It’ll be announcing multiplayer being free to coincide with the launch of Halo Infinite Multiplayer
Issue is, it won’t be received as a mic drop because most people already suspect it’s happening
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No it won’t. It would be converting people on PC and getting people to try out GamePass on mobile. Consoles have a limit on how big the market is, if it’s going to grow, it will be through other platforms.
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Once again I agree but only in the longer term if Xbox stays vibrant. They need 3rd party support for gamepass which means 3rd party support for their console. Which means healthy sales. We know they don’t need to match Sony but they need to sell enough to stay in the game. I don’t believe they can operate in the PC space only in a viable way - whilst there is a huge growth potential there and in mobile it’s still reliant on being a player in the console hardware space…at least for now.
Hellblade 2 and Flight Simulator were both next gen wow moments for me (and so were things like raytraced Minecraft, doubled frame rates for some, and added HDR for all BC games). If Gold goes free, that’s going to be another one. But I don’t think that MS plan to immediately impress people, so that they would run out to buy a Series X. If that was their short term goal, they would have a different message, and not “you can keep using your Xbox One or your PC, and when you’re ready to upgrade, hey, we’ll have something for you”. It’s a more gradual, long term thing for them, so if you’re expecting them to hit people with multiple megatons by the end of the year, I’m afraid that you might end up being disappointed.
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Right now the way to do that is converting people who already have a console (and pc and mobile) to get on their sub. Series X isn’t that way, it will be the sub itself and the content in it. There will be way more people playing Halo on Xbox One (and pc) than Xbox Series X. It’s going to take time before people have that many Series X.
There are a bunch of Xbox gamers looking to buy a next gen console in November, and what you don’t want is lots of them buying the PS5. Because If they move out of the ecosystem they likely will drop gamepass. My view is anecdotal but it’s happening, some people will buy a new console no matter what. And that’s where you run the risk of current Xbox gamers and subs moving away.
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This was a WOW HOLY SHIT moment for me, especially because it was so unexpected.
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I agree there hasn’t been demonstrated gameplay that has wowed me into buying an XSX. It has been everything on the periphery that has convinced me to do the upgrade. Be that the backwards compatibility enhancements, expected load times, my current peripherals working, game pass, etc. Things I view positively as a consumer. Hooking my current external drives up to the XSX and having my library instantly available on the new hardware is incredible.
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It’s disappointing how many people are point to things other than games to be mic drop moments. Everything they do should be at service of the games since that’s the core of what we love. They better have a mic drop moment or their next gen system may launch with a thud. It’ll do fine at first but then trail behind because they seem unable to put effort into more than one thing at a time.
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The service (gamepass/live), the pro-consumer mindset and the powerful hardware. These are the reasons why I’m getting a Series X day 1
This, why does everything Xbox have to keep leaking. I’m sure the fable revive would’ve been bigger if it wasn’t leaked for so long.
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This was insane, imagine if they showed this for the first time at the July event…
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I might’ve missed something, but most things that I’ve seen mentioned here are things directly relating to games. And besides, I believe that the notion that it’s only new spectacular exclusives that will make people interested and invested in a platform is an outdated way of thinking, based on what we’ve been witnessing at the tail end of this generation. The very meaning of “platform” is being redefined as well, and it’s evidently becoming more and more hardware agnostic.
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Yes a bunch, not the majority. Majority of console gamers are not going to be getting a Series X at launch. Majority of the gamers will still have an Xbox One. This has always been the case.
Game mic drop moments are very few and far in between…for a launch. At 2013, the mic drop was “here’s how you trade games”…for Switch, it was just its unveiling. For 360 gen, it was really 599. The last time a launch had a real mic drop for a video game was really Mario 64. I mean, Sega was great too, but PS2 mic dropped it with its price.
Do I want that “mic drop” feeling with it being a game? Yes. I just believe that it usually never that, it’s always stuff around video games and not the video games themselves.
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I don’t forsee a “mic drop” in terms of games, I could see it happening on price. They could take Sony’s infamous PS conference moment on the Saturn. After PS5’s price is revealed, Phil or Xbox could tweet $299 or something.
Becoming more hardware agnostic should not require the company to ignore showing off software that highlights the strength of your new hardware. They invested billions in creating an amazing console. However many here are point to services like GamePass or a cheaper underpowered console as mic drop moments. In order to get people to truly invested in your ecosystem, they need to win over mindshare early on with games. I’ve had far too many conversations with console gamers on how they don’t see a reason to get a Series X at launch. If these people fully invest in the PS5, that won’t do Microsoft any favors even if they pick up a Series X or Lockhart down the line. People with multiple systems usually have one “main” console that they put most of their time and money into. Not giving people a reason to pay attention and consider the Series X at launch can hurt them in the end.
I get what you’re saying and don’t necessarily disagree but the $599 US dollars moment didn’t happen until well into the first year of last gen. By the time the 360 launched people had PGR3, Kameo, GRAW, Gears, and Oblivion to drool over and look forward to. And despite MS dropping the ball hard this gen and giving Sony the easy win with things like game trading, we still had Forza 5, Ryse, and Killzone Shadow fall to impress us.
When they first revealed their cross gen intentions and gamers were quick to criticize it, Xbox gamers rightfully pointed to games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Forza Horizon 2 as great examples of supporting both generations and making everyone happy. There’s a reason people are asking for these moments again and it’s because they haven’t done a great job in this area so far.
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I agree that this year hasn’t given us a “next-gen” wow moment. But I was more mentioning mic drops, I categorize them differently. Yes we had great games shown at the start of the generation for 360, so I won’t lie about, I just don’t think they were mic drops. I think that if Forza Motorsport was shown more, that would be the showcase piece. Unfortunately, we don’t have that game currently that will wow us. Also gotta realize that we are getting to the point of diminishing returns and that games take longer to develop so we don’t get those slices that we usually do for the beginning of a generation. 2013, even with Ryse (which still looks good to this day), it didn’t really “wow” people. It was exciting but I do remember that people didn’t get wow and it didn’t really “feel next-gen” until we saw Horizon-Zero Dawn. I feel that it will be the same this coming generation where the wow moment won’t come until later (not as later though).
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I cant see a true mic drop moment. These days leaks take the wind out of them.
What will be more of a wow will be free online at launch and the best looking versions of multiplats for launch.
For instance we still have Cyberpunk 2077 to come out this year. Potentially one of the biggest games of the year graphically at least. If MS has the best looking console version and pushes that advantage, thats already a big move.
As neither Sony or MS look like they’ll have a graphically amazing game at launch. What MS does have is Halo being FTP means a lot of people will have a real FOMO and may want to jump onto the system.
I don’t think these kind of moments will happen as much anymore.
I think Microsoft is trying to push a cross-generation approach which is pro consumer but it’s kind of boring. I feel like Sony is nailing that aspect of the PS5, it’s very clear the PS5 is something big and new. We’re supposed to be getting more Xbox news this month so let’s see what happens.