@OldGamer999 I think the worst thing Xbox has done isn't actually the strategy, or even the constantly changing strategy. It's constantly lying about it and changing what they said before so that their credibility is now shot, and when they tell the truth about their plans you can't trust it's true. They've reiterated over and over that preserving your digital library is the key. That's why I bought in in the first place. But do they really mean that? We can't know anymore because the trust the consumer has in their statements is 0 now and that's their own fault.
I think if the debate is between Xbox and PC, it's a no brainer at this point. Xbox is shaky, and PC is the obvious path forward where you lose nothing (other than mountains of cash and 6 cubic feet of room space) and gain everything.
But when the debate is XB or PS it's a lot more unclear. The outlook for being a PS consumer may not be any better than being an Xbox consumer as a library investment. We know those two don't play nice, and if MS makes good on their hollow promises it may still work out to be the best bet. Or not. It depends on what Xbox does vs what they say and what PS does when they have unlimited power.
@OldGamer999 I think Xbox just has had a stable presence in the US since the beginning. A bit more marketing overall (still next to none now but lots back in the day), it's just more of an extablished, entrenched, omnipresent brand here than presumably anywhere else. Probably more attributable to Peter Moore and a lingering effect than anyone else, really.
I agree, Xbox is actually extremely healthy in the US. The problem is being healthy only in one market is still certain doom on a corporate level. No console can exist with 3rd party support selling in one country. (Then again the Wukong Steam sales beg to differ lol.) I think as long as they have a hook in the US though, they have a solid business to a degree.
@fizban3332 I don't believe the did a stock swap, IIRC they gave them the cashout value of their shares, so those investors may have chosen to reinvest in MS at MS prices, or not.
@Banjo- It's not about xbox users jumping because games are on PS5. It's about there not being enough Xbox users to begin with and at this point selling new customers on it is nigh impossible. Which will make life for users worse in time (or make the platform irrelevant totally.) Thus jumping now before it gets worse isn't a bad plan.
A lot of empty words. A lot of words that make him look like a liar worming around other words he said in the past that he's now counteracting. But the key words here are the direct admission (wrapped in a lot of bubble wrap) that he's ultimately appeasing corporate expectations and that's what's driving these decisions. We all knew it. But he finally said it. Even if he had to pretend he wasn't saying it.
If we extract the statement to remove the "slimy corporate things" from it, we get "Satya and Amy said jump, and I know not to ask how high."
@Spider-Kev Yeah, anyone that follows gaming intently knew it was pending. And the pay service was supposed to launch a few months after the console. But then it didn't and ran, what, 2 or 3 years before going paid?
But the average consumer let alone the average NINTENDO consumer? Everyone had to have been blindsided but a surprise paywall years into the system. If it were any other company it would have been like Matrick 2013 all over again. Even at the time on NL we all thought Nintendo just created a disaster of backlash. But no, not Nintendo. Nintendo and Disney can do whatever they want to people and people will thank them for doing it. I have a soft spot for Nintendo, but oh how I hate the company behind it.
@InterceptorAlpha Getting back to this post, but you have me super intrigued by Morrowind, particularly if it takes the beautification mods, and coop too. Wonder how painful it is getting it all set up. Had planned on Skyrim (finally to play Skyrim after buying thrice and still not playing lol.)
What makes Morrowind VR better than Skryim (fully modded?)
@Spider-Kev Exactly! Most players didn't know the disclaimer was there but it was. Yeah, the notice was there for day one. It's been an eternity since "Switchmas" but the online, and games like Splatoon 2's testfire early on had the asterisk about an NSO subscription will be required at a future date for all online content. They always put that warning there in the fine print, but the launch was delayed for years and most players never read the fine print, so a lot got slammed with what they had for years being taken away and paywalled one day. But they did technically warn people.
@Vaako007 Only partially true. PC has been growing rapidly, while consoles are sinking (including PS), and it's regional. Consoles were only ever the big thing in North America, Western Europe+UK, and Japan. Japan's out (other than Nintendo handhelds), and most of Asia, Eastern/Central Europe, and South America have always been primarily PC. I know Sony doesn't see PC as a competitor (yet), but at some point they have to face the music that their base is shrinking too, they already know this and aren't profiting enough from it on games. And that's why they're doing PC at all.
Similar to the theme of "PC is niche" is the Stellar Blade dev's comments that they expect higher sales on PC than on PS5. We can make fun of PC gamer stereotypes here of course, lol, but a lot of that is "Asia=PC." It's not the niche, the consoles are niche there. As we see console market share erode in the West, it's rewriting the theme.
Nintendo is Nintendo. IDK how long they can get away with it, but they do. I see them competing more with mobile. PS trying to coexist with PC. Xbox in all likelihood will become a PC.
@Cakefish The one problem is our expectations. We look at Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and formerly Xb and expect a certain business model. Software drives hardware drives software, install base = more software, and revenue is dependent on install base. For MS' new business model they're not building the model around hardware install base, or really software sales on the hardware. To us this means it's doomed. To them, I don't think they care, the console is just a box to buy subscriptions and software on. Just another revenue stream. It doesn't need to have a big footprint, it's just one stream among many. To us this looks disastrous. To them it's fine because it's not driving their profit line now. That means the console is in a better place than it seems because it's basically just a peripheral to them. Doesn't need to sell great. But it also means they can discontinue it to realign goals at any moment without notice, and it's a chaotic mishmash experience to own it. I do still think future Xboxen are PCs, built like laptops or mini-ITX or NUCs, with a custom UI/launcher. Might work out fine. Or not.
@FatGuyInLilCoat While nobody knows what's going on, stopping talking would be catastrophic. They need to just stop openly lying.
@BacklogBrad If a contract was in place for exclusivity (it was), if some new row appeared that caused Disney to bluster over it ex post facto, it would be due to cratering platform sales and open retreat in most markets that aren't America, and thus insufficient distribution market since the deal was inked. It's still on MS for wetting the green bed.
@abe_hikura Worse, with this and Doom, the two biggest Xbox releases this year both confirmed to PS5 before launch, even if they're special cases, it not only sets an expectation it'll all come to PS, but they've also shot their credibility so even if they say a game won't, everyone will still expect it will. And it probably will.
To appreciate the scale of this move consider this:
3rd party timed exclusives on PS and Nintendo and even Xbox do not announce the existence, let alone release window of other platform ports until after the exclusivity period expires.
Sony does not release even PC ports of exclusives for at least a year currently.
Microsoft announced the PS port along with their own XB date, put a time window on it, and it's only 6 months+ exclusivity. For their own first party game.
Even as someone that likes the idea of ending exclusives, and understands exclusives are not what sells consoles anymore, even Sony, that's a massive self destruct button. They can' not really provide a compelling reason to play on their platform instead of competitors. That's a problem. "Game Pass' but that has, clearly, not resonated with consumers as a successful enough reason alone.
@AccessibleDaydream Game Pass 10 was supposed to be the last Game Pass upgraded forever, but then Game Pass 11 arrived one day and said you have to throw out the Xbox you bought 2 years ago because it needs one with a different chip.
LOL I can't stand anything Mac, but, I forgot about those commercials and they were sooo spot on! That was one of the best marketing moments in PC history.
@Spider-Kev In fairness, Nintendo kind of bait and switched. Yeah the fine print said you'd have to pay for online since day 1 but it wasn't ready yet, but for the masses the bought in and then suddenly had to pay annually for what they already had. When Sony tried "but the fine print said it on day 1" with Helldivers 2 PSN logins on PC they got rightly blasted. Nintendo gets a medal.
@Fiendish-Beaver @OldGamer999 Standard Nadella playbook. Trade tomorrows growth for today's dividends. And the shareholders will vote him Emperor For Life because of it.
@x3King84 Indeed it is.... indeed it is.
@Fenbops Maybe but I think Lego Horizon was basically the litmus test. It's the all ages way of getting audiences on board their big franchise, and it's on "everything but Xbox."
@Fenbops Playstation already saw how much money there is to be made by ditching exclusivity and are now going to PC and Nintendo. They won't bother going to Xbox, while Xbox kills off its own market, why would Sony spend money porting to a console that's actively killing itself?
The reason PS fans shouldn't rejoice though is once XB is irrelevant in the US and Sony rules the market, they will make owning a PS a miserable experience too. PS not FULLY sucking is dependent on XB surviving.
The end of exclusives is great. If you're a PC gamer. Soooooo glad I started making the move back after the last round of doom and gloom.
Somehow, "play an unspecified selection of games at an undetermined future date, possibly, for just one dollar" doesn't roll off the tongue like the old slogan.
"Play less games, much later, for the same price you paid last year" has a better ring to it, doesn't it?
The pricing split kind of reminds me of those used listings on eBay and Amazon. You know, the one where you see
Used: Acceptable condition- may be worn and show signs of wear, missing original package, missing accessories, device is tested to function, includes base components only. $449.99. Next to the new in box one for $479.99.
Also, while watching the video I realized how convenient it is that this site is already green. As Xbox collapses and becomes a PC publisher, the site can just rebrand to PureNvidia and replace the little X-ball watermarks with swirly-eyes.
@Steel76 "I wish PS and Xbox consoles used Nvidia instead. "
Introducing PS6 and Series Y, Powered By Nvidia RTX / Starting at just $1299.99 (8GB VRAM model. Some games may require 12GB.)
Yeah, Nvidia is just plainly ahead, and it's a shame where AMD is. Not sure where they went wrong. AMD is better at raw rasterization, and always packs more VRAM (stingy Nvidia...), but way behind on RT. Their scaling isn't bad, but their drivers are always behind. Though, to be fair a lot is the same problem as "games run better on PS than XB." over 90% of GPUs on Steam are Nvidia so devs just don't optimize for AMD at all. Starfield is the one example where the game works WAY better on AMD, and kinda sucks on Nvidia. It was AMD sponsored. Dev optimization has a LOT to do with the end result, and nobody will optimize AMD unless paid to because it's less than 10% of the market.
Doesn't help that AMD just bowed out of "high end GPUs" leaving the market to Nvidia alone. No profit. They said they could cut a die that competes with 4090 no problem, but it's not cost effective.
The only problem Nvidia is going to run into though is they're committed to monolithic dies, and they've just about maxed what they can do that way. AMD is moving into chiplets. That may put them ahead in some years. The downside for consumers is AMD likes to just move their pricing up to their competitors obscene pricing the moment they're ahead (Intel, Nvidia) so they're not applying price pressure on the market.
Intel of all companies represents the sole remaining hope of sanity for the GPU market. But it may be years away.
The other problem for PS6 and XSX though is just that they're ancient. The consoles should not have launched in 2020, full stop. They're glorified 8th gen machines built on 8th gen iterations of the tech. They're Pro-X Mk II models. They were built during the NV10/NV20 era, on AMD tech, they launched the very week the NV30's launched, and the NV30's blew away everything the outdated console did on launch day, especially where RT was concerned. These consoles tech even on AMD really just predate RT as an actual usable feature.
Sony was racing to reinvigorate the "old" PS4 sales, and cut off X1X from stealing market. MS had just launched 1X and scrambled to keep up to not be left behind by Sony. The result is AMD or NVida isn't the issue, the issue is both consoles launched 2+ years before they should have and thus used tech that was 1-2 years behind what it needed to be. X1X launched holiday 2017. Then started being shelved and "Scarlett" was hyped starting winter-spring 2019. The Series X is effectively 1.5-2 years newer than the 1X. It's barely a new model. And PS6 barely a different machine.
Maybe next gen will be dramatically better, but by then a lot of us have already moved from console to PC. Not everyone will, but the more the market shrinks the less value it will represent to recoup costs.
Makes sense, Crash is a Naughty Dog created IP, Spyro was Insomniac, and both together are probably the most key icons of the PS1 short of the FF games and MGS. MS isn't stingy with licensing their IP. It's only by a weird twist of business fate that Sony ended up owning both companies and MS ended up owning both their IPs.
@abe_hikura That's exactly. I do favor the end of exclusives, but one company just putting their games on competing platforms while the other company withholds theirs isn't ending exclusives, it's surrendering. Nintendo and Sony aren't compatible because their hardware is so differentiated. Nintendo has a cheap handheld, Sony has an expensive miniPC. So the hardware itself segments their market. Xbox doesn't have a hardware differentiation (this gen.)
The leaders Sega's console business were "running a business." The leaders of Lehman Brothers were "running a business" Liz Holmes was "running a business". Bernie Madoff was "running a business".
There's a lot of ways to "run a business."
While I have grown to doubt that Phil is running anything other than weekly contests, the question is otherwise what business is being run? They can run a successful publishing business. They can run a successful development studio. They can run an online service platform.
What I don't get about the Xbox hardware is, Microsoft is a platforms company. It's what they DO. How can the default platforms company not understand how to build and maintain successful platforms? How can they not understand their actions despite being good short term gains undermining their ability to have platform control? I get the "MS doesn't care about console" but MS does care about platforms. And how can they undervalue the power of being a dominant platform owner? Platforms is what they do!
PC was fine. Xbox=PC. PC=Xbox Pro we've known for years, and that's fine, because it's all Microsoft's ecosystem. Just caving and becoming a 3rd party console publisher makes little sense. I personally don't like exclusivity, and want it to be a relic of the past. I don't even mind all that. But they also need reasons to tell people is the ideal platform, and right now they have none other than "Game Pass".
@Markatron84 I personally do think Phil was genuine, and his vision is the one we were sold. The problem isn't so much that him being a public facing nice guy was a problem. It's that corporate removed him without removing him and decided to do things their way instead of his.
True that you always knew where you stood with Jim Ryan, but if we're down to debating dealing with a business that treats you like dirt, vs a business that was run by a guy that treats you as a customer until his superiors take over and decide to treat you as less than dirt....again, why are we even in this hobby?
I've said it before but the state of gaming is so bad I bought a Quest 3 and am actively giving money to Mark Zuckerberg as a preferred platform. That's how bad it's become.
1: Subscribe to highly popular controversial twitter feeds.
2: Have GPT write articles based on them.
3: ???
4: Profit!
(5: Get bought by IGN)
(6: Close down.)
@Cherip-the-Ripper It's built on a spinoff of the XIV engine which is a spinoff of Luminous. XIV runs buttery smooth. Everything else Luminous runs like hot garbage. The fps problems are weird though. Like, performance mode massively downgrades visuals until it's VERY low resolution, low textures, low LoD. But still drops into the 30s, even 20s. I'm guessing it's CPU bound and dropping the visuals doesn't help. But how does a PS5 exclusive game become CPU bound?!? And even if it targets 30fps, why would anyone design an action slasher around 30fps? With one platform? And even 30fps has terrible frame pacing so it feels more stuttery than it shoud .
@Ricky-Spanish What amazes me is this came on the heels of XV that was too ambitious and also ran horribly. It was produced by YoshiP who had to clean up the mess of the overambitious XIV and turn it into something good. Then he does the same exact thing with XVI. There's something in the water at S-E.
@Ricky-Spanish They couldn't even get the completely exclusive PS5 version to perform well. It's harder to do for them than you might think. Lets' see how much of a trainwreck PC is first.
Seems like pretty much a lock at their current trajectory.
Might end up double dipping on the game for PC though. I already bought and started playing up to half way through or a little beyond or so on PS5, and even bought the DLC on PS5, but now that I'm rebuilding around PC, and the game ran like chocobo dung on PS5, I think a PC version is kind of necessity for me at this point. Hopefully it doesn't run as badly as XV did. Sucks to throw away so much game progress though, not looking forward to redoing a few of those fights. It's a pretty good game. A horrible Final Fantasy game, but if you close your eyes, pretend it's not called XVI, and pretend it's a spinoff sequel of Stranger of Paradise, it's pretty good.
@HarmanSmith TBF Satya has a more robust collection of promises on AI than number of Windows licenses sold since 1990.
Yeah, I honestly don't know how they're pushing so hard on PC while running a store that makes EA Origin look like the future. How does one launch a PC gaming store that's missing most games?! It's the default pack-in store in Windows. You'd think it would be robust. Instead it's a vacuum. Hard to take the store seriously unless playing a game you already bought on XB and it happens to be on there.
I suspect the list of Play Anywhere titles is shorter than the list of BC titles. Which is sad. I have a huge XB library and my automatic PC library is barely one page from that.
@InterceptorAlpha Oh man, I didn't even know there WAS a Morrowind VR mod!
Does it support the mess of mods to pretty it up, and also the coop mods?
I know Skyrim takes like 100+ mods (and effectively requires a paid Nexus sub just to efficiently download them all) to make it totally pretty plus have adequate VR control/detection, and doesn't support the coop mod at all. If I could get Morrowind (and/or oblivion) with beautifying mods, that would be amazing.
I know Bethesda isn't Rockstar, but, these guys are literally promising to take Bethesda licenced content from a different game and put it in their mod, and I doubt Bethesda (or Amy Hood) are fond of someone distributing free copies of Oblivion with every Skyrim purchase.
If it really happened it would be my dream - especially if it works with Skyrim VR, but, I can not imagine the Bethesda/MS lawyers sleeping on "We're duplicating Oblivion and distributing for free."
I see Peter still reads Xbox news. Yeah. It has that effect.
@TheSimulator With Microsoft's history of being able to count by adding 1 to a number (95-96, 98, 2000, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11) do you really want them to be your timepiece?
"I have a meeting at 12:30, what time is it? Oh, it's 11:49, I've still got time left."
Often, when I'm browsing the store, I tend to forget about Game Pass, and I'm never sure when I'm looking at a game if I have to buy it or if I can play it and hundreds of other games on Game Pass. It might help if they could put more information up reminding people that Game Pass exists and that you can play games on Game Pass, or that a game is available on Game Pass or can be played instantly on the cloud with Game Pass.
Seriously though the only thing I think the store really needs is to bring back the feature they took away when series luanched which is being able to shop in the mobile app. PS lets me shop in the mobile app. Steam lets me shop in the mobile app. Other 3rd parties let me shop in the mobile app. Nintendo...well they're Nintendo. Xbox let you shop in the mobile app first, and then mysteriously disposed of it right when PS finally started supporting it.
Also, the Windows Store on PC. It needs games. Seriously, just, like any games. At all. Why does it have no games?
This has got to be the weirdest acquisition we've ever seen. Other than maybe THQ is there any other case in which a dead studio was purchased after it was dead? And why would MS close a studio if they're going to shop to sell it after they close it? Isn't that like eating the pizza and then trying to sell it?
@GuyinPA75 Phil did talk about multiple storefronts. Maybe that's next. Make purchases on PSN Store directly from your Xbox!
@Jenkinss Could be worse. The Win11 is hitting win+G every time you go into an HDR/non-HDR game and need to toggle HDR. Even if you're using controller.....
MS really needs to decide, even if it's just a marketing thing, what is the selling point of their console. They're selling it. They need to explain why people should want to buy it. "It's the same price as competitors and plays a subset of the same games nearly as well" isn't a good selling point. They tried to make it Game Pass, but only a subset of console buyers buy game pass and many of them buy only because of mandatory online.
No exclusives is fine. IT's what they wanted for Xbox One, too. That's fine. But what is the unique proposition of Xbox? That's what they're not communicating (or including.)
@Sol4ris In a vacuum, I agree. Where people get upset by it is inevitably it leads to attrition of the platform install base which inevitably leads to the company closing it due to low sales. Everyone here is financially invested in the long term prospects of the platform so every move that moves to damage the platform and its long term success is a damaging act to the financial stakeholders, (stakeholders, not shareholders), which would be everyone here.
Not sure if they're just going to go and do it and do Indiana Jones or Starfield or Forza Horizon (already one of the most played games on Steam so it's logical), or if they're going to spend 2 weeks letting the internet say it is without correcting it, only to later announce it's Blinx.
That's cool and all, but this stuff only works for Xbox/Windows Store games. Which would be great, if, y'know, the Windows Store actually had games beyond what's on Game Pass.
@Steel76 You got me curious enough to watch but I didn't find anything "hello, boomer" about it. It's just competitive shooter lingo, and super toned down as a PR piece video. Actually it seems like it hasn't changed from the 90's.
Now MMO lingo....that is a whole pot of confusion right there. That's less "hello, boomer" and more "hey neeeeeeeeeerdd." It took a month of googling just to figure out WTF all the acronyms were about from the guides trying to help when starting XIV!
@Fiendish-Beaver You're worse than me! From 360 I think I have only those two. I have a few PS4 games unopened. I do have the Persona 4 Take Your Heart Edition sealed and unopened, that's probably worth money, but nobody will ever pry my Morgana plushie from my cold dead hands. I have the steelbook FFXV sealed (the one with the movie you need to watch to understand the plot but without half the game in it.) Ni No Kuni II steelbook. I have some 3DS games unopened. MK7, a few more uncommon ones.
All tolled I probably have a good month of game pass at 2025 pricing in unopened games.
Someone needs to explain to the appraisers that all copies sold by Game Stop in the US would have been unsealed before purchase, so an unsealed case, with a disc with fingerprints on it that was re-buffed and "used only by employees" indeed does count as mint-unopened, according to GameStop, and thus should sell for the full $25,000.
@LX_FENIX Or better yet, when they pay to get HiFi Rush 2 as a Game Pass Day 1 launch title and dump a bunch of cash into it. Because you know they will. It was Game Pass's biggest game, don't you know! THAT would the most Microsoft Microsoft decision possible.
@Zenszulu Even that doesn't make sense because if they were selling the studio, that means including the talent, and if they shut them down while secretly planning to sell, by the time the buyer would get to the table the talent and therefore studio would be gone. And based on the filings, only Hifi Rush was included, not Evil Within or Ghostwire, so MS kept those (or so it seems.) Why tell the studio you're closing them, but keep paying them, then secretly out of nowhere announce you sold the studio and IP? Why not just find a buyer and then announce you sold the studio and avoid the massive PR fail?
The whole thing is weird. My gut feeling is that it's still part of the internal war going on. Corporate probably said to shut it down so they announced they're shutting it down. Then, remember Phil's answer during the SGF IGN interview about this: " I haven't been talking publicly about this, because right now is a time for us to focus on the team and the individuals. It's obviously a decision that's very hard on them and I want to make sure through severance and other things that we're doing the right thing for the individuals on the team. It's not about my PR, it's not about Xbox PR, it's about those teams."
At the time the quote seemed like weirdly out of character corporate babble. Now in hindsight it seems like he was keeping quiet while shopping buyers and that quote was an endrun around that. I get the sense he was hiding that effort from corporate more than from the audience.
Obviously SOMEONE had to be shopping a buyer because it doesn't pop up out of nowhere months later with an IP transfer after the studio heads have already lamented the closure publicly.
It's another feather in the "weird Xbox decisions" cap for sure, and probably another outward display of the raging internal war in the organization. Now we have guerilla warfare with internal organizations and owned IP!
That's surprising. It's relatively good news that the core market shows strength for the brand, that's something they can use to rebound elsewhere, but it's kind of hard to picture Series selling as well as 360 where in the US the 360 felt like a marketing phenomenon that was everywhere and Series, well, doesn't.
That's awesome, and also the most bizarre thing that I've seen in a while. So MS buys them with Zeni, then has a hit with them, then shuts them down when they want to make a sequel, then, months later.....we hear reports that they've SOLD them?! How did they close them and then sell them? After the staff already scrambled and presumably left?! And they sell the HiFI Rush IP, the hit IP that did so much for them so they said with it? And Bethesda is on board in transitioning the sale....
I'm happy Tango's not dead (assuming anyone was still left at Tango after they were told they were closing?), but what just happened?
I'll be fair to Phil, I assume this is what he meant by being quiet about it to make sure to do what's best for the employees etc...apparently they were finding a buyer for their announced closed studio. But it's still just so weird. Why not just sell the studio instead of announcing they're closing it then announcing they sold it? Once again I imagine an internal conflict with the head eating the tail again.
@Mustoe I disagree. The framing of your original post is that xbox is the bad choice, the really bad choice, the only logical way to read it is that the other choice(s) of consoles are much better.
There's arguments to be made for which one is the better/worse purchase, and there's plenty to say about what's wrong with Xbox, but the implication of that original post is that people would be much better off with a PS or Switch than an Xbox, and for a variety of reasons with those two that's also not automatically true.
In reality the state of consoles, and more accurately everything to do with gaming is heading down a deep, dark hole, maybe since the rice of mobile gamblegaming, and we'd all really be better off knitting.
Comments 6,665
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Comments On Indiana Jones PS5, And Microsoft's Plan Moving Forward
@OldGamer999 I think the worst thing Xbox has done isn't actually the strategy, or even the constantly changing strategy. It's constantly lying about it and changing what they said before so that their credibility is now shot, and when they tell the truth about their plans you can't trust it's true. They've reiterated over and over that preserving your digital library is the key. That's why I bought in in the first place. But do they really mean that? We can't know anymore because the trust the consumer has in their statements is 0 now and that's their own fault.
I think if the debate is between Xbox and PC, it's a no brainer at this point. Xbox is shaky, and PC is the obvious path forward where you lose nothing (other than mountains of cash and 6 cubic feet of room space) and gain everything.
But when the debate is XB or PS it's a lot more unclear. The outlook for being a PS consumer may not be any better than being an Xbox consumer as a library investment. We know those two don't play nice, and if MS makes good on their hollow promises it may still work out to be the best bet. Or not. It depends on what Xbox does vs what they say and what PS does when they have unlimited power.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Comments On Indiana Jones PS5, And Microsoft's Plan Moving Forward
@OldGamer999 I think Xbox just has had a stable presence in the US since the beginning. A bit more marketing overall (still next to none now but lots back in the day), it's just more of an extablished, entrenched, omnipresent brand here than presumably anywhere else. Probably more attributable to Peter Moore and a lingering effect than anyone else, really.
I agree, Xbox is actually extremely healthy in the US. The problem is being healthy only in one market is still certain doom on a corporate level. No console can exist with 3rd party support selling in one country. (Then again the Wukong Steam sales beg to differ lol.) I think as long as they have a hook in the US though, they have a solid business to a degree.
@fizban3332 I don't believe the did a stock swap, IIRC they gave them the cashout value of their shares, so those investors may have chosen to reinvest in MS at MS prices, or not.
@Banjo- It's not about xbox users jumping because games are on PS5. It's about there not being enough Xbox users to begin with and at this point selling new customers on it is nigh impossible. Which will make life for users worse in time (or make the platform irrelevant totally.) Thus jumping now before it gets worse isn't a bad plan.
Re: Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Comments On Indiana Jones PS5, And Microsoft's Plan Moving Forward
A lot of empty words. A lot of words that make him look like a liar worming around other words he said in the past that he's now counteracting. But the key words here are the direct admission (wrapped in a lot of bubble wrap) that he's ultimately appeasing corporate expectations and that's what's driving these decisions. We all knew it. But he finally said it. Even if he had to pretend he wasn't saying it.
If we extract the statement to remove the "slimy corporate things" from it, we get "Satya and Amy said jump, and I know not to ask how high."
Re: Xbox Begins Rolling Out 'Game Pass Standard' To Insiders For Just $1
@Spider-Kev Yeah, anyone that follows gaming intently knew it was pending. And the pay service was supposed to launch a few months after the console. But then it didn't and ran, what, 2 or 3 years before going paid?
But the average consumer let alone the average NINTENDO consumer? Everyone had to have been blindsided but a surprise paywall years into the system. If it were any other company it would have been like Matrick 2013 all over again. Even at the time on NL we all thought Nintendo just created a disaster of backlash. But no, not Nintendo. Nintendo and Disney can do whatever they want to people and people will thank them for doing it. I have a soft spot for Nintendo, but oh how I hate the company behind it.
Re: Skyrim's Massive 'Skyblivion' Mod Looks Incredible, But It's Apparently Too Big For Xbox
@InterceptorAlpha Getting back to this post, but you have me super intrigued by Morrowind, particularly if it takes the beautification mods, and coop too. Wonder how painful it is getting it all set up. Had planned on Skyrim (finally to play Skyrim after buying thrice and still not playing lol.)
What makes Morrowind VR better than Skryim (fully modded?)
Re: Xbox Begins Rolling Out 'Game Pass Standard' To Insiders For Just $1
@Spider-Kev Exactly! Most players didn't know the disclaimer was there but it was. Yeah, the notice was there for day one. It's been an eternity since "Switchmas" but the online, and games like Splatoon 2's testfire early on had the asterisk about an NSO subscription will be required at a future date for all online content. They always put that warning there in the fine print, but the launch was delayed for years and most players never read the fine print, so a lot got slammed with what they had for years being taken away and paywalled one day. But they did technically warn people.
Re: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Hits Xbox This December, And A PS5 Port Is Officially Coming
@Vaako007 Only partially true. PC has been growing rapidly, while consoles are sinking (including PS), and it's regional. Consoles were only ever the big thing in North America, Western Europe+UK, and Japan. Japan's out (other than Nintendo handhelds), and most of Asia, Eastern/Central Europe, and South America have always been primarily PC. I know Sony doesn't see PC as a competitor (yet), but at some point they have to face the music that their base is shrinking too, they already know this and aren't profiting enough from it on games. And that's why they're doing PC at all.
Similar to the theme of "PC is niche" is the Stellar Blade dev's comments that they expect higher sales on PC than on PS5. We can make fun of PC gamer stereotypes here of course, lol, but a lot of that is "Asia=PC." It's not the niche, the consoles are niche there. As we see console market share erode in the West, it's rewriting the theme.
Nintendo is Nintendo. IDK how long they can get away with it, but they do. I see them competing more with mobile. PS trying to coexist with PC. Xbox in all likelihood will become a PC.
@Cakefish The one problem is our expectations. We look at Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and formerly Xb and expect a certain business model. Software drives hardware drives software, install base = more software, and revenue is dependent on install base. For MS' new business model they're not building the model around hardware install base, or really software sales on the hardware. To us this means it's doomed. To them, I don't think they care, the console is just a box to buy subscriptions and software on. Just another revenue stream. It doesn't need to have a big footprint, it's just one stream among many. To us this looks disastrous. To them it's fine because it's not driving their profit line now. That means the console is in a better place than it seems because it's basically just a peripheral to them. Doesn't need to sell great. But it also means they can discontinue it to realign goals at any moment without notice, and it's a chaotic mishmash experience to own it. I do still think future Xboxen are PCs, built like laptops or mini-ITX or NUCs, with a custom UI/launcher. Might work out fine. Or not.
Re: Reaction: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle's PS5 Announcement Marks A Bold Step For Xbox
@FatGuyInLilCoat While nobody knows what's going on, stopping talking would be catastrophic. They need to just stop openly lying.
@BacklogBrad If a contract was in place for exclusivity (it was), if some new row appeared that caused Disney to bluster over it ex post facto, it would be due to cratering platform sales and open retreat in most markets that aren't America, and thus insufficient distribution market since the deal was inked. It's still on MS for wetting the green bed.
@abe_hikura Worse, with this and Doom, the two biggest Xbox releases this year both confirmed to PS5 before launch, even if they're special cases, it not only sets an expectation it'll all come to PS, but they've also shot their credibility so even if they say a game won't, everyone will still expect it will. And it probably will.
Re: Reaction: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle's PS5 Announcement Marks A Bold Step For Xbox
To appreciate the scale of this move consider this:
3rd party timed exclusives on PS and Nintendo and even Xbox do not announce the existence, let alone release window of other platform ports until after the exclusivity period expires.
Sony does not release even PC ports of exclusives for at least a year currently.
Microsoft announced the PS port along with their own XB date, put a time window on it, and it's only 6 months+ exclusivity. For their own first party game.
Even as someone that likes the idea of ending exclusives, and understands exclusives are not what sells consoles anymore, even Sony, that's a massive self destruct button. They can' not really provide a compelling reason to play on their platform instead of competitors. That's a problem. "Game Pass' but that has, clearly, not resonated with consumers as a successful enough reason alone.
Re: Xbox Begins Rolling Out 'Game Pass Standard' To Insiders For Just $1
@AccessibleDaydream Game Pass 10 was supposed to be the last Game Pass upgraded forever, but then Game Pass 11 arrived one day and said you have to throw out the Xbox you bought 2 years ago because it needs one with a different chip.
LOL I can't stand anything Mac, but, I forgot about those commercials and they were sooo spot on! That was one of the best marketing moments in PC history.
@Spider-Kev In fairness, Nintendo kind of bait and switched. Yeah the fine print said you'd have to pay for online since day 1 but it wasn't ready yet, but for the masses the bought in and then suddenly had to pay annually for what they already had. When Sony tried "but the fine print said it on day 1" with Helldivers 2 PSN logins on PC they got rightly blasted. Nintendo gets a medal.
Re: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Hits Xbox This December, And A PS5 Port Is Officially Coming
@Fiendish-Beaver @OldGamer999 Standard Nadella playbook. Trade tomorrows growth for today's dividends. And the shareholders will vote him Emperor For Life because of it.
@x3King84 Indeed it is.... indeed it is.
@Fenbops Maybe but I think Lego Horizon was basically the litmus test. It's the all ages way of getting audiences on board their big franchise, and it's on "everything but Xbox."
Re: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Hits Xbox This December, And A PS5 Port Is Officially Coming
@Fenbops Playstation already saw how much money there is to be made by ditching exclusivity and are now going to PC and Nintendo. They won't bother going to Xbox, while Xbox kills off its own market, why would Sony spend money porting to a console that's actively killing itself?
The reason PS fans shouldn't rejoice though is once XB is irrelevant in the US and Sony rules the market, they will make owning a PS a miserable experience too. PS not FULLY sucking is dependent on XB surviving.
The end of exclusives is great. If you're a PC gamer. Soooooo glad I started making the move back after the last round of doom and gloom.
Re: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Hits Xbox This December, And A PS5 Port Is Officially Coming
"It's 4 games. Not Starfield, Not Indiana Jones. Oh wait, yes, yes it is. "
Welcome to Pure Ex-Box.
Re: Xbox Begins Rolling Out 'Game Pass Standard' To Insiders For Just $1
@armondo36 Oh, nvm I thought it came with a new colored controller.
Re: Nvidia Comparison Shows How PC Ray Tracing Will Look In Xbox's Avowed
@Fiendish-Beaver Yes, Game Pass PC is just like purchasing the game on the Windows Store - no different from Steam or Epic.
Any supported RTX series card would do. Probably 2080 and up or some such.
Re: Xbox Begins Rolling Out 'Game Pass Standard' To Insiders For Just $1
@WhiteRabbit @VoidPunk They're still trying to "innovate" paying annually to use your computer.
@themightyant "Might as well be called Game Pass FO
MOEdition"You got the first two characters right.
@armondo36 Wait, I'm subscribing to Game Pass Vista.1 Professional. what's included?
Re: Nvidia Comparison Shows How PC Ray Tracing Will Look In Xbox's Avowed
@Markatron84 lol obviously! 🤣
Re: Xbox Begins Rolling Out 'Game Pass Standard' To Insiders For Just $1
Somehow, "play an unspecified selection of games at an undetermined future date, possibly, for just one dollar" doesn't roll off the tongue like the old slogan.
"Play less games, much later, for the same price you paid last year" has a better ring to it, doesn't it?
The pricing split kind of reminds me of those used listings on eBay and Amazon. You know, the one where you see
Used: Acceptable condition- may be worn and show signs of wear, missing original package, missing accessories, device is tested to function, includes base components only. $449.99. Next to the new in box one for $479.99.
Re: Nvidia Comparison Shows How PC Ray Tracing Will Look In Xbox's Avowed
Also, while watching the video I realized how convenient it is that this site is already green. As Xbox collapses and becomes a PC publisher, the site can just rebrand to PureNvidia and replace the little X-ball watermarks with swirly-eyes.
Re: Nvidia Comparison Shows How PC Ray Tracing Will Look In Xbox's Avowed
@Steel76 "I wish PS and Xbox consoles used Nvidia instead. "
Introducing PS6 and Series Y, Powered By Nvidia RTX / Starting at just $1299.99 (8GB VRAM model. Some games may require 12GB.)
Yeah, Nvidia is just plainly ahead, and it's a shame where AMD is. Not sure where they went wrong. AMD is better at raw rasterization, and always packs more VRAM (stingy Nvidia...), but way behind on RT. Their scaling isn't bad, but their drivers are always behind. Though, to be fair a lot is the same problem as "games run better on PS than XB." over 90% of GPUs on Steam are Nvidia so devs just don't optimize for AMD at all. Starfield is the one example where the game works WAY better on AMD, and kinda sucks on Nvidia. It was AMD sponsored. Dev optimization has a LOT to do with the end result, and nobody will optimize AMD unless paid to because it's less than 10% of the market.
Doesn't help that AMD just bowed out of "high end GPUs" leaving the market to Nvidia alone. No profit. They said they could cut a die that competes with 4090 no problem, but it's not cost effective.
The only problem Nvidia is going to run into though is they're committed to monolithic dies, and they've just about maxed what they can do that way. AMD is moving into chiplets. That may put them ahead in some years. The downside for consumers is AMD likes to just move their pricing up to their competitors obscene pricing the moment they're ahead (Intel, Nvidia) so they're not applying price pressure on the market.
Intel of all companies represents the sole remaining hope of sanity for the GPU market. But it may be years away.
The other problem for PS6 and XSX though is just that they're ancient. The consoles should not have launched in 2020, full stop. They're glorified 8th gen machines built on 8th gen iterations of the tech. They're Pro-X Mk II models. They were built during the NV10/NV20 era, on AMD tech, they launched the very week the NV30's launched, and the NV30's blew away everything the outdated console did on launch day, especially where RT was concerned. These consoles tech even on AMD really just predate RT as an actual usable feature.
Sony was racing to reinvigorate the "old" PS4 sales, and cut off X1X from stealing market. MS had just launched 1X and scrambled to keep up to not be left behind by Sony. The result is AMD or NVida isn't the issue, the issue is both consoles launched 2+ years before they should have and thus used tech that was 1-2 years behind what it needed to be. X1X launched holiday 2017. Then started being shelved and "Scarlett" was hyped starting winter-spring 2019. The Series X is effectively 1.5-2 years newer than the 1X. It's barely a new model. And PS6 barely a different machine.
Maybe next gen will be dramatically better, but by then a lot of us have already moved from console to PC. Not everyone will, but the more the market shrinks the less value it will represent to recoup costs.
Re: Rumour: Xbox IP Apparently Spotted In Upcoming PS5 Exclusive
Makes sense, Crash is a Naughty Dog created IP, Spyro was Insomniac, and both together are probably the most key icons of the PS1 short of the FF games and MGS. MS isn't stingy with licensing their IP. It's only by a weird twist of business fate that Sony ended up owning both companies and MS ended up owning both their IPs.
Re: Former Xbox Exec Defends Phil Spencer's Recent Decisions As Head Of Xbox
@abe_hikura That's exactly. I do favor the end of exclusives, but one company just putting their games on competing platforms while the other company withholds theirs isn't ending exclusives, it's surrendering. Nintendo and Sony aren't compatible because their hardware is so differentiated. Nintendo has a cheap handheld, Sony has an expensive miniPC. So the hardware itself segments their market. Xbox doesn't have a hardware differentiation (this gen.)
Re: Former Xbox Exec Defends Phil Spencer's Recent Decisions As Head Of Xbox
The leaders Sega's console business were "running a business."
The leaders of Lehman Brothers were "running a business"
Liz Holmes was "running a business".
Bernie Madoff was "running a business".
There's a lot of ways to "run a business."
While I have grown to doubt that Phil is running anything other than weekly contests, the question is otherwise what business is being run? They can run a successful publishing business. They can run a successful development studio. They can run an online service platform.
What I don't get about the Xbox hardware is, Microsoft is a platforms company. It's what they DO. How can the default platforms company not understand how to build and maintain successful platforms? How can they not understand their actions despite being good short term gains undermining their ability to have platform control? I get the "MS doesn't care about console" but MS does care about platforms. And how can they undervalue the power of being a dominant platform owner? Platforms is what they do!
PC was fine. Xbox=PC. PC=Xbox Pro we've known for years, and that's fine, because it's all Microsoft's ecosystem. Just caving and becoming a 3rd party console publisher makes little sense. I personally don't like exclusivity, and want it to be a relic of the past. I don't even mind all that. But they also need reasons to tell people is the ideal platform, and right now they have none other than "Game Pass".
@Markatron84 I personally do think Phil was genuine, and his vision is the one we were sold. The problem isn't so much that him being a public facing nice guy was a problem. It's that corporate removed him without removing him and decided to do things their way instead of his.
True that you always knew where you stood with Jim Ryan, but if we're down to debating dealing with a business that treats you like dirt, vs a business that was run by a guy that treats you as a customer until his superiors take over and decide to treat you as less than dirt....again, why are we even in this hobby?
I've said it before but the state of gaming is so bad I bought a Quest 3 and am actively giving money to Mark Zuckerberg as a preferred platform. That's how bad it's become.
Re: Rumour Claims Indiana Jones Will Jump From Xbox To PS5 In Early 2025
@Markatron84 Game journalism in 2024:
1: Subscribe to highly popular controversial twitter feeds.
2: Have GPT write articles based on them.
3: ???
4: Profit!
(5: Get bought by IGN)
(6: Close down.)
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Director Says He'd Like To See The Game On Xbox
@Cherip-the-Ripper It's built on a spinoff of the XIV engine which is a spinoff of Luminous. XIV runs buttery smooth. Everything else Luminous runs like hot garbage. The fps problems are weird though. Like, performance mode massively downgrades visuals until it's VERY low resolution, low textures, low LoD. But still drops into the 30s, even 20s. I'm guessing it's CPU bound and dropping the visuals doesn't help. But how does a PS5 exclusive game become CPU bound?!? And even if it targets 30fps, why would anyone design an action slasher around 30fps? With one platform? And even 30fps has terrible frame pacing so it feels more stuttery than it shoud .
@Ricky-Spanish What amazes me is this came on the heels of XV that was too ambitious and also ran horribly. It was produced by YoshiP who had to clean up the mess of the overambitious XIV and turn it into something good. Then he does the same exact thing with XVI. There's something in the water at S-E.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Director Says He'd Like To See The Game On Xbox
@Ricky-Spanish They couldn't even get the completely exclusive PS5 version to perform well. It's harder to do for them than you might think. Lets' see how much of a trainwreck PC is first.
Re: Final Fantasy 16 Director Says He'd Like To See The Game On Xbox
Seems like pretty much a lock at their current trajectory.
Might end up double dipping on the game for PC though. I already bought and started playing up to half way through or a little beyond or so on PS5, and even bought the DLC on PS5, but now that I'm rebuilding around PC, and the game ran like chocobo dung on PS5, I think a PC version is kind of necessity for me at this point. Hopefully it doesn't run as badly as XV did. Sucks to throw away so much game progress though, not looking forward to redoing a few of those fights. It's a pretty good game. A horrible Final Fantasy game, but if you close your eyes, pretend it's not called XVI, and pretend it's a spinoff sequel of Stranger of Paradise, it's pretty good.
Re: Talking Point: What Improvements Would You Like To See Made To The Xbox Store?
@HarmanSmith TBF Satya has a more robust collection of promises on AI than number of Windows licenses sold since 1990.
Yeah, I honestly don't know how they're pushing so hard on PC while running a store that makes EA Origin look like the future. How does one launch a PC gaming store that's missing most games?! It's the default pack-in store in Windows. You'd think it would be robust. Instead it's a vacuum. Hard to take the store seriously unless playing a game you already bought on XB and it happens to be on there.
I suspect the list of Play Anywhere titles is shorter than the list of BC titles. Which is sad. I have a huge XB library and my automatic PC library is barely one page from that.
Re: Skyrim's Massive 'Skyblivion' Mod Looks Incredible, But It's Apparently Too Big For Xbox
@InterceptorAlpha Oh man, I didn't even know there WAS a Morrowind VR mod!
Does it support the mess of mods to pretty it up, and also the coop mods?
I know Skyrim takes like 100+ mods (and effectively requires a paid Nexus sub just to efficiently download them all) to make it totally pretty plus have adequate VR control/detection, and doesn't support the coop mod at all. If I could get Morrowind (and/or oblivion) with beautifying mods, that would be amazing.
Re: Skyrim's Massive 'Skyblivion' Mod Looks Incredible, But It's Apparently Too Big For Xbox
I know Bethesda isn't Rockstar, but, these guys are literally promising to take Bethesda licenced content from a different game and put it in their mod, and I doubt Bethesda (or Amy Hood) are fond of someone distributing free copies of Oblivion with every Skyrim purchase.
If it really happened it would be my dream - especially if it works with Skyrim VR, but, I can not imagine the Bethesda/MS lawyers sleeping on "We're duplicating Oblivion and distributing for free."
Re: Former Xbox Boss Reveals How Apple Watch Played 'Big Role' In Saving His Life
I see Peter still reads Xbox news. Yeah. It has that effect.
@TheSimulator With Microsoft's history of being able to count by adding 1 to a number (95-96, 98, 2000, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11) do you really want them to be your timepiece?
"I have a meeting at 12:30, what time is it? Oh, it's 11:49, I've still got time left."
Checks time 30 minutes later:
"OMG it's 11:79!"
Re: Talking Point: What Improvements Would You Like To See Made To The Xbox Store?
Often, when I'm browsing the store, I tend to forget about Game Pass, and I'm never sure when I'm looking at a game if I have to buy it or if I can play it and hundreds of other games on Game Pass. It might help if they could put more information up reminding people that Game Pass exists and that you can play games on Game Pass, or that a game is available on Game Pass or can be played instantly on the cloud with Game Pass.
Seriously though the only thing I think the store really needs is to bring back the feature they took away when series luanched which is being able to shop in the mobile app. PS lets me shop in the mobile app. Steam lets me shop in the mobile app. Other 3rd parties let me shop in the mobile app. Nintendo...well they're Nintendo. Xbox let you shop in the mobile app first, and then mysteriously disposed of it right when PS finally started supporting it.
Also, the Windows Store on PC. It needs games. Seriously, just, like any games. At all. Why does it have no games?
Re: New Info About 'Hi-Fi RUSH' Dev Tango Gameworks Acquisition
This has got to be the weirdest acquisition we've ever seen. Other than maybe THQ is there any other case in which a dead studio was purchased after it was dead? And why would MS close a studio if they're going to shop to sell it after they close it? Isn't that like eating the pizza and then trying to sell it?
Re: Xbox Store Wishlists Will Soon Appear On Your Console Home Screen
@GuyinPA75 Phil did talk about multiple storefronts. Maybe that's next. Make purchases on PSN Store directly from your Xbox!
@Jenkinss Could be worse. The Win11 is hitting win+G every time you go into an HDR/non-HDR game and need to toggle HDR. Even if you're using controller.....
Re: Xbox Insider Insists Forza Horizon 5 Will Go Multiplatform At Some Point
MS really needs to decide, even if it's just a marketing thing, what is the selling point of their console. They're selling it. They need to explain why people should want to buy it. "It's the same price as competitors and plays a subset of the same games nearly as well" isn't a good selling point. They tried to make it Game Pass, but only a subset of console buyers buy game pass and many of them buy only because of mandatory online.
No exclusives is fine. IT's what they wanted for Xbox One, too. That's fine. But what is the unique proposition of Xbox? That's what they're not communicating (or including.)
Re: Xbox Store Wishlists Will Soon Appear On Your Console Home Screen
While they do this can they also remove emailing me every time a "game on my wishlist is on sale" 2 years after I already purchased it?
Re: Rumour: Xbox To Announce 'Big' Game For PS5 Next Week
@Jenkinss You expect future Bungie projects? O_O
@Sol4ris In a vacuum, I agree. Where people get upset by it is inevitably it leads to attrition of the platform install base which inevitably leads to the company closing it due to low sales. Everyone here is financially invested in the long term prospects of the platform so every move that moves to damage the platform and its long term success is a damaging act to the financial stakeholders, (stakeholders, not shareholders), which would be everyone here.
Re: Rumour: Xbox To Announce 'Big' Game For PS5 Next Week
Not sure if they're just going to go and do it and do Indiana Jones or Starfield or Forza Horizon (already one of the most played games on Steam so it's logical), or if they're going to spend 2 weeks letting the internet say it is without correcting it, only to later announce it's Blinx.
Re: Xbox Adds New Feature For Handheld PCs That 'Really Improves The Experience'
That's cool and all, but this stuff only works for Xbox/Windows Store games. Which would be great, if, y'know, the Windows Store actually had games beyond what's on Game Pass.
Re: Fallout: New Vegas Director Says He'd Work On More Fallout For Xbox Without 'Constraints'
I, also, would like for someone that actually understands the Fallout universe to make Fallout games again.
Re: Indiana Jones Xbox Release Date Likely To Be Revealed Next Week
Pick a number between 24 and 26!
Re: Splitgate Fans Worried Sequel Has Lost Its 'Soul' Following Initial Reveal
@Steel76 You got me curious enough to watch but I didn't find anything "hello, boomer" about it. It's just competitive shooter lingo, and super toned down as a PR piece video. Actually it seems like it hasn't changed from the 90's.
Now MMO lingo....that is a whole pot of confusion right there. That's less "hello, boomer" and more "hey neeeeeeeeeerdd." It took a month of googling just to figure out WTF all the acronyms were about from the guides trying to help when starting XIV!
Re: Random: Xbox Fan Discovers Their '$13K' Copy Of Halo Is Only Worth $25
@Fiendish-Beaver You're worse than me! From 360 I think I have only those two. I have a few PS4 games unopened. I do have the Persona 4 Take Your Heart Edition sealed and unopened, that's probably worth money, but nobody will ever pry my Morgana plushie from my cold dead hands. I have the steelbook FFXV sealed (the one with the movie you need to watch to understand the plot but without half the game in it.) Ni No Kuni II steelbook. I have some 3DS games unopened. MK7, a few more uncommon ones.
All tolled I probably have a good month of game pass at 2025 pricing in unopened games.
Re: Random: Xbox Fan Discovers Their '$13K' Copy Of Halo Is Only Worth $25
Also, I have an actual sealed unopened copy of Reach. And Fable 3. I accept cash and money orders.
Re: Random: Xbox Fan Discovers Their '$13K' Copy Of Halo Is Only Worth $25
Someone needs to explain to the appraisers that all copies sold by Game Stop in the US would have been unsealed before purchase, so an unsealed case, with a disc with fingerprints on it that was re-buffed and "used only by employees" indeed does count as mint-unopened, according to GameStop, and thus should sell for the full $25,000.
Re: Xbox's Hi-Fi RUSH Studio Tango Gameworks Revived, Acquired By PUBG Publisher
@LX_FENIX Or better yet, when they pay to get HiFi Rush 2 as a Game Pass Day 1 launch title and dump a bunch of cash into it. Because you know they will. It was Game Pass's biggest game, don't you know! THAT would the most Microsoft Microsoft decision possible.
Re: Xbox's Hi-Fi RUSH Studio Tango Gameworks Revived, Acquired By PUBG Publisher
@Zenszulu Even that doesn't make sense because if they were selling the studio, that means including the talent, and if they shut them down while secretly planning to sell, by the time the buyer would get to the table the talent and therefore studio would be gone. And based on the filings, only Hifi Rush was included, not Evil Within or Ghostwire, so MS kept those (or so it seems.) Why tell the studio you're closing them, but keep paying them, then secretly out of nowhere announce you sold the studio and IP? Why not just find a buyer and then announce you sold the studio and avoid the massive PR fail?
The whole thing is weird. My gut feeling is that it's still part of the internal war going on. Corporate probably said to shut it down so they announced they're shutting it down. Then, remember Phil's answer during the SGF IGN interview about this: " I haven't been talking publicly about this, because right now is a time for us to focus on the team and the individuals. It's obviously a decision that's very hard on them and I want to make sure through severance and other things that we're doing the right thing for the individuals on the team. It's not about my PR, it's not about Xbox PR, it's about those teams."
At the time the quote seemed like weirdly out of character corporate babble. Now in hindsight it seems like he was keeping quiet while shopping buyers and that quote was an endrun around that. I get the sense he was hiding that effort from corporate more than from the audience.
Obviously SOMEONE had to be shopping a buyer because it doesn't pop up out of nowhere months later with an IP transfer after the studio heads have already lamented the closure publicly.
It's another feather in the "weird Xbox decisions" cap for sure, and probably another outward display of the raging internal war in the organization. Now we have guerilla warfare with internal organizations and owned IP!
Re: Xbox Series X|S Sales 'Holding Close' To Xbox 360 In The US, Says Analyst
That's surprising. It's relatively good news that the core market shows strength for the brand, that's something they can use to rebound elsewhere, but it's kind of hard to picture Series selling as well as 360 where in the US the 360 felt like a marketing phenomenon that was everywhere and Series, well, doesn't.
Re: Xbox's Hi-Fi RUSH Studio Tango Gameworks Revived, Acquired By PUBG Publisher
That's awesome, and also the most bizarre thing that I've seen in a while. So MS buys them with Zeni, then has a hit with them, then shuts them down when they want to make a sequel, then, months later.....we hear reports that they've SOLD them?! How did they close them and then sell them? After the staff already scrambled and presumably left?! And they sell the HiFI Rush IP, the hit IP that did so much for them so they said with it? And Bethesda is on board in transitioning the sale....
I'm happy Tango's not dead (assuming anyone was still left at Tango after they were told they were closing?), but what just happened?
I'll be fair to Phil, I assume this is what he meant by being quiet about it to make sure to do what's best for the employees etc...apparently they were finding a buyer for their announced closed studio. But it's still just so weird. Why not just sell the studio instead of announcing they're closing it then announcing they sold it? Once again I imagine an internal conflict with the head eating the tail again.
Re: Xbox Attracts Controversy Over New McDonald's Ad On The Dashboard
@Mustoe I disagree. The framing of your original post is that xbox is the bad choice, the really bad choice, the only logical way to read it is that the other choice(s) of consoles are much better.
There's arguments to be made for which one is the better/worse purchase, and there's plenty to say about what's wrong with Xbox, but the implication of that original post is that people would be much better off with a PS or Switch than an Xbox, and for a variety of reasons with those two that's also not automatically true.
In reality the state of consoles, and more accurately everything to do with gaming is heading down a deep, dark hole, maybe since the rice of mobile gamblegaming, and we'd all really be better off knitting.