If you don’t have an us vs them mentality, Xbox games are getting the exact same thing they were going to get before.
Would you have chosen a different console 4 years ago if you knew things were going to be like this? Maybe, but that is done. Enjoy what we are here for, the games (which aren’t negatively impacted by this at worst case and benefit from it at best case), and make your decision on next gen when it happens.
As of now, Xbox is still not multi platform enough that someone rhat likes Xbox games could confidently get those games on a Playstation.
This is the crux of it. If you’re fine waiting for Xbox games to hit PS, then the choice is pretty simple, even if you prefer the Xbox ecosystem, controller, etc.
Personally, I want to play the likes of Gears, Fable, Starfield, Halo, Forza Horizon, day one, so it’s Xbox or PC all the way.
Indeed. As someone who skipped the PS4, but has a laptop capable of running games at an Xbox One X level, I picked up GoW 2018, FF7R, and Spider-Man 1 earlier this year. GoW & FF7 aside, none of PS’s current/upcoming console-exclusive games are day-one buys for me, so I’m quite happy to wait till they hit PC. Just need to invest in a better one!
Microsoft is great at marketing tbh. How do you market the fact that you’ve checked out of the console space and trying to strictly publish games? Exactly the way they are going about it.
They should have really waited until next gen to do this. Preferably when they had Steam/Epic stores running on Xbox. The backlash would have been greatly reduced by it, they might have even been able to go all in right off the bat like Satya no doubt wanted to.
No matter how people attempt to sugar coat it or berate xbox fans for daring to not be on board with this, MS chose the absolute worst time to put all of this in motion and they have done a horrible job communicating it to xbox owners. At a time where games are either delayed or skipping xbox completely , A PS5 Pro model is alleged to be on the horizon. I would imagine that is where you begin to see their upcoming slate of games that may include licensed Marvel games like Wolverine and eventually X-men which will be PS and PC only and likely never xbox. So not only will they have those games but likely Xbox games running better.
Then to top it all off you get a “one more thing” type announcement to tell people that Indy is going to PS5 in a few months time. Also of note ; holy shit at that huge shit eating Grin on Keighly’s grill after that announcement. All he needed was green hair and face paint for the full Joker look. I couldn’t help but Chuckle at that. But yeah none of that is a good look, again with the optics. Gives the impression that xbox owners are getting the short end of the stick.
Steam running on Xbox makes all of this a non issue. Even if games skip the platform it doesn’t matter unless you’re obsessed with achievements or whatever , you get Playstation games etc.
Personally I feel like this is yet another thing where Microsoft is too eager and too soon and ends up falling flat on their face (I have no reason not to believe this because look at their track record. ) the other’s then do it years later after the fact but then the damage is already done.
I won’t berate or talk down to anyone who decides not to believe anything that Spencer has to say at this point or isn’t on board with this so called “new direction”. As with anything vote with your wallet. I am not throwing my X in the garbage but I will be weighing my options for next gen. I have been with xbox since the original , but for the first time in a very long time PC is looking mighty attractive to me.
Yep if PC stores are on option on the next gen console and it arrives in 2026, then given the slate of games we’ve got for next year we’re pretty well covered - and that new console will be a major innovation.
I’d probably catch up on the PS games I’ve missed on it via Steam, while still enjoying my Game Pass games.
Place your bets now on whatever the feck it’ll be called though lol - Xbox aren’t predictable with their naming!
As for Keighley, yeah that guy can’t contain his obvious preference for PS - his stony-faced announcement of Genshin for Xbox and his obvious delight at the Indy reveal it. It’s kind of a kicker given how much Xbox give him for his shows compared to Sony - he gets the odd Kojima bit or little game from them and devours it like he’s starving…
Fully agree with this. That “One more thing” part made no sense like they could at least announce that early 2025. That was not the stage to do that and if it’s just a 4 month delay. Then why not just release day and date on Xbox, PC, and Playstation? I don’t think a 4 month timed exclusive does much especially when gamepass is the service, so it wouldn’t matter much
Also, on that last part I fully agree. I feel it’s crazy that people can’t disagree about direction without getting talked down to. I feel this is all too soon and timing isn’t perfect due to sentiment about Xbox brand has been down, and it got much worse with this chaotic strategy. I think they should’ve eased people into this near end of the gen. I think this is all a big risk becuase this will result in people losing confidence and buying a PS6 instead of the next xbox. I’ve been a xbox fan since day 1 and own over 1000 games, and even I am okay with potentially getting a PS6 and fine with waiting 3-12 months for Microsoft owned games. Gamepass is nice, but I am okay with waiting for certain games to go on sale or skipping them. THere are certain xbox games i will buy day 1, but I am fine with waiting
I definitely agree about the timing. Xbox changed their whole strategy just months before their biggest slate of games ever. They could just wait a couple of years and see how things would turn out to be by then.
Same honestly with the switching to PlayStation. Honestly it feels like gamepass is the only selling point for Xbox right now and everyone kind of has to decide if its worth it to them. I personally cancelled mine pretty recently with the price increase and because I just haven’t been playing anything on there recently.
Also another thing that bothers me is that discord leak about 3rd parties making Xbox consoles. Ik a lot of people are hoping it’s basically a PC that can play your Xbox library but also has access to steam and all that but I just don’t see it. It would be so damn expensive. What I personally think it is, is Xbox way out of the console business and it’s just a cheap product for people to pick up down the line say your Xbox dies you can pick this thing up and have access to your library and not be shit out of luck. Maybe play new games and gamepass through xcloud or something.
I think their plan is to keep growing and buying publishers and devs and the console is getting in the way of that
I do wonder if the timed exclusive announcement was another experiment to see if a known timed exclusivity window actually matters in the world of Game Pass.
In the next 6 months or so, Microsoft will have a few data points to analyze. They have big titles in COD and Doom releasing day-and-date into the service and on all platforms. They will also have Indy releasing day-and-date into the service as a timed exclusive. They will be able to use both to determine if:
Does exclusivity matter?
Does timed exclusivity move the needle?
If Xbox consoles sell like crazy this holiday and Game Pass numbers soar, as a result of COD and a similar pattern occurs for Doom, it would essentially tell Microsoft that exclusivity doesn’t really matter.
80m consoles doesn’t mean anything without players actually being engaged on them, so if their player numbers on Xbox are higher now than ever that means that Series/XB1 have more engagement than 80m+ 360 users
It’s why hardware numbers alone doesn’t mean as much as people think they do, MS would rather sell hardware to 30m people that play games than double that that dont
I’m too old now to be actively ‘concerned’ about the direction a video game company is headed but does anyone seriously think this won’t impact Xbox going forward?
I’ll spell it out as plainly as possible, i.e. forget the here & now, what about next-gen? If Xbox starts releasing its big titles on PlayStation, then the next Xbox hardware can suffer to the point third party publishers skip the platform entirely.
That’s always overlooked in these types of conversations when people attempt to say “Xbox players aren’t losing anything”. But they are, i.e. they’re losing numbers of Xbox console owners, aka numbers which ensure we get Resident Evil, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Hogwarts, The Witcher, Dying Light etc. etc.
I mean Xbox isn’t just about Gamepass or MS first party, it’s about the entire library. And that library depends largely on third party publishers actively releasing titles on the system. It’s not rocket science to see collapsing console sales & potentially cratering next gen hardware will serious impact people with a huge digital library on Xbox. Why? Because we won’t get what we once had because companies no longer see the point when they’re not making money on Xbox anymore.
And it’s happening right now, i.e. judging by the sales (or lack thereof) of many games on the system