Me too!!!
Potentially on some Sony show.
Yeah, either at the PlayStation Showcase which is rumored for September or the Ubisoft Forward event that is supposed to happen this summer.
Probably Ubisoft Foward. Avatar games supposed to launch this year so showing it in September would be too close to release. I mean, even Hogwarts Legacy got state of play months in advance.
1 Like
Damn, not one indie game you like? Because there’s some beautiful ones out there. I would also call Ori a indie game, you didn’t like that one? I do agree though that with having so many indie games at your big showcase IS a downer for me too. I remember their previous shows where the smaller games were left for a reel, ID@Xbox and the rest were trailers for bigger first and third party reveals. We had Dying Light 2 debut at their show and for this show it was clearly a very different focus. Of course had the war in Ukraine not happened we for sure would have seen new demos of Stalker 2 and probably Atomic Heart too.
But the big reason for that is because it was a Game Pass show, sure we could say Diablo 4 technically isn’t Game Pass yet, but as soon as the deal closes that sucker is Game Pass. So I personally hope their future shows won’t all be GP only again, unless they lower their pursuit for non Game Pass third party deals, which I hope not, I love getting some bigger third parties showing their games and if it’s great I’ll gladly buy it. But of course there will come a time that XGS can show so much that they might not need third parties as much anymore, this year however was NOT the time to slow down with the bigger third parties though.
We all saw the reaction on Sony’s latest SoP, I thought overall it was just OK but people really liked it because they saw Resident Evil 4 remake and Street Fighter 6. And obviously they will show more third parties in their upcoming shows I bet because MS did not have them. As long as XGS is not firing on all cilinders, I think they do need those bigger games too. Wasn’t it Booty that said with so many games it’s hard to schedule, well we clearly aren’t there yet but I look forward to those times.
4 Likes
I think it is gonna be GP only as Microsoft clearly pivots towards that. They will have eventually enough content to rely on the first party machine and some indies. So we will see less and less third party content. I mean we did not even get Jedi Survivor on Xbox showcase, despite very good relationship between MS and EA and probably it did not happen due to Game Pass.
I am personally just tired of indies - there are so many of them, I want some top notch graphics and cinematics.
It was a very good announcement show - a lot of IPs that people wanted to see. And crazy to think that if it was the previous gen, all those games would be Sony exclusive.
Eventually, but we’re not there yet and it remains to be seen what we’re looking at next year where XGS can really “rule” the big show. I think it’s a mistake to move away from big third parties already, it’s way too early for that.
So let’s say they will do those less and less, then having multiple shows would consist of more indies and their own titles when they are ready? Then I can definitely see that not starting until next year maybe.
Maybe it is a mistake, who knows but clearly Microsoft is moving away from third party deals. I am not even sure what marketing deals do they have these days - most of them belong to Sony.
They have to have multiple shows at this point and they have to introduce smaller shows sooner or later 100% No other option.
But I wonder about one thing. They have had games debut at their show that they didn’t even have a marketing deal with. Elden Ring, Sekiro to name two. Those two were at the show, but it did not seem Xbox really had a deal with them. So it seems they don’t necessarily always have to have a deal with them to just have their games be revealed there.
But if like you say they are moving away from it, I can’t help but wonder what they will try to do when Sony tries getting a big third party as timed exclusive again, since the game won’t come to GP anyway they won’t care?
I just don’t see Sony moneyhatting much more in the future if any - marketing deal is what we can expect at best and that’s it. And if Microsoft won’t be able to get the game on GP in the first place, they won’t lose much from not having a marketing deal at all. At least in MS’ opinion.
Microsoft is trying to grow their ecosystem as fast as possible - marketing deals do not benefit Sony that much these days due to shortage, so by promoting various games they bring people to Xbox too simply because Series S is highly available everywhere.
Yeah, true.
But I gotta say this move is happening kinda fast then. Didn’t we have some pretty big third parties (not on Game Pass) revealed at that show last year? I don’t remember all the games or was it already a bit on the light side with big third parties?
It is increasingly more diffixult for Sony to get big 3rd party exclusives. They are not the market leader this gen in the US or in Japan. Europe they dont have near the lead they did in the past. The competitors have market share that cant be ignored now. Its why we likely wont see these unless its for a title that wouldnt get made otherwise, like a Street Fighter 5 situation.
2 Likes
If you want to count Flintlock as an Indie, then that would be the only one. A few did look cool and interesting but as far as any interest in playing them, there weren’t any others. Indies are great games and I would never argue that. It’s just that they simply don’t hold my interest because the vast majority of them are 8/16 bit retro games which im not into. For example, I played and completed Shovel Knight in 2016 or 2017. In general, it’s probably an easy 9/10 but for me, more like a 6 or a 7. The biggest issue for me is that I have moved past all these games and what they look like. Visually, they rarely if ever appeal to me. Thus far, this generation, the only Indie games I have played and completed were The Ascent and Kena. Both look visually amazing, both play great and have good or better story to keep me intrigued and interested. They’re also two genres I like - twin stick shooters and third person action adventure.
So many Indies including Ori which are amazing games but my issue is that they’re metroidvania and require a lot of backtracking which just loses me interest. For me to play these games, they have to look visually impressive to me (like Ori) but they need to be a game where you just play it straight through. Think Super Castlevania IV on SNES. You just go through area by area until completion with no backtracking.
In general, vast majority of Indies are either 2D retro platformers like a Shovel Knight, Celeste, etc. which im not a fan of visually and if they’re extremely difficult like an old school NES game, I don’t have the patience for that shit. Then, you have metroidvania games, souls like games and rogue like games. All of which I don’t like at all.
Xbox E3 2018 is my most watched Microsoft E3 in the last decade. Such an excellent show. I had like 12 games from that showcase and so many new game reveals and/or gameplay - Dying Light 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Devil May Cry 5, Sekiro, Metro Exodus, Division 2, Just Cause 4, etc. I had so many games from this showcase and of course, you also had the show start with Halo Infinite where it looked amazing and later on, Gears 5. Then, you had Phil talk about the next gen consoles and you had him announce 4 studio acquisitions and the formation of The Initiative. To top it off, at the end with Phil talking and getting ready to say goodbye and have a great E3, the screens all start to flicker and CDPR comes on the screen hacking the event and showing a CGI trailer for Cyberpunk. This was so freaking cool because when has there ever been an “interruption” at the end of a showcase? They usually say, here’s one more thing but to actually be interrupted, very rare if ever. Plus, it was Cyberpunk which was perfect because there’s hacking in the game and thus, CDPR hacked the showcase at the end. It was just so damn amazing and exciting.
I’m all in for Stalker 2. In fact, after watching the documented video on the Extended showcase and seeing what they’ve all gone through, instead of playing the game for a $10 monthly rental on Game Pass like I was going to do, im going to buy the $110 ultimate edition because fuck, they deserve a full fledged purchase and then they showcase a trailer of the intro to where im like, holy shit, they cut a trailer despite going through all that??? GSC deserve a full purchase from me as that have easily earned it. Plus, the game itself does look freaking great. Atomic Heart isn’t for me but it does look really good. Both of these games while “Indies” look way better than the games I usually refer to as Indies.
Diablo IV isn’t Game Pass but it will be. It’s a given once the acquisition goes through. I would like to see Microsoft go after big titles and especially AAA visually impressive games like A Plague Tale Requiem. And I know majority of third party AAA publishers are not going to take a day one Game Pass deal because let’s be honest, they simply don’t need or have to. Until Microsoft’s first party exclusives actually start releasing, im barely getting anything from Game Pass day one. Gears Tactics, Halo Infinite and Requiem are the three games I have played or will be playing via Game Pass.
On a side note, I will be playing TMNT mainly because im bored after dropping Alan Wake and just want to waste time until I replay Outriders next week. I did love TMNT 2: The Arcade Game and Turtles in Time so hopefully, the game is great which it appears that it is. This is the first “indie” game im playing since Shovel Knight in 2016 or 2017. Don’t remember which year. The only other indie games that I have any interest in is Midnight Fight Express and Replaced but those are 50/50 based on what other games release around them. So there are a few and I mean only a few but none of them were from the showcase two weeks ago.
The State of Play for me was a 7.0/10. REmake4 reveal and gameplay reveal for The Callisto Protocol won me over. Rest of the show, meh.
1 Like
Yeah about GSC, I actually would really like to see them become part of XGS. Maybe they can get a great office and studio in the US(if they want), have the freedom in what they want to make and have a huge ass budget too. I understand you very well about buying the game physically, very cool decision too.
Yeah, Microsoft should definitely look into acquiring GSC if they haven’t done so already. They can’t be that expensive and giving them all a huge influx of cash would definitely help out everyone there.
And to clarify, I will be buying Stalker 2 digitally because they’re going to have two paid expansions later on so in this scenario, I go digital.
1 Like
In that case it’s not the end of the world if I’m gonna get my big third party reveals at Sony shows. I always watched these shows with conflicting feelings I guess because who knows which games would end up getting timed exclusive deals and which not. If that stuff is gonna slow down drastically it’s OK. I’m sure there will still be some like some stuff from SE but that’s to be expected I guess. Hopefully not DQ.
I think there will come a time when the 12 month window for presentations could be possible. I’m still not sold on the idea completely. But this was not the year to do it.
We got zero surprises and new announcements from first party. That’s not acceptable when you only have one show a year.
I think they should have gradually built up to the 12 month requirement in two years. And still, so we are never going to get an announcement like the next Halo is 2 years out or something like that? Just doesn’t feel right to me
2 Likes
Pets, house spiders and their webs, Roomba… Termites? Toddlers maybe.
Whats worse, gamers discussing technical aspects of game dev or gamers discussing the business side of the industry?
Both are bad, mostly because people don’t usually understand how either works, you don’t hear people speculate on how open heart surgery is performed and how they should actually be doing, or something a bit more related, you don’t really hear how TV shows or movies should be shot or how some stunts could be done better if they did Y.
7 Likes