I don’t even think all that is bad. Nadella being in charge or atleast being on board is good what I think is lacking is a well-built product. An example is building a Spacecraft rocket that isn’t durable enough for space or reentry. They have the infrastructure, but the platform is becoming faceless as it lacks a coherent definition. The "This is an Xbox " ad while being good only confuses that definition more which is why some are making fun of it.
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My guess on why it seems a bit chaotic is because it probably is. They invested huge amounts of cash in gaming when the industry was on an upwards swing and since then it has drastically cooled off, all while cloud gaming and Game Pass didn’t reach the heights they projected.
I am convinced that they’ve been thinking about the Xbox platform as something far broader than the console for many years and they were planning to walk it more slowly. They probably had to accelerate a few things after taking on such a huge amount of operating costs in such a short amount of time with the ABK opportunity that they clearly didn’t want to pass up.
now?!
Nadella was always in charge. From day 1. He got CEO at Microsoft and Phil Spencer had to argue his business case to him.
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Anyone else think that the release schedule for Indy might be a sneaky and very much intentional move? Xbox Christmas business this year. PlayStation release for a Game Awards nomination next year?
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I think they released it when it was ready, there was no other GamePass deal, and at a good time of year for a nostalgic / more methodical game. PS5 release is probably timed to max sales without tons of marketing.
I would imagine that same logic will apply going forward (tho likely less often a rapid PS5 release but who knows).
TGAs are real hard to predict.
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nah
Indy will already be forgotten at TGA next year
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Interesting… I wonder if we might get another suprise COD drop before the end of the year.
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I really don’t think the TGA’s have as much influence on release dates as people think and as well as Indy has been received I think the chances of it getting a nom next year are very slim
Not only is next year completely stacked, to a bonkers degree but by that point it will be considered old news even with the PS port
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Yeah, I don’t think devs release games to line up with the TGA. If they did then they would have released Indy a week or 2 before launch to make the cutoff. Also, Microsoft is most likely confident that one of Doom, Avowed, or The Outer Worlds 2 gets a goty nomination. So, there’s most likely no need to release Indy for goty buzz for 2025
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That’s the thing the focus as been for so long on Game pass which while being good is not Xbox but a service it offers. There are many games that Game Pass hasn’t had that people want but now the focus on bringing the full Xbox ecosystem to cloud is very interesting however the experience is way too limited.
Personally I don’t see anyone of them getting a goty nomination
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I think there’s a strong chance for Doom to get a nomination. I believe both Doom games had a 85+ metacritic. If the game is better than Eternal, then strong chance to get nominated imo.
I guess locks will be death stranding 2, Monster Hunter, and Ghost of Yotei. I feel there’s no way the pannel leaves off death stranding 2 due to who to hosting show, and I see the same thing with Ghost
That sucks. Thst game had a cool core but just an abysmal netcode at launch killed it.
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I remember for their Go Pro Reveal Trailer.
It really does, and this isn’t even old enough to warrant nuking the servers, considering so much of the core gameplay relies on being able to play with others. I only picked this up in 22, I think, so now I’m wishing I had thrown that into the backlog mix 
Posting this article here as well since it’s not only about the multiplatform direction. In fact there’s new information here on new projects (not games)as well.
Definitely worth a read and I don’t read articles often.
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What kind of new projects. I can’t do a long ass editorial complaining about exclusives.
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Project Rainway. Some sort of “cross-platform Xbox guide” to use across multiple gaming systems, Xbox HQ is inspired by Blizzard’s Battle.net
Among many things Jez speaks about more unannounced and previously PlayStation exclusive games coming to Xbox in 2025 as well. Always good news!
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