I can respect that, I’m sure we’d have a great chat / debate / Furious Argument in person
I think things have changed a little since I made this topic, I’m much more onboard with buying a system and I think that there’s a general tone of positivity around Microsoft especially since they announced pricing but also influenced by their Xbox All Access payment scheme and the addition of EA games to Gamepass. I think those things have all gone some way to improving the perception of what Microsoft are offering.
I feel like “it’s ok I can play what I’ve got and the first party stuff will come along” is a reasonable place to be when the system is more reasonably priced than expected (especially with the S), and I think that’s the big difference for me. When I thought the X was going to be the wrong side of £500, I was pretty sure most people would be out without a big title to hang it on, as is it seems like the S will be the big hit and Gamepass IS seen as amazing value when the barrier to entry is so low.
From a software perspective there will be plenty to play, though very little that is really new. The Medium will be the closest thing to a next-generation experience that is available, and I’m interested to see reception of the title. But that isn’t MS strategy, and some have to learn to accept it. You will be able to play CP2077, AC Valhalla, Call of Duty, and Destiny. EA will be added to GP. So there will be plenty to play. Some gamers like myself have a lot of recent games to catch up on as well.
I would argue that Halo is definitely not a “next-gen” game anyway - it technically cannot be since it supports the previous generation. Give 343 some time to attempt a fix before release sometime next year. In 2022 the first XGS games will start to appear that are “next-genaration” games …
MS is doing things a little different this time. Wait to see if it works out
3 months is the sweet spot imho. Giving them a year is far too long. 3 months gets them through the holidays. It should be 3 months of GPU though.
I think any concern as of today wrt how Xbox is launching these systems is at best premature. They are doing things nobody has even even dreamed of. No one has ever targeted value in this way and ultimately the perceived value is the only thing that customers IRL care about. Not exclusives or ‘games’ or power or even just price in a vacuum…they care about the overall package on offer for the price that they want. Offering so much value for next gen experiences ppl want at impulse-purchase ‘no money down’ pricepoints is totally new at this scale. So is launching with a Netflix-styled games service and streaming capabilities like xCloud. So is launching with casuals, holiday shoppers AND hardcore gamer demographics all targeted at once from day 1.
This is entirely new territory here and if it pays off MS and Xbox will benefit in ways Sony won’t be able to catch up to.
This. I wanna add that within 2 yrs’ time they should have laid the groundwork for a HIGHLY competitive 1P lineup, xCloud will be streaming next gen experiences to all manner of devices (PC, consoles, mobile, TV’s), cloud compute for games a la FlightSim, machine learning in games at runtime, getting tons more GP deals in place.
IF these plans work out in their favor, MS and Xbox will be leading the industry in a totally new direction that gamers will be eager to get on board with. Hardcore gamers right now don’t appreciate how big these areas will become in the next few yrs or how far behind Sony is gonna be in every single one of them. I think we should at least see if MS’s bold moves play out this holiday before being too concerned.
The issue has always been there really needs to be a game that showcases a new console. Even if the game itself is not a classic. I still think it’s a problem. It hasn’t gone away. But it is what it is. I do think it will hurt sales.
I understand why it may not be a system seller for some however when you factor how price elastic gaming is, it should certainly be a system seller to many if marketed correctly. Up front cost absolutely matters in what people experience in gaming or what they gravitate towards. Game Pass makes many games very accessible to people who’d otherwise not experience them. Even as an adult with a steady job and career, cost matters to me. Can’t see how it won’t have an impact.
I’ll say 30 days installed onto each console for everyone. If you already have Game Pass Ultimate, a free month gets added to what you currently have. If not, it’s for 30 days from when you “activate/claim” it.
This did not work this gen with those type of codes. I tried. I don’t think you will be able to add the free period to your sub. But that is my assumption.
I would think that they would fix this since it’s pre-installed onto the console. I’m sure that they know a lot of people buy Xbox Series X/Series S already have Game Pass/Game Pass Ultimate. We’ll see how it works. Just adding it to what you have is good PR and consumer friendly. Not having it work for those who are already subscribers, that’s a minor disappointment but still disappointing.
Ummm…you can count the consoles that launched with killer apps on one hand. Consoles routinely sell out no matter the launch lineup. Having a tech showcase helps, sure, but it’s not at all required to sell out. If you are saying just something akin to tech demos, then XSX has that already. It has launch titles with RT, 120 fps, native 4k, etc. All the talking points are covered here.
I’d like to see more, sure, but the console’s sales aren’t depending on that at launch.
I didn’t say a killer app. Just a game that showcases the console. Last gen it was Ryse on Xbox and Killzone Shadowfall on PS4. Neither were games that lived for long in lost memories but both showcased the console. There just isn’t anything like that for Xbox this time round. Something that looks appreciably better than last gen. The medium is I guess the closest we’ve got but it’s very niche and point and click style. Cyberpunk if it had the next gen patch would be it I guess.
MS is basing on the notion that a game isn’t old if you haven’t played it yet. Lots of games are getting updates to support SX/SS. I’d say that even someone very active on their ecosystem will have not played all the games already released that will be updated, so coupled with the games launching day and date or around launch, content shouldn’t be an issue.
It also helps some of the biggest ongoing MP games are just getting updated for SX (Destiny 2, Fortnite, R6) instead of current gen where their new iterations was deployed as a different game with its own progression and player pool. So someoje can jump right away to get to the next gen carrying over their progress and still being able to play with their friends that won’t upgrade for a while.
Of course, that’s not enough reason to upgrade for many people, so it’s indeed a case of wait and see. There’s also the way Ms is having a lower priced box for the non hard-core right from the start. Remember the last time someone was able to meet the 299 was without a hdd (360 arcade) and the market deemed that to expensive for what it offered.
This time at least SS supports all the same features as the big priced brother, as well there’s a bigger gap.
I mean, there are 120fps games hitting XSX on launch day. I guess I dunno what your criteria here is. We have games hitting 120fps, games using RT, games using the SSD…are we expecting PS5 to have next gen exclusive showcases? They won’t even show us Spiderman and the glimpses we have seen didn’t look appreciably beyond current gen imho.
I think the mindshare on this specific issue isn’t actually about launch titles so much as it is about gamers getting a chance to see the future. MS hasn’t shown off much running on XSX wrt next gen-only games. A few, but not a lot that is further out. I’d say they can fix the mindshare issue entirely in this area by showing gameplay of some of their 2021-2022 games. I think what matters is gamers having something for their imagination to get excited about. For launch, it’s always half measures in terms of how deeply integrated the new tech is anyhow. Wave 2 in summer 2021 is where things will get interesting (always happens this way).
I’d also note that MS isn’t just marketing new graphics, which seems to be what you want them to focus on to distinguish how new XSX is. They are promoting the new ecosystem, the new way to buy the machine, the new I/O setup, the new/improved BC stuff. All of those are represented at launch. I think Cyberpunk is going to invalidate your entire thesis btw, as MS will market that as a XSX game first and foremost and ppl on both new consoles will play that more than any other title this holiday imho.
I think there are games showing off ‘console features’ absolutely - but nothing that you can show off a console to friends to blow their socks off.
I’d agree the PS5 doesn’t have that either (as far as we know) at launch - though spiderman will be a polished experience. The game they have for that sort of tech showcase is Ratchet and Clank and they’ve shown a fair bit of that running on the PS5 - and the reason is, it looks great and showcases (sort of) the main features of the console in terms of ray tracing, the extra particle effects and fast loading (though its smoke and mirrors but regardless). But you’ve seen the usual sycophantic – looks better than CGI articles about it, and whilst its over the top - its undoubtedly a very nice looking game that probably can’t be done on the PS4 in all its glory - launching relatively close to the console. Its a showpiece. I doubt it will be a 97 metacritic game (probably solid enough) but its job is to up front show people a game that looks great running on the console. A game that lots of people will want to play even if just to show off what their new system can do.
That’s kind of what I mean - and its just a shame about Halo. The medium is neat and supports the next gen features well, but I can’t imagine anyone being that excited to show their friends the game. Assasins creed valhalla is probably the closest we’ll get to this, hopefully they will show the game running on the Series X soon - I expected it to show up yesterday tbh which makes me think Xbox might be showing it themselves somehow…
