We'd need a song like this before we can pay our condolencesSo when's the funeral? You guys got me hyped
So, we can expect games like OD Knock and TES6 will launch in PS5 without a doubt right?Without going into too much detail, not long after the last round of layoffs (next one should be coming in Q1 26 btw - and its going to be just as massive as the last one), some rumblings out of Xbox starting coming out that were a little hard to believe.
The ramifications of the CoD GP gambit not working out were just starting to get properly measured, but the thing that really stuck out to me was that suddenly, really concrete plans for actual MS Xbox HW went from being definitive, to up in the air, which was really startling given that this thing was meant to be out relatively soon. It was one of those situations where, despite folks being told 'hey, we wanna pull the trigger on this in 2026', the steps you would need to take in the lead up to delivering a new console gen weren't being met. Lots of things that were 'sure things' started getting pushed. The Costco retailer pulling Xbox, and apparently they are one of many that we'll learn about soon, told me all I needed to know.
To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing, with a significantly honed-in focus on profitable IPs (CoD, WoW, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Forza Horizon), Cloud gaming being the home of the 'Xbox platform', transititioning GamePass into basically becoming the point of entry subscription for xCloud access (which will continue to drive its price tag higher btw, they aren't done there just yet either), and releasing their software on any device that has a marketplace and users willing to buy their titles.
Maybe some OEM thing will take up the Xbox name, but given what is clearly a collapse in favorable mindshare and faith in said brand, i'm not even sure a 3rd party OEM is gonna want to have an Xbox console by the time MS is done with their reorienting of the division.
Without going into too much detail, not long after the last round of layoffs (next one should be coming in Q1 26 btw - and its going to be just as massive as the last one), some rumblings out of Xbox starting coming out that were a little hard to believe.
The ramifications of the CoD GP gambit not working out were just starting to get properly measured, but the thing that really stuck out to me was that suddenly, really concrete plans for actual MS Xbox HW went from being definitive, to up in the air, which was really startling given that this thing was meant to be out relatively soon. It was one of those situations where, despite folks being told 'hey, we wanna pull the trigger on this in 2026', the steps you would need to take in the lead up to delivering a new console gen weren't being met. Lots of things that were 'sure things' started getting pushed. The Costco retailer pulling Xbox, and apparently they are one of many that we'll learn about soon, told me all I needed to know.
To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing, with a significantly honed-in focus on profitable IPs (CoD, WoW, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Forza Horizon), Cloud gaming being the home of the 'Xbox platform', transititioning GamePass into basically becoming the point of entry subscription for xCloud access (which will continue to drive its price tag higher btw, they aren't done there just yet either), and releasing their software on any device that has a marketplace and users willing to buy their titles.
Maybe some OEM thing will take up the Xbox name, but given what is clearly a collapse in favorable mindshare and faith in said brand, i'm not even sure a 3rd party OEM is gonna want to have an Xbox console by the time MS is done with their reorienting of the division.
They can't do anything. The damage is already done. One thing most people don't realize is that before Game Pass was created, Microsoft had millions of people paying $60 a year just to play online. That was one of the easiest sources of "free money" in the console business — and Microsoft completely destroyed it.That can't be it. Damn near every Xbox fan alive was laughing when Jim Ryan was put in charge.
Yeah....I'm the same. PlayStation needs competition and Xbox is the closest thing to that. I'd rather they turn it around, but that's not going to happen when you've got a moron who can't see that none of the shit he is doing is working.
...
To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing, with a significantly honed-in focus on profitable IPs (CoD, WoW, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Forza Horizon), Cloud gaming being the home of the 'Xbox platform', transititioning GamePass into basically becoming the point of entry subscription for xCloud access (which will continue to drive its price tag higher btw, they aren't done there just yet either), and releasing their software on any device that has a marketplace and users willing to buy their titles.
...
The ramifications of the CoD GP gambit not working out were just starting to get properly measured, but the thing that really stuck out to me was that suddenly, really concrete plans for actual MS Xbox HW went from being definitive, to up in the air, which was really startling given that this thing was meant to be out relatively soon. It was one of those situations where, despite folks being told 'hey, we wanna pull the trigger on this in 2026', the steps you would need to take in the lead up to delivering a new console gen weren't being met. Lots of things that were 'sure things' started getting pushed. The Costco retailer pulling Xbox, and apparently they are one of many that we'll learn about soon, told me all I needed to know.
To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing, with a significantly honed-in focus on profitable IPs (CoD, WoW, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Forza Horizon), Cloud gaming being the home of the 'Xbox platform', transititioning GamePass into basically becoming the point of entry subscription for xCloud access (which will continue to drive its price tag higher btw, they aren't done there just yet either), and releasing their software on any device that has a marketplace and users willing to buy their titles.
Maybe some OEM thing will take up the Xbox name, but given what is clearly a collapse in favorable mindshare and faith in said brand, i'm not even sure a 3rd party OEM is gonna want to have an Xbox console by the time MS is done with their reorienting of the division.
Yup, thats it.
He has actual folks on payroll playing his Xbox account to drum up his gamer score, to boost that 'gamer' image.
Its really, really sad.
Without going into too much detail, not long after the last round of layoffs (next one should be coming in Q1 26 btw - and its going to be just as massive as the last one), some rumblings out of Xbox starting coming out that were a little hard to believe.
The ramifications of the CoD GP gambit not working out were just starting to get properly measured, but the thing that really stuck out to me was that suddenly, really concrete plans for actual MS Xbox HW went from being definitive, to up in the air, which was really startling given that this thing was meant to be out relatively soon. It was one of those situations where, despite folks being told 'hey, we wanna pull the trigger on this in 2026', the steps you would need to take in the lead up to delivering a new console gen weren't being met. Lots of things that were 'sure things' started getting pushed. The Costco retailer pulling Xbox, and apparently they are one of many that we'll learn about soon, told me all I needed to know.
To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing, with a significantly honed-in focus on profitable IPs (CoD, WoW, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Forza Horizon), Cloud gaming being the home of the 'Xbox platform', transititioning GamePass into basically becoming the point of entry subscription for xCloud access (which will continue to drive its price tag higher btw, they aren't done there just yet either), and releasing their software on any device that has a marketplace and users willing to buy their titles.
Maybe some OEM thing will take up the Xbox name, but given what is clearly a collapse in favorable mindshare and faith in said brand, i'm not even sure a 3rd party OEM is gonna want to have an Xbox console by the time MS is done with their reorienting of the division.
And that's my issue going forward. I have purchased over 700 games on Xbox. On PC, less than 90 have transferred across. It's pathetic. I now need to keep my series x to play these games.Ouch. Gonna be a kick in the nuts for my xbros
Even the OEM route is a shitty solution since only your play anywhere titles are transferable.
Oh its 100% trueThis can't be true. Right?
Well , he is back already
Well , he is back already
He's emotional, but the info he got is real. Even without that info, Xbox (after the acquisition) hasn't shown an upward trajectory in anything relevant to its future.Regardless, I'm pretty sure we all know Xbox's hardware days are numbered but Timdog's post without a source feels like an extension of his earlier meltdown. Not sure I fully believe it until others who are, shall we say, less emotionally invested report the same.
Microsoft really shit the bed on this one. Your console is dead and you decide to get greedy with the only thing you've got left?
Oof!
The sad part is gaming in general is getting ridiculous. Gamers are still getting bent over on $80 games and rising hardware prices.
All I know is I'm happy hanging back and playing the stuff that's been out and patched for a fraction of the price of new. I'm at the stage of questioning if I want to pay $5 for Sniper Elite 5 lol
The saudis have deep pockets and just straight up bought EA, I could see that be the easy out for MS to offload the entire brand + Activision + everything else. If they put $70B in front of Nadella right now I can see him signing the deal straight away.
I can't see how they could release any new console in the next couple years, who the hell would buy it at this point?
The fallout of all this will be far reaching for sure.
Fuck I'm going to have to buy a PC aren't I![]()
Off-topic, but it's hilarious for them to have this position when there's already a thread with 1.4K posts about KeplerL2's comments on NeoGAF about the PS6 Portable. Wouldn't surprise me if this (these) mod(s) are just feeling uncomfortable over the rumor and just decided to close the thread purely based on that.Without going into too much detail, not long after the last round of layoffs (next one should be coming in Q1 26 btw - and its going to be just as massive as the last one), some rumblings out of Xbox starting coming out that were a little hard to believe.
The ramifications of the CoD GP gambit not working out were just starting to get properly measured, but the thing that really stuck out to me was that suddenly, really concrete plans for actual MS Xbox HW went from being definitive, to up in the air, which was really startling given that this thing was meant to be out relatively soon. It was one of those situations where, despite folks being told 'hey, we wanna pull the trigger on this in 2026', the steps you would need to take in the lead up to delivering a new console gen weren't being met. Lots of things that were 'sure things' started getting pushed. The Costco retailer pulling Xbox, and apparently they are one of many that we'll learn about soon, told me all I needed to know.
To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing, with a significantly honed-in focus on profitable IPs (CoD, WoW, Minecraft, Candy Crush, Forza Horizon), Cloud gaming being the home of the 'Xbox platform', transititioning GamePass into basically becoming the point of entry subscription for xCloud access (which will continue to drive its price tag higher btw, they aren't done there just yet either), and releasing their software on any device that has a marketplace and users willing to buy their titles.
Maybe some OEM thing will take up the Xbox name, but given what is clearly a collapse in favorable mindshare and faith in said brand, i'm not even sure a 3rd party OEM is gonna want to have an Xbox console by the time MS is done with their reorienting of the division.
They quite literally built a cult around the brand, it's going to be really bad when the announcement finally is made that Xbox console business has been terminatedReddit's having a meltdown over this and drive by shitposting S SneakersSO 's track record without any of his claims proven wrong.
Lmao, this is gonna be worse than Sega.
Yeah, Phil has an absolute shit taste in games, I've noticed it before, he just green lit anything and everything and Booty makes sure the receivers no supervision whatsoever, so the end result is the messes we keep seeing.To add to that Halo Infinite reveal Ybarra told me when him and Phil got the first screening for that Ybarra actually thought it was a joke and told them that wasn't good enough and they couldn't show that and Phil said send it, thought it looked good
Yeah....I'm the same. PlayStation needs competition and Xbox is the closest thing to that. I'd rather they turn it around, but that's not going to happen when you've got a moron who can't see that none of the shit he is doing is working.
Even without competition they are likely to subsidise a new console at launch to increase the install base and long term profits from game sales.
Yup, thats it.
He has actual folks on payroll playing his Xbox account to drum up his gamer score, to boost that 'gamer' image.
Its really, really sad.
Having witnessed both SEGA and Microsoft going third party I can say SEGA at least fought til the end.
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Have we been un-cancelled?
Mind blown!I'll never forget the story i'd heard, that Phil celebrated when he saw the announcement video for Horizon Forbidden West, and said Halo Infinite blew it out of the water. A month later, they did the gameplay reveal for Infinite, which went so poorly that the game got delayed out of Xbox Series launch, for over a year.
Xbox Fanboy attitude. Xbox was run by Xbox Fanboys instead of competent executives.Mind blown!
Man Xbox is way out of its mind I swear
Very well put together summary of the past decade of gaming industry and revelatory for MS FUD campaigns. Glad to read this in this forum.So, I think you folks need to reframe your understanding on how Western megacorps and their leadership view things, especially from the sociopaths with the MBAs.
What Microsoft has largely done for 16 years has been purely focused on winning press conferences. They green light things, announce things, and focus on making fantastic presentations. The details on these things are secondary (and even tertiary) compared to just creating an amazing press conference to give the impression that they are 'winning'.
I want you to think of two very different examples of this, and how games media reacted in the aftermath of it - the PS3 Killzone 2 video, and the Xbox E3 2014 conference.
Sony's initial Killzone 2 reveal was immediately called out as not being feasible at runtime graphically at the time, and the media did not let up on seeking out clarity and trying to hold Sony accountable for that misrepresentation. This was held over Killzone as an IP by the media even as far forward as Shadowfall's release in 2013. It was very important that the media did this, and the result of it was an industry that was far more cognizant on misrepresenting their product with marketing assets.
Microsoft's E3 2014 press conference is noteworthy in a multitude of ways. Its one of the first press conferences where nearly the entire slate of announcements there either got cancelled in the following years, or were large misrepresentations on just what those titles were, or what they would be able to deliver. This was something that almost no one in the media called out until much, much later, and even then - team Xbox never got held to account for that to the degree that they should have. An entire E3 press conference, deals being signed, with titles that would just disappear.
This wasn't a practice that stopped. For the leadership team at Xbox, it was always more about being able to make impactful announcements that could sway public opinion. If we lived in a world where a product would be successful purely on the strength of press conferences, the Xbox would have been in a far better position than they were. Unfortunately for them, we live in a world where the actual output and platform's actual value proposition is what sees its success. This sort of 'win press conferences' approach to leadership is why you get a situation like RedFall. Anyone who went and played the game knew the state it was in, and would've known that this thing needed a lot of more time in the oven. There was simply no need to announce it when they did, much less release it, and yet the only reason this happened was because they wanted to win that E3 press cycle, and they wanted to show that the Bethesda acquisition was already playing towards their goals.
That is a terrible way to manage a portfolio or a platform. When all you focus on is winning the newscycle, don't be surprised when the lack of care towards the actual portfolio and platform manifests in missed targets and poor shipped software quality. And its not even like this was a new thing - you can literally trace this back to when Phil Spencer took control of the first party portfolio. I can say, without question, that the best thing for their competitors that Microsoft ever did was putting Phil Spencer in charge. The fact that he used actual marketing budget from Xbox to launch a astroturf-led PR campaign amongst gaming communities to create the folksy persona we have all grown accustomed too is just the typical sociopathy you can expect to see from the exec/corporate class of most mega corporations.
Yeah apparently Tom Warren on XboxERA podcast said he's well informed internallyLol they're going nuts at Reeee.
SneakersSO thread has been closed and reopened 3 times because NeoGAF. One moderator comes and closes it, then the Admin gives him a call and it's reopened and so on so on.
And obviously, if S SneakersSO posts here on GAF he's guilty by association of untrustworthyness, scum and villainy by default lol
It always cracked me up when Phil said he didn't believe in console wars but him and his execs were doing it.Xbox Fanboy attitude. Xbox was run by Xbox Fanboys instead of competent executives.
Yet they always talk about Kepler2 over there no problems, buncha hypocrites.Lol they're going nuts at Reeee.
SneakersSO thread has been closed and reopened 3 times because NeoGAF. One moderator comes and closes it, then the Admin gives him a call and it's reopened and so on so on.
And obviously, if S SneakersSO posts here on GAF he's guilty by association of untrustworthyness, scum and villainy by default lol
Lol they're going nuts at Reeee.
SneakersSO thread has been closed and reopened 3 times because NeoGAF. One moderator comes and closes it, then the Admin gives him a call and it's reopened and so on so on.
And obviously, if S SneakersSO posts here on GAF he's guilty by association of untrustworthyness, scum and villainy by default lol
They don't believe when they are losing. They would gladly bring toxic fanboys to presentations if they preached about Xbox and Gamepass enoughIt always cracked me up when Phil said he didn't believe in console wars but him and his execs were doing it.
Yeah apparently Tom Warren on XboxERA podcast said he's well informed internally
Well , he is back already