themightyant

They came into this gen with some momentum, but their biggest failure was having almost no first party games or exclusives for the first year or so. Literally the worst console lineup vs the competition I can remember. Despite that it sold well initially but then dropped off and PS5 never looked back. It always comes back to great games.

But momentum is still important and Microsoft now have 2-4 years to RELIABLY get out great games again and again to convince people that Xbox, and Game Pass, is the place to be when the next generation starts, else I can only see them losing more users to Sony, which wouldn't be good.

Comparison is the thief of joy

Yet we all do it.

It IS hard to live up to those expectations, but they don't always help themselves, setting expectations too high through their own marketing efforts. There's a balance to be had between selling your game and OVER-selling your game, just ask Peter Molyneux.

I don't buy so many games as I'm working through my backlog and have Game Pass & PS+ but still bought around 5 titles.

Best Xbox game I have played this year? Probably Chants of Senaar.

For me Ultimate is till well worth it for the value it offers. But I play a lot. However this may change in future if any of those change e.g. how much I play, how much value they offer or how much they charge.

Tim Lamb still wearing the golf visor indoors I see. It's an old meme, but it checks out.

Looking forward to this.

Came to say a similar things to others. How can they be confused by a strategy that doesn't really exist, it flip-flops every 6 months.

The combat looks a bit janky but other than that I love the vibe. Shame it's not coming to Xbox, though they seem like sensible business decisions.

@smoreon Ah! thanks. It's part of FPS Boost, that's why I couldn't find patch info. Though i'd still like an official patch as they can up the resolution from 900p as boost mode uses the OG XBO settings.

@Balaam_ I kinda know what you mean but i'd also say that a large handheld screen like the the 8" in PS Portal can be comparable to watching on a big TV in terms of how much it fills your view. Obviously depends how close you sit to to your TV and screen size, likely not 77" but still big maybe 55" or 65".

Also mobile controls don't have to be that cramped as ROG Ally, Steam Deck and PS Portal prove. I agree it's not quite up to the big screen and controller experience, but it's not far off. Handhelds aren't the tiny pocket sized devices of yesteryear. We've come a long way recently.

While I prefer to play on TV, playing in bed on handheld is still great.

@evan23 I probably missed it!

EDIT: I can't seem to find news of a 60fps patch only people playing the unpatched 1.0 version at higher framerates. But perhaps my googling skills aren't up to snuff.

Would be nice. Do Unity next, it was a technical travesty at launch that rightly got called out, but behind that was a solid game that deserves a bit more praise.

It’s a fair question. Do you want a fair answer? It probably won’t be popular.

Mostly because many of the layoffs are not directly tied to decisions he made. If you look everywhere in tech and gaming there are huge numbers of job losses. The business world is in a state of stress right now due to market conditions. Businesses have to cut costs to stay profitable.

But at Xbox it’s particularly bad because they just added around 15,000+ jobs through ABK and Bethesda which were both arranged BEFORE the market contracted and we had a financial crisis. By the time the ABK deal was finalised, almost 2 years later, the situation had very much changed. Hence we have seen Xbox gain 15,000 staff but then fire 2,550 (and counting). Some would always have gone through M&A but no one expected this many.

I’m not saying he couldn’t have done better, anyone can always do better, we all make some bad decisions that with hindsight we wouldn’t make. But also from a business perspective he has rescued Xbox from its lowest point, significantly grown Xbox in terms of revenue, and positioned them pretty well for the next 10 years to be successful. Note: They don’t have to beat Sony to be a success, though that will be an aim/bonus.

To be fair, they can't win if they DO post and they can't win if they DON'T post... as this article proves.

@ZAHMED Not quite true. Its the same CPU but has a mode to clock it up to 3.85Ghz, 10% more than PS5's 3.5Ghz. That could in theory be enough to enable PSSR and other upgrades, on top of the 45% more powerful GPU, increased memory and faster memory bandwidth.

Regardless if previous Rockstar games are any guide it will run at an uneven sub-30fps on base consoles, so perhaps just running at a more stable 30fps will be the improvement.

THPS 3+4 please followed by a new game in the same spirit.

@StylesT It will still almost certainly be the best place to play GTA6 on console, whether that is a frame rate boost or not. But I think 40fps might be possible on PS5 Pro and a sensible compromise.

@OldGamer999 Using upscaling IS a bit of a cheat, but if it can produce results as good as XeSS or even near DLSS then it can actually look sharper than at native resolution, similar to super-sampling (having a higher-res internally but outputting it at a lower resolution reduce jaggies) in some situations.

Though PSSR doesn't even really need to be as good as those as it will be mostly viewed from a TV distance, not a monitor's distance where imperfections and artefacts are more noticeable. Like you I look forward to seeing what DF and others show, even if my interest is likely only academic.

Very simply: WE DON'T KNOW YET.

Until the features have been outlined in more detail - exactly what PS5 Pro boost mode does, whether PSSR is a game changer and most importantly how many games will get a bump - we simply don't know.

Currently I have no plans to buy a PS5 Pro, not at £700 without a disc drive. lol. But IF they somehow manage to show a tangible benefit to having one that makes me think "I need this" I will buy one. But that seems highly unlikely right now.

@FraserG Logically I suspect the discrepancy may be because the fan list includes all games you have access to including Xbox and PC and some are only available on PC. I didn't think of that before, so your number of 507 is likely more useful for comparison to Xbox Game Pass Standard.

Though when I log onto my Xbox it says 424 Game Pass Games plus 89 EA Play games which makes 513, so none of the numbers match but it is closer.

And thanks for the heads up on the Xbox website link, I didn't know they had that feature, which is why I usually use the fan spreadsheet which is seemingly always kept up to date.

Pretty disappointing how they have stripped out all their latest AAA games like Starfield, COD: MW3, Hellblade 2, Diablo 4 despite most of these being out for around a year or more. Doesn't bode well for how quickly they will add their new games to the service.

The community run spreadsheet suggests there are 549 games on Game Pass Ultimate so they have removed around 180 here.

369 is a good amount, but the fact they have yanked out almost all their latest AAA games like Starfield, Diablo 4, Hellblade 2, COD MW3 isn't a good sign for how long they will take to add these games in future, especially as most of these have all been out around a year already.

EDIT: For reference the community run spreadsheet says there are currently 549 games on Game Pass Ultimate, so it seems they have dropped around 180 titles.

Depends on features and most importantly GAMES. But assuming it ticks those boxes around £550 - £600 if I knew next gen wasn't coming for at least 3-4 years. Mostly i'm happy with my XSX & PS5.

@MaccaMUFC Launching next gen early is a risky strategy. For the first couple of years you will mostly get cross-gen titles anyway and then after 2 years your console will be humbled by the new competition with 2 year later technology. It could work, but it could also massively backfire.

@MinervaX That is the wrong way to look at tax. Companies like Sony or Microsoft don't get any of it. So prices are set excluding tax. So £699 is £582.50 which is $761.19 which is not a huge discrepancy.

I was interested when they first said you could have the best of both worlds graphics and performance. But £700 is just too much. Even worse that it doesn't include a drive so it's £825 with a drive and a stand. I know it has 2TB of storage (2.4x the OG PS5) and that is elevating the price but it's still too much.

What's crazy is the PS4 Pro was £349 WITH a drive, while I didn't expect that pricing I did think it would be £650 tops WITH a drive.

Sounds good to me, less is often more imo. I'd rather play a tight 15 - 20 hour game than a rambling, inconsistent or repetitive 40+ hour one. Looking forward to this. Hoping day 1 performance is solid.

While going through Eurogamer's recent top 100 current games (games you can play on current systems) I found out I already owned a few like Might & Magic Clash of Heroes through GwG.

Moreover there are many great X360 games I OWN due to GwG that I might want to replay. GwG was good for a while, but the trouble is it was AWFUL by the end, literally scraping the barrel at the end, and that leaves a bad impression.

Unless they want Destiny's player base to keep shrinking they really HAVE to create a way for new players to jump in. Currently if we wanted to play Destiny's story from the start we can't. As a live service you are ALWAYS going to be losing players so you also need a way to onboard new ones. They will always lose to churn without this.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Your maths isn't quite right as they were offering $22,500 for the track ($7,500 for each of 3 writers) so it would be nearer $11 million music budget if they had 500 tracks. Though I don't believe all are paid equally, they will want a few big names and also some low-cost bangers.

Though for a game game reportedly costing $2 billion to make then a music budget of $11 million (around 0.5% of the total budget) seems quite low to me considering music is integral to the GTA experience.

But as GTA likes to push the medium forward, I wonder if there would be a way to integrate Spotify in some way so that the game doesn't have music per se, but integrated Spotify to play specific music through that instead perhaps sidestepping licensing. Would CERTAINLY put the cat amongst the pigeons/ get the lawyers out.

Alright, I'll play Broken Sword for the tenth time. (love that game)

Plucky Squire, Wild ***** and Bloomtown also on the radar.

EDIT: Seems I can't talk about Wild ***** without being moderated. You *****

EDIT 2: Strangely Void Bastards gets a pass.

I don't know what the going rate is for this sort of music license so it's hard to know if it's a fair deal, but it SEEMS pitifully low as a lay-man. While I agree that the exposure would likely return a lot more cash on top of this, that isn't really the point.

But quoting how much a previous game made is a red-herring and shouldn't really change the amount. Else should a game that failed and made a loss have got the licensing for free?

I'll believe it when I see it. There have been so many false rumours on this... I guess a broken clock is right twice a day.

But I hope the games do come to more gamers on Xbox.

I had thought the studio would be safe as long as they continued to make Hi-Fi Rush games. That’s one of the reasons I left Tango Gameworks

He seems to be suggesting that he knew Tango Gameworks was potentially in danger, which isn't too surprising considering none of their games had been massive hits before Hi-Fi Rush, more cult favourites.

Would I be happier with shorter games?

I already am with many indies which don't outstay their game mechanics and remain fun to the end. But it isn't one size fits all, I also like some longer epic games. It all depends if the game mechanics get tired.

But many AAA games DO have a problem with over-padding their games with unnecessary repetitive content which often makes you wish they were tighter experiences. Especially open world games. Ubisoft and Assassin's Creed are the worst offenders but many more do the same.

It isn't just open worlds though many games just stick around for too long as if longer playtime equals better value. It may do for some, but not for me.

It definitely had a few 9/10 moments but also a LOT of much lower ones. Probably 7/10 at launch overall but hoping all the updates and Shattered Space can raise that. I also hope it values my time a little more.

I understand their want to have most versions look the same and their concentration on Physical Based Rendering, but I think it's a real shame they never got Minecraft RT (Ray Tracing) off the ground as that looked truly incredible.

Perhaps we will get a native version when the PBR update finally comes. Though at Mojang's glacial pace that might be on Xbox next.

@Markatron84 Hellblade 2 also took 4.5 years from announcement. I don't mind them having one or two to look forward to in the longer future but when it's most of your big hitters you have a problem. TOW2 announcement was brilliant though!

I find this a little surprising as I thought their focus HAD been on SoD3 for a while, as it was announced in 2020. I guess this might explain why it’s taken so long. Microsoft really need to STOP announcing so many games 4-5, or more, years before release

@armondo36 sometimes a 6 is a personal 8/9… or just our kinda jam.

There were good elements about the game, but it's crazy after such poor beta test numbers they didn't rethink their strategy.

Agree with @BacklogBrad that Sony is chasing something they don't have... live services, at least in terms of first party, whereas Xbox has been chasing single player narrative games. Both companies are trying to build a rounded portfolio.

They are 100% right about this. Apple shouldn't be taking 30% of everything, including ongoing subscriptions, on devices that are as part of every day life as mobile phones without offering native alternatives.

Imagine the stink if Microsoft took 30% of all sales within every application on Windows. We wouldn't stand for it, nor should we here, ultimately we are paying for it. Google's not much better with all their scare tactics to stop people side loading apps and stores, it means only the savvy will use that. But they are marginally better.

...which reiterates the delay of Black Myth: Wukong on Xbox is not due to technical issues.

Except that ISN'T quite what they said, they actually said:

..we can confirm that the delay is not due to Xbox platform limitations that have been raised to us."

It's entirely possible it IS down to technical issues that HAVEN'T been raised with Microsoft directly and the team is working to fix it. It also might not be.

So much scuttlebutt going around on this story, but paraphrasing and misquoting doesn't help, it only muddies it further.

I'm looking forward to Shattered Space and returning to that universe. There was so much unfulfilled potential there that I hope a second (and third) bite at the cherry solves some of the issues the base game had. Fingers crossed.

@carlos82 Completely agree. I didn't say that the market isn't overcrowded, it is harder to gain traction. I was only pushing back on the nonsense that "nobody wants live service games" when all data shows us the complete opposite is true.

@Jenkinss I kinda agree, except WoW DID get competition in FFXIV, ESO and other MMORPGS that stuck around. You don't have to topple the king to be successful.

Destiny is faltering right now and is probably one that can be toppled if the right FPS game arrived.

More recently Honkai Star Rail (2023), Wuthering Waves , Zenless Zone Zero (both 2024) and much more are making tens of millions every month on mobile alone let alone PC and console.

@Elbow that may be true of a few but not most. Most were planned. But I agree about rotten corporate greed.

@Dan1283 The trouble is many DO want live service games. Look at the most played games every month it's wall to wall live services (Fortnite, COD, Genshin, GTA, CSGO, Apex, HSR, Minecraft, Roblox, Sports titles, PUBG) with the occasional single player games thrown in. And the successful ones make obscene amounts of money.

It's not that "nobody wants live service games", it's that they didn't want these ones. But I agree it's a travesty that Rocksteady were seemingly made to create one and are now suffering because of it.

@fbnaulin The more interesting question is HAD Dick Rowe signed them would The Beatles have been as popular? So much of that is based around lightning in a bottle luck e.g. when they were signed, by whom, how they were marketed, etc. etc. Small changes can make huge differences and perhaps they would be a niche band only a few people know of who got annoyed about not quite making it and split up... or perhaps stayed together even longer.

Was always a very stupid thing to say. 25fps was always going to be the main headline grabbing bullet point. I'm sure it will run fine on S.

I like it when these leaving Game Pass lists don't include something I still want to play.

@awp69 to be fair they are being pretty UN-media savvy here mentioning 25fps at all. That was always likely to be the headline grabbing soundbite. They shouldn’t have mentioned a metric at all and just said they were still working on optimisation and Xbox was being a big help.