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[Excess]

"We believe that games, that interactive entertainment, aren't really about hardware and software. It's not about pixels. It's about people. Games bring people together," said Spencer. "Games build bridges and forge bonds, generating mutual empathy among people all over the world. Joy and community – that's why we're here."

Look, I love Big Daddy Spencer for literally bringing the brand back to life, but all this puffery about 'we hate console wars', 'games are about friends and empathy', and 'democratizing gaming' is just the biggest pile of bullshit. If you read through the lines, what's really being said is that Microsoft realized it couldn't compete solely on hardware and exclusives alone, so it leveraged its software and networking competencies to challenge the competition in a way that it couldn't compete. What's being said is just a nice way to make themselves feel good about making truckloads of cash.

Example:
Puffery: WE CARE ABOUT INCLUSIVITY IN OUR GAMES.
Truth: We'd like to expand the target market demographics to increase overall revenue.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

People like pointing out how once upon a time MS wanted to kill the Xbox division, but a lot has changed since then. Streaming is the next big thing and obviously MS is balls deep in that business. Investing in gaming makes a lot of sense from that point of view.

 

[Coolwhhip]

That thumbnail

 

[elliot5]

xCloud would be more interesting if it wasn't limited to Gamepass only. Why can't I buy and stream whatever game I want?

I think that's the idea in the future, but legal issues or licensing needs to be worked out. That seems to be part of what was 'leaked' during the EPIC trial that MS is "mandating" cloud rights to be in the Xbox marketplace which to me at face value is a good thing, because it should let the customer buy the game in the MS store and be able to install it and stream it however they please.

 

[ManaByte]

xCloud would be more interesting if it wasn't limited to Gamepass only. Why can't I buy and stream whatever game I want?

That's coming. Eventually you'll be able to use Xcloud to access your entire library. Right now it's just GamePass as it's still considered beta.

 

[FunkMiller]

I think people are vastly underestimating how good game streaming can be. Nvidia's solution is SHOCKINGLY good and if Xbox can give something comparable to that, people will come.

Oh, I think streaming could be the future - once everyone has good enough internet speeds. But that's not the case as yet. And probably won't be for quite a while.

Also, it's not really much of a big deal if Microsoft are just adding an XCloud app to a TV's UI. But if they're talking baking the tech for a console right into the TV, that's a far bigger deal.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I think they've mastered it from a branding and offering standpoint, but as it stands I think Stadia has 'mastered' the actual experience. I was pretty shocked at how natural it felt playing PUBG with a controller through my browser. I even played the Project Stream demo of Odyssey and that was fine, but not as fluid.

Their UI and business marketing just sucks ass.

The race is on between Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to get input lag down as low as possible. When Xcloud transitions to Series X we will see if that brings a boost in quality. Specifically talking about lag.

 

[AJUMP23]

Satya is a huge cricket fan. They even have a cricket field on the campus now.

Is that a bit of a stereotype?

 

[Derift]

40% of the e3 showing will be this... sigh

 

[TBiddy]

I think he shouldve just pointed to their $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda and ended the video.

In fact just talking about why gaming is important to Microsoft plants doubts in people's minds like why is this even being discussed. Imagine if Nintendo CEO tried to explain why gaming is important.

MS was all-in the moment they bought zenimax. Anyone who needs further convincing is not worth convincing.

Difference is that Nintendo is a gaming company, whereas Microsoft is a lot of other things.

 

[kingpotato]

They go hand in hand. Can't have xCloud without GP. We see what happened to Stadia.

Stadia does have a rotating game library behind their pro service, it's just not a big publisher like MS so it doesn't have the power to launch AAA titles on it. Stadia works really well honestly and I believe the time is right for one of these big streaming services to take off.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

data cap is not the only problem, input delay will be another issue especially for non turnbased games.

Input delay shouldn't be a problem. There's already a huge input delay in most console games and people don't even know about it. Add another two frames or so and it's not a big difference at all.

 

[AJUMP23]

Learning form the best, how to dress.

 

[Spidey Fan]

Microsoft to big publishers.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Stadia does have a rotating game library behind their pro service, it's just not a big publisher like MS so it doesn't have the power to launch AAA titles on it. Stadia works really well honestly and I believe the time is right for one of these big streaming services to take off.

I know two people who use Stadia and love it. It works flawlessly for them so I see the appeal.

 

[mckmas8808]

I think people are vastly underestimating how good game streaming can be. Nvidia's solution is SHOCKINGLY good and if Xbox can give something comparable to that, people will come.

It sucks. But if it's at least 80% good, I'd think about getting Gamepass for about 2 months out of the year to play a few MS exclusives (even though it's through streaming)

 

[mckmas8808]

Honestly MS was all in on gaming for the last 15 years. This is just marketing speak. But it's good that they are giving this much voice to gaming in general. For that, I like it (even though it's marketing speak).

 

[elliot5]

data cap is not the only problem, input delay will be another issue especially for non turnbased games.

honest question, have you tried Stadia or any streaming service? Sometimes it works flawlessly and it's no worse than playing on a TV with moderate game mode input lag. xCloud is hit or miss depending on connection + running off One S blades, but Stadia is perfect to me. I just don't care for the service model.

 

[Mister Wolf]

People like pointing out how once upon a time MS wanted to kill the Xbox division, but a lot has changed since then. Streaming is the next big thing and obviously MS is balls deep in that business. Investing in gaming makes a lot of sense from that point of view.

Hell yeah. Imagine every major TV brand coming with Xcloud built in and a remote button like they do Netflix and Prime Video. Even Sony TVs. That's the end goal.

 

[Kuranghi]

Any clues on the Satya shelf, I saw a Croquet ball.

I think it's a cricket ball:

Brian Lara cricket Xbox rival confirmed!!

He does have two things that resemble impossible knots, maybe something... ouroboros... related? I got nothing.

edit - I'm being a nubbin, it could simply be Infinite for Halo: Infinite. There are two of them, so HALO INFINITE 2 incoming guys.

 

[elliot5]

The race is on between Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to get input lag down as low as possible. When Xcloud transitions to Series X we will see if that brings a boost in quality. Specifically talking about lag.

Agreed. If it can offer better video codec shit and obviously more 60 or 120 fps titles means better latency in the end. I think that's part of the idea of FPS Boost. A Series X blade can reportedly run 4 One S instances, so if they reserve last-gen games as One S variants, they can run them at higher framerates improving the streaming experience.

 

[Thirty7ven]

TV TV TV

 

[Desless1]

More then 23 studios.

 

[reksveks]

xCloud would be more interesting if it wasn't limited to Gamepass only. Why can't I buy and stream whatever game I want?

Licenses, thats why you had that kerfuffle over the xcloud being included in the xbox dev t&c earlier in the year. Microsoft wants to be able to do that but haven't come up with the conditions that publishers would accept cause there could be some loss in unit sales.

 

[McHuj]

"Xbox is building its own streaming devices for cloud gaming to reach gamers on any TV or monitor without the need for a console at all."

So Series X/S will be the last xbox console

It's possible, but its also likely that they will continue to sell the hardware just at a premium. If you're a casual game, maybe the cloud interface is enough. but for those hardcore gamers, they can sell a dedicated piece of hardware. If that ends up being the case, I would expect the console to be quiet a bit more expensive.

 

[HoofHearted]

I think Phil and Satya work well together. I like Satya's HALO hoodie. But I wonder how quickly he took it off after shooting this segment.


Any clues on the Satya shelf, I saw a Croquet ball.

It's a Cricket Ball (there are several in the background BTW). If I'm not mistaken - there's a Cricket Bat on the top shelf as well.

There's lots of HALO references in the background as well if you notice them..

 

[Mister Wolf]

Microsoft to big publishers.

 

[ManaByte]

TV TV TV

 

[reksveks]

This is kinda the least surprising news though. We kinda knew this and it was good to get confirmation, just need proper timelines. I will move some of my excess controllers to my parents so i can hijack their tv and play games if I could.

 

[Punished Miku]

I think he shouldve just pointed to their $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda and ended the video.

In fact just talking about why gaming is important to Microsoft plants doubts in people's minds like why is this even being discussed. Imagine if Nintendo CEO tried to explain why gaming is important.

MS was all-in the moment they bought zenimax. Anyone who needs further convincing is not worth convincing.

Nah, this is still significant to hear from the actual CEO of MS. We usually just hear from Phil.

It's good that he's getting involved.

 

[lh032]

honest question, have you tried Stadia or any streaming service? Sometimes it works flawlessly and it's no worse than playing on a TV with moderate game mode input lag. xCloud is hit or miss depending on connection + running off One S blades, but Stadia is perfect to me. I just don't care for the service model.

Besides convenience, i dont wanna rely on internet to play video games, a slight disruption on the streaming will be very noticeable for me but thats my personal preference.
And yea i cant stand input lag on TV (non game mode), thats why I game on monitor ,i got used to the least input delay.

 

[Kuranghi]

Hell yeah. Imagine every major TV brand coming with Xcloud built and a remote button like they do Netflix and Prime Video. Even Sony TVs. That's the end goal.

The only issue I can see is that apps (on the 3 big brands) generally run in a custom picture mode that prioritises image quality over input lag, as long as the Game Pass app can force the TV into game mode or something similar it should be fine though.

You don't want 80ms-150ms on top of the streaming lag, that would probably be unplayable for anything except turn-based games.

 

[FunkMiller]

...seems like they're just talking about an app in TV UIs, so not that much of a big deal. Amazon will probably be doing exactly the same with Luna sooner or later.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

This is kinda the least surprising news though. We kinda knew this and it was good to get confirmation, just need proper timelines. I will move some of my excess controllers to my parents so i can hijack their tv and play games if I could.

Dream world where I can visit my in-laws and game on their smart TV with nothing but a controller.

 

[TBiddy]

Look, I love Big Daddy Spencer for literally bringing the brand back to life, but all this puffery about 'we hate console wars', 'games are about friends and empathy', and 'democratizing gaming' is just the biggest pile of bullshit. If you read through the lines, what's really being said is that Microsoft realized it couldn't compete solely on hardware and exclusives alone, so it leveraged its software and networking competencies to challenge the competition in a way that it couldn't compete. What's being said is just a nice way to make themselves feel good about making truckloads of cash.

Example:
Puffery: WE CARE ABOUT INCLUSIVITY IN OUR GAMES.
Truth: We'd like to expand the target market demographics to increase overall revenue.

The unfortunate truth about corporations is that they'll say anything to increase revenue. "For the players", "Games are about friends" and shit like that. They don't care. They exist to make money.

 

[Alx]

Remember when people said the same thing about Xbox One?

Or PS4. Sony was the one pushing game streaming at the start of the previous generation.

 

[lh032]

Input delay shouldn't be a problem. There's already a huge input delay in most console games and people don't even know about it. Add another two frames or so and it's not a big difference at all.

err no, that is not true. I can definitely sense the difference, I played on TV game mode and non game mode, i prefer to game on monitor, big difference for me.

 

[TBiddy]

TV TV TV

Do you feel better about yourself now?

 

[Bernd Lauert]

The unfortunate truth about corporations is that they'll say anything to increase revenue. "For the players", "Games are about friends" and shit like that. They don't care. They exist to make money.

This. It's like Adidas telling us in to consume less in their ads. A bunch of bullshit.

 

[mejin]

I think he shouldve just pointed to their $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda and ended the video.

In fact just talking about why gaming is important to Microsoft plants doubts in people's minds like why is this even being discussed. Imagine if Nintendo CEO tried to explain why gaming is important.

MS was all-in the moment they bought zenimax. Anyone who needs further convincing is not worth convincing.

Looking at their sink or swim situation...they will continue to work on convincing people.

They need to do it since they don't have anything ready right now.

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

are you sure you guys are......I mean its been how many months since your new console has released and you haven't managed to release one first party game.....thats like me saying "I'm all in with your child education" and yet i havent showed up to work yet.....at all.......

 

[Bernd Lauert]

are you sure you guys are......I mean its been how many months since your new console has released and you haven't managed to release one first party game.....thats like me saying "I'm all in with your child education" and yet i havent showed up to work yet.....at all.......

Games are coming later this year. You can relax.

 

[Mr.ODST]

are you sure you guys are......I mean its been how many months since your new console has released and you haven't managed to release one first party game.....thats like me saying "I'm all in with your child education" and yet i havent showed up to work yet.....at all.......

Or you know, games arnt ready yet since they made a lot of acquisitions they cant just pull AAA titles within a year / 2 years

They were very open about that from the start unlike some companies

 

[TBiddy]

This. It's like Adidas telling us in to consume less in their ads. A bunch of bullshit.

Exactly. Also, it's comforting in a way to see the concerned users already appearing.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

err no, that is not true. I can definitely sense the difference, I played on TV game mode and non game mode, i prefer to game on monitor, big difference for me.

People measured controller input delay. RDR2 has something like 10 frames of delay. That's insanely high and an order of magnitude worse than whatever an internet connection would add to the delay.

 

[Unknown?]

"Games bring people together", "Games build bridges"
Death Stranding 2 confirmed as XBox exclusive.

If it's playable on my TV or most smart TVs, it isn't exclusive to anything.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Do you ever wonder if Phil Spencer has been involved in managing MS' Pentagon contracts?

It's always the ones you least suspect who drive the knife through your heart. Or in this instance, deliver the ordinance through your kitchen window….

 

[Mister Wolf]

The only issue I can see is that apps (on the 3 big brands) generally run in a custom picture mode that prioritises image quality over input lag, as long as the Game Pass app can force the TV into game mode or something similar it should be fine though.

You don't want 80ms-150ms on top of the streaming lag, that would probably be unplayable for anything except turn-based games.

Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

ALLM lets a game console, PC or other device send a signal to the display which will cause it to automatically switch to a low-latency, low-lag mode for gaming. HDMI 2.1b

www.hdmi.org

Most new TVs have this. LG calls it Instant Game Response.

 

[kyussman]

That 7 billion Bethesda aquisition was a dead giveaway if you ask me.

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

Games are coming later this year. You can relax.

what, Halo, one of their flag ship titles and Jez Corden is already saying its going to be underwhelming and it wont blow anyone away? You do realize then it will be around a whole year launching a new console with no new first party games? Stop capping for them, this is unacceptable. The more you tell them its ok the more it will happen, have people learnt nothing from last generation?