Despite my belief that gaming subscriptions are not the way to go for this industry, I've decided to get Game Pass again for the sum total of 79 pund for 13 months. Which is ridiculous. Especially as MS get 0 pund from me as its all cheap codes for Core and then topped up to ultimate with reward points 🤷♂️
I suspect they will be putting their prices up this year again so I just had to take this insane deal (which is the equivalent to buying one Xbox game called: The Outer Worlds 2 🤷♂️) for the sheer hell of it. I just can't resist a deal if it's this stupid just for the sake of spiting them haha but as long as they are happy to conduct business this way and give away their games for next to nothing, why not, I guess. All my main games should still be on the PS5 Pro, with this as a bonus catalogue for when I can't decide what I want to play and to try games on release I'm not sure I'd buy outright otherwise.
Playing Oblivion got more appealing too, as buying a technical mess would have been a bit annoying, but having it available any time on there, why not try it out 🙃
Games I'm installing:
Bg1&2 enhanced.
Clair Obscur (I might just check it out and get it on PS and play in the winter some time before the game awards)
ESIV Oblivion
F1 24 (played some of 23 last year on Game Pass. Good summertime low commitment game)
Any Indies or anything else I should be checking out/adding to my list? I'm not in any rush to commit to anything, but having some games installed for if the mood takes me is how im treating it.
@LtSarge I know 😅 I've been holding off the FOMO for a while. In my mind if I start it I'll end up going on holiday and just not gaming over the summer much for a while and then I'll ruin it for myself by splitting it up with a break in the middle 🙈
I like to play the very best games at the start of the year or over autumn. With more casual mixed gaming the rest of the year.
I also like knowing I've got a real better of a game saved, and Clair is hopefully it, with my penchant for RPGs I'm assuming I'll at least like it a lot.
I'll let you know if I try it out and accidentally get hooked though 😁
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
So... the next Xbox? I still don't get what market they are aiming for
People who use other store fronts are already on PC. People who mainly care about console gaming are already on PlayStation (😛) People with handhelds already have handheld pcs or Switches.
Are Xbox going to try and eat in to every single market with the same fervor that they ate in to Sony's market share? 🙃 Or are they just making it so its an alternative to all those other things, but if you buy every single MSXB product you can change up how you play the same game and save by "switching" (marketing will need a new buzzword) devices at any time (which seems like an incredibly niche and expensive idea)
I'm still interested to see if they do a more PClike console, but mostly so it pushes PS to make their own insnane pro console option and Valve to make Steam OS the real destination for ConsoleLike PC's instead of Xbox's PClike console
So Perfect Dark getting shelved and The Initiative being shuttered just acts as confirmation for me that the supposed ‘gameplay’ shown at last years Xbox summer show was absolute 🐮💩! I remember being really confused at the time, as all the insider skuttlebutt prior to that show was that (even after Crystal Dynamics were brought onboard) PD was in a development quagmire with little to no actual progress having been made. Then the trailer was unveiled and it looked bloody awesome tbh. I smelled a fish straight away and couldn’t help but conclude that they’d just produced a CGI vid to look like what they envisioned the gameplay would eventually look like but were actually nowhere near. While many will no doubt disagree, to me at least… this news just confirms my initial reaction.
@graymamba The Truth about Xbox show cases, they are all flash but no real subsidence or tech demos like you said. Still fuming about PD getting cancelled!
Yeah me too, as while I feel that trailer was all smoke-and-mirrors… what they were aiming for looks to have been something right up my street. Gutted! 🤬
I was looking forward to PD if only to see what a AAAA game was like, seriously though I remember people talking about this studio like it was the second coming but they seemed to have produced little of substance over the years despite having some industry veterans onboard, although the studio head count wasn’t even close to three figures (according to wiki).
Fingers crossed the people affected land on their feet. Sad to see the state of things....Phil Shirley has to go.
Bankrolling gamepass is obviously expensive. Putting all first party games on there day one and signing expensive deals for third party games I don't think works. Good for the consumer but doesn't make much business sense.
Some say Microsoft have almost a bottomless pit of money, but there are still a business and cuts like this will happen if one part of it has been floundering for years.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
Getting laid off is one thing — and it sucks for those affected, of course — but it must hurt almost as much knowing the project you’ve been working on every day for the past X number of years is never going to see the light of day. Hopefully those affected can get back on their feet pretty soon.
Gamepass definitely seems to be costing Xbox a lot of money because putting all those games day one on the service can’t be cheap and it’s quite clear that a huge reason they’ve gone multiplatform is to recuperate for the lost sales they aren’t getting with Gamepass.
Certainly from my perspective it seemed like things were on the up for Xbox with this transition to becoming a multiplatform entity and getting the monopoly on the industry they so desperately wanted but obviously things aren’t as hunky-dory as they seem.
I’m no corporate expert and I don’t even have any formal business degree… but I don’t think it makes sense to buy studios and production companies and then turn around and close them down or layoff all their staff and shut down the projects they have been working on for years, which projects you presumably really wanted and were willing to spend billions on.
And not to pick on Microsoft only, many of the big corporate entities have been doing versions of this — Sony not excluded (buying Bungie and then laying off people, buying Firewalk and then shutting it down, etc). I know that Tencent and Embracer group have done this too, gobbling up studios and then shutting them down or canceling projects.
Obviously there are market trends that are unpredictable and so I understand mistakes can be made when trying to predict future success, such as the bottom falling out of the live service push with Sony, or the over-reliance of the subscription service model with Microsoft, but aren’t these corporate heads the best in the business at knowing how to strategically plan and account for the market? Isn’t that why they make the big bucks? How come they all seem so incompetent? All of us make mistakes at our jobs, so I wouldn’t expect perfect clarity all the time on what they do, even if the c-suite make more money in one year than most of us will earn in a lifetime… but this is a trend that seems quite out of line with the normal variance of business.
As part of our compliance program for the UK Online Safety Act, adult Xbox accounts must verify their age to keep full access to social features like chat and invites. Starting early 2026, these features will be limited until you verify, though you'll still be able to access your account, purchases, games, and achievements. Select below to learn more.
Genuinely struggling to work this one out. Does this mean children can no longer play games with their friends? Or because they don't have an adult account they don't have to verify, but then, why do adults need to verify, what is it actually changing for anyone, other than being a f***ing pain in the arse for anyone over 18? haha
@JohnnyShoulder I genuinely don't get this one, how is it keeping kids safe 😅 I thought the bill was to stop teens watching naughty videos online, and all of a sudden adults can't use their consoles online without giving up their personal data? Did I miss something 😂
@graymamba
I don’t read or watch Gamespot anymore, I used to when they had decent content. Used to watch that weekly show with Lucy and the other British person, can’t remember his name but he is a big Souls fan.
Anyhoo Lucy especially was constantly going on about how good Gamepass as most the the media was, it used to be quite tiring.
However as I have said in the past competition is good so the demise of Xbox isn’t good for us gamers but the writing was on the wall with the ABK acquisition, I’m surprised the media didn’t see that coming especially people in the financial sector like that well known plum but then he gets everything wrong.
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