Problem is you are now talking £150+ for a yearly sub, for casuals that’s quite the premium now. (Less likely to know about stacking) on top of all other increases in tv subs and so on, it gets expensive.
There is a reason they sell it only on a monthly sub format, they don't want anyone thinking about the total yearly costs. $120 a year also sounds expensive to anyone.
Edit: I think the plan is still at a point that simply 3 full priced day one games a year make one break even. Might need to play more indies to make it worth it. And going month to month also allows to unsub as soon as you are done a game you wanted to play and only resub whenever something worth-while gets added.
Weird timing, but I guess they are riding the wave of positivity after the show.
I keep repeating myself, I'm not a fan of this move, BUT this is the perfect timing if they are going to do this. They would look very very bad if they increased the price after they are given a green light to move forward with the merger, something that could happen as early as tomorrow if the temporary injunction is denied.
Hell, increasing the price after the merger would had likely resulted in anti-competitive inquiries on most major regions, even if they only did so to match PS pricing.
While definitely a move with the famed 'bad optics' I have to say I haven't seen people react so violently when cars (a standard commodity these days) have become absurdly expensive. Nobody saying they will just walk lol. So once some people overreact it will be business as usual I guess.
For better or worse, Sony proved increasing prices on games does not hurt their revenue. Any loss in sales results in a net gain thanks to the raise (and they did show fewer software sales in their reports.)
They also didn't seem to face any mainstream backlash at all over their hardware price hike. I honestly dont expect this to change much the minds of anyone wanting an xbox, and anyone that didn't want one already is not going to be persuaded by lower prices, they are going to be persuaded by more first party games and exclusives.
I'm not a fan, but this is likely going to be just a long comment section in various news sites and nothing else. Sony already cleared the way for Xbox to get away with this.
This will be fine for the die hard fans but not the casuals,
I feel the opposite. This is more likely to have hardcore gamers (that often still buy the games after a while when the prices go down, or because they really want to own x game) are way more likely to cancel.
A casual user that does not spend time in forums wont likely mind a 1 or 2 dollar increase in their monthly statement so long the kids got games to play without having to buy them new games all the time or renting games every week (if that is still a thing.)
@FraserG for the benefit of audiences that might not be familiar with regional prices, can the article be updated to show the previous prices of Series X in the regions that got the price increase?
On the topic: I got to admit I am a bit surprised, but only a bit. I stated plenty of times that I expected a price increase not to occur until they simply first killed off the platform specific tiers, forcing everyone into the GP Ultimate tier.
That said, always believed that should they increase the price, it would be in this vein: a dollar or two increase, not the $5 increase that everyone fear-mongered.
The deal is still great, Ultimate goes up by about $24 US a year, GP regular goes up by $12 US a year. Not a bank-breaking amount by any means, but I'll be way more likely to pursue seasonal sales in the future instead of keeping my account on auto-renew.
@FraserG not for my use since I plan to buy the whole collection, but do we know if the 2D games are also going to be listed separately, as a mini bundle, or only available under the collection?
I'll likely be picking the whole collection despite owning the old HD versions of 2 and 3. Love BC, but will always prefer native versions due to multiple nuances of BC, like achievement tracking and BC titles not being designed to be in the background (making quick resume fail very often).
@Nintendo4Sonic
Physical release???
yes, although the Nintendo Switch version is basically just 2gb in cart and you got to download basically everything (total download is 24.1gb)
Bit disappointed it seems MGS1 is stuck at its PSX resolution. I played this game on PC back in the day and it looks so much better at higher resolution. Hope there is an option to increase resolution.
@Wheatly few games give us a count of how many gamers actually played them, so not an easy ask. We do can look easily at any game's achievement percentages, but that will rarely result in player counts.
Regardless, these numbers are only important to xbox and investors, headlines like this just help spread the voice a bit and make players aware of the game so they might try it out.
On Xbox, most games that hit game pass get big dropoffs on complete clears. Its a bit annoying to look this up, though, because achievements can give anyone a lot of spoilers.
Without player counts, one example I can think of is A Plague Tale: Requiem:
Ch 1: 82.9%/55.13% (ps/xb)
Ch 2: 66.9%/35.45%
Campaign beat by 45.5%/17.63%
It should not be a shock to anyone that the game has higher dropoff before even finishing ch1 on xbox given of Game Pass, if someone does not click with a game in the first few minutes, they might just drop off (not a bad thing, although I'm sure some would try to paint it as such.)
On XBox, PT:R had about 3x the retention rate from finishing ch1 to clear compared to GW:T. On PS, PT:R had a 2.16x retention rate (again, consider much longer time in the platform for players to come back for Ghost Wire, equal time for Plague Tale, and Plague Tale was not on PSN Extra.)
Overall, I would not consider GhostWire a failure. Financially, they likely got enough sales on that first year, plus whatever Sony paid for exclusivity, for the project to be worth the development, and hundred of thousands of players likely had a blast with the game to completion, and cant ever tell how many that didn't beat it still had fun with the time they spent on it. Not everyone plays games to beat them.
Chapter 1 was finished by 72.5%/56% of players on PS/XB respectively
Chapter 2 was finished by 32.8%/15.5%
Campaign was finished by 18.4%/6.17% (not going through every single story achievement)
Now, min-max possible numbers mean:
Chapter 1 beat by 2.8 to 3.6 million players
Chapter 2 beat by 0.775 to 1.64 million players
Campaign beat by 308.5 to 920 thousand players
Note that minimum range is only likely if no one actually bought or played the game on PlayStation, but chances are the game saw more play there given it had a year head start, larger install base, and the game also being added to PSN extra, so its on even grounds with Game Pass.
If anything, lower numbers on Xbox are likely due to the game being in the platform for shorter time, so many that decided to play go deeper into it might not have gotten around to it, or Game Pass library being much more competitive than PlayStation's due to all the Day One launches, so players might opt to play the next new thing instead of playing longer. My point here is that the range is likely closer to above the middle point of those ranges. If I ventured a guess, I'd dare say:
Vehicle based games, Starfield, shooters, Starfield, racers, Starfield, Flight Sim, Doom, Halo Starfield, Minecraft, Sea of Theives, Minecraft, Starfield, Minecraft, Dishonored, Oblivion, Starfield. MS has TONS of existing games that are practically built for VR already.
I honestly dont think VR is that good for FPS, for one due to motion sickness. It's also not a trivial thing to turn every FPS game into a game that can render 90fps in VR.
For me, I find games that have the player inside some static cockpit of sorts (like a car or a plane) to be ideal because they are way less likely to trigger motion sickness. The static first person view of a driving wheel and the inside of a car are less likely to trigger motion sickness, at least from what I have read on the topic.
Imo there are not many games that truly shine in VR. Maybe racing games and… flight sim?
MS should just develop VR modes for these games on Steam. Maybe add support for Steam or Meta (or both) headsets to also unlock those modes on Xbox. Don’t think they should waste resources making their own headsets, though, nor making “vr-only” games.
I’m hoping to see Xbox again at the Tokyo show in September, finally revealing Shin Megami Tensei 3/4/4a/5 and maybe more third party partnerships with traditionally Japanese games that usually avoid the platform, maybe more Rune Factory games. Low chance, but maybe getting Atelier games on Xbox.
@Zenszulu I really dont see it that way, honestly. Like everything, MS execs are very careful (especially lately) to try to set statements to make it clear things change.
Only way I see them closing down the studio is if they keep bleeding talent to the point they can no longer replenish it, since this project made them lose (reportedly) already about 75% of their original workforce.
Also shows they have released '23' games (according to the graphic) in 3.5yrs - not too bad...
Yea, MS owned studios have indeed delivered a good amount of games, the perception problem right now lies in that the titles are either not xbox exclusives (Deathloop/Psychonauts/Ghostwire), or not triple A (Pentiment/ Hi-Fi Rush/Grounded) or simply not narrative games (Flight Simulator/Age of Empires/Forza Horizon)
For some reason, the console warrior segment of video games only cares about narrative games, fighting games, or multiplayer shooters.
I don’t think they’re lying, I’m just hoping we get another game or two next year.
I did not mean to imply you stated they were lying, but you seen the reactions. If they think a game will make it November 24 but unforeseen situations force them to delay to March, you know a bunch of players will come out screaming that Phil lied and he should be fired. So I am holding my hope that anything they slapped with a 2024 date is indeed expected to launch next year for certain, without any doubts, and for that, it must mean they are (so far) internally expecting early-ish next year.
BTW I too miss the days that games were smaller and come out more regularly.
@Zenszulu what makes you think they considered closing them?
I just went to the original quote to see exactly what Axios posted, just in case I missed something, but this is what it says (emphasis mine)
On Redfall: The most recent major Xbox release was a critically panned vampire-hunting game from the critically acclaimed Arkane Austin studio. “I feel accountable that we could have done a better job with Arkane,” Booty says, describing a failure to set expectations around what the game needed to be as a first-party release.
On the bright side, Redfall is getting “good play” in Xbox Game Pass, and Booty’s not writing it off. “It was a miss, but how much of a miss?” he says. “I want to support them to be able to keep working to deliver the game they had in mind.”
And to fans of Arkane Austin hoping the studio will stay open despite the game’s initial reception? “That is the plan right now. They are hard at work on updates and continued content for Redfall.”
The only point this came up was because they were specifically relied the hopes of fans of the studio that it stays open, and their reply was a clear "that's the plan right now" (keeping it open).
@PsBoxSwitchOwner a game does not have to be in the top 50, hell it does not have to be in the top 100, to necessarily be considered to “play well”.
Here is an example: it’s well perceived that Fallout 76 was a disaster, but Elder Scrolls Online is a decent MMO. Now go to the Xbox top played games, you won’t see ESO anywhere in that list, yet FO76 is there near the end. Despite not being anywhere in the top 50, ESO still gets yearly expansions and multiple updates a year.
@Zoidpilot4 either you read this wrong or I did: they basically said they have no plans to close the studio, nor even to abandon the game. They are working on fixing and updating the game. They are also likely deliver the promised DLC (they did sell a season pass.)
I would had not been shocked had this released before acquisition, Zenimax would had shut the studio down, but Microsoft tends to give projects more of a chance. Look how much work they put into Sea of Thieves despite its poor reception at launch.
Plus; he went on to state Redall has significant play activity in Game Pass, so although disappointing, they might not consider it a “failure”.
@NEStalgia the truth will come out very quickly after the game comes out. All someone needs to do is run the game on a PC that matches (not exceeds) Xbox series x specs and try to replicate the Xbox settings. Once that’s done, we can see what is being hit harder, CPU of GPU. That alone hints as to if the issue is indeed all the stuff tracking or it’s simply over-focus on graphic settings.
I tend to like DF, but they have proven I the past they will rush to defend things they are biased in favor of, while draconianly destroying stuff they don’t care for over a few frames dropped. John in particular tends to let his emotions paint his opinions.
@somnambulance some might still be expected to release in 2024, but they are not certain enough to slap a date there. It’s not unrealistic to expect some of the undated stuff to potentially arrive fall 2024.
Honestly, some of the 2024 stuff might not make it until fall, but dare bet the reason they got listed with a 2024 date is because they actually expect most of them to release by summer. If they slip a few months, they still won’t be accused of “lying again”.
@BAMozzy the message is actually very clear. There is no mention of ownership because there is no chant in ownership. Amazon is simply going to publish the game (pay for development and publishing, because it’s become clear since then that Embracer is broke and can’t finance their own games anymore.)
I do think they have also struck a deal for TV/Movie content.
Lets see... my most hyped for titles right now (that have at least some realistic release dates) are, in order of hype:
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Assassin's Creed Mirage
Starfield
Star Wars Outlaws
Persona 3 Reloaded
Thats the list of games that I feel I need to play at launch.
There are other games I am hyped for but not enough to pay full release price for. If they became "free" (somone gifts them to me, or they in GamePass) I would play them at launch, or as soon as I have time:
I'm pretty sure that there is a select/create your character when you start the game.
Maybe I'm wrong but doesn't Fable historically just offers you a choice of gender with 2 pre-designed characters? Would not be shocked if its the same here.
Damn, now support you’re comment with showing some pre-footage if it’s true. Just a few frames or seconds. It wil give extra hype.
He did, the tweet has 3 shots of the trailer that already were presumed to be actual gameplay footage by players familiar with the IP.
But I also believe they are playing with the camera in ways that are unrepresentative of the game as it will actually be played, and making it look far more dynamic. (E.g. even when that fireball is thrown the camera is panning out and swinging around etc.)
I'm now looking at the video again, trying to repeat that one shot of the fireball. There is no panning out, there is a camera swager that is no much more drastic than the camera swager we get in games like Far Cry as we simply walk or sprint.
There is a camera span on the scene where she kick-trips a guy down, but that is also slow motion and very likely real game play (not that different from kill shots in Fallout.)
The parry zoom in is likely the same, generally its safe to do fancy stuff with the camera in scenes segments that you either slow down time or simply don't have full control of the character due to being animation-locked in a move.
Regardless what anyone feels about the future of subscription programs, there is a strong case to be made that many many individuals will benefit from the addition of all ABK catalogs, past and future, being added to Game Pass under a convenient low fee. This includes the ability to stream the games without having to buy an expensive computer or console.
Personally, I have friends that work in ABK and they cant wait for Kotick to go. Even if he ends up sticking around, they still expect a huge improvement in the work place simply by having Microsoft HR taking over HR operations.
And some might argue against this, but ABK coming under XBox will strengthen Xbox enough, in some markets, to balance competition. Right now Xbox is too far behind and it would take decades for them to get close to Sony and Nintendo via "organic growth". Even other publishers have expressed that this deal would help the industry. They wont spell this out, but having Sony as dominant as it is right now makes it harder for third party publishers to get a fair deal out of Sony.
It is also very possible (although lets face its not granted) that under Xbox ownership, ABK wont feel forced to spend every cent in CoD and mobile, increasing the budget invested in developing other games. Maybe CoD will remain a yearly thing, but they still would be able to increase the budget allocated towards things like Crash, Spyro and other more varied IPs.
Plus I honestly trust MS wont ever take CoD away from competitors, and actually bring it back to future Nintendo consoles. Yes, I also do think anything not called CoD will become Xbox console exclusive, but as it stands, those games were not having much of a future under current ABK management.
Mine arrives tomorrow. Wont be opening it any time soon. I might open it at some point to claim the theme (although not wild about that theme) and to use perhaps use it to play Starfield on my new PC.
@Jark I'm not going back to 30fps. Any game that does not support 60fps, I'll just play on PC.
I still would rather play on console if the game supports 60fps, due to features like achievements and quick resume, but not enough to play new games at 30fps.
Edit: there might be some exceptions, but not if they are first person perspective games.
@Magabro @Kaloudz also when we hear about 100 million or more budgets, marketing is included. So far this sounds like how much MS is paying the developer to make the game.
That aside, at everyone: calm expectations because anything this is about won’t see the light of day for anywhere between 3 or even 6 years.
This is the kind of stuff I love seeing after the game launched and I played it. Right now, we need to see it in action. Last years demo was good, but we need to see more. We need to see at least some traversal and casual combat.
@Cashews there was a leak a while back that it’s coming, same way we already knew P3Re was in the works, the question is when and where will it be announced.
Crossing my Fi Fred that Clockwork Revolution and South of Midnight are closer than my first impression if 2025.
Also hoping some of these titles show early (March?) 2024.
Not first party, but hope they get to reveal Shin Megami Tensei 3/4/4a/5 for Xbox in Tokyo Game Show this September as they did last year with Persona.
I was never going to play this, but this concept sucks. Very rightfully, GT7 got bashed a lot for this, as was Redfall.
It’s ok if you want to lock some online progression to, well, always being online, do that, but damn still offer a way for single player game modes to be playable offline!
So... I was thinking more about this game and how interested I am on it...
I am thinking this might finally push me to sign up for Ubisoft+
Ubisoft+ lets me play the games both, on PC and XBox (and Luna) A gold edition of any of their games easily costs $100, at least if bought at launch... and they might eventually release "second season" content like they did with Farcry 6 and Valhalla.
Buying an XBox version of a game wont ever give me the PC version, and all new Ubisoft games have cloud sync saves between versions via Ubisoft Connect...
There is also the Avatar game coming, and Mirrage... a full year of Ubisoft+ cost me $180, and buying the gold version of Avatar and Star Wars Outlaws would cost me at least $200, even if we assume Mirage gets no DLC, that is another 50, $250... and there will be other Ubisoft games like Prince of Persia... yea... I think I'll subscribe to Ubisoft+ as soon as Mirage launches.
@Green-Bandit I do love the Switch Pro battery life. I often forget to put it on my charging dock at the end of the day and it still works for multiple days, despite being old as hell. It's the Anti-Dual-Sense, that thing is...
As for the Black S... man... did they miss a chance to make that model Starfield themed... at least a limited run of it... really MS... you should had sold a white Series S, 1TB, with a theme that matches that new controller... oh and of course... pack in that controller... and a copy of the game.
I'm sorry but I got to say this: this sounds like telling people "play on an Xbox 360 if you want to play on an offline device".
I already noted I will play on PC, I would much rather play on console, and if we do get mods and anyone comes up with a mod to make that possible, I hope that transferring data from Steam to the Xbox version is a thing somehow.
Regret spending time watching it but there were some highlights.
Not for me, but seeing DLC for Hi-Fi Rush was cool.
High on Life knifey DLC has me pumped.
First Descendant looks interesting, I guess I could try it right now on PC if I really wanted to see what its all about...
Sea of Stars coming to Game Pass, not sure if that was confirmed before but thats awesome. I was looking forward to that game.
There was a cool indie reel "Developer Acceleration Program" that had some cool looking stuff, but I feel that should had been part of the regular showcase.
Same for the 10 indie games coming to game pass (including Sea of Stars and The Book Walker, two games I had on my Steam wish list)
Despite regretting watching it (would have rather caught up on a quick recap article) I dont think I would rate it low since it was clear this was going to be "extended" and full of marketing fluff (like Paris going to a warehouse with props.)
My hype levels for this DLC went down. It looks cool but I am definitively not great at rhythm and was only able to go through the story because the game is quite forgiving.
Challenge modes don't sound like the thing that I personally will enjoy much. Was hoping some extra story levels.
Still happy this exists for those that are truly good at that aspect of the game.
Never heard of this one before. Looks slick, and cross-play with PC. Still a service game that likely demands a ton of time so I might not have the time to give it a realistic shot. If I find the time for such a thing I might instead be interested to jump into ESO, but who knows... maybe I'll jump in to just get a feel.
@Green-Bandit Yea but extra controllers is a break even, even today.
The reason I bring up extra storage is because the whole point of this more expensive Series S is the extra storage. If you want to compare that to a Switch, you would have to also add similar storage to the Switch.
Comments 3,850
Re: Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass
@PsBoxSwitchOwner
There is a reason they sell it only on a monthly sub format, they don't want anyone thinking about the total yearly costs. $120 a year also sounds expensive to anyone.
Edit: I think the plan is still at a point that simply 3 full priced day one games a year make one break even. Might need to play more indies to make it worth it. And going month to month also allows to unsub as soon as you are done a game you wanted to play and only resub whenever something worth-while gets added.
Re: Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass
@Titntin
I keep repeating myself, I'm not a fan of this move, BUT this is the perfect timing if they are going to do this. They would look very very bad if they increased the price after they are given a green light to move forward with the merger, something that could happen as early as tomorrow if the temporary injunction is denied.
Hell, increasing the price after the merger would had likely resulted in anti-competitive inquiries on most major regions, even if they only did so to match PS pricing.
Re: Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass
@gollumb82
For better or worse, Sony proved increasing prices on games does not hurt their revenue. Any loss in sales results in a net gain thanks to the raise (and they did show fewer software sales in their reports.)
They also didn't seem to face any mainstream backlash at all over their hardware price hike. I honestly dont expect this to change much the minds of anyone wanting an xbox, and anyone that didn't want one already is not going to be persuaded by lower prices, they are going to be persuaded by more first party games and exclusives.
I'm not a fan, but this is likely going to be just a long comment section in various news sites and nothing else. Sony already cleared the way for Xbox to get away with this.
Re: Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass
@UltimateOtaku91
I feel the opposite. This is more likely to have hardcore gamers (that often still buy the games after a while when the prices go down, or because they really want to own x game) are way more likely to cancel.
A casual user that does not spend time in forums wont likely mind a 1 or 2 dollar increase in their monthly statement so long the kids got games to play without having to buy them new games all the time or renting games every week (if that is still a thing.)
Re: Microsoft Announces Price Increases For Xbox Series X And Xbox Game Pass
@FraserG for the benefit of audiences that might not be familiar with regional prices, can the article be updated to show the previous prices of Series X in the regions that got the price increase?
On the topic:
I got to admit I am a bit surprised, but only a bit. I stated plenty of times that I expected a price increase not to occur until they simply first killed off the platform specific tiers, forcing everyone into the GP Ultimate tier.
That said, always believed that should they increase the price, it would be in this vein: a dollar or two increase, not the $5 increase that everyone fear-mongered.
The deal is still great, Ultimate goes up by about $24 US a year, GP regular goes up by $12 US a year. Not a bank-breaking amount by any means, but I'll be way more likely to pursue seasonal sales in the future instead of keeping my account on auto-renew.
Re: Konami Confirms Metal Gear Solid 1 Will Be Available Standalone On Xbox
@FraserG not for my use since I plan to buy the whole collection, but do we know if the 2D games are also going to be listed separately, as a mini bundle, or only available under the collection?
Re: Konami Confirms Metal Gear Solid 1 Will Be Available Standalone On Xbox
I'll likely be picking the whole collection despite owning the old HD versions of 2 and 3. Love BC, but will always prefer native versions due to multiple nuances of BC, like achievement tracking and BC titles not being designed to be in the background (making quick resume fail very often).
@Nintendo4Sonic
yes, although the Nintendo Switch version is basically just 2gb in cart and you got to download basically everything (total download is 24.1gb)
Re: Multiple Games Announced For Xbox Following June's Nintendo Direct
Square once more selectively ignoring XBox, this time with Star Ocean, I see.
Re: Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol.1 Officially Arrives On Xbox This October
Bit disappointed it seems MGS1 is stuck at its PSX resolution. I played this game on PC back in the day and it looks so much better at higher resolution. Hope there is an option to increase resolution.
Re: Best RPGs on Xbox Game Pass
I love AC Odyssey, but not sure I would box it under RPG, despite progression systems.
Re: Bethesda's Ghostwire: Tokyo Has Officially Passed Five Million Players
@Wheatly few games give us a count of how many gamers actually played them, so not an easy ask. We do can look easily at any game's achievement percentages, but that will rarely result in player counts.
Regardless, these numbers are only important to xbox and investors, headlines like this just help spread the voice a bit and make players aware of the game so they might try it out.
On Xbox, most games that hit game pass get big dropoffs on complete clears. Its a bit annoying to look this up, though, because achievements can give anyone a lot of spoilers.
Without player counts, one example I can think of is A Plague Tale: Requiem:
It should not be a shock to anyone that the game has higher dropoff before even finishing ch1 on xbox given of Game Pass, if someone does not click with a game in the first few minutes, they might just drop off (not a bad thing, although I'm sure some would try to paint it as such.)
On XBox, PT:R had about 3x the retention rate from finishing ch1 to clear compared to GW:T.
On PS, PT:R had a 2.16x retention rate (again, consider much longer time in the platform for players to come back for Ghost Wire, equal time for Plague Tale, and Plague Tale was not on PSN Extra.)
Overall, I would not consider GhostWire a failure. Financially, they likely got enough sales on that first year, plus whatever Sony paid for exclusivity, for the project to be worth the development, and hundred of thousands of players likely had a blast with the game to completion, and cant ever tell how many that didn't beat it still had fun with the time they spent on it. Not everyone plays games to beat them.
Re: Bethesda's Ghostwire: Tokyo Has Officially Passed Five Million Players
@Wheatly According to achievement ratios:
Now, min-max possible numbers mean:
Note that minimum range is only likely if no one actually bought or played the game on PlayStation, but chances are the game saw more play there given it had a year head start, larger install base, and the game also being added to PSN extra, so its on even grounds with Game Pass.
If anything, lower numbers on Xbox are likely due to the game being in the platform for shorter time, so many that decided to play go deeper into it might not have gotten around to it, or Game Pass library being much more competitive than PlayStation's due to all the Day One launches, so players might opt to play the next new thing instead of playing longer. My point here is that the range is likely closer to above the middle point of those ranges. If I ventured a guess, I'd dare say:
Re: Xbox Exec: We're Still Hesitant To Develop VR Games Until There's A Bigger Audience
@NEStalgia
I honestly dont think VR is that good for FPS, for one due to motion sickness. It's also not a trivial thing to turn every FPS game into a game that can render 90fps in VR.
For me, I find games that have the player inside some static cockpit of sorts (like a car or a plane) to be ideal because they are way less likely to trigger motion sickness. The static first person view of a driving wheel and the inside of a car are less likely to trigger motion sickness, at least from what I have read on the topic.
Re: Xbox Exec: We're Still Hesitant To Develop VR Games Until There's A Bigger Audience
Imo there are not many games that truly shine in VR. Maybe racing games and… flight sim?
MS should just develop VR modes for these games on Steam. Maybe add support for Steam or Meta (or both) headsets to also unlock those modes on Xbox. Don’t think they should waste resources making their own headsets, though, nor making “vr-only” games.
Re: Talking Point: What Else Do You Expect To See From Xbox Before The End Of 2023?
I’m hoping to see Xbox again at the Tokyo show in September, finally revealing Shin Megami Tensei 3/4/4a/5 and maybe more third party partnerships with traditionally Japanese games that usually avoid the platform, maybe more Rune Factory games. Low chance, but maybe getting Atelier games on Xbox.
Re: Xbox's Redfall Plan 'Right Now' Is To Keep The Studio Open & Working On Updates
@Zenszulu I really dont see it that way, honestly. Like everything, MS execs are very careful (especially lately) to try to set statements to make it clear things change.
Only way I see them closing down the studio is if they keep bleeding talent to the point they can no longer replenish it, since this project made them lose (reportedly) already about 75% of their original workforce.
Re: Here's The Latest Xbox Game Studios & Bethesda Roadmap (June 2023 Version)
@BAMozzy
Yea, MS owned studios have indeed delivered a good amount of games, the perception problem right now lies in that the titles are either not xbox exclusives (Deathloop/Psychonauts/Ghostwire), or not triple A (Pentiment/ Hi-Fi Rush/Grounded) or simply not narrative games (Flight Simulator/Age of Empires/Forza Horizon)
For some reason, the console warrior segment of video games only cares about narrative games, fighting games, or multiplayer shooters.
Re: Here's The Latest Xbox Game Studios & Bethesda Roadmap (June 2023 Version)
@somnambulance
I did not mean to imply you stated they were lying, but you seen the reactions. If they think a game will make it November 24 but unforeseen situations force them to delay to March, you know a bunch of players will come out screaming that Phil lied and he should be fired. So I am holding my hope that anything they slapped with a 2024 date is indeed expected to launch next year for certain, without any doubts, and for that, it must mean they are (so far) internally expecting early-ish next year.
BTW I too miss the days that games were smaller and come out more regularly.
Re: Xbox's Redfall Plan 'Right Now' Is To Keep The Studio Open & Working On Updates
@Zenszulu what makes you think they considered closing them?
I just went to the original quote to see exactly what Axios posted, just in case I missed something, but this is what it says (emphasis mine)
The only point this came up was because they were specifically relied the hopes of fans of the studio that it stays open, and their reply was a clear "that's the plan right now" (keeping it open).
Re: Xbox's Redfall Plan 'Right Now' Is To Keep The Studio Open & Working On Updates
@PsBoxSwitchOwner a game does not have to be in the top 50, hell it does not have to be in the top 100, to necessarily be considered to “play well”.
Here is an example: it’s well perceived that Fallout 76 was a disaster, but Elder Scrolls Online is a decent MMO. Now go to the Xbox top played games, you won’t see ESO anywhere in that list, yet FO76 is there near the end. Despite not being anywhere in the top 50, ESO still gets yearly expansions and multiple updates a year.
Re: Xbox's Redfall Plan 'Right Now' Is To Keep The Studio Open & Working On Updates
@Zoidpilot4 either you read this wrong or I did: they basically said they have no plans to close the studio, nor even to abandon the game. They are working on fixing and updating the game. They are also likely deliver the promised DLC (they did sell a season pass.)
I would had not been shocked had this released before acquisition, Zenimax would had shut the studio down, but Microsoft tends to give projects more of a chance. Look how much work they put into Sea of Thieves despite its poor reception at launch.
Plus; he went on to state Redall has significant play activity in Game Pass, so although disappointing, they might not consider it a “failure”.
Re: Digital Foundry Posts Huge Breakdown On Why Starfield Runs At 30FPS On Xbox
@NEStalgia the truth will come out very quickly after the game comes out. All someone needs to do is run the game on a PC that matches (not exceeds) Xbox series x specs and try to replicate the Xbox settings. Once that’s done, we can see what is being hit harder, CPU of GPU. That alone hints as to if the issue is indeed all the stuff tracking or it’s simply over-focus on graphic settings.
I tend to like DF, but they have proven I the past they will rush to defend things they are biased in favor of, while draconianly destroying stuff they don’t care for over a few frames dropped. John in particular tends to let his emotions paint his opinions.
Re: Here's The Latest Xbox Game Studios & Bethesda Roadmap (June 2023 Version)
@somnambulance some might still be expected to release in 2024, but they are not certain enough to slap a date there. It’s not unrealistic to expect some of the undated stuff to potentially arrive fall 2024.
Honestly, some of the 2024 stuff might not make it until fall, but dare bet the reason they got listed with a 2024 date is because they actually expect most of them to release by summer. If they slip a few months, they still won’t be accused of “lying again”.
Re: Here's The Latest Xbox Game Studios & Bethesda Roadmap (June 2023 Version)
@Amigator smaller titles tend to be announced way closer to release. I expect obsidian at least to always have at least one small project cooking.
Re: Xbox's Matt Booty Has Played The Perfect Dark Reboot And Is 'Very Excited'
Still not expecting this one any earlier than fall 2025, most likely 2026.
Re: Xbox's Matt Booty Has Played The Perfect Dark Reboot And Is 'Very Excited'
@BAMozzy the message is actually very clear. There is no mention of ownership because there is no chant in ownership. Amazon is simply going to publish the game (pay for development and publishing, because it’s become clear since then that Embracer is broke and can’t finance their own games anymore.)
I do think they have also struck a deal for TV/Movie content.
Edit: link
Amazon indeed is making a TV show; and a movie. Netflix is making an anime.
Re: Steam's Most Highly-Anticipated Releases Are Nearly All Xbox Game Pass Titles
Lets see... my most hyped for titles right now (that have at least some realistic release dates) are, in order of hype:
Thats the list of games that I feel I need to play at launch.
There are other games I am hyped for but not enough to pay full release price for. If they became "free" (somone gifts them to me, or they in GamePass) I would play them at launch, or as soon as I have time:
Re: Would Activision Be A Good Fit For Halo? Xbox's Matt Booty Shares His Thoughts
I just want more halo games that are not about Master Chief, as much as I want more Star Wars content that is not focused on Skywalkers, Jedi or Sith.
Re: Fable Dev Flattered By Fans Asking If Xbox Showcase Trailer Was 'Real'
@Banjo-
Maybe I'm wrong but doesn't Fable historically just offers you a choice of gender with 2 pre-designed characters? Would not be shocked if its the same here.
Re: Fable Dev Flattered By Fans Asking If Xbox Showcase Trailer Was 'Real'
@themightyant @Ocat
He did, the tweet has 3 shots of the trailer that already were presumed to be actual gameplay footage by players familiar with the IP.
I'm now looking at the video again, trying to repeat that one shot of the fireball. There is no panning out, there is a camera swager that is no much more drastic than the camera swager we get in games like Far Cry as we simply walk or sprint.
There is a camera span on the scene where she kick-trips a guy down, but that is also slow motion and very likely real game play (not that different from kill shots in Fallout.)
The parry zoom in is likely the same, generally its safe to do fancy stuff with the camera in scenes segments that you either slow down time or simply don't have full control of the character due to being animation-locked in a move.
Re: Judge Grants FTC's Temporary Restraining Order Against Xbox & Activision Blizzard
@Cashews
Regardless what anyone feels about the future of subscription programs, there is a strong case to be made that many many individuals will benefit from the addition of all ABK catalogs, past and future, being added to Game Pass under a convenient low fee. This includes the ability to stream the games without having to buy an expensive computer or console.
Personally, I have friends that work in ABK and they cant wait for Kotick to go. Even if he ends up sticking around, they still expect a huge improvement in the work place simply by having Microsoft HR taking over HR operations.
And some might argue against this, but ABK coming under XBox will strengthen Xbox enough, in some markets, to balance competition. Right now Xbox is too far behind and it would take decades for them to get close to Sony and Nintendo via "organic growth". Even other publishers have expressed that this deal would help the industry. They wont spell this out, but having Sony as dominant as it is right now makes it harder for third party publishers to get a fair deal out of Sony.
It is also very possible (although lets face its not granted) that under Xbox ownership, ABK wont feel forced to spend every cent in CoD and mobile, increasing the budget invested in developing other games. Maybe CoD will remain a yearly thing, but they still would be able to increase the budget allocated towards things like Crash, Spyro and other more varied IPs.
Plus I honestly trust MS wont ever take CoD away from competitors, and actually bring it back to future Nintendo consoles. Yes, I also do think anything not called CoD will become Xbox console exclusive, but as it stands, those games were not having much of a future under current ABK management.
Re: Review: Starfield Xbox Wireless Controller - Don't Sleep On This Special Edition Delight
Mine arrives tomorrow. Wont be opening it any time soon. I might open it at some point to claim the theme (although not wild about that theme) and to use perhaps use it to play Starfield on my new PC.
Re: Xbox Boss Shares Heartfelt Message Following Summer Showcases
@Jark I'm not going back to 30fps. Any game that does not support 60fps, I'll just play on PC.
I still would rather play on console if the game supports 60fps, due to features like achievements and quick resume, but not enough to play new games at 30fps.
Edit: there might be some exceptions, but not if they are first person perspective games.
Re: Xbox Reportedly Enters New Agreement To Develop AAA Title With People Can Fly
@Magabro @Kaloudz also when we hear about 100 million or more budgets, marketing is included. So far this sounds like how much MS is paying the developer to make the game.
That aside, at everyone: calm expectations because anything this is about won’t see the light of day for anywhere between 3 or even 6 years.
Re: Hellblade 2 Dev Diary Goes Behind The Scenes On Xbox Games Showcase Trailer
This is the kind of stuff I love seeing after the game launched and I played it. Right now, we need to see it in action. Last years demo was good, but we need to see more. We need to see at least some traversal and casual combat.
Re: Phil Spencer Teases Multiple Games That Weren't Shown In This Year's Xbox Showcase
@Cashews there was a leak a while back that it’s coming, same way we already knew P3Re was in the works, the question is when and where will it be announced.
Re: Judge Grants FTC's Temporary Restraining Order Against Xbox & Activision Blizzard
I expect this temporary injunction to be granted, but if it isn’t, this deal will surely close by the end of the year, if not in a couple of months.
Re: Phil Spencer Teases Multiple Games That Weren't Shown In This Year's Xbox Showcase
Crossing my Fi Fred that Clockwork Revolution and South of Midnight are closer than my first impression if 2025.
Also hoping some of these titles show early (March?) 2024.
Not first party, but hope they get to reveal Shin Megami Tensei 3/4/4a/5 for Xbox in Tokyo Game Show this September as they did last year with Persona.
Re: Forza Motorsport's Career Mode Is Always-Online, DLC Plans Detailed
I was never going to play this, but this concept sucks. Very rightfully, GT7 got bashed a lot for this, as was Redfall.
It’s ok if you want to lock some online progression to, well, always being online, do that, but damn still offer a way for single player game modes to be playable offline!
Re: Star Wars Outlaws Gets Lengthy Gameplay Reveal Ahead Of 2024 Xbox Release
So... I was thinking more about this game and how interested I am on it...
I am thinking this might finally push me to sign up for Ubisoft+
Ubisoft+ lets me play the games both, on PC and XBox (and Luna) A gold edition of any of their games easily costs $100, at least if bought at launch... and they might eventually release "second season" content like they did with Farcry 6 and Valhalla.
Buying an XBox version of a game wont ever give me the PC version, and all new Ubisoft games have cloud sync saves between versions via Ubisoft Connect...
There is also the Avatar game coming, and Mirrage...
a full year of Ubisoft+ cost me $180, and buying the gold version of Avatar and Star Wars Outlaws would cost me at least $200, even if we assume Mirage gets no DLC, that is another 50, $250... and there will be other Ubisoft games like Prince of Persia... yea... I think I'll subscribe to Ubisoft+ as soon as Mirage launches.
Re: Starfield Will Run At 4K / 30FPS On Xbox Series X, 1440p / 30FPS On Series S
@Green-Bandit the S is rather flat, they could at least sell us decals!
Re: Starfield Will Run At 4K / 30FPS On Xbox Series X, 1440p / 30FPS On Series S
@Green-Bandit I do love the Switch Pro battery life. I often forget to put it on my charging dock at the end of the day and it still works for multiple days, despite being old as hell. It's the Anti-Dual-Sense, that thing is...
As for the Black S... man... did they miss a chance to make that model Starfield themed... at least a limited run of it... really MS... you should had sold a white Series S, 1TB, with a theme that matches that new controller... oh and of course... pack in that controller... and a copy of the game.
Re: God Of War: Ragnarök Dev Chimes In On Starfield's 30FPS Xbox Limit
@VokDaWiibSlayer
I'm sorry but I got to say this: this sounds like telling people "play on an Xbox 360 if you want to play on an offline device".
I already noted I will play on PC, I would much rather play on console, and if we do get mods and anyone comes up with a mod to make that possible, I hope that transferring data from Steam to the Xbox version is a thing somehow.
Re: 13 Game Pass Titles Announced At Xbox Extended Showcase 2023
Sea of Stars and The Book Walker are high on my list of games to watch for, glad they actually coming to XBox and Game Pass.
Edit: Harold Halibut caught my eye... will definitively be checking that one out too.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade The 'Extended' Xbox Games Showcase 2023?
Regret spending time watching it but there were some highlights.
Not for me, but seeing DLC for Hi-Fi Rush was cool.
High on Life knifey DLC has me pumped.
First Descendant looks interesting, I guess I could try it right now on PC if I really wanted to see what its all about...
Sea of Stars coming to Game Pass, not sure if that was confirmed before but thats awesome. I was looking forward to that game.
There was a cool indie reel "Developer Acceleration Program" that had some cool looking stuff, but I feel that should had been part of the regular showcase.
Same for the 10 indie games coming to game pass (including Sea of Stars and The Book Walker, two games I had on my Steam wish list)
Despite regretting watching it (would have rather caught up on a quick recap article) I dont think I would rate it low since it was clear this was going to be "extended" and full of marketing fluff (like Paris going to a warehouse with props.)
Re: God Of War: Ragnarök Dev Chimes In On Starfield's 30FPS Xbox Limit
@VokDaWiibSlayer TVs also used to be a lot smaller. The bigger the screen, the more obvious 30ps jerkiness becomes.
Re: Hi-Fi Rush Is Getting A Massive Free Update On Xbox This July
My hype levels for this DLC went down. It looks cool but I am definitively not great at rhythm and was only able to go through the story because the game is quite forgiving.
Challenge modes don't sound like the thing that I personally will enjoy much. Was hoping some extra story levels.
Still happy this exists for those that are truly good at that aspect of the game.
Re: The First Descendant Brings Its Free-To-Play Shooter To Xbox This Year
Never heard of this one before. Looks slick, and cross-play with PC. Still a service game that likely demands a ton of time so I might not have the time to give it a realistic shot. If I find the time for such a thing I might instead be interested to jump into ESO, but who knows... maybe I'll jump in to just get a feel.
Re: 'High On Knife' Announced As Premium DLC For Xbox Game Pass Hit High On Life
THIS should had been on the main show.
Re: Starfield Will Run At 4K / 30FPS On Xbox Series X, 1440p / 30FPS On Series S
@Green-Bandit Yea but extra controllers is a break even, even today.
The reason I bring up extra storage is because the whole point of this more expensive Series S is the extra storage. If you want to compare that to a Switch, you would have to also add similar storage to the Switch.