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[CamHostage]

A few people noticed this in the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase stream this morning, I was wondering what people thought of their way of announcing games...

See where the platforms would usually be listed out? This time, Microsoft has used a new "Xbox Consoles" generic label on the title card section of their game announcements. Instead of listing the active Xbox platforms that games might be released for (plus PC, plus "Cloud") and specifying which Xboxes a game will or will not be released for like they used to, MS use this shorthand brand indicator. During the show, it was used in both games that are Xbox Series X|S-exclusive as well as cross-gen games for both Xbox One and Xbox Series.

(For clarity, Scorn is still an Xbox Series-exclusive, same with Forza; Pentiment and Minecraft Legends are cross-gen games for One and Series. Both trailers used the same "Xbox Consoles" label.)

This isn't necessarily new, but it does seem to be a new level of ubiquity. We have already seen publishers announce games as "Coming to Xbox and PlayStation" (which usually means cross-gen, though not always,) so it's not completely new. However, the use of "Xbox Consoles" instead of each platform brand indicator was uniform across this show, and perhaps that is indicative of how platform identification (or lack of identification) will be handled more often in future announcements of games.

So, I was wondering what people thought of this way of announcing games? Are we to the point where it doesn't matter if a game is or is not going to be made for Xbox One, or is the only info needed the Xbox Series X|S release plan and everything else can be dug up in the fine print for those who still care about past-gen? Do you get information (positive or negative) from an announcement when you see all the different platform marks? Has cross-gen/"next-gen"-exclusive become meaningless this gen with the sheer percentage of titles and boundary-pushing quality of top games brought out for both? Is this something that's making it harder for you to understand what's coming out for which platform, or are you unaffected and/or feel this change makes sense now that we're into the second year of these consoles?

 

[azertydu91]

I thought that Scorn was Console launch exclusive...That's what I remembered from that conf, I might be wrong though.

 

[Jennings]

As long as Xbox Consoles includes Xbox Classic and Xbox 360 I don't see the issue. Xbox Consoles is succinct.

 

[Craig of War]

Damn my whole life ive been lied to

 

[CamHostage]

I thought that Scorn was Console launch exclusive...That's what I remembered from that conf, I might be wrong though.

They had that branding too. I'm just talking about the end title screen there, where usually they tell you the platforms a game coming to (alongside the date and some other boilerplate info.) And, it is still that, kind of... just in a vague way without telling everything somebody might want to know.

 

[RoboFu]

Cross gen doesn’t matter as much these days as you guys think.

 

[azertydu91]

They had that branding too. I'm just talking about the end title screen there, where usually they tell you the platforms a game coming to (alongside the date and some other boilerplate info.) And, it is still that, kind of... just in a vague way without telling everything somebody might want to know.

Oh ok because I was thinking that xbox series and previous gen console launch exclusive was way too long but on those screens simple acronyms would probably take about the same space.

 

[Edder1]

I thought this was stupid and will probably confuse people even more.

 

[SlimySnake]

Its brilliant. Give whoever came up with this raise. Ingenious even.

And absolutely disgusting.

 

[Stuart360]

So if they showed a game you liked, but it was also coming to XB1, you wouldnt buy it?, but if you didnt know you would?.

I'd like to say 'slow news day?', but it really hasnt been.

 

[adamsapple]

(FYI, Scorn is still listed as Xbox Series-exclusive, same with Forza; Pentiment and Minecraft Legends are coming to the One as well as Series. Both used the same "Xbox Consoles" label.)

I guess this is one way to homogenize branding.

But I can see that it may be confusing for xbox one owners to see, then upon further research find that a game like Scorn is in-fact *not* releasing on their hardware natively.

 

[wolffy71]

Doesn't matter

 

[CamHostage]

Its brilliant. Give whoever came up with this raise. Ingenious even.

And absolutely disgusting.

Heh, I tried to make my OT even-handed to not steer the conversation too much before putting my opinion in (though then I just put it all out there in the title anyway...) but I don't like it at all either.

If a game is an Xbox One game, don't try to hide it. People can see if it's not amazingly next-gen quality, and if a game does look/play amazingly next-gen but still has a cross-gen downport twin then there's no need to worry about Xbox One (unless you play Xbox One) because you'll be getting the Xbox Series version that's showing the amazingly next-gen content anyway. Tell people what the game is.

 

[azertydu91]

Its brilliant. Give whoever came up with this raise. Ingenious even.

And absolutely disgusting.

 

[Venom Snake]

If the term "Xbox consoles" would always apply to both the current and the previous generation hardware, then i'm all for it. Because why list them all separately?

 

[CrustyBritches]

I think you're reading into it too much, especially concerning Minecraft Legends that's coming out on basically everything, including the Switch.

 

[CamHostage]

I guess this is one way to homogenize branding.

But I can see that it may be confusing for xbox one owners to see, then upon further research find that a game like Scorn is in-fact *not* releasing on their hardware natively.

Maybe with the advent of "Cloud", Microsoft considers it unimportant whether a game is natively available for Xbox One or can be played streaming to Xbox One; all that matters in their point of view is that it's available through the Xbox ecosystem.

We're probably close to that point, in the second year, where the majority of Xbox gamers don't give a damn about Xbox One existing or not existing. (That is, except for the idea that cross-gen hinders next-gen development, which could be discussed, but for the majority of games it doesn't really make a difference since relatively games push those kinds of boundaries.) So for them, "Xbox Consoles" means their Xbox console, which is an Xbox Series console. Even the "Xbox Series" name itself started this trend of reaching towards that homogenization of branding, where this may possibly be the "last generation" of Xbox because everything going forward might just change the minimum requirements, same as PC.

I can't shake the feeling that it still matters to me, though.

 

[Beechos]

Aint this microsoft end game? Their games can be played on anything. While we are not at that point yet ms has been blurring the lines.

 

[CamHostage]

I think you're reading into it too much, especially concerning Minecraft Legends that's coming out on basically everything, including the Switch.

It's the same thing. They're telling you only the information they've deemed pertinent, which is that a game is out for a certain gamer ecosystem. They no longer consider it worthwhile to tell you if it's Xbox One & Xbox Series / PS4&PS5. They just say, "This is on Xbox and PlayStation", and let you dig into the fine print if you need to know which exact Xboxes and PlayStations it is or isn't coming out for, if it matters to you.

Maybe it matters? Maybe it doesn't matter? Maybe we're on the edge of it not mattering for past-gen, and it mattered in the early days of Xbox Series/PS5 but now it's tipped the other way? That's the discussion I started this thread for.

(*Minecraft Legends could have just been labeled, "Coming to Xbox, Windows, Nintendo, PlayStation, etc...", but Switch doesn't have the same multi-gen ecosystem. Yet.)

If the term "Xbox consoles" would always apply to both the current and the previous generation hardware, then i'm all for it. Because why list them all separately?

If it meant the same thing all the time then I agree, nothing to talk about. But here, sometimes it means "Xbox Series & Xbox One", while other times it means "Xbox Series Only".

So it basically doesn't mean anything more than, "This game is for Xbox Series", and then if you want to know if you can play it on your Xbox One (without streaming) or are curious if it's cross-gen, you have to do some digging.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Isnt this all a moot point if MS is pushing that cloud based guff?

 

[sainraja]

Its brilliant. Give whoever came up with this raise. Ingenious even.

And absolutely disgusting.

There is nothing wrong with a game being released across generations. Developers' choice of developing for the latest platform only never goes away; if they know the game they are designing can work across multiple and they have the option to do that, why wouldn't they take it?

 

[mejin]

Game Pass will be the brand in due time.

 

[CamHostage]

Aint this microsoft end game? Their games can be played on anything. While we are not at that point yet ms has been blurring the lines.

We may be close to that line being behind us and blurred out in the rearview horizon. Some people are probably already living in the endgame.

I'm still not there, personally, but I've always had a weird collector's mentality with this where I'm like, Wait, this game is basically an Xbox One game, but they put out an optimized Xbox Series patch but it doesn't feel like a "real" Xbox Series game, I've got both versions installed but it only says one platform on the box, so where do I put this on my shelf?! A pretty pointless thing to agonize about. MS is trying to make Xbox the same as PC, that you don't think about the version of Xbox, you just get the games you want to play. That should be a better future overall, to not have to worry about boxes, but then, it doesn't jive with how consoles have ever worked or been collected before now. We're past the horizon of home video mattering, for example, yet I can still turn a Netflix stream on and see, Oh, this is from a DVD master, they did not switch to the Blu-Ray transfer yet. If you are a stickler for details, the availability of info on those details still matter.

 

[mckmas8808]

This is weird for MS to do.

 

[Airbus Jr]

This means xbox one still included

 

[adamsapple]

This means xbox one still included

Not in all cases, Scorn's twitter feed explicitly only names Series S and X with the trailer from today.

Same for their official pages on Xbox.com for Scorn, FM etc it only mentions the Series consoles.

 

[ACESHIGH]

But MS never said they believed in generations though. I think its fine for now. 2023 games should be too demanding for the Xbone.

 

[Halo2redvsblue]

They're saying Xbox consoles with the games that are in the cloud because remember you can play Xbox series games in the cloud on the Xbox One. That's why I scorn doesn't say Xbox consoles it just says Xbox series s / X because it's not good to be in the cloud.

 

[kyussman]

Xbox consoles is cool......not sure how Scorn is going to run on the 360 but I guess they will just scale the graphics down.

 

[Riky]

You can stream them to Xbox One, it's that simple.

 

[Crane]

People dont realize how much you can scale down a game.

 

[Three]

So if they showed a game you liked, but it was also coming to XB1, you wouldnt buy it?, but if you didnt know you would?.

I'd like to say 'slow news day?', but it really hasnt been.

 

[Shmunter]

Triggered, Triggered to the max here

 

[nikolino840]

Series X and s..no time to do the others

 

[Bernd Lauert]

The Xbox One is increasingly becoming forward compatible, so it really doesn't matter that much, at least for GPU subscribers.

 

[Kimahri]

 

[Godot25]

A few people noticed this in the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase stream this morning, I was wondering what people thought of their way of announcing games...

See where the platforms would usually be listed out? This time, Microsoft has used a new "Xbox Consoles" generic label on the title card section of their game announcements. Instead of listing the active Xbox platforms that games might be released for (plus PC, plus "Cloud") and specifying which Xboxes a game will or will not be released for like they used to, MS use this shorthand brand indicator. During the show, it was used in both games that are Xbox Series X|S-exclusive as well as cross-gen games for both Xbox One and Xbox Series.

(For clarity, Scorn is still an Xbox Series-exclusive, same with Forza; Pentiment and Minecraft Legends are cross-gen games for One and Series. Both trailers used the same "Xbox Consoles" label.)

This isn't necessarily new, but it does seem to be a new level of ubiquity. We have already seen publishers announce games as "Coming to Xbox and PlayStation" (which usually means cross-gen, though not always,) so it's not completely new. However, the use of "Xbox Consoles" instead of each platform brand indicator was uniform across this show, and perhaps that is indicative of how platform identification (or lack of identification) will be handled more often in future announcements of games.

So, I was wondering what people thought of this way of announcing games? Are we to the point where it doesn't matter if a game is or is not going to be made for Xbox One, or is the only info needed the Xbox Series X|S release plan and everything else can be dug up in the fine print for those who still care about past-gen? Do you get information (positive or negative) from an announcement when you see all the different platform marks? Has cross-gen/"next-gen"-exclusive become meaningless this gen with the sheer percentage of titles and boundary-pushing quality of top games brought out for both? Is this something that's making it harder for you to understand what's coming out for which platform, or are you unaffected and/or feel this change makes sense now that we're into the second year of these consoles?

I slightly get why Microsoft is doing this. Because technically, you can play Series X/S only games on Xbox One thanks to game streaming. If you are GPU subscriber of course. But honestly, I don't like it that much.

Is it that big of a problem to replace Xbox Consoles with Series/One in case of multiplatform or Series in case of next-gen only games?

 

[Hezekiah]

The Xbox One is increasingly becoming forward compatible, so it really doesn't matter that much, at least for GPU subscribers.

Well...it does if you don't enjoy lag.

 

[ToadMan]

Well xbone x and series s are pretty close in performance.

So if you’re gonna make it for the s you can port it to the bone x and if you can get it to the bone x then the bone is within reach too.

But scorn - that is a Xsex/s exclusive purely for marketing back before launch. That will end up being runnable on just about anything judging by what “gameplay” (ok a few seconds of walking sim looking stuff) we’ve seen so far.

It’s also the game that will make the medium look like a triple AAA masterpiece which was also a convenient marketing exclusive back before launch.

I think MS and the devs are going through the motions to get this out the door and complete their contract and then it’ll be forgotten about - if it really won’t be available on last gen then that’s just out of lack of interest, not technical limitations.

 

[Yoboman]

Is this playable on Windows XP though?