[Laura Fryer] The Future of Xbox

You right now…


Honestly, not at all. Like I said at the end, everyone on GAF has known for 16 months they were exiting hardware. My issue is that her video sucks. I explained it in detail, point by point. She really paints a misleading picture.
 
Last edited:
But doesn't mention anything about the state of Bungie themselves right now
She has a separate video about Bungie.

Then says the ROG handheld is totally pointless, but then right after that says ASUS is great at hardware.
Just buy any other PC brick, I think everybody understood this. This Rog Xbox is not an Xbox, it doesn't play all of my Xbox games.

There's honestly not much that gets more "real" then getting literal free entitlement copies of your games for nothing.
If Xbox means playing anywhere, then the notion of different versions of a game between console and PC doesn't exist anymore. You bought a single game, and as a consumer, you do not have to worry nor care about it having separate versions. You didn't get anything more "for free". And then comes the ROG Xbox that actually doesn't play the console versions. Everything is an Xbox but you don't get to play all your Xbox games though. Abysmal communication.
 
Last edited:
If Xbox means playing anywhere, then the notion of different versions of a game between console and PC doesn't exist anymore. You bought a single game, and as a consumer, you do not have to worry nor care about it having separate versions. You didn't get anything more "for free". And then comes the ROG Xbox that actually doesn't play the console versions. Everything is an Xbox but you don't get to play all your Xbox games though. Abysmal communication.
This isn't true. Future titles will just be Windows titles. Play Anywhere is a specific classification for dual entitlement copies of games. Games coded for Xbox and games coded for Windows. You are getting 2 copies for the cost of 1, and they're even pushing 3rd parties to do this. That's all happening in reality. When I buy a copy of Dragon Quest 3 HD for Xbox console, but also own one for PC through the Windows store that isn't "just marketing."

It's fine to say it's incomplete. Everyone knows this. But it's a real thing. I've gone down with the ship before on Dreamcast, and tons of other consoles. None of them have ever tried to create a dual entitlement system like this to help out consumers during the transition.
 
Last edited:
She has a separate video about Bungie.

In fact, she touches on many topics across the industry.

cvjdvukIpr5c7mGv.png


 
None of them have ever tried to create a dual entitlement system like this to help out consumers during the transition.
None of them pretended they wanted to do this. Microsoft are, though, except that it is flawed.

First you work on a proper solution to unify console and PC games, all together under a single platform (PC if you want), then you announce it and communicate about it.

Otherwise, you end up with the current misleading and confusing communication. And people will tell you this is Marketing, and will rightfully point at the issues and how the promise is not upheld.
 
"As a PLAYSTATION fan" he's saying it with his hand on his heart! I don't know about you but I trust this man now.

ixLUh2bA8ZZAMzZO.png


Welcome to the PLAYSTATION family coward.
 
And people will tell you this is Marketing
I'm aware, like in this video. And it's objectively a lie. Just open the Windows store and see if you have any PC copies after buying stuff on the Xbox store. PA is a policy for dual entitlements. You can check to see if that's real right now and get back to us. That's what Play Anywhere is, literally. Go ahead and check and let us know what you find.

No one is saying they have every single title listed as PA. MS has never said that. MS has never promised that. They explain in their regular updates when stuff gets added. In addition to that, they're working on a BC chip which isn't the same thing as PA but will add more options. People are just lying. It's fine to hate Xbox policies if that's not your thing, but why lie about what the policies are or if they exist?
 
Last edited:
Truly. A 12 year old quote is one of the first things that comes to mind, STILL, in every conversation about the console. I don't know if I ever saw a company made self-inflicted gunshot wound like it. Thing is, that's what Microsoft is. Even if Xbox has plenty of passionate folks (like Laura) trying to do their best, they could never get out from under the shadow of Microsoft leadership and culture. It's poison. Profitable poison.



Microsoft barely cares about Windows these days, it's just a platform they control. At the end of the day, they want people to subscribe to Game Pass, Microsoft Office, and Azure. Windows is a convenient means to that end. There is no gaming presence on Mac, and although things are trending positively for Linux, it's not ready for mass user adoption (even SteamOS). Windows is the only game in town and a way for Microsoft to fluff up their publishing business, which is really all they've cared about historically until Sony posed an existential threat through the living room.



It doesn't require the axe as a whole (I know you aren't saying that, the person you replied to is). It certainly needs cost cutting to make it profitable, and there's no way they trimmed all the fat and redundancies away considering the way they bought the companies and how hands off Microsoft was the first year or two of the purchase. With the waning hardware business, there are whole teams that are probably done for. Why do you need all of that when you have no clear future plans, and are partnering with a third party expert to create the next Xbox?
I am sure msft and others are eyeing apples ecosystem profits on gaming. They are probably the most successful and it goes back to what I am referring to. Closed vs open ecosystem.

Offloading hardware cost would assist in software goals. What we are looking for here industry wise is how msft sees ps6/nextbox going regarding software development.

It would be absolutely insane if Xbox/ps ecosystems mimic or mirror towards pc. Dominated by gaas with new IPs doing nothing. AA will fill the void but will be handicapped by AAA (established IPs aka doubling down t2/ea own IPs).

If msft is seeing this then next gen is this gen but us console peasants get pt or we go pc. Games like cyberpunk still sell due to expansions and all upgrades to ultra settings.
 
I'm aware, like in this video. And it's objectively a lie. Just open the Windows store and see if you have any PC copies after buying stuff on the Xbox store. PA is a policy for dual entitlements. You can check to see if that's real right now and get back to us. That's what Play Anywhere is, literally. Go ahead and check and let us know what you find.

No one is saying they have every single title listed as PA. MS has never said that. MS has never promised that. They explain in their regular updates when stuff gets added. In addition to that, they're working on a BC chip which isn't the same thing as PA but will add more options. People are just lying. It's fine to hate Xbox policies if that's not your thing, but why lie about what the policies are or if they exist?
Their communication sucks. This is not a lie, this is factual. It fell apart when they started to call everything an Xbox.



Taken from the video :
YOUR GAMES
SEAMLESS PLAY
DOWNLOAD NATIVELY

Oh, so I can download my Sonic Unleashed game from the Xbox 360 and play it with FPS Boost. Right ? Right ?

They are not ready but are advertising this as if they were.
 
Last edited:
So the same thing Sony would do? You realize that's exactly what console exclusivity is, right? I'm glad they don't though as a PC main.

Funny thing is people who say they are idiots and don't know how to compete and sell Xboxes would be the first to cry if their main focuses was to sell consoles.
If telling people that now they will have to get rid of their PS5 overnight because Call of Duty wouldn't be there for the next year and etc and that also could broaden towards ceasing support of PS version of existing GaaS and MP games, surely they won't be happy.
 
"As a PLAYSTATION fan" he's saying it with his hand on his heart! I don't know about you but I trust this man now.

ixLUh2bA8ZZAMzZO.png


Welcome to the PLAYSTATION family coward.
The same fan who would say "Sony has nothing this year" in 2024 to compared to Xbox and was baffled they kept selling their console
 
Their communication sucks. This is not a lie, this is factual. It fell apart when they started to call everything an Xbox.



Taken from the video :
YOUR GAMES
SEAMLESS PLAY
DOWNLOAD NATIVELY

Oh, so I can download my Sonic Unleashed game from the Xbox 360 and play it with FPS Boost. Right ? Right ?

I'm talking about the video in the OP. She claims Play Anywhere is just marketing, and that is literally a lie. It's objectively not true. She completely misrepresents it in the video.

They explain exactly which titles are Play Anywhere in their blog twice a month. Every PA title has an icon on the store. Sonic 360 is not one of those. From the sound of it, it's probably going to be included in the upcoming AMD machines which could include handhelds in the future, but we have to wait until those roll out to see what it is.

The crux of the argument is usually people with a chip on their shoulder trying to take their 1 major recent marketing campaign and exaggerate it to shit on everything they're doing with forward compatibility. It's a lazy argument. It's the exact equivalent of getting upset because Sony told you Play Has No Limits, but damn you can't play Halo on it so PS communication sucksssss
 
Last edited:
I'm talking about the video in the OP. She claims Play Anywhere is just marketing, and that is literally a lie. It's objectively not true. She completely misrepresents it in the video.

They explain exactly which titles are Play Anywhere in their blog twice a month. Every PA title has an icon on the store. Sonic 360 is not one of those. From the sound of it, it's probably going to be included in the upcoming AMD machines which could include handhelds in the future, but we have to wait until those roll out to see what it is.

The crux of the argument is usually people with a chip on their shoulder trying to take their 1 major recent marketing campaign and exaggerate it to shit on everything they're doing with forward compatibility. It's a lazy argument. It's the exact equivalent of getting upset because Sony told you Play Has No Limits, but damn you can't play Halo on it so PS communication sucksssss
So you went through the effort of entirely ignoring the abysmal communication that I put right in front of your eyes, linked at the exact right second and then went on to bring Sony in the discussion, which it was never about ?

If you can't see the evident issues around MS Marketing, communication, what is an Xbox and Play Anywhere, then I suspect you are blind.

A lie is when you advertise a console saying you can play all your Xbox games, but can't.
 
Xbox biggest crime was trying to cater to the crowd that was loud & vocal online , using them for marketing & research.

Even now that crowd will be getting the monster console that they wanted but it's not going to sell to the masses & all the other platforms will be needed to properly support the devs.

Xbox One X , Xbox Series X , Gamepass & buying up all the studios was all stuff the fanatics wanted & cheered on but the things these people hated: Series S , going multiplatform, not producing as many Xbox Series X & raising the prices of hardware & software are all bandaids needed to cover the self inflicted scars of trying to please man babies.

Most of these people who was cheering on Series X & buying up the studios a few years ago ran off into the shadows when the results came in & now they're acting as if Microsoft/ Xbox acted alone 😭.
 
So you went through the effort of entirely ignoring the abysmal communication that I put right in front of your eyes, linked at the exact right second and then went on to bring Sony in the discussion, which it was never about ?

If you can't see the evident issues around MS Marketing, communication, what is an Xbox and Play Anywhere, then I suspect you are blind.

A lie is when you advertise a console saying you can play all your Xbox games, but can't.
I'm at work commenting on the video in the OP. I can't watch your video right now. What is it? You've ignored everything in my posts.

How is it that I know exactly what is going to be playable and never wondered about Sonic 360? Is Sarah Bond personally giving me the secret knowledge?
 
I think Microsoft's game leadership team is incompetent and their messaging is horrible. Putting the Xbox name on existing hardware is so low-brow and tacky I can't believe they're doing it.

If they want to become a software publisher - and I think it's a good idea - they should just do that.
 
Last edited:
I think Microsoft's game leadership team is incompetent and their messaging is horrible. Putting the Xbox name on existing hardware is so low-brow and tacky I can't believe they're doing it.

If they want to become a software publisher - and I think it's a good idea - they should just do that.
Microsoft has no history of being simple and honest. They are skilled in lawyering their way to mislead, but in the process they lost the ability to just stating the plain facts.

As Laura pointed out, one of their slogans for the portable device was "freedom of windows". Which is laughable as MS is anti-freedom as a policy and PC gamers struggle to tell Windows to stop taking control away from users. MS can't be honest because it would require that they admit their product is worse than they said it is.
 
I'm aware, like in this video. And it's objectively a lie. Just open the Windows store and see if you have any PC copies after buying stuff on the Xbox store. PA is a policy for dual entitlements. You can check to see if that's real right now and get back to us. That's what Play Anywhere is, literally. Go ahead and check and let us know what you find.

No one is saying they have every single title listed as PA. MS has never said that. MS has never promised that. They explain in their regular updates when stuff gets added. In addition to that, they're working on a BC chip which isn't the same thing as PA but will add more options. People are just lying. It's fine to hate Xbox policies if that's not your thing, but why lie about what the policies are or if they exist?
Contrary to popular belief, console players actually want to swap to PC less than PC gamers want to swap to console.

The two audiences aren't the same.

This is difficult to accept as MS' current strategy depends on all gamers being fungible, but also due to PC gamer's legendary hubris(they are famous for not being able to admit things) which MS shouldn't be making business decisions around.

This is and always was a bigger lie than "modern audiences" and the exact reason PC gamepass' growth will never and has never met expectations. We see clear and concise delineations in the data that show behaviors between PC and console players are significantly different and staggeringly consistent.

I'm not mad or upset and I'm happy to let you have your opinion, but I do disagree. I think Xbox is screwed and MS is better off just cutting off hardware for good. The more they string players along the more bad will it will engender when the hammer finally drops.
 
Last edited:
I wonder if they'll even succeed at making their next XBox PC that has hardware BC.

But either way it clearly signals the end of their plans to be a real player in the console space IMO; they only talk about backwards compatibility at the hardware level and don't mention actually having a true "next-gen console" that 3rd parties would develop for.

So what it really represents is Microsoft trying to get market share in PC Gaming. It will "support other stores" but almost certainly not have them be as integrated as the Windows *cough* Xbox Store.

It could be an interesting product, as long as the BC carries over.

The third-party thing is what could cloud things, unless they settle on a specific chip configuration for each "generation" they license. The device makers would have to differentiate on storage, form factor, price etc.

The Steam Deck has shown there is value in having a specific config that devs can customize a profile for, etc.
 
I'm talking about the video in the OP. She claims Play Anywhere is just marketing, and that is literally a lie. It's objectively not true. She completely misrepresents it in the video.

They explain exactly which titles are Play Anywhere in their blog twice a month. Every PA title has an icon on the store. Sonic 360 is not one of those. From the sound of it, it's probably going to be included in the upcoming AMD machines which could include handhelds in the future, but we have to wait until those roll out to see what it is.

The crux of the argument is usually people with a chip on their shoulder trying to take their 1 major recent marketing campaign and exaggerate it to shit on everything they're doing with forward compatibility. It's a lazy argument. It's the exact equivalent of getting upset because Sony told you Play Has No Limits, but damn you can't play Halo on it so PS communication sucksssss
Play Anywhere is a joke. People went through their libraries and the number of titles it supports is extremely small and mostly slop. None of the big new recent games are on it. The idea that a dedicated Xbox console user can leverage PA to transition to PC is just incorrect and wrong. I saw people on Xbox reddit looking at their library and saw like <10% of their titles were PA. Leaning on this crud is a sign of a hastily thrown together strategy that they rolled out ASAP because it isn't fooling anyone.

As for the "Xbox BC" chip, ok they will throw that on a pre-assembled PC, what does that mean, they will be telling Xbox owners to pay double or more what they are used to paying for a PC, or telling everyone else to spend more than they would on a PC without the chip, who is going to go for this, it's stupid. Xbox owners are going to gravitate to PS, not PC.
 
Last edited:
Play Anywhere is a joke. People went through their libraries and the number of titles it supports is extremely small and mostly slop. None of the big new recent games are on it. The idea that a dedicated Xbox console user can leverage PA to transition to PC is just incorrect and wrong. I saw people on Xbox reddit looking at their library and saw like <10% of their titles were PA.

Leaning on this crud is a sign of a hastily thrown together strategy that they rolled out ASAP because it isn't fooling anyone.
Saying PA is a joke is not the same as saying PA is just marketing. You can be honest about what it is, and then say if you like it or not and I have no problem with it. Currently it is incomplete and they have a ways to go. It's still the best version of this we've ever seen from a console maker.

Oh, so if you know this, everybody knows it ? Right ? And the MS communication isn't shit, it is actually the people that are lying ? Great way to help MS improve.
Well it's literally one or the other. Either 1) they haven't communicated this knowledge to anyone, or 2) they are communicating this in interviews, twice weekly in their blog, again in a recent AMD announcement, on the store with clearly labeled icons. You tell me.

Keep in mind we're talking about compatibility with a future system that's literally not even been shown yet with AMD, so this much early communication on BC is pretty much unprecedented and exceeds what any other console maker does. ROG is just Play Anywhere titles as far as we know, and other PC stores.
 
Last edited:
Already did. The Rog Ally Xbox video is linked above with no mention of anything like this.
Well it's not even out yet. They just did a bunch of preview events. Why don't you read one. It's a Windows Device with Play Anywhere titles available through the Windows Store.
 
Well it's not even out yet. They just did a bunch of preview events. Why don't you read one. It's a Windows Device with Play Anywhere titles available through the Windows Store.
That's not how communication works. The kind of trailer they put out is seen by a large audience, and this is what people will remember. You cannot expect everyone to then dig into details to eventually realize you voluntary omitted important aspects in your initial messaging. This is misleading.
 
Why would there be any confusion about new Xbox hardware?

this-is-an-xbox-campaign_9x2t.png


Trying Not To Laugh Rooster Teeth GIF by Achievement Hunter
If you don't know exactly which Xbox game every single one of these devices play, then you are a liar.

I guess the next step, now that we (don't) know what an Xbox is, would be for them to answer "What is an Xbox game ?". Looking forward to it...
 
Last edited:
That's not how communication works. The kind of trailer they put out is seen by a large audience, and this is what people will remember. You cannot expect everyone to then dig into details to eventually realize you voluntary omitted important aspects in your initial messaging. This is misleading.
Its going to be more complex than the typical BC situation. They're exiting hardware and trying to merge ecosystems. If people don't get it I feel bad for them but you can access all this info by literally just watching 1 youtube video showing people using the device. This is months before release.

Even here I literally explained it to you and aren't satisfied. I think you just are upset its not universal BC and want to shit on it. My advice is wait for the AMD devices.
 
Last edited:
Its going to be more complex than the typical BC situation. They're exiting hardware and trying to merge ecosystems. If people don't get it I feel bad for them but you can access all this info by literally just watching 1 youtube video showing people using the device. This is months before release.

Even here I literally explained it to you and aren't satisfied. I think you just are upset its not universal BC and want to shit on it. My advice is wait for the AMD devices.
Why are you putting this on the user? This is on Xbox. They are intentionally obfuscating and poorly explaining things.

Words mean something. An Xbox is a videogame console. It is not a PC, or a cell phone, or a VR headset. It is a videogame console. if I started calling dogs ducks and I went up to you with my dog and said "hey do you want to pet my duck" you would be fucking confused because you know I don't have a duck and you can see I am not walking a duck. Of course people are confused, Microsoft is trying to all a line of PCs and VR headsets Xbox, and they are not Xbox. And Microsoft is not clarifying things because it seems they want people to be confused.
 
Last edited:
Why are you putting this on the user? This is on Xbox. They are intentionally obfuscating and poorly explaining things.

Words mean something. An Xbox is a videogame console. It is not a PC, or a cell phone, or a VR headset. It is a videogame console. if I started calling dogs ducks and I went up to you with my dog and said "hey do you want to pet my duck" you would be fucking confused because you know I don't have a duck and you can see I am not walking a duck. Of course people are confused, Microsoft is trying to all a line of PCs and VR headsets Xbox, and they are not Xbox. And Microsoft is not clarifying things because it seems they want people to be confused.
I just hear a bunch of crying. Which thing are you confused about? I'll explain it here for you. I can do it in 1 sentence. Whats your question?

If you genuinely don't even have a single question then its just bullshit. What are you confused about?
 
Top Bottom