the acquisition has been cancelled.
Speaking of lists, this is what 1st half of 2023 might realistically look like for Game Pass, specific to games of the AAA variety
Might be missing something, but itād be absolutely crazy if just 80% of it is a lock already
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Nice
It is actually. Twitter is especially bad for some people who cannot survive there 
Considering Sonyās claims that they do not lose money on Playstation 5 (500$ device), I do wonder why Steam Deck is so expensive despite being almost 2 times less powerful than Series S even (basically 4 times weaker than PS5), yet Valve said they are selling it at loss.
so I was thinking. With how well the series S has been for xbox we know we can expect this 2 console approach going forward. I do wonder if Sony will release its own cheaper weaker console next gen to compete better. I think they will and man the flip flopping from all the sony fanboys who hated Series S will be funny
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smaller tech is more expensive, You would not be able tu put a s in a handheld. I do use twitter a lot but I dont participate in fanbao garbage
It was just a āworst case scenarioā we could have thought 1 week earlier, or the minimum they could have done.
We already knew Redfall, Starfield and FM would be shown since the first 2 were 2022 titles just a few weeks before the show, and FM was the 2022 bet after the delays on the Bethesda games, so these 3 were a given.
We also āknewā Avowed would be there due to the Obsidian comments after E3 2021 and most insiders already saying it was a fact, sadly we got the bad news just 1 day before the conference.
And the question was which surprises would we see, or which other games would be shown other than the 4 obvious ones, Perfect Dark, Hellblade, State of Decay, Fable, inXile, The Coalition, Wolfenstein etc etc were some options but none of these happened.
The months things never really mattered on a E3 at all, not that i remember and iāve been seeing these for around 15-20 years, itās always about what you show and how it looks.
I think none of us would have believed any source who said that FM, Starfield and Redfall would be the only AAA Xbox exclusive games shown on the conference (AFAIK, ARA is not a Xbox game right?)
I think xbox needs to do another fall to show what is comming in the Future. like the E3 of dreams sony did because when god of war comes out and you look at sonys output this whole gen xbox is going to need to get people hyped up and not just with gamepass third party deals
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I donāt think it is a good idea, because it might lead to the split of viewership as some people will want to look at the 12 month lineup, some will want future lineup (especially those who follow gaming more closely)
Thatās actually the part of the problem with Xbox community right now. Unlike monolithic Sony community, Xbox is split between general consumer market and hardcore community - mainly due to the business approach that Microsoft has chosen. It will take some years before both community will merge.
I do wish to see the same amount of hype towards Xbox as Playstation has.
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You are right about that last part. I sure wouldnāt have believed it, solely based on all their previous shows. That is why they really should have communicated about the show covering the next twelve months. Nobody wouldāve had expectations for Avowed because obviously that wasnāt going to release alongside Starfield and Redfall, but they didnāt communicate it at all.
In fact, someone here said that it probably would be a Game Pass show, this person was not taken seriously but look who was right with that. It indeed was. I mean they couldnāt say it for Diablo 4 but as soon as that deal is closedā¦done deal. Klobrille said this too but Xbox definitely needs to show updates in some shape or form of all the other games announced in 2020 or even before that.
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Does Xbox really need it though?
Thatās that weird situation right now - due to shortages, whether Xbox shows games or not, it does not really matter - consoles still sell.
Yeah, you got a point there. I think itās mostly the hardcore crowd, and not even all of that either.
Biggest reason for my disappointment of the show was because it was so light on content further than June 2023, plus it had plenty of games that while Iām sure will be great, are better suited for a stream that isnāt their huge big showcase that takes place once a year.
Weāve been waiting since 2020 or longer for something on these big games by the new studios and āallā we had was Starfield and Redfall. These games were however 100% a given to be showing up because not long ago they were planned for this year to release. And Forza, forgot about that. But Iād say that was a given too.
I think I was expecting things like Compulsionās first Xbox exclusive, especially with that site update but nope. Contraband felt very likely, Avowed. Hell we even had folks seriously expecting Fable.
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I think you are disappointed not on the lack of the content further than June 2023, but because you did not see the games you wanted to see. Letās say Contraband and Avowed were to be shown there and released in spring 2023 - would you still be disappointed?
I think a lot of people disappointed due to not having the games the expected there like Avowed, Project Belfry, Contraband. Starfield and Redfall (but mainly Starfield) delay also kinda soured the showcase.
I think - by and large - it all boils down to people wanting to see something that is visually mindblowing.
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I didnāt think about that and you are right. Look at the e3 show. It was a good show because it had a variety of stuff for lots of people but what I want is more games like Hellblade. Donāt get me wrong redfall and starfield were great but we want to see more of that. Now we are hear info from Jez that avowed wonāt be as graphically intense as a big Sony game and thatās disappointing to me. Every Sony game looks amazing so why canāt all the Xbox games look amazing as well. I was really disappointed with how pentiment looked and as much as Iām going to like grounded I wish it had that AAA look. Why is there always some compromise. Idk but Iām also really happy for Xbox because they had more of a Japanese presence and more games aimed at younger people which is great for them but outside of starfield and redfall a lot of what they showed just wasnāt for me and thatās how I am with them. A lot of things they are doing are great for getting more players but they arnt catering to me which is the hardcore Xbox fan so it is a weird spot to be in. Iām not attacking them either just my observation after reading that post. Totally makes sense. Going to sleep now lol
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Hmmm, maybe. But we all knew these games couldnāt possibly come in spring next year. Just way too crowded. And we heard from insiders about a Contraband delay of sorts. Iām definitely disappointed that Avowed wasnāt there, that is undoubtedly my number one disappointment but overall just future content. Would not have minded at all to see a combat trailer for Hellblade 2 for example, or maybe a behind the scenes thing for Fable.
I really wonder if XGS had some trailers ready for games coming after June 2023, if yes and Xbox decided to not include itā¦i see it as a big mistake. I see nothing wrong with having the majority of your show covering games coming in the next 12 months, and then have a segment near the end before Starfield was shown to show some further away stuff.
We had Nintendo in their latest direct saying they would only cover content coming this year, I believe? And then proceeded to show several 2023 games, lol. Bit odd. But communication goes a long way.
Agreed about wanting to see something visually mind blowing. While I am happy with how Starfield looks, it is somewhat of a mixed bag. Which I expected from BGS. Hellblade 2 new footage could have been the visual showstopper. Ah well.
Its the first 6 months of the year that Xbox needs more shows, not the second
From June on they have āE3ā, Gamescom, Quakecon, TGS and TGAs while in the first half they have basically nothing
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Thatās the thing - due to the madness of the market, Microsoft does not need to cater to hardcore community that much. They need (and want) to grab that general market mindshare and bring those people to the ecosystem.
But Sony has this already - they make the games that are crazy popular among both hardcore community and also attractive to the general market (like God of War). So both communities are happy. Sony also make third party deals like for Forspoken and marketing deals like for that Avatar or Hogwarts games, basically covering both bases.
Microsoft is a mixed bag because they have to deal with Xbox & PC community (imagine when they will start showing mobile games in the future lol), and also Xbox community (and PC for that matter) is split between hardcore and general community. Like that Riot deal is absolutely bonkers, but does nothing for hardcore folks (and Xbox for that matter).
We actually thought that Avowed is close and that Contraband is almost ready and that Project Belfry might be shown there too. Now we know that it is not true anymore.
It does not help that Sony folks - the most vocal community online - will be very hostile towards the game too.
I think Microsoft will have another show this year 100%. Anecdotally I suspect it is gonna be in autumn lol. 12 month format will prevent them from making show in spring (because it will overlap with 12 month E3 show).
I think it just comes with the territory when youāre trying to build a product for such a diverse range of gamers.
A lot of the communities within the Xbox ecosystem donāt have overlap with each other hence the wide array of opinions when it comes to an Xbox show.
Sony has done the opposite over the last 10 years and cultivated a certain expectation of what their games will be which helps create an extremely passionate fanbase because thereās comfort in knowing your needs/wants are catered to you.
While itās been extremely successful for them, itās also becoming increasingly clear that thereās a certain ceiling in terms of how many gamers you can reach with the āAAA third person formulaā which is why theyāve been heavily investing in live service games and bringing their games to PC.
Phil and the Xbox team are ahead of the curve when it comes to that but itās also part of the reason why you see the lack of āunityā or āpassionā when it comes to Xbox.
Thatāll come with time as Xbox comes into their own. 2023 will be proof of that.
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Well, the problem with Avowed is that ever since 2020 the only info weāve had was leaks from Jez and some stuff by Sponger which really remains to be seen how accurate it is in the end. Not a peep from the studio itself. After the debut trailer some info on what their vision was, scope would have been great but it didnāt happen.
I donāt think Jez specifically said it wonāt have amazing graphics, but it does seem very strange that he seems to think the scope will be more similar to ToW than Skyrim. Visually you can bet it will be loads better than ToW, but just not on the levels of Hellblade or Sony exclusives. Personally I donāt expect that from Obsidian either, I would love it though.
Pentiment, yeah. When we got some info from Jez I thought it was going to be like Diablo or Disco Elysium in terms of camera style. I knew it was something smaller, but I really had not imaged it would look like this. I just donāt dig the style at all. Can still be a great game, will absolutely play it. Same with As dusk Falls, foolish me read it was by people that made Detroit, but I didnāt realize they are in a new studio now, smaller studio. I guess I assumed way too much it would be visually impressive like Detroit or something like Life is Strange.
At the end of the day I think both sides are right. Those that are fine with everything and those that want to see that visual stunner (especially so after all that bragging about powerful hardware, same as with One X) during their big showcase. Starfield in a way was that, but I get what youāre saying. Iād love for all of Xbox exclusives to look insane. And I kinda want to say that InXileās new game could be that, but who knows, it still has to be announced officially. Or Perfect Dark.
Weāve had this talk in the studio thread too, but all in all it would be nice if XGS could start communicating a little about these projects. Anything, artwork. Some details on what they are going for. They donāt even need to give crazy details, which would risk disappointing fans if they donāt end up in the game, just a general idea really.
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