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Finally. About time Xbox actually marketed outside of social media and their showcases. Go big!

@themightyant ah okay interesting. Assuming Deathloop and Ghostwire are the same then; so perhaps this won’t ever get it.

@themightyant I always assumed Minecraft has it too? Still just would be quite a sight on Call of Duty.

@Mephisto2869 and roughly 70% of each of those sales will go to Microsoft; that puts them in a great position!

I wonder if the game will have the Xbox logo anywhere in it. Or if it was too late for that. For parity reasons it needs to be there.

@GeeEssEff fair enough. And it definitely is no Elder Scrolls. But yea I was just curious about how many hours people expect to get out of their games. Like when I see people saying they played through a game’s campaign once and then never touched it again and see that as a disappointment…. But that is pretty much how I play all games these days as there are so many.

I took a break from Starfield after about 40ish hours to finish off some other games and it’s next for me to go back to.

@GeeEssEff not questioning your disappointment; but 50 hours is pretty good going surely? Very few games have kept my attention much longer than that!

@GamingFan4Lyf I agree about the scoring. All Sony has to do is put one tear-jerker moment in their cutscenes and they will get a higher metacritic score. Also a linear cinematic game is using a lot less complicated systems than something like Starfield; so can be polished to a different degree.

I remember back on PS2 most of my fun was through games like the Dynasty Warriors series. Which always got trashed review-score-wise but I loved it and bought every single one because to me it was fun. Somehow people are just more obsessed with scores these days. We are all so dialled in it’s crazy. I have had more fun with Starfield and Hi-Fi Rush than anything else this year. Their Metacritics are in the 80s; I played them as part of my subscription and loved them. Late last year I bought God of War Ragnarok and got extremely bored I dropped it after 7 hours even after spending £50 on it. That got a 94. I also dropped The Last of Us Part 1 after a couple of hours as it was even more boring. I’m starting to think what makes these games a 90+ is not what I want from a game. The whole system just seems to skew in favour of PS.

In October I have finished 3 games; Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire Tokyo and Deathloop. All first party and all on Gamepass. If you want awesome single-player experiences they are there. I feel like Xbox will keep Zenimax as their single-player dominant arm (perhaps especially after Redfall which I still need to play) and mostly exclusive. ABK will be their (mostly) multiplatform arm and XGS will carry on being rooted in their old IPs and games of all different sizes and scales (where you get things like Minecraft Legends, Sea of Thieves, and Pentiment).

I loved the first game back as a my-first-soulslike so will be keeping an eye on this one. I guess it has multiplayer then (hence the crossplay)….

Shout out to Hi-Fi Rush. Glad it got remembered. My top 3 of the year are probably Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush and Final Fantasy XVI. Need to finish Pikmin 4 but I expect that will be up there too. Not played Baldur’s Gate 3 or Spiderman 2 yet.

I have it forgot about it though! I have the controller too of course.

@OldGamer999 seriously. Playstation does a good job at taking over London tube Stations or whatever. Just random things that go viral. Nintendo has the Mario bus at the moment. Xbox just doesn’t seem to bother outside of a snarky tweet 🤣

@NoblePanda78 I think a lot of people wrote it off as a dudebro shooter but it has incredible heart. It’s easily one of my favourite series of all time.

I do think The Coalition is working on an “Unreal Engine 5” Gears 6 which is why it’s had an extended development time.

Yes please. I have a rendezvous with death.

Playground doing Fable; The Initiative (hopefully still) doing Perfect Dark. That’s all we have with the old IPs so far. Get Toys For Bob and re-spun-out Vicarious Visions on Banjo and Tony Hawk. Get Nightdive (third party) on anything.

I like that they get to be motivated and work on what they want as a team. I just hope that covers some if the awesome IP Xbox now owns.

Ultimately though; just screw everything else, bring back FASA studios and bring back Shadowrun. Done.

I do hope Phil encourages some new IPs out of Activision. It’s a no brainer to be honest.

I don’t see them acquiring any more western publishers now. I do think there is the possibility of a Japanese publisher and then that would be it (for the big ones). Let’s see.

Wow what an awesome surprise. Happy to try it though I am a p**** when it comes to horror.

Fine by me - i’ve gone through all of them in Japanese. Incredible series.

From roughly 2,500 employees in 2020 to 22,000 in 2023 😵

It’s really the leverage the Xbox gets along with the deal. If Square Enix, for example, thought Xbox was irrelevant before; they won’t now with XGS, Zenimax & ABK.

@themightyant even if they have to pay 20 Billion as an example; would it all be in one instalment out of that 111B? Or would they be able to spread it?

Everyone should pay their taxes correctly in the first place. So not defending Microsoft; but to already be 10 billion out in your demands is crazy!

Basically SE is the only thing that made me get a PS5. Take them out the equation and Playstation really doesn’t interest me much unfortunately. Insomniac is the only other reason but not sure they are enough by themselves.

Hopefully Xbox can get all the SE goodies!

Ive really enjoyed it so far. Lots of people trying to skew the perception of it negatively but hasn’t stopped me enjoying it. It is my GOTY so far. I haven’t played BG3 though for what it’s worth.

@themightyant I think gamepass might save Crash Team Rumble. It is heavily discounted at the moment and I can’t imagine it has done too well so far. Hopefully Gamepass can boost the numbers.

I usually keep up with gaming news and i’ve never heard of it. Completed Hi-Fi rush last week as a break from Starfield and it was incredible. Hope it gets the nods it deserves.

I actually do think something like Forza does make sense to be a platform (assuming they support it correctly going forward). I just hope they don’t take this approach with Fable and Perfect Dark etc…

@The-Grezzly-Bear yea i’m in UK too - must be a licensing thing. To be fair in the UK we do get other benefits other countries seem to miss out on - I feel for those that don’t get MS Rewards.

The free movie perk is really good but shame it continues to be US only…

I bought Ishin a couple weeks before the TGS gamepass announcement. You are all very welcome.

Just returned to this game to finish it off as a break from Starfield and it really is awesome. I hope people remember this when it comes to GOTY noms.

If I had a Series S I would be all over this.

Edit: that is a shame it’s so expensive in the UK…

I hope you guys are right I would love to see a JRPG from them. As long as they are making what they want to make - that is how we get the good stuff like HI-FI Rush.

@Tharsman don’t forget Hi-Fi Rush

@Pimpernel I really hope they don’t copy Sony. What is the point? If you want to play a Playstation Studios game then… play a Playstation Studios game. Xbox can do their own thing. Starfield and things like Fable are much more interesting to me. But if I want to play a third person cinematic action game I can do that too. Hellblade is probably the closest Xbox have to that style of game and I would say that is enough.

The only other acquisition I would even want made (other than to save a publisher from disappearing entirely) would be Square Enix only to keep games on Xbox; but also multi-plat.

@Moonglow Yea I thought of Mighty Doom and FH5 Rally expansion but I was listing just the Gamepass additions. I think theres been discussion recently about how essential are various subscriptions and the need to cut some out and the idea that Rockstar is trying their hand at one. And Gamepass just stands tall above the rest as the one to have. Currently and in my opinion of course; with the output listed above!

The First-Party Gamepass additions in 2023 have been pretty crazy already; without ABK:

Xbox Game Studios:

• Goldeneye
• Age of Empires II Console
• Minecraft Legends
• Age of Empire IV Console
• Forza Motorsport

Zenimax Media:

• Hi-Fi Rush
• Ghostwire Tokyo
• Redfall
• Quake II Remastered
• Starfield

Like that is an awesome and varied line-up to support a subscription service. Will be wild with ABK involved too.

For me it was having Like a Dragon Gaiden on Gamepass, Octopath II on Xbox; and there was the Pokemon-with-guns game that I have forgotten the name of which actually looks fun! But overall nothing mindblowing. I was hoping for a “one last thing”…

Edit: Palworld I think? Looks fun.

The emails were over 3 years old. I’m more concerned about how vicious some of the comments can be (across these 3 sites) directed at one human man who is actually just doing his job. I don’t support the whole Xbox buying Nintendo thing either but wow the hatred towards Phil can get real from some people.

Imagine doing your job at that level in an entertainment company that many people love and the community you deliver to calls you a parasite, liar, two-faced… amongst other things. Shame some of these comments aren’t monitored better to be honest. So much for #BeNice or whatever.

There was an article a year or so ago on PushSquare where everyone was making fun of the way Jim Ryan looks as well. That wasn’t nice either. Just all a bit ***** really. Different when you are attacking a corporation like Xbox or Playstation but when it’s a human with a family I just don’t get it. Unless they actually did something bad. But this isn’t it.

The idea of Xbox buying Nintendo is fun until it’s not. I don’t ever see it happening; hostile or otherwise. But if it did of course the industry would suffer as one of the big 3 loses their identity. If Xbox desperately wants an asian presence (which I can understand them wanting) then stick to Sega or Square Enix. Or on a smaller scale - Mistwalker.

However - partnering with Nintendo on a smaller scale I am 100% behind. Just look at Goldeneye or Banjo etc.

Edit: after thinking about it more - there is one scenario where I would support this; and it’s if we are living in the timeline where Apple, Amazon, Google, Tencent etc become the dominant forces in gaming - with Microsoft standing alongside them. At that point I would be glad for them to have brought Nintendo with them. But yea thats a 20years from now scenario.

Perhaps they now have leverage with the FTC to push through another large acquisition…

Oblivion for me. Absolutely mindblowing experience playing that in 2006. Love the world too. And that opening cutscene is epic.

The way I see it there is only one way for them to “crack” the Japanese market. They need Japanese games as exclusives; like with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon… but they need to eat the cost over years and years as that exclusive library builds up; and not throw in the towel after 2 games haven’t changed their fortunes.

With Xbox games all being on PC I just don’t see it happening unfortunately. But more Japanese, or Asian in general, games will still lead to more sales so it’s a step in the right direction. Plus it helps that audiences in the West also like those games.

@themightyant I agree I was kinda exploring waiting for something else to drop. But just for other peoples’ sakes - I appreciate you adding the tags.

@themightyant I think that was the spoiler the article was trying to avoid; just saying…

@Jimboss a leaked email is just an email. Things can change and we have already seen Quake and Quake II remasters come out everywhere. Even if they aren’t new surely they fall under “existing”.

@themightyant yea I agree - basically something like Quake 2 isn’t going to shift consoles (or allegiances) so why not sell it everywhere and get that PS/Switch income too. Something new and exciting though like an Elder Scrolls has that power so will be exclusive. Though I wonder about the rumoured Oblivion remake…

Voted 10/10; it’s maybe like a 9.5 realistically. About 16/17 hours in. Loving just “playing” it and not worrying about anything else. Very atmospheric and absorbing. Not done too much of the main quest. Not got any of the bugs or issues people have complained about but did just have my first crash at 16hrs but on a mission where there was a LOT exploding around me and I wasn’t helping the situation. Doesn’t matter as I save every like 20 steps for some reason!

@GrumpyDev happy to bash them; as if anyone is doing the same on Xbox’s side they should also be called out. Just pointless all round; people wasting their time on that crap.

Good thing is it’s keeping Starfield in the headlines.

Pretty embarassing for the Playstation lot really.

I saw someone saying they were glad this “flop of a game didn’t come out on Playstation”, which is pretty sad. But also would have more impact had they said nothing at all. I don’t understand the goal; since a comment like that isn’t going to make me stop playing - if anything it makes me more grateful I get to play it and enjoy it even more.

@Fiendish-Beaver of course - i’m just saying it’s my GOTY so far. I haven’t played Baldur’s Gate 3 yet so who knows, maybe that will de-throne it but at the moment Starfield is at the top spot.

Great achievement for a great game. I can’t wait to get back to it. It’s easily my GOTY so far, not forgetting all the other great games I have played this year (still haven’t started Pikmin 4 though so… you know).