further out".
@Markatron84 Almost a decade ago, this was part of Don Mattrick's infamous XB1 vision plan. Series X|S era seems to very much be Don Mattrick's XB1 vision visualized but with a few tweaks.
PS+ Essential is a lot better than Games With Gold and with 360 games ending in October, Games With Gold will be even worse.
As for Game Pass, PS+ Extra and PS+ Premium I'd say PS+ Extra is the best of the bunch currently. Game Pass has been on the weaker side since April meanwhile PS+ Extra has been strong since its start in June.
PS+ Premium is the weakest of the bunch given the classic games collection is very limited and the PS3 games should be native. Also currently (though will be fixed in the future) there's the PAL mess for subscribers in regions like Europe that used to have PAL
While FH5 is a good game (and Hot Wheels is a good expansion), I agree that something felt off about FH5 but I'd say the same about FH4. I think it's down to the live service push, both FH4 and FH5's focus is the Festival Playlist (i.e. complete tasks every week to unlock new collectibles) meanwhile FH3 was centralized around the story campaign.
That live service push is the way a lot of Microsoft's games have turned towards like people don't even play the objective in Halo Infinite because they have challenges to unlock which involves killing with a specific weapon.
Game Pass lineup has looked rough since April, it does feel like Microsoft heavily relied upon Redfall + Starfield + Activision acquisition for this year (the former 2 of which are now 2023).
@uptownsoul There was a massively different tone between the Xbox Showcases in 2021 and 2022. 2021 was "here's an insane amount of games coming to Xbox and Game Pass in the near future including a few highly anticipated 1st party titles" meanwhile 2022 was "everything got delayed to 2023 or later, everyone panic".
I wonder if Microsoft will consider bringing back the backwards compatibility program. The vast majority of backwards compatibility Activision games are CoD (OG Xbox and 360 era Activision was so much more than just CoD unlike nowadays) but perhaps with the acquisition it'll make adding non-CoD easier.
Have another big batch of games including non-CoD Activision games and more non-Activision games alongside it.
Otherwise the big Game Pass drop after the acquisition is going to be like 20 CoD games and 6 non-CoD games which wouldn't be a good look on Xbox.
Still don't care about Activision games but the idea of backwards compatibility possibly returning is exciting.
With backwards compatibility games for GWG ending in October, I think having some games from the November 2021 batch for August and September would be a nice send off.
I'd have to give it to FH3 Hot Wheels, FH5 Hot Wheels felt too short in comparison and I liked both Hot Wheels expansions more than the other FH expansions I had played.
Between the Xbox deal and the Playstation deal, it seems like Discord will be used as the solution for crossplay voice chat. Don't see Discord coming to Switch though as Nintendo did that NSO mobile app solution to voice chat.
@Bleachedsmiles Given 1st party is the only thing Microsoft can truly control, Phil Spencer is likely referring to the 1st party lineup in that comment. Their original schedule was probably similar structure to last year, something like:
1st half of 2022 - Goldeneye
July - As Dusk Falls
August - Redfall
September - Grounded (leaving early access), Deathloop
From the stream mission replay looks exactly how I'd hope it would be, looking forward to getting the rest of the skulls whenever the update goes live.
@BAMozzy For Nintendo, the 1st party lineup for the same time period (E3 2021 to what would've been E3 2022) was:
Game Builder Garage (June 11th 2021)
Mario Golf Super Rush (June 25th 2021)
Skyward Sword HD (July 16th 2021)
WarioWare Get It Together (September 10th 2021)
Metroid Dread (October 8th 2021)
Mario Party Superstars (October 29th 2021)
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (November 19th 2021)
Big Brain Academy Brain vs. Brain (December 3rd 2021)
Pokemon Legends Arceus (January 28th 2022)
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25th 2022)
Switch Sports (April 29th 2022)
Mario Strikers Battle League (June 10th 2022)
With 3rd party exclusives such as Shin Megami Tensei V and Triangle Strategy supporting it.
Switch definitely has the much more consistent 1st party lineup of the three by far and this has been the case for most of its lifespan. But if you want to play 3rd party multiplatform games, you're better off with PS5, Series X or PC/Steam Deck as a lot of 3rd party stuff skips the Switch so it balances out.
@uptownsoul That's what happens when there's no evidence. Microsoft has been very much smoke and mirrors since 2017 so trust is probably wearing thin with plenty of people.
I feel the best route for Battlefield at this point is taking a long break from new games and do remasters instead (especially the 2 Bad Company games and Battlefield 3).
@Royalblues We already know about a live service Naughty Dog game, a standalone TLoU 2 Factions game which started off as a multiplayer mode for TLoU 2 but scope expanded such that it became standalone. But yeah, going deep into live service territory was the whole point of the Bungie acquisition.
@Royalblues Jim Ryan's made it clear that live service is the future he plans to take PS. For example 12 live service games for 2022 - 2024 is a lot (only 1 has happened so far (MLB The Show 22), for some reason he doesn't count GT7 as live service when it clearly is).
I'd guess stuff like GoW Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine are games that were greenlighted before Jim Ryan took over and the big AAA blockbusters PS is loved for will eventually disappear.
@Cherip-the-Ripper Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo both have 1 year exclusivity but the absence of both in the showcase makes it seem like Microsoft can't talk about Xbox version until the exclusivity is over (September 14th 2022 and March 25th 2023 respectively) so there'll probably be a bit of a gap between the exclusivity ending and the Xbox release (I'd guess October 2022 for Deathloop for example).
Comments 994
Re: Soapbox: Gears Of War 2 Deserves 'The Last Of Us' Style Remake
I'd prefer a MCC style collection, the multiplayer experience of the 360 games are either only finding bots or you come across a load of cheaters that warp all over the place with infinite ammo and much faster than usual fire rate. A MCC style collection would allow PC players to experience the campaigns and allow Xbox players to relive the multiplayer.
Re: Halo Infinite Players Discover Split-Screen Exploit On Xbox Series X|S
Judging by other things like tank gun and flyable Pelican, this'll probably be patched out in the next update.
Re: Xbox's Matt Booty Is 'Excited' To Show The New Fable Game
I really liked how there was only a small gap between announcement and release for Forza Horizon games (it was always announce at E3, release in Fall/Holiday the same year). While Fable has been announced for over 2 years at this point, it would be cool if the re-reveal to launch cycle was close to the FH cycle.
Re: Xbox's 'Approach' With Starfield Is Leading To More ActiBlizz Scrutiny
@EvilSilentFrame Not exactly lie but they did use smoke and mirrors on the whole "legacy" thing. The way it was worded strongly suggested that games like Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 would be coming to PS because the franchises have a legacy there but that's not the case.
That's what Phil Spencer is doing regarding these acquisition statements, where the most common interpretation of the statements are something that benefits all platforms but you look a lot deeper and the actual meaning is something which only benefits Xbox. For example, what he means regarding still releasing CoD on Playstation is likely that the FTP multiplayer experience releases on Playstation but the single player campaigns are only on platforms which have Game Pass.
It's good that a regulatory body is finally calling Microsoft out on these smoke and mirror attempts.
Re: 343 Reveals What's Coming To Halo Infinite In Late 2022 & Early 2023
It further seems like Microsoft sacrificed Halo to acquire CoD, what a huge shame. As for split-screen cancelled, it looks like another situation where ditching the XB1 would've gone a long way to resolving problems.
Re: 343 Teases New Halo Infinite Event, Starts September 6th
I enjoyed the Yappening events of Halo Wars 2 and MCC so I'm sure the Infinite event will be more crazy modes like on those 2.
I do wonder to what extent the late August content (e.g. mission replay, online co-op) has been delayed though as today is the last day of August.
Re: Talking Point: Will Microsoft Replace Xbox 360 Games With Gold?
I think it'll just be 2 XB1 games similar to how ditching PS3/Vita games on PS+ back in 2019 didn't improve the PS4 output.
Re: Xbox Games With Gold For September 2022 Announced
A strong sendoff for pre-XB1 games being part of Games With Gold.
Re: Pick One: Which Of These 'TBA' Xbox Games Are You Most Excited For?
I'd honestly go for Forza Horizon 5 Expansion 2 to be honest, that is technically TBA meanwhile all the games listed here at the moment I'm not interested in.
Re: Xbox Unveils Schedule For Thursday's Gamescom 2022 Livestream
The presence of Minecraft Legends but absence of Forza Motorsport, Redfall and Starfield makes me think that if there aren't delays out of the 12 month window that the timing is something like:
Re: Halo Infinite's Battle Royale-Lite, Last Spartan Standing, Is Leaving Matchmaking
@Dezzy70 It was meant to be late August but that seems unlikely given how a specific release date hasn't been set yet and it's late August now.
Re: id Software Says It's Hard At Work On Its 'Next Big Game'
@Richnj I agree it didn't need to compete with CoD, I was looking more that from 2015 onwards CoD was the shooter franchise for Playstation but if Killzone/Resistance/SOCOM stayed CoD would've been a shooter franchise for Playstation (still the biggest but just an option).
It's like how there'd still be plenty of people who would buy Nintendo hardware for JRPGs like Xenoblade and Fire Emblem even if the Pokemon franchise ended with Scarlet/Violet.
Re: id Software Says It's Hard At Work On Its 'Next Big Game'
@Richnj CoD is easily to blame for the end of Killzone, Resistance and SOCOM. Sony got the CoD marketing and timed exclusivity deal in 2015 then following that they released 0 FPS/TPS games.
Sony's right when they say CoD is in a league of its own but they are to blame for that. What Sony did was the equivalent of if Microsoft killed off franchises like Halo and Gears in 2009.
Re: Xbox Is Adding Lots Of Bethesda Games To PC Game Pass (August 18)
Some of these games came to OG Xbox/Xbox 360 but weren't added to backwards compatibility. How is this fair?
Re: Talking Point: What's Your 2022 Game Of The Year So Far?
I've only bought FF Origin and Sonic Origins this year so far on Xbox so I'll go for FF Origin. If DLC expansions counts then FH5 Hot Wheels for sure.
Across all platforms, top 3 so far would probably be:
1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
2. Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes
3. Portal Companion Collection
Switch this year is insanely good.
Re: PSA: Deathloop Could Potentially Hit Xbox Game Pass In Under A Month
I don't think it'll be shadow drop, September has Grounded and Microsoft seems to want to aim for that 1 1st party release a month release setup. I'm leaning towards early December.
July - As Dusk Falls + Hot Wheels DLC
August - ?
September - Grounded
October - ?
November - Pentiment + Halo Infinite Season 3
December - ?
It can't be August because of the exclusivity deal and October would be rather busy for Xbox if the acquisition passes by then so they'd probably save Deathloop for December along with FH5 expansion 2.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Is Hurting Right Now, But Larger Forces Are At Play
Xbox in general has been rough since April, not just Game Pass. Like big showcases usually act as a beacon of hope for a platform but the Xbox Showcase in June felt very off and the Gamescom lineup also seems off. Makes me think that Microsoft are heavily relying on the Activision acquisition going through sooner rather than later to get a massive quantity of games added to Game Pass in one drop. It wouldn't improve my opinion of Xbox but it would for others.
Re: Xbox Accuses Sony Of 'Paying' To Block Games From Game Pass
@Rangers420 Unfortunately Microsoft is too busy buying up everything instead of improving what they already have. I'd absolutely rather have had a situation where Halo Infinite was the best Halo game and MCC didn't have microtransactions than the outcome where Halo is killed off because buying Activision gives Microsoft CoD for example.
Re: Halo Infinite's Forge Mode Will Be A Game Changer, According To 343
@Kaloudz I definitely remember Forge competitions for MCC (Halo 2 Anniversary) and Halo 5 to create maps that would appear in matchmaking. Forge maps also appeared in Reach and 4 but don't know if they were maps created by the community.
Re: Halo Infinite's Forge Mode Will Be A Game Changer, According To 343
@themightyant I think the biggest benefit Forge will give for the general player is more maps. Instead of 2 maps every 6 months we'll likely see a load of player created maps from Forge added into the multiplayer matchmaking rotation. Forge would create other benefits as well but not if there isn't a custom games browser launching alongside it and we've heard nothing about that.
Re: Xbox Accuses Sony Of 'Paying' To Block Games From Game Pass
@Royalblues When the Yakuza games came to Xbox, PS+ Extra/Premium didn't exist so SEGA knows that Game Pass helped the franchise be a big success on Xbox. Persona's popularity on Xbox is yet to be seen.
Re: Xbox Accuses Sony Of 'Paying' To Block Games From Game Pass
@Royalblues What I think happened was all PS+ Collection games had to be relicensed because of the new tiers (extra/premium) and Microsoft prevented Persona 5 from being relicensed because of the Game Pass deal for Royal to try to show that Xbox players care about JRPGs.
Re: Xbox's Gamescom Show Falls On A Very Important '007' Anniversary
I'm going to guess no because Nintendo haven't given Advance Wars a new release date yet.
Re: Xbox Accuses Sony Of 'Paying' To Block Games From Game Pass
Microsoft does exactly the same though like Persona 5 got removed from PS+ Collection a month before Persona 5 Royal was announced for Game Pass and Bethesda games got removed from PS Now after Microsoft acquired them.
Re: Xbox To Host Gamescom 2022 Livestream Later This Month
@themightyant Nintendo has the best approach:
Further out shouldn't be years away though, stuff like the reveal of Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2017 and Bayonetta 3 at Game Awards 2017 were way too far in advance. Stuff like Bayonetta 3 reappearing in the September 2021 Direct is better fit (the game releases in October 2022) for "further out".
Re: Rumour: Elden Ring, GTA 5 And More Headed To Xbox Cloud Gaming
@Markatron84 Almost a decade ago, this was part of Don Mattrick's infamous XB1 vision plan. Series X|S era seems to very much be Don Mattrick's XB1 vision visualized but with a few tweaks.
Re: Talking Point: How Would You Compare The New PS Plus To Xbox Game Pass?
PS+ Essential is a lot better than Games With Gold and with 360 games ending in October, Games With Gold will be even worse.
As for Game Pass, PS+ Extra and PS+ Premium I'd say PS+ Extra is the best of the bunch currently. Game Pass has been on the weaker side since April meanwhile PS+ Extra has been strong since its start in June.
PS+ Premium is the weakest of the bunch given the classic games collection is very limited and the PS3 games should be native. Also currently (though will be fixed in the future) there's the PAL mess for subscribers in regions like Europe that used to have PAL
Re: Soapbox: Forza Horizon Is Spinning Its Wheels, So Let's Bring Back The Best Racer On Xbox
While FH5 is a good game (and Hot Wheels is a good expansion), I agree that something felt off about FH5 but I'd say the same about FH4. I think it's down to the live service push, both FH4 and FH5's focus is the Festival Playlist (i.e. complete tasks every week to unlock new collectibles) meanwhile FH3 was centralized around the story campaign.
That live service push is the way a lot of Microsoft's games have turned towards like people don't even play the objective in Halo Infinite because they have challenges to unlock which involves killing with a specific weapon.
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (August 2-11)
Game Pass lineup has looked rough since April, it does feel like Microsoft heavily relied upon Redfall + Starfield + Activision acquisition for this year (the former 2 of which are now 2023).
Re: Xbox Series X And S Have Been Next-Gen 'Market Leaders' In The US
@uptownsoul There was a massively different tone between the Xbox Showcases in 2021 and 2022. 2021 was "here's an insane amount of games coming to Xbox and Game Pass in the near future including a few highly anticipated 1st party titles" meanwhile 2022 was "everything got delayed to 2023 or later, everyone panic".
Re: The Exciting Prospect Of ActiBlizz On Xbox Game Pass Is Starting To Feel Real
I wonder if Microsoft will consider bringing back the backwards compatibility program. The vast majority of backwards compatibility Activision games are CoD (OG Xbox and 360 era Activision was so much more than just CoD unlike nowadays) but perhaps with the acquisition it'll make adding non-CoD easier.
Have another big batch of games including non-CoD Activision games and more non-Activision games alongside it.
Otherwise the big Game Pass drop after the acquisition is going to be like 20 CoD games and 6 non-CoD games which wouldn't be a good look on Xbox.
Still don't care about Activision games but the idea of backwards compatibility possibly returning is exciting.
Re: Your Xbox Series X|S Will Soon 'Boot Up' Even Faster
Series X load up is currently sluggish compared to the Switch so the update is appreciated.
Re: Talking Point: What August 2022 Xbox Games With Gold Do You Want?
With backwards compatibility games for GWG ending in October, I think having some games from the November 2021 batch for August and September would be a nice send off.
Re: Pick One: Which Is Your Favourite Forza Horizon Expansion To Date?
I'd have to give it to FH3 Hot Wheels, FH5 Hot Wheels felt too short in comparison and I liked both Hot Wheels expansions more than the other FH expansions I had played.
Re: Xbox Dev Teases 'Really Exciting' Future For Discord Partnership
Between the Xbox deal and the Playstation deal, it seems like Discord will be used as the solution for crossplay voice chat. Don't see Discord coming to Switch though as Nintendo did that NSO mobile app solution to voice chat.
Re: It Might Be A Mistake, But Far Cry 6 Is Being Advertised For Xbox Game Pass
@Bleachedsmiles Given 1st party is the only thing Microsoft can truly control, Phil Spencer is likely referring to the 1st party lineup in that comment. Their original schedule was probably similar structure to last year, something like:
Re: It Might Be A Mistake, But Far Cry 6 Is Being Advertised For Xbox Game Pass
@Rmg0731 Game Pass and PS+ Extra/Premium being essentially trials for their own subscription service which is coming to PS and Xbox later this year.
Re: Halo Infinite's Campaign Network Co-Op Flight Is Now Live
From the stream mission replay looks exactly how I'd hope it would be, looking forward to getting the rest of the skulls whenever the update goes live.
Re: Release Of GoldenEye 007 For Xbox Reportedly 'Still In Limbo'
If that is the reason, it likely won't appear until Nintendo gives Advance Wars a new release date.
Re: Xbox's Phil Spencer Celebrates 'Bungie Day', Shares Kind Words For The Studio
@shamirqushairi Insomniac for Sony, Monolith Soft for Nintendo and Playground Games for Microsoft.
Re: Xbox Game Pass In 2023: The Full List Of Everything Announced So Far
@darkswabber This article is about 2023, not 2022.
Re: Aaron Greenberg Teases 'A Lot More' Unannounced Xbox Games In The Works
@BAMozzy For Nintendo, the 1st party lineup for the same time period (E3 2021 to what would've been E3 2022) was:
With 3rd party exclusives such as Shin Megami Tensei V and Triangle Strategy supporting it.
Switch definitely has the much more consistent 1st party lineup of the three by far and this has been the case for most of its lifespan. But if you want to play 3rd party multiplatform games, you're better off with PS5, Series X or PC/Steam Deck as a lot of 3rd party stuff skips the Switch so it balances out.
Re: Aaron Greenberg Teases 'A Lot More' Unannounced Xbox Games In The Works
@uptownsoul That's what happens when there's no evidence. Microsoft has been very much smoke and mirrors since 2017 so trust is probably wearing thin with plenty of people.
Re: Battlefield To Bring Back Story Campaign In Future Title, Says EA Job Post
I feel the best route for Battlefield at this point is taking a long break from new games and do remasters instead (especially the 2 Bad Company games and Battlefield 3).
Re: Five Years Later, Game Pass Is Still Growing Alongside Xbox Game Studios
@Royalblues We already know about a live service Naughty Dog game, a standalone TLoU 2 Factions game which started off as a multiplayer mode for TLoU 2 but scope expanded such that it became standalone. But yeah, going deep into live service territory was the whole point of the Bungie acquisition.
Re: Five Years Later, Game Pass Is Still Growing Alongside Xbox Game Studios
@Royalblues Jim Ryan's made it clear that live service is the future he plans to take PS. For example 12 live service games for 2022 - 2024 is a lot (only 1 has happened so far (MLB The Show 22), for some reason he doesn't count GT7 as live service when it clearly is).
I'd guess stuff like GoW Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine are games that were greenlighted before Jim Ryan took over and the big AAA blockbusters PS is loved for will eventually disappear.
Re: Halo: The Master Chief Collection Might Be Adding Microtransactions
The future of Xbox looks increasingly ugly, seems to be the case of everything you loved about Xbox is being killed off.
Re: After The Xbox Showcase, Game Pass Is Looking Stacked In 2023
@Cherip-the-Ripper Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo both have 1 year exclusivity but the absence of both in the showcase makes it seem like Microsoft can't talk about Xbox version until the exclusivity is over (September 14th 2022 and March 25th 2023 respectively) so there'll probably be a bit of a gap between the exclusivity ending and the Xbox release (I'd guess October 2022 for Deathloop for example).
Re: These 20+ Games Are Coming To Xbox Next Week (June 20-24)
Very weird that the 2nd half of June Game Pass games haven't been announced yet.
Re: Poll: What Was Your Favourite Moment Of 2022's Xbox Games Showcases?
Hot Wheels DLC for sure, the expansion itself looks fantastic and I'm also really looking forward to what the community is able to create.