Bethesda Says 'Some' Future Games Won't Launch on PS5, PS4

I would imagine anything past a certain point in development will still show up on PS5 as they may as well cash in on it while its already there. After that i imagine releases will be scant.

I imagine things in established franchises like Elder Scrolls VI and Wolfenstein III will still show up on PlayStation but I can totally see them positioning stuff like Starfield and Indiana Jones as just new IPs for Xbox and treat them like they're first party

I imagine what's happening right now is transitional period for Bethesda since they still have some exclusive PS5 stuff to release, but after TESVI comes out I think they would've fully transitioned to just making Xbox/PC games

I’d love to see Bethesda games on PS5 in the same way I’d love to see Insomniac games on Xbox. It isn’t that simple.

@get2sammyb using some doesn't sound like the majority, he started with that old line of Xbox being the best (not only) place to play their games and they will be run as a seperate business at Microsoft. I would still expect new Doom, Wolfenstein and Fallout games on Playstation but wouldn't put money on Starfield

Could take that as we have some new projects in development/planning and these will be exclusive but until then already announced games will go on ps as good will.

@nessisonett bit different as Insomniacs games are usually owned by the platform holder even when they were independent

The thing is, because they are releasing the games on pc as well, they don't actually need to release them on other platforms. The pc audience is huge.

Also, with the games coming out on Game Pass, there would be no point buying them on PlayStation. I think the only Bethesda stuff we see on ps5 is multiplayer orientated games.

GhostWire , Deathloop , ESO updates and Indiana Jones I’d expect to come to PS and at a push Starfield if it nearly complete..

Personally I’ll miss Wolfenstein games but hardly end world plenty other games.

This could have been the big announcement that ES, Fallout etc are now Xbox exclusive, but it wasn’t.

So he says nothing, which means to me the biggest games will still be sold on PlayStation (not a surprise, you don’t buy a company for 7.5bill only to hobble them horribly).

I guarantee Gamepass will get timed exclusivity and these games will never be given away on any other subscription service though.

Xbox will be the best place to play because they will be best optimised for Xbox, xbox will get everything earlier, and cheap as chips on Gamepass.

It’s a win either way, by releasing ‘some’ on PlayStation, Microsoft will be raking in money from every avenue. Smart.

Honestly, I'm just happy that they're releasing games on PS5 anyways, and there's always Xbox Game Pass Cloud Gaming if you really want to play Xbox Exclusive Bethesda games without buying an Xbox Series X or S.

I'm just happy that Microsoft is finally uping their game with the Xbox Series X|S and this buyout of Bethesda.

@B-I-G-DEVIL I'd also miss Wolfenstein and Doom if they decide to keep 'em away from PlayStation

But maybe if that happens, Sony decides they need a shooter of their own again. That would make me miss them less

Not like we're short of games to play, so doesn't bother me particularly. There are plenty of platform exclusive games for the PlayStation too, so it cuts both ways for people who worry about such things.

@Fenbops Yeah even when Deathloop and GhostWire drop on PlayStation the money is still technically going to Microsoft now

It would actually be such a power play if they put TES VI on PS5 but it was still under Xbox Game Studios or something lol

@nessisonett A bunch of ppl crapped on Sunset Overdrive, but I thought it was an amazing game with plenty of potential.

@TheFrenchiestFry if they do, I'm pretty sure it will have a Xbox Game Studios on it, just like MLB The Show has a PlayStation Studios logo on Xbox now.

Dishonored .evil within.and prey is what i will probably miss the most.if they'res a new one.you never know it still could come to PlayStation.sony taking theyre. Sweet time 🤔 to aquire. Bluepoint and make other deals.that i know will definitely happened soon.word up son

I think the likely translation is, "Everything not currently nearing the end of production." They didn't drop that cash just to see heavy hitters like Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Doom sell big on PS5.
Unlike most, it seems, I really enjoyed Fallout 4, but I won't pick up an XB to play the next. Although Sony needs to start picking up some RPG devs before Microsoft snatches them all.

Sony know this is a big deal, and competition tends to lead them to be their most creative to reassert their dominance. I am sure they will have something up their sleeves.

At least we have confirmation some Bethesda games are coming - id expect Scrolls, Fallout, Doom and maybe Starfield (although could easily see that one going exclusive in honesty) - with everything else, paticularly new IP, going forward being exclusive to Xbox

Something tells me that when Deathloop hits, the sting of this acquisition will be fully felt by us playstation gamers, as that game looks 🔥🔥🔥🔥

I still think that we won't know exactly which games will be 'exclusive' to MS and which will be released on PS5 (and/or any other 'non-MS' platform) until its necessary to announce the platforms.

I do expect 'some' games to release on PlayStation but I don't know that big existing franchises, like Wolfenstein, Doom, Elder Scrolls etc will ALL release on Sony's platform. If Wolfenstein is the 'last' of a trilogy that started with the New Order and New Colossus, then that makes sense to release on Playstation, but maybe if they start a 'new' story, then maybe that won't release on other Platforms.

ESvi could release on PS5 too (if it releases during this gen) as I expect Elder Scrolls Online to be fully supported and updated, just the same as on Xbox. They may not want to upset the PS5 ESO players.

Its clear though that unless there is a deal in place (like Deathloop, Ghostwire), the lead platform is going to be Xbox and then, if they are releasing to Playstation, ported across. Any bonuses, like early access/timed exclusivity etc will be on Xbox as well as all games being on Game Pass on day 1 too.

Anyway, I still don't expect to hear about every game currently in development and official statements on which platforms they are releasing on. I can see us having to wait for clarification on a game by game basis.

Personally it's not a big deal, the only games from Bethesda that I'm glad I played were fallout 3 and dishonoured 1 and 2. I think these were made just before Bethesda became all about the business. Now I see them as no different from EA or Activision. With the shake up of Japan studios and other game studios in general playing safe, I feel like games are just going to become more derivative of whatever is popular and making big money at the time and even under Microsoft, I can't see Bethesda being any different when it comes to the content they'll release.

@get2sammyb I just see Xbox as trying to push Gamepass as much as possible so even having these games on PS5 still creates a selling point. Do you want to pay £70 for each of these or a small subscription for all of them plus the other Bethesda games and whatever else is on there?

We'll see

@Voltan True I would love another Resistance game personally and I hope Guerrilla Games second project is a shooter.

That’s why I’d miss wolfenstein , I want a good linear shooter games.

I think it's still best to assume that the next Elder Scrolls and Starfield aren't coming to playstation.

It's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that they will, but because we all want that to happen it's easy to talk ourselves into the idea that it makes good business sense for Microsoft. But the truth of the matter is they didn't buy Bethesda just to make money selling Bethesda games. They bought Bethesda because they want to sell Xboxes and subscription services.

With the PS5 already taking a sales lead it's going to be awfully tempting for Microsoft to put some massive exclusives down on the Xbox side.

@TheFrenchiestFry it could happen. Still years off though 😒

As long as we still get DOOM I'm happy, they can keep the rest for me

I'll miss the next doom on ps5, but that's it, I play elder scrolls titles on pc so I don't have problem if it's not available on ps5.

@Rob_230 "Sony know this is a big deal, and competition tends to lead them to be their most creative to reassert their dominance. I am sure they will have something up their sleeves"

Yup I fully expect them to clap back hard by closing another of their studios, that will teach Microsoft who's their daddy and mommy 😤

Couldn't care less. Playstation has way more than enough games and as the console leader, I can't see developers and publishers leaning exclusivity to Microsoft

@Kopite yeah agreed. Played DooM since 1993 but I wouldn't just buy a console or PC just to play DooM, no matter how good it is.

@Salt_AU Yes, they're expecting people who would buy a Playstation to buy an Xbox instead. Is that so surprising? That's why Sony buys studios.

There's a big difference from pulling games already released and available on platforms, with legal agreements that were signed between various platform holders, and pissing off a bunch of fans, and telling people that the new games you are now funding are only going to be available on the platforms that make you money.

Again, I'm not saying it's impossible - Minecraft is one hope, but people are just going to get hurt if they convince themselves that Microsoft wants to help Sony sell consoles. Microsoft has a crazy bank, and buying Bethesda was a power move to help their long term strategic goals - selling subscriptions and selling Xboxes. They will do whatever they think helps them get to those goals, and I imagine telling people 'DOOM is only available on our stuff in the future' is a good way of doing that.

@Salt_AU it’s not as simple as PlayStation vs Xbox anymore. Yes PlayStation have a bigger console base but Xbox have gamepass/games on console, pc, streaming and whatever else they choose to release on in the future. You can’t just compare console v console anymore, MS are using a different strategy.

This sounds like the careful legalese double speak response I'd expect from "Gamer" Phil....its carefully worded to cover existing marketing exclusives,stuff like ESO etc. But over the short to medium as those deals or games finish up we'll see more games go exclusive.
For all the champagne corks from the XB fan Boys though they might need to be careful what they wish for. Gamepass/Xbox studios games are built around live service...who's to say they won't release Elder Scrolls VI/Stanfield as smaller games with content drops over the next year or so after?

How do I get to the other Bethesda article, the one about the upcoming broadcast? Every time I click I end up on this one instead.

This link doesn't work https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/03/bethesda_broadcast_could_potentially_lay_out_publishers_plans_this_week

@Milktastrophe These are the plans that article was discussing, so it redirects to here with the latest news. It's highly unlikely there will be an actual livestream at this point.

@TheFrenchiestFry I think Starfield is more likely to be one of the few games that does come out on PlayStation, since it's been in development as a multiplatform game for years now.

Hopefully ‘some’ does not refer to Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

@Fenbops They really do not need money from PlayStation. As a Company MSFT in FY20, Q4 (3 months) had revenue of $38 billion and Net income of $11 billion. They could buy a Bethesda size company every 3 months and still have over $3 billion in net income.

Sad news for us PS fans but it could be worse. If it was Naughty Dog I would be sad, but this is Bethesda...they have good games but Fallout and Skyrim are so overrated it actually hurts me when people talk so highly about them!

I don't mind that they are doing some exclusive games. I enjoy owning multiple platforms, and this is an incentive to pick up a Series S/X later in the consoles' life cycle.

@Daveuppercut If you haven't already, it's worth playing Prey. Bloody brilliant, unless you have an aversion to sci-fi.

@PossibLeigh I played the demo and it was weird in a pretty cool way but ultimately I don't think I enjoyed it a lot.
But I might've gone in with wrong expectations, remembering the original Prey

Maybe this is just the optimistic side of me, but I truly don't think that Microsoft will miss the opportunity to cash in on this via Playstation only owners. Especially with established titles like Elder Scrolls and Fallout. It would effectively cut their sales of that product by more than 1/3. Perhaps they charge 69.99 and make a little extra there. Probably will never see them go on sale in the PS store. But for me, it would be a poor marketing decision to keep PS only owners out. Games is where the money is - not consoles.

That being said, I fully expect all Bethesda new IPs to be Xbox only.

My guess (and hopes) is the established franchises that have shown up and made a living for years on PlayStation will continue to be available on PlayStation moving forward. New IP’s will likely be Xbox exclusive. For instance, I could see Indiana Jones (sadly) being an Xbox console exclusive in hopes that Indy could make an impact similar to what KOTOR did for Xbox back in 2003.

They'll release them 12 months after Xbox at the increased price point that arrived with the PS5 so Microsoft will win both ways as they will sell Xboxes to the impatient and make money eventually from those who will just never buy Xbox for whatever reason (hate, budget, dislike of Phil Spencer, etc).

Here is the reality.... most users out there only care if already established multi-platform franchises like Doom, Fallout, and Elder Scroll will still come to PS (and Switch), that's all. And for the wording in that statement, that might be the case.

Honestly, most users do not care much about any upcoming-unproven future new IPs from them not coming to PS.

I think they could have made that clearer in that statement, but sadly that wasn't the case. Can't do that! lets make everyone guess which games will come and which ones won't...

@get2sammyb if every game was turning exclusive they wouldn't say "some future games". Also why not announce it? It's better for marketing to know all games will be exclusive. They won't.

Hey Sony could also say 'some' Bethesda games will be exclusive to PlayStation 'in the future' .
Wait they already said that 😃

Only really looking forward to the next elder scrolls. Hoping that’s one we can play. But I won’t buy a Xbox for their games.

@Fenbops you can compare revenue and PlayStation trounces XB in that category. 5b to 3b essentially last quarter. Don't get it twisted, PlayStation is top dog of the two. By a lot.

I'm not too worried about it. I have a feeling that most of these will come to Playstation a year or two after Xbox. There will be too big of a market for Microsoft to ignore.

I mean look at Sony bringing exclusives to PC. Greed always wins out over long term strategy.

As someone that usually owns all three systems by the end of the Gen I couldn't care less.

Along as elder scrolls and fallout come to playstation then that's all that matters to me, won't need to buy an S/X and the rest of their games aren't system seller

@Spyroescape It's a massively underrated game in my opinion.

I can see Microsoft try to get Game Pass up and running on PS5 and Bethesda games only being available that way. Maybe via a web based app as they're trying to do with Apple.

@iamtylerdurden1 right now yes but they’re playing the long game. They’ll catch up eventually and this will only help.

Is there a chance they will stop old games being available to PS store? So all my Wolfenstein and Doom games would no longer be accessible if it was a digital copy? Would they technically be allowed to do that?

At the start of the PS4/XBone era, MS shot themselves in the foot on so many occasions that all that Sony had to do was show a console, release the price and explain that they weren't going to do the DRM things. The rest is history.

As the new era dawns, we have MS wanting to make up ground on Sony by purchasing BIG studios and Sony are responding by....doing nothing? Sure the PS4 user base truly dwarfs the XB one so I get the impression that Sony has become a bit complacent assuming all PS4 owners will buy a PS5.

As with any of these situations, it depends on consoles purchased. Chances are that the PS owners will eventually migrate from 4 to 5, where XB owners will migrate from XBone to Series X/S.
If the Sony console sells much more in the next year or two, then MS might have to shift their position. This gen so far seems a bit PS3/X360 though - will be interesting to see when both consoles are available for sale in plentiful numbers...

@StonyKL Doubt it - revenue for no effort?

They dont make 1 game I'm interested in so whatever.

People saying about you don't spend $7.5 billion to put their games on playstation, so basically they spent $7.5 billion to put 2-3 really good games on gamepass?

So the many millions of people on nintendo and Sony who buy Bethesda games, most of those people who will still not get an xbox or get gamepass will not be contributing any money at all towards Bethesda?

I'm sure as a business Microsoft know that keeping the big "3" Bethesda games exclusive will make them miss out on around over $1 billion of sales lol why do you think they never made Minecraft exclusive....

i think most games already announced will also be on the ps5 , i could see them releasing them on a delayed release date with xbox getting them day one. but they would make more money also releasing them on ps5.

If you are an Xbox gamer then ya pretty much have nothing to worry about basically.

@Salt_AU lol yep. Buy all the consoles. I got them all, so it doesn’t matter to me. 🤣

With the push to make Gamepass available on everything, surely you just buy a month or two of Gamepass when the exclusives warrant it, play them on your laptop, or the inevitable TV stick, and then just let your membership end until the next worthwhile game comes out?

A couple of games played over a couple of months for the fraction of the cost of buying those games outright.

If this were happening a generation or two ago, when you would HAVE to buy an Xbox console to play Xbox exclusives, I could imagine people being annoyed, but MS appear to be making it very easy to play their games for next to nothing.

I think most blockbuster titles of established franchises will come to ps5 after a period of exclusivity. However i wouldnt mind getting a series S for some xbox exclusives if they are good enough, plenty of sony ips to enjoy for now

I mean, the Internet is funny. People just understand what they want to understand.
'Including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players'
Sounds straightforward 🤷‍♂️
No it doesn't mean all haha

@PossibLeigh
I did play prey, but I just couldn't get into it, probably played 2/3 of it. I think it was the enemy design that put me off, they just seemed a bit bland in both combat and appearance, I couldn't even describe them. I'm not saying it's a bad game, it just didn't seem to grab me.

I'd be shocked if we see Elder Scrolls and Starfield in the next 3 to 5 years anyway by which time either an Xbox + game-pass will be cheap OR Sony will have sold so many consoles it would be commercially stupid to not release on them. Although if Halo Infinite is any good I'll buckle and buy one anyhow.

Is slightly irritating how some Xbox commentators [such as Ryan McCaffery] are gloating and trying to reignite fanboy flame wars. He forgets a killer app is only a killer app when it actually exists!

I have never agreed with exclusivity. Games should be available on all large platforms. This is the sort of thing that would make me less likely to ever buy an Xbox. Gamers never come first; always £$£$.

@StonyKL no

no big loss here except for The Evil Within... those games were great and if they make a 3rd I will be dissappointed if i can't get it for PS5.
Also, Hellblade 2 for Xbox only I'll miss as the first was very very good imo.

Didn't Phil say a while back that he didn't like the idea of console exclusivity or something along those lines??? and now here he is doing just that?...interesting.

These things have a way of backfiring on Microsoft...

By the time Xbox gets a real exclusive, PS5 will be too far ahead.

Bethesda will have to give away all their games on GamePass for zero profit.

Then they'll be forced to sell on other platforms just to recoup development cost.

In the end, Elder Scrolls will be free on GamePass and $70 on Sony. Small win only.

@XurAgentofthe9 So Uncharted should be on Xbox???

of course this is why theres exclusives. and i get the 3 consoles i do enjoy gears of war , uncharted , and mario etc not gona get them all on one console anytime soon.

@deathaxe £150 for a 2tb ssd well done 👍

I really like the Wolfenstein games, If they are box exclusive then it just is what it is. I am not going to play them on my PC or loose any sleep over it! I feel its Bethesda that is the looser here.

@Grimwood eh you no played morrowind???? best ever elder scrolls 🤔 or am i showing my age 😂

@HotGoomba Underrated comment and a great idea. Have the PS as a main alongside a suitable system for streaming from X cloud. Heck we've all been using windows on PC for years.

@Marquez Bethesda have their own fans. For me HZD and Dreams are way ahead than any of Bethesda's output. But to my gaming mate he loves Skyrim and Fallout, so this is a big big loss for PS gamers. He will switch in a heartbeat.

Starfield is probably far enough along that it will be on PS5 too. I think after that, it's just going to be stuff like Elder Scrolls online, Fallout 76 etc.

Timed exclusives were cool to brag to my friends about back when I was 15 years old so I could reiterate why my PS3 was better than their Xbox 360...but “adult me” just sees exclusivity in the form of money (you’ll have to grab another console to play this) or time (you’ll have to wait half a year to play this) as BS, for both Sony & Microsoft alike. I understand why these deals exist but I also understand how anti-consumer & divisive they can potentially be.

I honestly could care less that Sony is allowing more PC ports (about time in my view) & I would care just the same if they allowed for games like Horizon, Last of Us, Spiderman etc. to be played on Xbox & some of their heavy hitters on Playstation. It wouldn’t be the end of the world

@deathaxe - It's a done deal. Providence (the main stakeholder of Zenimax) have the deal listed as Realized, as in, money has changed hands, profit was made, buyout complete.

@carlos82 Well you don't own the games on gamepass and you need to be connected to the internet to play them. I have no problem paying 70 bucks to support the industry and the games I love because I want them to stick around. Everything has a cost. If the customer gets games cheaper than their worth, then the money comes out of the dev/publishers end. Games cost many years and many millions to make. If we don't support different games at full price they won't be around forever. Like Returnal. Absolutely worth 70 bucks in my eyes. The game looks stunning.

@Exlee300p - You don't need to be connected to the internet to play GP games. As long as you sign in your account once every 30 days you can play offline. PSNow also requires you to sign in once every 7 days to be able to play offline.

It is what it is, and I'm perfectly fine with or without the games. I just hope Microsoft/Xbox don't kill them, as they're prone to do.

The whole idea of exclusive games seems a bit ridiculous to me. I've been a PS player since the PS3 and have invested too much in that to switch to XBox now. I imagine that unless you can afford to buy both consoles, most of us are in similar position. Exclusive games just seem like a bad buisiness idea. Very few of us are willing or able to swap consoles now. So making a game exclusive just ends up cutting off a large percentage of the gaming market....

@Lunchboxx77
Yes I ve always thought having an xbox and a PlayStation is just a waste of money given most games are multiplat anyway.
I don't see anything wrong with exclusives though. A platform holder focusing on the gamers who play on that platform sounds consumer , customer friendly to me. Better optimisation, development time, quality to hold up to because representing a platform, much larger funds to support a more straightforward development ... etc.
Regarding xbox, apparently people will be able to get a stick for their TV s and play xbox games on it so I don't think that's just a console thing.
I think most Bethesda new games will still be multiplat though. They mostly insist on the platform being the best place to play them. I think your right about exclusives being a bad business idea for Ms ($ wise) because they focus on selling a subscription, not on selling consoles.

@JJ2 I see your point, and I hope you're right. Possibly releasing an exclusive for 6 months or so and then releasing it on other platforms might be the way to go also. Just as long as the gaming community gets access to most games eventually, I dont really care how they do it I would happily subscribe to an xbox streaming service if that became available without having to fork out for another console.

@__jamiie Why not?

Great business decision 🤪

@Lunchboxx77
Yea that's cool. Everyone is different and can play in different ways. I'm not interested in (multi)subscriptions. PS+ is more than enough for me.

It's a real shame for PlayStation but, so be it. I can't justify buying an XSX as well as my PS5. I don't really have room for it in my entertainment system. It is what it is I guess.

@XurAgentofthe9 Because the beauty of having different platforms is that exclusives get made to highlight the best of that particular piece of hardware. Random example but Rayman Legends has been released on pretty much every console for the past 2 generations. Yet the best version is still the original Wii U version because the whole game was designed with that machine in mind. Bayonetta 1 was designed for Xbox 360 and is far superior to the PS3 version. The Forza series could technically have been ported to PlayStation. But that entire series only came about as a response to Gran Turismo being a PlayStation exclusive. Exclusives create reasons for owning individual pieces of hardware or ecosystems and the best exclusives ensure that every company is trying to compete and do things better.

If a platform holder buys a large brand with large tentpole franchises, it really does make little sense to launch them on rival platforms. Microsoft's aims have always been to get more and more people to buy into their services, not necessarily buy an Xbox over a PS5. Could we see some titles come to Playstation? Absolutely. Particularly if they are already long in development.

However, I think those games will be ones where player base matters. You'll see Elder Scrolls Online or Fallout 76 remain multiplat as well as expansions for those games.

Personally, I think Starfield or Elder Scrolls will be exclusives. If the only way to play those was via PC or Xbox, regardless of what people say, they'll sign up to Gamepass to play it in droves.

@Rudy_Manchego Yes, Zenimax had already confirmed that ESO is still going to be supported on PS platforms around the first time the buyout had been mentioned. They're even releasing a PS5 client fairly soon. I would think that Fallout 76 is in the same boat?

@sanderson72 I would very much expect so since for online service games, you really need as many people playing as possible to make it financially viable.

I think we will just have to wait and see. They're playing their cards deliberately close to their chests in a way to entice customers into buying an XBox on future possibilities alone, even when those possibilities are at least 2 YEARS away.
Spencer is currently saying "you could buy a PS5 but you might miss out!"

First thing we need to see is the PS5 and XSX available for customers to buy. If there's a big take up of PS5 compared to XSX (think PS4 compared to XB1), Microsoft would be stupid to not allow the port. If it's more like the PS3/X360 days, all bets are off.

@Daveuppercut That's fair. In fact as I typed my original reply I did think, 'well, the enemy design and variety weren't great'.

I have a deep appreciation for really well designed experiences and the space station in Prey has been one of the most well designed spaces of it's gen, I think. Likewise, the player choice in exploring that space was immense, but at the same time not as obvious and as repetitive as something like the recent Deux Ex games.

For a world like that, I can forgive other things, but totally understand if those things the game didn't do so well are more important to you.

I expect Xbox/MS will have exclusive content and/or timed exclusivity on major releases, with most games receiving PS5 ports that will be in some way ‘inferior’ or delayed. The sheer cost of the ZeniMax acquisition means that they don’t want to turn down potential revenue until the deal has mostly paid for itself... which will take many years at a price tag of $7.5 billion.

@Rudy_Manchego But isn’t GamePass losing money? I feel like any upside to bringing more people into GamePass is offset by the millions of copies of ES6 and Starfield that will be sold on PS5 for $70 each. Financially (at least in the short term) it seems advantageous to actually sell these really expensive-to-develop games rather than use them to sell the service. But I might be wrong. I only have a superficial understanding of large corporate economics.

@Voltan That's a possibility, for sure. I never played the original Prey, but was excited to see what the guys behind Dishonoured could do with a sci-fi setting.

For me it was all about the world Arkane had created and the wonderful degree of freedom and player choice they had built into it. It's a really tightly designed space, but that only becomes apparent as you journey through the game. I guess though that these are not qualities that show themselves well in a demo. About two thirds of the way through (I think, memories sketcy) you take your first spacewalk outside the station and it then really hits how well crafted it all is.

But, yeah, the combat wasn't the best and enemy design and variety also weren't great, so it's not perfect.

Damn, I wanna go play it again now!

@Rudy_Manchego I think the opposite! If we consider that MS end goal here is growing game pass, by only launching established franchises like ES and FO on xbox only, they piss off a lot of people who then vow never to by MS (Sure, some may jump ship, but I think just as many will dig their heels in and play pirated versions on PC). By releasing major franchises on all platforms they maximise their revenue and also garner goodwill, which makes it more likely that someone new will join the xbox ecosytem eventually. MS current mantra seems to be make gaming convenient, not make it exclusive. We'll have to wait and see what happens!

@PossibLeigh That may be the case - who knows? However, to be honest, historically, gamer outrage doesn't go very far. If someone really wants the product, they'll moan but there have been very very few successful boycotts of games. Also not forgetting that many passionate Bethesda fans are also PC gamers which this won't really affect, other than the launcher they have to use.

I mean, Battlefront 2 is probably the biggest gamer outrage of the last few years and it sold under expectation but still sold 9 million copies in the first 3 months of release despite all the hoo ha.

I can see gamers being up in arms at ES going exclusive, then it will launch, everyone will report on it and it will get lots of attention and subscriptions.

@Th3solution Oh you are totally right in the money stakes. Is Gamepass a sustainable model? Who knows? Right now, no but if you look at the Netflix model it makes more sense.

Netflix was and is slightly continuing, to spend money as fast as they get it to attract people to the service. The profits there in 2020 were quite low.

If you see Gamepass as an investment then I think it does make sense. Microsoft are going to be at a point where their Gamepass service can be run via browsers and via the cloud. Imagine a service, like stadia, where you can game on console, on PC, on your phone or even smart devices like TV's. Now imagine that they have must have intellectual properties like Elder Scrolls, Doom etc and the way to play is via that service. It's like Netflix having Stranger Things or whatever that weird period drama is about.

It's a big if but I'd see buying up studios and IP's as a big part of that strategy.

@Rudy_Manchego Haha, you might be right! One things for sure, it'll make for salty comments! Popcorn on standby for the whole next year or two

@Rudy_Manchego Yeah, the only way this works for Microsoft is that they have the capital to weather the storm of ramping up the service until it’s profitable. There’s no way Sony or Nintendo could keep their balance sheets in fair shape after spending $7.5 billion dollars on the hopes of future market share from a service that isn’t yet fully realized. It makes me wonder if this pushes Sony to consider competing with a GamePass model on a smaller scale.

@PossibLeigh Ha ha - oh yeah. New film idea... THERE WILL BE SALT!

@Th3solution Completely - they are really throwing themselves into this and pulling out all the stops. At the same time, they can afford to. Xbox as a brand is generating a lot of revenue still so it's not like Stadia that is bringing in close to zilch for Google while costing lots.

I'm in two minds. MS are either geniuses, who are going to pioneer a new age of gaming software as a service, making their subscription service almost device agnostic, completing rewriting the rules on video games. Or they are going to push something that doesn't really click with consumers and they start to bleed too much cash. It is clear to me that Microsoft want to emulate their success in Azure and Office 365, which is less about buying a product and subscribing. Whether the industry is ready for it... well, that's another matter.

Where does this leave RAGE 3?

RIP to all the sony ponies that wont get to experience fallout 5.

@stormyuk
Not everyone can afford both like i have. Some people have two ps5s but i got one of each so i can experience the best of both. No need to be a fanboy

@themcnoisy
Horizon zero dawn and dreams were lame dunno how they were both your top two but i play on ps5, xbox sx, nintendo switch and pc so i dont play favorites on only one platform and my top ten game range is a lot broader than ppl like you.

@BansheeNorn Huh? How is my reply remotely fan boy related? I can afford both I just can't justify it and have no room. So it will be a shame Bethesda games don't come to PS5.

Your Sony pony comment tells me all I need to know about you. First person on my ignore list. Well done.

HZD wasn't lame either imo.

I finally don't need to buy Bethesda games, assuming all of Xbox first party games will be available day one on Gamepass PC.

@__jamiie Yes, I see that. On the other hand though, although it helps the console manufacturers, wouldn't it be better for game developers and gamers to make games for multiple platforms and sell/play more games? Anyhow, my main issue is that I wouldn't buy a 2nd console just to play an XBox exclusive game; even if I really wanted the game.

@XurAgentofthe9 There are positives for both arguments. I just think that in the long run having different systems with different strengths and different exclusives makes for a more interesting games industry. I could absolutely do without all the fanboy arguments that happen online but that's been around since before I was a kid.

@YETi hopefully there's a point that Gamepass is a smart TV app