S1ayeR74

@IOI At least Nintendo are about to come and throw a grenade into it with the new Switch 2, plus we've had the Steam Deck and other PC handhelds take off in a big way.
Leave it to the handheld games market again to save gaming this gen...

I remember buying this on my PlayStation I think. Great game. If you get a chance to play it.

If that’s 5.5 billion, I’m sure I read somewhere they spend 1 billion acquiring games per year to put in Game Pass. Even taking overheads and operating costs into account that’s quite the profit margin they are making. Purely down to the ActiBliz and Zenimax purchases so they need to be greedy and increase profits massively to pay off the investment. Which means consumers paying more.

@Utena-mobile I said that from the start, I did think they spent so much to get King Mobile as they are making billions and it’s from the mobile market that’s worth a lot more then the console one. But it’s obvious MS is struggling to make the money back quick enough hence the studio closures, staff lay offs and restricting and price increases of the services.

Let’s not forget, they also spent 7.5 billion for Zenimax, as a department Xbox isn’t even generating anywhere near that! Let alone 69 billion! Personally I think next gen Xbox will be all digital only and will desperately be controlling prices to try and get the investment back.

The CMA and FTC were right to scrutinise the buy out like they did, probably should have gone further. MS did state they would not increase Game Pass prices amongst other things due to the buy out. And they’ve now done the complete opposite, closed studios, laid of thousands of people in the gaming sector of the business, and increased prices. Is it any wonder the regulators will now be on their backs over this.

This is discounted because it’s about to be delisted. So how much longer will the servers for it still be running for?

@Blofse I already did that, sold my Series X when they changed the dashboard from a lovely fully customisable experience, to endless forced ads I cannot turn off and my games library buried a I get them somewhere. And now they are bringing Ads to Windows, outside works PC I ain’t touching MS. I have my Game Pass Ultimate at rapid up till 2026 so will stream any games I want to play, but I won’t extend it beyond that. Had a Steam Deck twice but couldn’t get in with it? Think the screen was too small for me, will wait to see what the next one is like, but I have a PS5 now and a new high end Mac that runs Diablo 4 great, although I need to use emulation software.

@themightyant As they say, the most popular games are COD, Fortnite and FIFA. All the mass casual gamer wants is online play for those games and that’s it. It will be a pretty hard sell to pursuance them to pay £15 a month for COD and online play. Some people only ever play one of those games.

@FuzzieGinge88 Don’t forget, that 69 billion for Acti was on top of the 7.5 billion for Zenimax. The investors want to see a return on that as does the board, and whether Satya or Phil is making the decisions on that is hidden in rumours only. They just announced their Xbox app for Firestsick owners, which is a cheap device really, and then announce another price increase to use the service in the app.
I don’t believe a word MS says about Xbox anymore (this deal won’t mean Game Pass increases.. increase Game Pass price twice in a year), and I won’t be shocked if next gen is their last ever with physical consoles, despite what they say the console sales figures are way low, we all know it. Because they’ve made it too easy to play without an Xbox.

@AverageJoseph Good for you, you’re one person, does not mean there are many people who like to buy their games. Or collect books, films are also different, it takes a couple of hours to watch a film, some games can take 30 for the base game alone.

@Krzzystuff Don’t forget though, as I understand PC Game Pass does not get access to as many games as the console version hence the price difference, plus you are paying for online play on console too, they still charge you to play online games on Xbox consoles, can you imagine them doing that on PC and the outcry it would create?

@Vaako007 sadly for you that is no longer Xbox’s primary business model, Game Pass and game rentals all the way from them now. If they do go all digital next gen, which is rumoured currently, then they will control when games are delisted, Forza Horizon 4 will be delisted this year for instance, and when they disappear off GP. Not like the 360 days…

It’s become obvious they have screwed the pooch a bit, they’ve spent over 80 billion on acquisitions and they want returns. And they now putting COD in Game Pass day one will lose them a lot in sales.
It’s now £180 a year for Game Pass Ultimate, but £120 a year for PSN Plus Premium, so you are paying a lot more for those games on Game Pass. I actually slightly prefer the PS model as you get game trials of big games not in Game Pass, and if course you cannot play your games collection on Game Pass unless it’s in there. PS5 remote play works great, not sure of Xbox does the same?

With rumours of Xbox going all digital next gen and Sony not, it seems Xbox will be all about you renting games, and Sony will still be about you owning them such as it is. I can also see Xbox increasing prices again, one things for sure I’d never believe a word that comes out of Microsoft’s mouth about Xbox!… Phil flat out lied about Game Pass price increases.

When my GP expires, it’s stacked at the moment, I’m out and won’t pay for it again. I can only see it going up and up in price.

@themightyant Sadly the narrative Microsoft was forcing o to everyone at launch time, was that the Series X was the ‘most powerful console in the world’ ever. That sentence leads you to think it’ll be better and perform better. Which was never the case in reality. If they never made the Series S and force games on that system, and hadn’t changed all their dev tools at the beginning of the generation, then they may have had a noticeable lead in performance.

@Fiendish-Beaver Sounds reasonable. I should have just kept my Series X.
My Series X was a present and I sold it as I stupidly didn't like MS direction or the forced ads on the home screen and for some Christmas money and for a PS5.
I think my best bet is to keep the PS5, just buy a Xbox myself, buy physical games on PS5 and then ask for money for my birthdays and Christmas's and then trade in the PS5 for next gen, kinda round about way to get a next gen console as a present as they will probably cost near £500 I expect. And then just sell the Xbox.

What are the chances of these new models having a boost in specs? Like smaller manometer processors and improved WiFi like WiFi 6E?

My favourite game series of all time and one of the games that is making me want a new Series X. Gonna sell my PS5 to come back to Xbox, should never have left. Both platforms do things right and wrong but only Xbox has my favourite game series....

Having said that will Gears E Day be a current gen title or next gen? As MS announced they are deep in next gen development. When will the next Xbox launch? 2026?

When will the next gen be announced? Next year or 2026?

It was a simply incredible showcase, I agree with every word of this article.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Your mistake is assuming the games will be rubbish. Firstly I am a massive Gears fan, I can tell you that alone made it difficult to sell my Xbox, secondly I only have time and thanks to the PS5 size and the fact if you stand it up you risk dry spots on the processor with no Liquid Metal, the space for one of these consoles. I may get the next Switch when it’s out but that’s it apart from a home console.

And thirdly I saw plenty of gameplay too, so it is inaccurate at best to claim they were all CGI trailers.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Hmm seems a fair few of the games shown had gameplay and looked damn good one. Sorry not seeing what you are suggesting here. The quality looks just as good as Spider-Man 2 or the third or fourth remake of TLOU.

@awp69 I sold my Series X for a PS5, got it at Christmas and what have I played on it? Dead Island 2 and COD.. dabbled in TLOU2 remake but I've played all the Sony exclusives I care about already on PS3 and 4 already. I'm regretting my decision a bit now, I'm going to wait and see what the new Xbox consoles are like as they may have some upgrades like smaller NM chips and new WiFi etc.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Xbox has Forza and Hellblade etc, difference it it's also just shown some massive games that are current gen only and out this year or next, Sony has shown a 'hero shooter' that looks crap and generic...

To answer the topic though, 'some' games will go to PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, but never all of them, Gears, Perfect Dark, Fable, Forza, Avowed etc etc won't go cross platform, only Xbox and PC.

@Dr_ENT With no games on PS5. It has maybe 2 or 3 actual current gen only games if that. Sony is bone dry with games so far this gen, 4 years in. Hardly the 'ultimate' home console. And I own a PS5.

@TheSimulator Eh? It is as innovative, Quick Resume is brilliant, and a feature far better then Sonys adaptive triggers.

I'm seriously now considering ditching my PS5 and returning to Xbox.

@TheSimulator Hmm, it comes down to personal preference I think, having used both I find the dual sense to be more solid feeling in the hand, the resistive trigger things are cool but just a gimmick, and it's battery life is utterly pathetic, of course Sony will sell you one with longer lasting battery.. Xbox controller works perfectly fine, doesn't feel as solid and substantial but of course its battery life is miles better. I get on alright with both really.

@Cakefish I agree, those two guys made another full in depth video on them and it is exactly the same size, they said the same thing it's a shame they didn't make something new, but understood like you say it's another to just reuse the same design. Looks good in white though.

@Cakefish A video of the new consoles, looks like it’s the same size sadly.

http://youtube.com/shorts/kKn3yv-fKjU?si=1161ntyjpbEq_wGr

I wouldn't give it an A but a solid 9/10 for me. Brilliant showcase.

@Cakefish Definitely need to wait for a proper view as we are going by a single picture with a funny angle.

30 games.. seemingly only 6 cross platform. Holy hell they just utterly embarrassed Sony. Hence why not many PS4 players are upgrading to PS5, no new games only on PS5 worth playing. Xbox just gave people 30 reasons to get an Xbox Series console.

@tho_mi Nope, they also stated new hardware will be coming for the holidays. Many expect it to be a new handheld from the company.

@Cakefish I’m not so sure? To me it looks smaller?

@Nightcrawler71 To be fair though, Sony hasn’t announced any new games apart from its hero shooter. So all you will be doing with the ‘pro’ is playing your old games at a faster frame rate.

Damn those are expensive. Not sure about that pricing, probably best to get a current console unless these ones have other updates like better WiFi or something?

What he means is cheap games, those closed studios apparently wanted to make new games like a HIFi Rush sequel, but also that would mean hiring more staff for a bigger team. And obviously MS doesn’t like that idea, so it closes them down and will use other small teams to make small games. And if any of them dare suggest they hire more staff no doubt the firing axe will heavily fall onto them too.

@GamingFan4Lyf It’s like Sony closing Naughty Dog and firing all the staff if a game doesn’t hit….. it’s obvious the head board are leading the shots, but it does seem that the Xbox team lacked serious planning too? I mean they don’t know what to do with COD! Seriously? Not a good look and not professional business conduct.

@EvilSilentFrame If you ask to spend 70 billion dollars of the companies money, inviting extreme in depth scrutiny governments around the globe with main stream media reports globally with the purchase made with that money, it tends to attract the attention of the entire main leading board of the company… and if they don’t like something, like bottom line reducing, they will demand changes.

What is obvious is Phil and his team and MS heavily lied through their big asses during the acquisition investigations. And to us gamers.

@Kooky_Geezer So do I! I mean with the news suggesting they don’t have a concise plan of what to do with COD, put it in Game Pass, don’t put it in there, raise Game Pass sub prices for COD… it clearly indicates Microsoft did NOT have a plan set and agreed on before they bought ActiBliz, they should NEVER have been allowed to buy it based on that alone, the biggest game in the world and they had no plans set about what to do with it? I said in another thread if they put it on Game Pass and increase its sub price, if that results in sub numbers plummet and COD sales dropping are they going to cancel COD and fire the Activision staff?

lol.. I get the feeling here that Microsoft has bitten off more then it can chew.. they should have had a plan for ALL this agreed signed off and set in stone BEFORE they decided to buy it! At this point I’m annoyed MS was allowed to by Activision cause they don’t seem to have a concise plan about what to do with COD. Ridiculous. What they gonna do if they bump up Game Pass and sub numbers plummet and COD sales drop? Dump COD and sack all the Activision staff…….. so kill COD due to their utter incompetence? Pathetic.

Not surprising. This is hie giant American corporations work, and Microsoft does have a reputation for dropping anything the instant it loses money. Plus they have a habit of mass hiring them mass firing a few months later due to having 'too many staff', read they hire younger people pay them less and fire the older more expensive staff.

So I expect more ruthless closures and firings. And some great games will be buried under Microsoft's vision of 'gaming'.

At this point I won't be shocked if they ditched COD and fired all the COD staff if it's sales started underperforming from its targets.

Is he celebrating the 47% drop in console sales in Europe and that developers are rumoured to be considering dropping support for the Xbox console platform? Hardly a shining achievement.

I think he’s living in lala land believing Steam or Sony will launch their game stores on a platform with huge falling sales, in Europe at least.

I thought it quite obvious, reading between the lines Xbox just isn't making enough money, if you listen very carefully to what they said they eluded to that. Everything they do is about long term Xbox growth, it's a tough time etc. they have had tens of billions spent on them and console sales have stagnated and Game Pass subs too. The board and share holders want a return on that investment, it is Spencer's plan which is probably why he looked a bit nervous in the video.
Xbox needs to stay around for the competition in the market, I think not only will they bring more games to PS and Nintendo specifically its next console, wonder how may sales it will take from Xbox once COD is on it?, but they will introduce new Game Pass tiers and pricing and access levels, and maybe ads too. They aren't going anywhere yet, but I also think it's wishful thinking that PS or Ninty will release their first parties on Xbox. They just need to get that cash coming in. And get their frigging games out!!!

The most important things they said have been ignored as fluff and stuff no one cares about. Meh when they dump the mandatory ads on the dashboard then I’ll come back. But I think they will actually get worst in that department, and change Game Pass subscription levels.

@themightyant Smenrbinkntheyneillmtotslly rebrand to Xbox Everywhere. I still think a lot of games will be coming to PS and Switch.

@XboxistheBestBox How am I attaching the brand. Also I never said I don't play Xbox games. In fact I stated the opposite. Do you just see any criticism as trolling? I assume going by your username you do?

@abe_hikura because it has to be a bit more official as they will also be presenting it to investors. Expect a lot of corporate talk.