BacklogBrad

Xbox - starfield
Playstation - death stranding, ace combat 5 (ps2)
Nintendo - metroid prime remastered
Pc - deus ex 1

I do wish their campaign against steam was going better. I don't really like the idea of pc being so utterly dominated by one platform.

Xbox - Starfield (new game+), Halo Inifinite
Playstation - Death Stranding, Ace Combat 5 (ps2)
Nintendo - Pikmin 4
PC - nothing

@Gost I think we will continue to see layoffs across the industry for the next few years. It does not seem like a good time to be a AAA 3rd party developer. Part of it is likely the poor world economy and also the space might be too saturated at the moment. There were bound to be a fair share of flops with the release schedule this year. I expect there to be more mergers or acquisitions.

It's been 3 years since Crystal Dynamics last game (which missed expectations by a wide margin) and they likely don't have one due out for another 2-3 years or longer. They have become so risk averse that they are forced to take on support roles. If they don't succeed with the next tomb Raider their future might be pretty grim.

@Gost it probably has more to do with the amount of time it takes to make a game. If it takes 6 years to develop a game then it flops, you have to survive another 6 years on what you made from the last one.

These companies could probably afford more risks if it was still just a 2 year process.

Is sounds like more of a valid restructuring instead of some sort of mismanagement by Embracer. It is a very small number of people and marketing doesn't seem very essential with their current workload. Xbox will market Perfect Dark and Amazon will likely market tomb raider.

It's unfortunate for those affected by it but it's not really shocking that they would eliminate unnecessary roles.

Phil isn't wrong though about Nintendo taking a long time to realize their future exists off Nintendo hardware. They are the only one that hasn't reached the conclusion that PC ports are a great idea that cause no harm to their existing hardware.

We will likely see full game ports from Sony and Xbox on mobile very soon, not the mobile shovelware model applied to their IP like Nintendo tried and failed at.

Hopefully exclusivity will shave some time off development. Sucks for the one console folks tho.

Xbox - Starfield (my mining empire is going great)
Playstation - kingdom hearts 1.5 remix
Nintendo - nothing
Pc - Pumpkin Jack

I heard about the show second hand, so I missed the expectation setting Sony tried to make for it. I hated it at first but have soften a little bit since I found out they tried to tell me to expect less. Still not good though.

As someone who has been struggling to get the appetite to finish FF7 remake, the big reveal being part 2 was kind of a gut punch.

@cburg good point I forgot about that. Not technically Sony studios but close enough. That game found its way to pc gamepass so I'm not so sure it is indicative of Sony's plans yet. I could see something like Ratchet coming to phones.

I wonder if Sony is planning Apple versions of some of their titles now after seeing that Apple presentation.

So that would basically leave Deep Silver, Crystal Dynamic and Eidos as their only teams with AAA track records.

Good for Starfield. I am loving it. I can see it taking up most of my year at this rate. I can't remember the last game that hooked me like this.

Xbox - Starfield (obsessed with it)
Playstation - hoping to make some progress on FF7 remake. Not really liking this one and it is just bogging down my ps backlog.
Nintendo - nothing
Pc - nothing

This is probably one I play on PC somewhere down the line when its in the under $10 bin. Way too many other games right now for me to pick up this one at full price when I tried hard and failed to get into the first 2 games.

This game was in my steam wishlist for awhile but I never bought it because literally all reviews mentioned very poor performance.

I checked it out on gamepass (pc and series x) and the performance was pretty bad. Stuttering frames and audio, controls feel sluggish (character keeps running for a bit after I stop holding up). The console version doesn't seem to be improved on the poor state pc was released in.

Xbox - Halo Infinite
Ps5 - final Fantasy 7 remake
Switch - collecting dust
PC/steam deck/ROG - Dead Island, assassins creed brotherhood

Step 1 - raise the price but give a few weeks notice

Step 2 - watch everyone panic and stack years worth of a subscription because they perceive the original price as a "discount"

Step 3 - do the bare minimum with the service knowing that your audience has already locked itself into the service.

@Kevw2006 I get that but at least you could try it and see if you like it. See if your internet handles it well, etc. I have old phones and tablets laying around that I would use to avoid notifications.

@NinjaNicky there are options to help with the propping up your phone. There is a backbone controller for half the price or mounts that attach your phone above the ps5 controller for $15.

I have enough old phones and tablets around that I would probably use a dedicated one for this if I did. Then there wouldn't be any notifications. Plus you can actually use Bluetooth headphones on a phone or tablet.

@Kevw2006 couldn't you connect a controller to your phone and remote play on that?

The same day Starfield launches into their rivals game service they jack up the price of their own by $40? Interesting move Sony.

It's odd that only 7% use the feature regularly but 24% plan to buy a $200 device that only does that one feature. To each their own I guess. Personally I have never tried remote play and don't see a scenario where I ever do.

Might want to wait a couple weeks before making this statement. Starfield is a bigger game than either service has ever seen. I imagine gamepass subs will increase dramatically for at least a few months.

ABK could have a substantial impact on gamepass as well.

Little nightmares 3. I'm more excited for Alan Wake but new reveals show better for me.

Not starting anything serious until Starfield.

PS2 - GTA Vice city and Burnout 3
Switch - Pikmin 4
Xbox - age of empires 4
Ps5 - final fantasy 7 remake

Too many games ahead of it on my priority list. Maybe someday I will give it a try.

This is a pass from me. I have the ROG Ally that will easily fill any role this would have had and more.

It's a very unique experience. The more I played, the less I understood about what was happening. I'm glad I played and finished it but ultimately the game aspect of it was poor. Combat sucks, really slow pace, the puzzles werent very challenging but somehow still long and frustrating. The artstyle and grossness kept me curious enough to finish it, that aspect was very good.

@TheLotteryMan1 no they did not reblock the deal and no they are not selling off the full rights to the games. Microsoft has been floating the possibility of divesting the cloud streaming side to someone else for awhile now. We are learning that ubisoft will take that role for the next 15 years. Ubisoft+ will have the games for streaming only and they can contract the streaming rights to other services too (xbox will still be paid for each game by ubisoft and other services).

Not much changes on the console side. The games will still be developed under the Xbox umbrella and will be available on gamepass at some point. They will still honor the Nintendo and playstation contracts. If there is a spyro, or other abk game exclusive to Xbox in those 15 years then ps users might be able to stream it with a ubisoft+ sub at some point.

@XboxTheBestBox I doubt Sony responds with an acquisition of their own and they don't really need to. Sony is in a great spot and this ABK doesn't really move the needle that much in the console space.

Sony and MS will make more acquisitions but it will be more of what makes sense for them and not about responding to what the other has purchased. For example sony is probably looking harder at mobile developers and support studios instead of AAA devs because that is what they need right now.

All this fuss over something nobody wants to do, cloud stream a game.

It's funny how the CMA is hung up on the cloud issue and MS literally cannot care less about the cloud streaming side of this deal.

There is a video leak of the new unit now and it does not look any smaller than the pic suggested.

The comparison to Rockstar's RDR1 is between a 1997 game and a 2010 game to be fair. But I don't want it to seem like im defending the $50 price, that is outrageous. $20-30 would have gone down better.

I would consider anything over $30 a poor deal for a port this old, $50 is outrageous.

My excitement for GTA6 has been waning in recent years as the true Rockstar have revealed themselves.

@Flaming_Kaiser that hasn't been the case so far. MS has been very hands off and not only allow games like pentiment but encourage them.

There will be much more freedom for ABK reporting to Phil spencer and not their shareholders.

@Dark_Knight I would love another starcraft or a remaster. I hope a lot of those rts games come back.

@Flaming_Kaiser I don't know where you got the idea that I was saying they would make less games....

MS owning ABK makes it less likely that a studio like Toys For Bob will be relegated to CoD work forever. It is more likely than it was a year ago that they get creative freedom to make whatever they want. Vicarious vision (blizzard albany) might not be forced to remain in their support role either.

MS success does not hinge on call of duty/WoW like ABK's did. Some times acquisitions are a good thing for the industry.

Microsoft buying ABK makes it less likely the studios will close or be forced to work endlessly on COD.

It's not really conflicting the previous statement. They previously said sales were strong GIVEN the ps5 install base. Now they are saying the install base is holding back sales.

Hopefully they realize their biggest franchise isn't benefiting them fully being exclusive to one platform.

Wrapped up most of the newer games I've been playing so hopefuly i can do the same for some retro games.

Sega - Sonic Adventures 2
Playstation - killzone 1, GTA Vice City
Xbox - Forgotten Realm: Demon Stone
Nintendo- Pokemon Emerald

I imagine whatever zenimax online's new ip is will be on ps as well.

I think any major single player game will be exclusive. Probably includes both doom and wolfenstein even if there is a multiplayer mode.

Good for them for being in a position to stay independent, for now anyway. That stance can change in a heartbeat.

It's sad how many rumors start like this. Was the employee looking for attention or just completely unaware of the truth? It was fishy that one hasbro employee would speak for all of Activision and claim that not a single person at either company knows where the files are stored.

Watching the FTC lose was glorious. Gotta love those rare cases where government overreach is denied. Now the CMA looks like a joke (also glorious) and needs MS to give them an out by making another "concession" that MS doesn't actually care about.

I'm skeptical of the price point. Ubisoft doesn't seem like the type to decide a 20-30 hour game is not worth the AAA price (especially with their flagship franchise).

Hopefully I'm wrong but it seems like small scale means much more is being scaled back than just a tighter shorter story. Obviously the rpg elements like weapons and armor rating are probably gone too but why would Ubisoft view a brand new game in the old style as only worth AA pricing? If it is on par with Black Flag, syndicate or even 2/brotherhood I would think they would be confident people would buy it at $70.

Maybe Ubisoft has changed and is just being gracious with this price point but everything they have done in the past suggests otherwise. They are notorious for the copy/paste sequels that come out at full price then immediately price drop. For them to acknowledge that a new Assassins Creed game is not worth full price at launch worries me.

Picked up a ROG Ally so probably just testing that out with various Gamepass and Steam titles.

They still overmarketed the gimmick of the game. The rift tether was not the next gen revolution they claimed it was. Fun game though.

I wonder if a physical edition is in the works. Xbox hasn't had one yet.

I haven't really seen Rick & Morty at all but I thought the humor of this game was okay. Not all the jokes land but i never found it annoying. I love J.B. Smoove from curb your enthusiasm and he was great as one of the guns. Shooting and platforming was fun, I think it mostly comes down to how you respond to the humor.