blinx01

I'm most excited for Elden Ring, but Souls games are not usually for me, so I'm on the fence and gonna wait for player feedback before deciding to punish myself!

@NEStalgia
I think they went radio silent because of the JK Rowling drama and wanted to avoid getting caught up in that backlash through franchise association.
A bit like how Fantastic Beasts 3 is out in April and we only got a trailer last month.

So he's not saying it's any easier, just that you aren't forced down a linear path where if you hit a road block, that can been game over and never played again by many gamers.

Personally, I'm going to wait for a price drop.
I don't have the patience for these types of games. I play to relax and escape into worlds, not rip my hair out in frustration. LOL

Can't wait for it to all go through, but just a shame Sony still has the COD deal for 2 more mainline games, meaning they've probably got some anti-Game Pass clause in the marketing deal for those like with RE: Village.
Outside of COD, I'm excited for the huge library of games that will hit Game Pass and just for the creative freedom it offers the devs going forward.

Not sure why everyone thinks Hogwarts Legacy will be delayed?
The trusted leakers claim development is going well and it's aiming for a Q3 2022 release.
I think the real game in serious risk of being delayed is Suicide Squad. Can't see them releasing Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad towards the end of the year when both seem to be very similar with heavy online co-op elements.

Aaron Greenberg was definitely trolling.
He's done it on multiple occasions and why not?
Xbox has been in the trenches an entire console generation. PlayStation have trolled Xbox in the past with stuff like that game sharing advert.
As long as it's all done tongue in cheek then I have no issue with it.

And I'm pretty sure PS fanboys used that same picture of him to joke when Wolverine got announced, so a bit of karma for those console warriors I think. LOL

Nice to see all the plays they made towards the end of the Xbox One era starting to come pay off.
I can only imagine the numbers when they've got enough studios to be releasing an exclusive every 2-3 months!

Great to see the series back on top, especially when COD and Battlefield let everyone down this year.
I just hope they can keep the content flowing at a steady pace, such as new maps and game modes, as I have zero interest in Battle Pass progression for cosmetics.

Sounds about right to me.
The only thing that will suck is that COD 2022 and 2023 probably won't be on Game Pass day one as Sony sneak that "No Game Pass small print" into all their marketing deals, as leaked with Resident Evil Village.

So overall, I think we'll be looking at COD 2023 as the last mainline on PlayStation consoles, and Warzone 2 will be fully supported on PS5 for the full generation.

@UltimateOtaku91
COD has 3 teams, each on a 3 year development cycle.
Vanguard was by Sledgehammer Games.
Infinity Ward are on COD 2022.
Treyarch are on COD 2023.

They want a new Warzone because they want to move on to next-gen only, so they aren't forced to develop for a silly amount of systems, unlike Fortnite which is scaled from mobile up to consoles/PC.

Sounds very much like the feature in Deathloop I both enjoyed and hated at the same time. LOL

But, but, but...Xbox games don't sell if they are in Game Pass?!

I have a Series X downstairs and a Series S in the bedroom and love it.
Great little machine for the price and the digital aspect doesn't bother me as I buy all my games digitally anyway, so can access them no issues across both consoles.

About 25-35 hours is the perfect length in my eyes.

Considering Gears 6 is apparently looking like a 2024 game, I'd put my money on a 'Marcus Fenix Collection'.
The only issue is the games already look and play great due to resolution and FPS Boost, so unless the upgrades are significant, it could be rather a pointless release.

I'd rather have a Kart game.
One the Activision deal goes through, they'll have Beenox, who did Crash Team Racing.
I'd put them to task on Xbox Allstars Team Racing (or whatever you want to call it).
More chance of nailing that than a Smash Bros style game.

The problem they had was trying to sell us a multiplayer-only game for £70, for a series that normally also features a half decent campaign.
Then obviously on top of that, the game released in a right state.
The smart move would be to shift it into EA Play/Game Pass and focus on recouping costs through DLC maps and or cosmetics.

All very vague.
He "desires" COD to be on PlayStation.
What, Warzone? Mainline COD games? Both?
Or is he bargaining with Sony again to try and get Game Pass on PS5?
I find it all very fishy myself...

@Rural-Bandit
Yes. Bare in mind the publishers listed would need to be willing to sell in the first place.
PS is in a tough spot right now. They need to show they are willing to fully embrace the service model, but they simply don't have enough studios to create enough content to sustain a day one Game Pass style model.
Then they also have PS VR2, which could be seen as a distraction considering it will take up already limited studio focus.
Obviously PS5 is still smashing it right now, but the way it's looking, things could change drastically within the next 2-3 years.

@BrilliantBill
Konami are valued at $6B, but that is heavily down to their Pachinko business, which in itself would put off a potential buyout for any company not interested in that sort of business.

Below is the full list of of big game companies that could be acquired including their market cap. Credit to Geoff Keighley.

• EA: $38B
• Take Two: $18B (including Zynga if/when closed would be $28B)
• Nexon: $15B
• Bandai Namco: $15B
• Embracer: $10.8B
• Netmarble $7B
• Ubisoft: $7B
• Konami: $6B
• Square Enix: $5.6B
• Capcom: $4.9B
• Sega: $3.6B

EA are currently valued at $38B.
MS paid over 40% more for Activision than what they were valued at.
If the same was applied to EA, it would require around $55-60B and they'd have to be willing to sell.
The other issue with EA is the majority of their games rely on license deals. These license deals probably require multiformat releases, making a buyout less desirable for a company looking to make games exclusive.

The more realistic options for Sony would be;

• Square Enix = $5.6B
• Capcom = $4.9B

It just depends if these companies would be willing to sell and if Sony even had that sort of money considering they've only been buying small studios rather than actual big publishers.

@Alpha_Pulse
Game Pass already supports a variety of controllers, including DualSense with xCloud. Obviously it doesn't support the adaptive triggers etc.
If of course you mean a native Game Pass app on PS5, I think there's more chance of hell freezing over than Sony allowing that to happen.

I imagine what Sony refers to here is the exclusive mode deal for COD, which I believe is 3 games per contract. It was renewed in 2020, so 2023 will be the last contracted COD game for Sony.

Other than that, this is a damage control press release considering they lost $20 billion in stock after the news broke.

"We can't quite figure out why such a huge difference exists"

It has been explained before. The Oodle Kraken compression is baked into the PS5 dev kit. This means it gets used as mandatory on that platform.

Xbox leaves it down to the devs to use whatever compression method they want. That means devs need to select a compression method and insert it in their work flow.
Some devs won't use any compression as that is not a priority to them when managing deadlines. I imagine that is what has happened here.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a deal sorted for this years COD to hit Game Pass before the deal closes.
Everything else will probably be released in batches once the deal closes sometime in 2023.

Will be the same strategy as with Bethesda.
Live service games or legacy (already release games) will remain supported.
All future games will be exclusive.

So I think Warzone will 100% remain multiformat, and from 2023 COD onwards, the mainline games will be exclusive.
Although wouldn't surprise me to see MS sort out a Game Pass deal for 2022 COD while we wait for the deal to close.

@HaggisNight
This is huge news, but let's not kid ourselves, PlayStation is still a huge brand with big sway.
Unless COD goes exclusive, then the casual players won't suddenly feel the urge to buy an Xbox and even then, PS still has plenty of appeal.
Competition is good for gamers on all platforms.

If the deal doesn't close until latest June 2023, then I think it's business as usual for the remainder of 2022 for Activision.
What will be interesting is if they treat this like the Bethesda deal.
Will all future games be exclusive and live-service stuff that already exists will remain supported?
This could mean COD becomes Xbox exclusive and PS only gets to keep Warzone.
Big decisions for Phil Spencer to make in 2023...

I just woke up after my night shift and this is the news I see...
Had to rub my eyes and double-check what I was reading!

We all thought the Zenimax deal for $7.5 billion was crazy money and now they spend $68.7B on arguably one of the biggest publishers out there.
COD, Warcraft, Crash, Spyro, Tony Hawks, Diablo, Starcraft, etc.
All will these games will come to Game Pass and in the future Day One...Crazy!

@UltimateOtaku91
PS Now was designed as a means for back-compat though, not originally designed as a Game Pass style service.
It evolved into that but just never took off.

I think both Xbox and PS are on the right track.
I'd imagine when both release another gen of consoles, they'll be back-compat.
The main culprit still is Nintendo. Zero back-compat and reselling us basic ports for full price. This is why Switch is the only console I buy physical games for still, as I have zero confidence they would take my digital purchases forward a generation.

Such a shame.
I really hate Geoff Keighley's shows.
All hype and no end product riddled with more adverts than anything gaming related.
At this point, I'd rather publishers just show what they have throughout the year like Sony.

@UltimateOtaku91
The Nvidia GeForce Now leak had the following;

• Ghost of Tsushima = 7th Feb 2022
• Returnal = 30th April 2022
• Sackboy = 1st May 2022
• Horizon Forbidden West = 30th September 2022
• Ratchet & Clank = 3rd October 2022

Everything has been correct from that leak so far, but obviously dates could have changed since that leak.

It will just be a repeat of 2021 again.
PS5 will dominate the first 6 months and Xbox will come out swinging for the final 6 months.

The biggest issue for Xbox this time around is the question mark of PlayStation's Game Pass rival.
If PlayStation have a serious rival and not just a slightly improved PS Now, then Xbox could find themselves losing a huge selling point, especially for the first 6 months when they have no day one exclusives hitting the service.

I'm looking forward to this game but sadly it launches in a very busy period for me.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus - 28th Jan - Nintendo Switch
Horizon FW - 18th Feb - PS5
Elden Ring - 25th Feb - Series X.

Plus now Hitman 3 is getting added to Game Pass.
I can't cope...LOL

Never used the feature in all honesty.
But if it is true then MS should be looking into this ASAP.

The power of Game Pass.
If you have a quality game and it's on the service, it will get the attention it deserves due to the entry barrier now being much lower than buying a game day one with the risk you might not like it.

I can never get my head around why PC monitors are so expensive to the point it makes more sense to get an OLED unless you are worried about burn in.

I'm calling it now.
£4.99 add-on for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers for Ubisoft+ or £12.99 for it as standalone.

I can see both sides.

MS - People are using a loop hole to use the console as an emulation device, which is not the intended intention for dev mode.

Emulators - They've paid $20 and now that money is wasted and access is removed at the drop of a coin.

I wonder if going forward, we'll have any big day one surprises like 'Outriders' and 'MLB The Show' last year?
I say this simply because we don't have any 'big' games hitting the service until April with Stalker 2.

Probably because xCloud is still in BETA and not ready yet.

They also need to offer a new cheaper 'Cloud Game Pass' tier for something like this to take off once it leaves BETA.
Maybe £4.99 a month?

At the moment, you only get Cloud access with 'Game Pass Ultimate', which at £10.99, is too much if you only wanted Cloud access.

I'd assume this means it will be the remastered version that was developed for Xbox 360 back in the day and Nintendo will get an emulated N64 version for their sub service.

I think Xbox has to take some blame for this.
They showed the game off WAY too early because they didn't have any immediate releases on the horizon back in 2019.

Obviously Rare need a kick up the backside, because they seem to be too carefree for my liking, but I think it's best we just forget about this game and be shocked when it actually releases many years down the line. LOL

The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk are my most anticipated.
I was looking forward to GTA V, but the footage shown looked barely any different, so I'll skip that.

I have no issue with them selling cosmetics since this is a F2P game after all, but they really need to sort out the pricing.
This should be $10, not $20.
I guess if this stuff sells, like the cat ear helmet, they won't feel the need to adjust pricing though.

I bought my wife a Series S as an upgrade from her One S and she loves it.
She doesn't care about resolution and is just blown away by the load times and frame rate improvements.
First game she tries out of all the ones available...Skyrim...LOL

It's a F2P game. How do people expect the dev to turn a profit?
Would I buy them myself? No. Are they doing any harm? No.
Worst case, you could buy using MS Rewards.
All I do agree that the prices seem inflated for what you get. They do need to lower them in line with other F2P games.

£7.99 is a tad expensive for stuff like this in my book.
But thanks to MS Rewards, at least you can technically get this stuff for 'free'.

Managed to get one for £155 from Amazon Spain a while back.
As someone who has a Series X and Series S, the fact this is hot-swappable is a life saver.

I always expected this campaign to be a poor mans COD, so this doesn't surprise me.
Remedy have no experience with the FPS genre and it just screamed to me they got contracted to make the campaign because they needed the cash influx before they struck the partnership with Epic Games.
I'm sure the multiplayer will do OK since that's F2P, but I can't see the campaign taking off considering it's not on Game Pass and who know what they'll charge...