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[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

They are all Rare employees.

Ah well, there it is. Probably obvious by now I don't keep up with what's going on in dev teams, unless someone like Schreir writes an expose or something xD

 

[Bernkastel]

It's a great idea from a consumer perspective but it's not very realistic. They can't remove the key component that makes people currently sub, add in a product not as many people want - or can use, reduce the price and expect to bring in anywhere near as much revenue. If they make online play free then they need to replace that revenue stream with one which will make them more money.

xCloud needs some integration into the Live membership scheme, and there will likely be a shake-up or new tiers of Gold/GP. Costs in general will go up for consumers if you want it though, with sweeteners like the $1 upgrade deal for GPU to encourage adoption.

Now xCloud is included with Game Pass Ultimate. All thats left is to get rid of gold.

 

[Pantz]

Probably already posted somewhere but the first 20 demos for the Game Fest have been revealed. Not sure of the official source but TrueAchievements has a nice Xbox Summer Game Fest hub with a list of the demos and will have links to the store to download them later.

Xbox Summer Game Fest

Xbox Summer Game Fest - all the latest news, demos, and information for the Xbox Summer Game Fest demos.

www.trueachievements.com

So far a bunch of indies.

 

[DrDamn]

Now xCloud is included with Game Pass Ultimate. All thats left is to get rid of gold.

And reduce GPU price by £7 a month ...

 

[Bernkastel]

And reduce GPU price by £7 a month ...

?

 

[DrDamn]

?

The original tweet was remove Gold and launch xCloud for $4 a month. GPU is £11 a month and actually $15 a month, so to be $4 you'd need them to reduce it by $11.

Gold is a massive revenue stream for them. It's not going to become free until they can replace that subs scheme with something else with similar numbers.

 

[pesaddict]

 

[Bernkastel]

Dont post J Singh tweets here.

 

[Nikana]

Now xCloud is included with Game Pass Ultimate. All thats left is to get rid of gold.

At the very least it's time for it evolve. As they get more people off of gold and into ultimate, it's tile to change what Gold gets the consumer.

 

[DrDamn]

GamePass or GamePassUltimate? Article says latter Tweet says former - but guessing that's more to do with tagging the GamePass twitter.

At the very least it's time for it evolve. As they get more people off of gold and into ultimate, it's tile to change what Gold gets the consumer.

Agreed, but they are still a little ways off. GamePass subs are 10m, Gold must be ~35-40m? They need to get more onto Gold + GamePass with a good ongoing adoption rate and then they can think about making Gold itself cheaper / free to get more people into the eco-system. I doubt they have the numbers showing free gold would attract enough people to offset the loss yet. Companies like big predictable revenue streams like subscriptions too, so the shift has to be to other subs rather than just relying on additional game purchase revenue.

 

[Nikana]

GamePass or GamePassUltimate? Article says latter Tweet says former - but guessing that's more to do with tagging the GamePass twitter.



Agreed, but they are still a little ways off. GamePass subs are 10m, Gold must be ~35-40m? They need to get more onto Gold + GamePass with a good ongoing adoption rate and then they can think about making Gold itself cheaper / free to get more people into the eco-system. I doubt they have the numbers showing free gold would attract enough people to offset the loss yet. Companies like big predictable revenue streams like subscriptions too, so the shift has to be to other subs rather than just relying on additional game purchase revenue.

For sure it's not there yet but the value isn't being seen much anymore. GWG feels a bit moot at this point with GP out there. I don't think many would be upset I'd GWG disappeared to get different benefits.

 

[DrDamn]

For sure it's not there yet but the value isn't being seen much anymore. GWG feels a bit moot at this point with GP out there. I don't think many would be upset I'd GWG disappeared to get different benefits.

Oh yeah definitely. Can't remember the last time I was excited for a GwG title. There are normally 3 or 4 GP titles I want to play though.

 

[Nikana]

Oh yeah definitely. Can't remember the last time I was excited for a GwG title. There are normally 3 or 4 GP titles I want to play though.

And sometimes there's been cross where the games have been in both. Seems redundant.

I'd even take free movies at the point over games.

 

[Bernkastel]

See the Future of Xbox on July 23 on the Xbox Games Showcase - Xbox Wire

The day you’ve been waiting for is nearly here: On Thursday, July 23 at 9 a.m. PT, we’ll be giving you a closer look at the future of gaming with the Xbox Games Showcase, including world premieres and updated looks at some of the games we’ve already revealed. And yes, that includes your...

news.xbox.com

1080p/60fps livestream and 4K/60fps VoD immediately after

On the Xbox YouTube channel, live language support for the Xbox Games Showcase will include Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Arabic translations.

 

[Bernkastel]

Around a hour

 

[Dee_Dee]

If they can just knock the game showcase out of the park then I will be there day one. I’ve liked almost everything Microsoft has been saying/doing so far.

 

[Bernkastel]

Microsoft discontinues Xbox One X and Xbox One S digital edition ahead of Series X launch

Microsoft is keeping the Xbox One S around for a little longer

www.theverge.com

 

[SEGA_2012]

I am really happy that they are keeping the Xbox One S.

 

[Bernkastel]

 

[Bernkastel]

 

[Bernkastel]

Paying to play online is going away soon.

 

[ZywyPL]

I am really happy that they are keeping the Xbox One S.

Why? Other than the GPU and RAM it's basically the same console as 1X, so IMO they should either keep or discontinue both.

Paying to play online is going away soon.

I don't thinks so, the 1 and 3 month options are still there, so it looks like they are trying either A) boost their revenue from XBL Gold, or B) politely push people into GP Ultimate plan. Or a mix of both.

 

[Bernkastel]

I don't thinks so, the 1 and 3 month options are still there, so it looks like they are trying either A) boost their revenue from XBL Gold, or B) politely push people into GP Ultimate plan. Or a mix of both.

Paying to play online will never be tied to Game Pass Ultimate. If Game Pass is the only sub, then that will go away.

 

[ZywyPL]

Paying to play online will never be tied to Game Pass Ultimate. If Game Pass is the only sub, then that will go away.

But it already has XBL Gold included.

 

[Bernkastel]

But it already has XBL Gold included.

Yup it has. But there will never be a scenario where the only option to play online is to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate.

 

[ZywyPL]

Yup it has. But there will never be a scenario where the only option to play online is to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate.

Well you never know, I actually can imagine MS bundling everything together into one subscription plan, xCloud just got included for free, so can GP in the future, so anyone at their ecosystem would get access to all of the services they are pushing so strongly by default.

 

[Bernkastel]

Well you never know, I actually can imagine MS bundling everything together into one subscription plan, xCloud just got included for free, so can GP in the future, so anyone at their ecosystem would get access to all of the services they are pushing so strongly by default.

How many people actually subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate ? You cant force an entire platform to use a subscription. Game Pass is always an option, not the core. This just does not make any sense.

 

[Deleted member 775630]

Why? Other than the GPU and RAM it's basically the same console as 1X, so IMO they should either keep or discontinue both.

Because the price of Lockhart will be around the price of Xbox One X. What is the point of that console knowing that Lockhart is more powerful and will play all the games that Xbox One X could play? The reason why Xbox One S does still exist is because it's much cheaper.

Well you never know, I actually can imagine MS bundling everything together into one subscription plan, xCloud just got included for free, so can GP in the future, so anyone at their ecosystem would get access to all of the services they are pushing so strongly by default.

I can actually see this too, but I hope they don't do this. Will be difficult to properly explain.

 

[Bernkastel]

Because the price of Lockhart will be around the price of Xbox One X. What is the point of that console then knowing that Lockhart is more powerful and will play all the games that Xbox One X could play?

Actually Series X will be priced around 500 USD, same as Xbox One X. Xbox One S will get really cheap.

 

[ZywyPL]

Actually Series X will be priced around 500 USD, same as Xbox One X. Xbox One S will get really cheap.

Exactly, so Lockhart would be fighting against 1S, which doesn't make any sense IMO. Unless they ditched the idea of multiple Scarlett SKUs and there will be just Series X and One S on the market.

 

[Bernkastel]

Exactly, so Lockhart would be fighting against 1S, which doesn't make any sense IMO. Unless they ditched the idea of multiple Scarlett SKUs and there will be just Series X and One S on the market.

Xbox One S will go down to the price range of below 200.

 

[Deleted member 775630]

Actually Series X will be priced around 500 USD, same as Xbox One X. Xbox One S will get really cheap.

Official price of the Xbox One X isn't $500 anymore, right? Didn't that drop already to $350-$400. But that's beside the point. Lockhart will be more powerful and cheaper, so there is just no use for the Xbox One X anymore if it's priced that high.

What I think that Microsoft will end up with is:
Xbox One S -> $179
Lockhart -> $299
Xbox Series X -> $449-$499 (depends on Sony's pricing)

 

[ZywyPL]

How many people actually subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate ? You cant force an entire platform to use a subscription. Game Pass is always an option, not the core. This just does not make any sense.

If it's gonna be replacement for Gold then everyone will have it. They would have to adjust the price obviously, but nothing is impossible. Like I said, they already included xCloud for free, so there's nothing stopping them for including GP into Gold, with maybe a slight price bump.

Xbox One S will go down to the price range of below 200.

Can it really go that low? Unless they make a 7nm-based SKU they would have to be selling it with a loss, which obviously is not a good plan. But then again, current Xbox doesn't sell that well, so they can probably afford that,

 

[Bernkastel]

If it's gonna be replacement for Gold then everyone will have it. They would have to adjust the price obviously, but nothing is impossible. Like I said, they already included xCloud for free, so there's nothing stopping them for including GP into Gold, with maybe a slight price bump.

No, people wont just switch to a more expensive sub. It makes more sense for Microsoft to get rid of it then to force it through another sub. Why would you want to limit online play through Game Pass ?

 

[ZywyPL]

No, people wont just switch to a more expensive sub. It makes more sense for Microsoft to get rid of it then to force it through another sub. Why would you want to limit online play through Game Pass ?

But if it's the same price then why not?

 

[Bernkastel]

But if it's the same price then why not?

And they will not make it cheaper. Why merge things like xCloud into Game Pass Ultimate instead of standard Game Pass then?

 

[ZywyPL]

And they will not make it cheaper. Why merge things like xCloud into Game Pass Ultimate instead of standard Game Pass then?

Then need to test the grounds I think. But still, I believe that couple of years from now all the services they provide will be included into one package/plan, that that's their long-term, ultimate goal. Time will tell.

 

[Bernkastel]

Then need to test the grounds I think. But still, I believe that couple of years from now all the services they provide will be included into one package/plan, that that's their long-term, ultimate goal. Time will tell.

I am not denying that. Gold is not necessarily perceived as a service because it is cheap, people just pay that price to play online. Gold deals and free games may be merged into GPU, but you cant force a market to suddenly pay a sub that they are not willing it. If there are so many incentives to subscribe to Game Pass, why keep the incentive to subscribe to another service?

 

[ZywyPL]

[...] but you cant force a market to suddenly pay a sub that they are not willing it.

Well MS with XBL on X360 proved they can. Some people chose PS3 solely because of that, but as statistics clearly show, most people just sucked it up and paid for P2P multiplayer. And I'm sure they'd do it again, especially if they would get some actual value/service out of it.

 

[DrDamn]

Paying to play online is going away soon.

You are starting to make me a believer. A shift to just tiers of GamePass:

1. GamePass Cloud - Just cloud
2. GamePass - Just console?
3. GamePass PC - Just PC?
4. GamePass Ultimate - All platforms (Console + PC + ?) and Cloud gaming

I can even see 2 and 3 combining. It's a cross platform service.

Because the price of Lockhart will be around the price of Xbox One X. What is the point of that console knowing that Lockhart is more powerful and will play all the games that Xbox One X could play? The reason why Xbox One S does still exist is because it's much cheaper.

How are we thinking Lockhart is supporting X1X titles if the RAM is a lot smaller? I get that cunning trickery could save a fair bit with frame buffers being 1080p rather than 4K - but will that work with all games? Or in terms of b/c does Lockhart just run X1 titles as an X1S would?

 

[Deleted member 775630]

How are we thinking Lockhart is supporting X1X titles if the RAM is a lot smaller? I get that cunning trickery could save a fair bit with frame buffers being 1080p rather than 4K - but will that work with all games? Or in terms of b/c does Lockhart just run X1 titles as an X1S would?

Those games are already made for base Xbox One so I guess that Lockhart will run the Xbox One S version of the game. You don't really need those 4K textures if your output will be 1080p.

 

[Bernkastel]

Well MS with XBL on X360 proved they can. Some people chose PS3 solely because of that, but as statistics clearly show, most people just sucked it up and paid for P2P multiplayer. And I'm sure they'd do it again, especially if they would get some actual value/service out of it.

Xbox is not the dominant platform, so they cant force anything. Forcing people to pay a more expensive sub for paying to play online will never happen.

You are starting to make me a believer.

We are speculating here.

 

[ZywyPL]

Xbox is not the dominant platform, so they cant force anything. Forcing people to pay an expensive sub for paying to play online will never happen.
We are speculating here.

They weren't the dominant platform back when X360 launched either. But if they want to unify their service(s) across consoles, PCs, tablets, smartphones, TVs etc. then that's the way to do it, because aiming for a service that's platform-free only to fragment it between the devices doesn't make much sense, especially from the consumer point of view. Netflix or Spotify wouldn't work/succeed if you had to buy separate subscription for your TV, phone, laptop etc. and MS is clearly trying to mimic their business model for gaming.

 

[Bernkastel]

They weren't the dominant platform back when X360 launched either. But if they want to unify their service(s) across consoles, PCs, tablets, smartphones, TVs etc. then that's the way to do it, because aiming for a service that's platform-free only to fragment it between the devices doesn't make much sense, especially from the consumer point of view.

Why do MMOs now cant introduce sub like WoW? Paying to play online for popular games(at that time Halo 2 for Xbox) was norm back then. People will still pay for it because they have accepted it. Most people will not suddenly pay for a more expensive sub then other platforms for playing online in a non-dominant platform in the current landscape.

 

[Bernkastel]

You are starting to make me a believer. A shift to just tiers of GamePass:

1. GamePass Cloud - Just cloud
2. GamePass - Just console?
3. GamePass PC - Just PC?
4. GamePass Ultimate - All platforms (Console + PC + ?) and Cloud gaming

I can even see 2 and 3 combining. It's a cross platform service.

There will be only one - Game Pass Ultimate. I wont be surprised if standard Game Pass is removed from Series X.

 

[Bernkastel]

 

[Bernkastel]

 

[Bernkastel]

nikolino840 I dont post in that thread. I recommend posting all Xbox related news/rumors here.

Found on Twitter..i don't know anything else
Bernkastel

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethljackson/

I dont know what this shit is about.

Info here is Vague (purposely), but it will be worth it when all is revealed!

If nothing is revealed in July 23, then he is bluffing. And I am sure he is bluffing.

 

[Kev Kev]

holy shit, now thats an OT Bernkastel

i feel like xbox has come a long way since that E3 where they tried to announce online all the time and everything digital. maybe im way off on this (i admittedly dont keep up with console news and all that) but it seems like xbox switched from being massively anti-consumer to extremely consumer friendly over these last 10 years. looking forward to seing what game pass evolves into over the next generation.

 

[DrDamn]

nikolino840 I dont post in that thread. I recommend posting all Xbox related news/rumors here.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethljackson/

I dont know what this shit is about.

If nothing is revealed in July 23, then he is bluffing.

The rest of his profile indicates he was previously at UBI Montreal working on AC and FC franchises. Yet there is no Ken/Kenneth Jackson listed here:

Assassin's Creed: Origins credits (PlayStation 4, 2017) - MobyGames

The official game credits for Assassin's Creed: Origins released on PlayStation 4 in 2017. The credits include 4,479 people.

www.mobygames.com

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey credits (PlayStation 4, 2018) - MobyGames

The official game credits for Assassin's Creed: Odyssey released on PlayStation 4 in 2018. The credits include 4,584 people.

www.mobygames.com

Or here:

Far Cry 5 credits (PlayStation 4, 2018) - MobyGames

The official game credits for Far Cry 5 released on PlayStation 4 in 2018. The credits include 4,972 people.

www.mobygames.com

I'm gonna say bluff.