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[Eddie-Griffin]

Orange Belgium, Microsoft Partner to Launch New Xbox 'Ultra Gaming' Pack

Orange Belgium launches new gaming pack.

www.thefastmode.com

Next week the "Ultra Gaming" pack will be available for Orange Belgium customers thanks to a strategic partnership with Microsoft.

This package includes the Xbox All Access offer: the next-generation Xbox Series S console with a 24-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate which includes hundreds of high-quality games, day one releases and online multiplayer, as well as 5GB additional data for Go subscriptions. This gaming pack is also attractive for gamers who want to explore the benefits of cloud gaming thanks to Orange’s fast and reliable 5G network. With this package, Orange Belgium and Microsoft team up to deliver access to popular games like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Orange Belgium’s new and existing Love subscribers can now enjoy the new gaming pack ‘Ultra Gaming’, which allows gamers to take their gaming experience to the next level. Consisting of the Xbox All Access offer - the Xbox Series S console + 24-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate - and 5GB of additional data for Go subscriptions, the gaming pack offers gamers everything they need to jump into the next generation of gaming.

This subscription invites gamers to play a wide variety of games for €24.99 per month for 24 months, with the first month free of charge (valid from 15/11 until 2/01/2023). The gaming pack makes it possible for video game fans in Belgium to explore the extensive game catalogue offered by Xbox Game Pass Ultimate so they can stream games in real-time in the cloud. On top of these interesting offers, users enjoy a 5G Ultra-Fast connection that offers very high speed (up to 1 Gbps) in 5G areas in Belgium, enhancing their gaming experience even further.

Thanks to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which is included with Xbox All Access, gamers have access to hundreds of high-quality games on PC, console, smartphones and tablets. The offer also includes online multiplayer and EA Play membership.

Additionally, gamers can take pleasure in the advantages of 5G Ultra-Fast speed (up to 1 Gbps) in 5G areas, which makes them fully geared to experience lower latency and high speeds. After its successful 5G demo tour at the seaside last summer, Orange Belgium continues to roll out its 5G network, enabling gamers to experience all the benefits of low latency and high responsiveness.

Christophe Dujardin, CCO at Orange Belgium
We are continuously improving and optimizing the 5G experience for everyone. We’re excited about our partnership with Microsoft as it gives our subscribers the chance to already explore the benefits of 5G in Belgium in their gaming pastime. In the future we want to invest more in cloud gaming powered by strong and reliable 5G networks and we are continuously developing and adapting our 5G offers to enhance the game play of our customers.
Cédric Mimouni, Gaming Business Lead Western Europe at Microsoft
It is a real pleasure to collaborate with Orange Belgium and to offer Xbox All Access to their customers. We want players to have more choice and flexibility in their purchasing options. Xbox All Access makes it easy and affordable to get your choice of console and two years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for one all-inclusive monthly price. It’s the best way to join Xbox.

So for €24.99/month subscribers in Belgium can get access to a special deal that's good all the way till February 1st of next year. They can get the "Ultra gaming pack" which is Xbox 24-month "All Access" installment plan, but the first month will be free so customers will not have to pay for all 24 months but only 23, they will also for no extra charge be able to utilize Orange's 5G network for downloads and online gaming.

This is another partner Microsoft is using t push the All Access payment plan which I think will continue to grow as people look more into affordability options.

For this deal though I'm a bit surprised that it only features the S, but I guess they'll change once the holiday is over and they will add the S to the lineup next year as well.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Once again, should have been Series X. I think MS are underestimating how less Series S demand actually is, relative to Series X. Affordability doesn't mean too much if the value perception in terms of content library isn't there and saturated with the wider market, which is something MS have been struggling with for a few years now. But Series S also suffers from a lack of value perception in terms of long-term performance, when it doesn't cost that much more to look at higher-spec'd options on the market.

They should be looking into ways to cost-reduce Series X production and push it in these kind of deals rather than S. Maybe a Series X with a much smaller capacity SSD, no disc drive, more "normal" internal configuration but still same spec & performance as regular Series X? Honestly that should have probably been the game plan from Day 1.

 

[feynoob]

Once again, should have been Series X. I think MS are underestimating how less Series S demand actually is, relative to Series X. Affordability doesn't mean too much if the value perception in terms of content library isn't there and saturated with the wider market, which is something MS have been struggling with for a few years now. But Series S also suffers from a lack of value perception in terms of long-term performance, when it doesn't cost that much more to look at higher-spec'd options on the market.

They should be looking into ways to cost-reduce Series X production and push it in these kind of deals rather than S. Maybe a Series X with a much smaller capacity SSD, no disc drive, more "normal" internal configuration but still same spec & performance as regular Series X? Honestly that should have probably been the game plan from Day 1.

Take a break friend. Slowly breath. Let the XSS go.

 

[adamsapple]

Take a break friend. Slowly breath. Let the XSS go.

It's really that 'bitch eating crackers' meme come to life with some folks and their grudges against a plastic box.

 

[FearlessBelgian]

BIG NOP

 

[reinking]

They can get the "Ultra gaming pack" which is Xbox 24-month "All Access" installment plan, but the first month will be free so customers will not have to pay for all 12 months but only 11

Am I missing something?

 

[kikkis]

Anybody play with 5G? Is it any good?

 

[Snaggletooth]

Am I missing something?

I don't think so.

 

[DarkMage619]

It's really that 'bitch eating crackers' meme come to life with some folks and their grudges against a plastic box.

XSS almost single handedly brought MS their biggest success this generation. It shows people on this forum don't really know what beings success in this industry.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Take a break friend. Slowly breath. Let the XSS go.

Are y'all allergic to the truth now or what?

FWIW, I don't hate the Series S. It seems like a decent enough piece of kit. But it's going to cause problems for those of us who want to see the Series X pushed to its limits as the generation goes on, and it clearly just does not have the level of demand in the market to satisfy the original mission statement. These are just observations, but I'm not the only one making them.

 

[feynoob]

Are y'all allergic to the truth now or what?

FWIW, I don't hate the Series S. It seems like a decent enough piece of kit. But it's going to cause problems for those of us who want to see the Series X pushed to its limits as the generation goes on, and it clearly just does not have the level of demand in the market to satisfy the original mission statement. These are just observations, but I'm not the only one making them.

Consumers aren't your forum people. They don't care about 4k or whatever. Most of them don't have the TV needed for those systems.

XSS is a cheap console, which is targeted towards those people. The price of the console makes it more appealing.
Not to mention, it's easy to produce for MS.

Ask any hardcore PS fans in which console to get. And they would reply you with xss as gamepass machine.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Consumers aren't your forum people. They don't care about 4k or whatever. Most of them don't have the TV needed for those systems.

XSS is a cheap console, which is targeted towards those people. The price of the console makes it more appealing.
Not to mention, it's easy to produce for MS.

Ask any hardcore PS fans in which console to get. And they would reply you with xss as gamepass machine.

The entire point I'm making is that Series S is underperforming in appealing to those exact people, because the idea was that by having a cheaper alternative available Day 1, the glut of mainstream & casual customers who'd normally wait until the mid point to latter half of a console cycle to buy in, would do so from the get go, and that is A LOT of people.

Much more than what the estimated number of total Series consoles sold (my own estimates, anyhow, which are based on data MS and others have provided) would reflect at this current point in time. 14.5 million sold-through is pretty good for the brand, but it's less impressive when you consider at least 60% of them are Series S units, and Series S is already at the price you'd normally get for a console at the mid-point or latter half of a console generation, where sales for these consoles tend to exponentially grow.

What I'm basically saying is, with MS's strategy and if Series S were fully pulling its weight sales-wise, I'd expect Series sold-through numbers to be closer to 20 million - 25 million, but they aren't. At best, they're at 14.5 million, which would look a lot better if they were 100% Series X units, but they aren't. They're likely at least 60% Series S systems.

XSS almost single handedly brought MS their biggest success this generation. It shows people on this forum don't really know what beings success in this industry.

Again, I don't have an issue with Series S as a "plastic box". My point is that it's underperforming relative to the (implied) mission statement. It was designed to bring in the mainstream and casuals who hold off until the latter half when prices are lower, earlier than usual. It being a cheap entry point to GamePass was intended to be the hook in pulling that off.

But given the sheer amount of such people in the gaming market, compared to where Series sales are actually at, yes, it is underperforming. The regular flash sales, discounts and free game offers even here in America (probably factoring into that $100 - $200 loss per Series console MS mentioned a couple weeks back) are evidence of that.

They're doing those to try and move volumes of unsold Series S systems that have probably backed up the distribution pipeline and maybe even led to a lowering of units being produced until older stock is cleared through to customers (why keep manufacturing at the same or even increased pace when the channels are getting backlogged?).

This has nothing to do with disliking Series S. In fact, I'm saying it theoretically should be doing better than it is, but failures in parts of the current market & platform strategy are probably dragging its appeal down considerably.

 

[feynoob]

The entire point I'm making is that Series S is underperforming in appealing to those exact people, because the idea was that by having a cheaper alternative available Day 1, the glut of mainstream & casual customers who'd normally wait until the mid point to latter half of a console cycle to buy in, would do so from the get go, and that is A LOT of people.

Only forum have a problem with the console.
The general public loves the console. Light and cheap entry for gaming.
That is what you need to understand. You need to seperate forum people, from outside forum people.

Much more than what the estimated number of total Series consoles sold (my own estimates, anyhow, which are based on data MS and others have provided) would reflect at this current point in time. 14.5 million sold-through is pretty good for the brand, but it's less impressive when you consider at least 60% of them are Series S units, and Series S is already at the price you'd normally get for a console at the mid-point or latter half of a console generation, where sales for these consoles tend to exponentially grow.

Its doing the job of expanding their market.
Look at japan. MS managed to beat xbox one (114k-140k) numbers thanks to XSS help. They are almost close to 400k.

What I'm basically saying is, with MS's strategy and if Series S were fully pulling its weight sales-wise, I'd expect Series sold-through numbers to be closer to 20 million - 25 million, but they aren't. At best, they're at 14.5 million, which would look a lot better if they were 100% Series X units, but they aren't. They're likely at least 60% Series S systems.

MS is following their xbox one user count. Just like how PS is following ps4 forcast. That means, MS had 60+k forcast for Xbox series. Planned production around those numbers. The forcast would increase depending on how much they sell per year.
So far, MS cant just print out alot of console right now. They dont have ps4 userbase numbers. XSS cant magically increase those forecast to 100+m.

So far the forcast is 7.5m+ per year. Which actually puts xbox at 15m+. The forcast would get higher, depending on the popularity, and the key market. But right now, MS doesnt have enough markets, which they were able to get during x360.

P.s. We had shortage due to pandemic. Maybe the forcast would get higher, if their production picks the pace.

 

[ahtlas7]

Which has better mobile Wifi service: Orange or Proximus? I need to switch to a Belgian provider soon.

 

[feynoob]

Which has better mobile Wifi service: Orange or Proximus? I need to switch to a Belgian provider soon.

I am not belgian. But this is what I found from the internet. Hope it helps you.

The best multiplayer gaming experience is with Orange​

Orange has broken the two-way statistical tie that existed between it and Proximus in the last report, to win the Games Experience award outright. Orange wins with a score of 73.2 points on a 100 point scale and a lead of around 5.3 points over Proximus and Telenet, which were statistically tied for second place with scores of 67.1-68.6 points. However, our users had a Fair (65-75) experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections, regardless of their choice of operator.

Orange users saw the fastest average upload speeds in Belgium​

Orange is the outright winner of the Upload Speed Experience award, with a score of 12.7 Mbps and a lead of around 2 Mbps over Proximus and Telenet, given their statistically tied scores of 10.4-10.9 Mbps. This is a change from the previous report, when Orange and Proximus were joint winners.

https://www.opensignal.com/reports/... the outright winner,scores of 10.4-10.9 Mbps.

 

[Bloobs]

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Once again, should have been Series X. I think MS are underestimating how less Series S demand actually is, relative to Series X.

or they want more X stock available to sell?

The Series X not being in this bundle is odd only because they usually have both available for each All Access retail partner so they can attract both the casual/Fortnite audience with one and gamers/techies with the other. This is the first time they haven't done it so it's reasonable to believe the reason why it's not here is because they wanted to have as much X stock piled for the holiday as possible.

You keep coming to this demand or lack of value conclusions and it's always against what happened historically or omits other factors.

But it's going to cause problems for those of us who want to see the Series X pushed to its limits as the generation goes on.

You seem to be thinking that the S is upscaling to the X instead of the X downscaling to the S, based on uh

nothing?

Will the Xbox Series S hold back next-gen gaming?

Here’s what’s really going on with the Xbox Series S

www.theverge.com

“We did a lot of analysis of what it would really mean to run a game at 4K with 60fps and then to scale that down to 1440p at 60fps,” says Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s director of Xbox program management, in an interview with The Verge. “The reality is you don’t need as much memory bandwidth because you’re not loading the highest level MIP levels into memory. You don’t need the same amount of memory as well.”
Microsoft believes developers have a number of ways to build Xbox Series X games for 4K resolutions and then downscale them to 1440p for the Series S.

Nothing is being held back.

The entire point I'm making is that Series S is underperforming

No numbers

the idea was that by having a cheaper alternative available Day 1, the glut of mainstream & casual customers who'd normally wait until the mid point to latter half of a console cycle to buy in, would do so from the get go, and that is A LOT of people.

What I'm basically saying is, with MS's strategy and if Series S were fully pulling its weight sales-wise, I'd expect Series sold-through numbers to be closer to 20 million - 25 million, but they aren't.

My point is that it's underperforming relative to the (implied) mission statement.

Still no numbers, and you seem to have imagined the goal and whatever this "mission statement" is,

Xbox Has Always Chased Power. That's Not Enough Anymore

Specs go a long way. But in exclusive interviews with WIRED, the Xbox team explains why they're thinking outside the teraflops.

www.wired.com

“It was a pivot,” says Liz Hamren, head of gaming engineering at Xbox, of Xbox’s dual-console, next-gen strategy. “The truth is that the CPU and I/O performance is roughly equivalent between these two products. It’s really around the resolution.” The $500 Series X falls in line with Xbox’s machismo hardware traditions, while the $300 Series S mirrors a more contemporary understanding of gamers—people less likely to stand open-mouthed in the “4K TV” aisles of Best Buy, Hamren says the $300 price point for the Series S was an early objective. She also wanted people to feel comfortable gaming for just 20 minute sittings

Phil spencer

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer On Series X Launch, Halo Infinite & Bethesda

There’s nothing normal about interviewing Xbox chief Phil Spencer these days.

kotaku.com

First, let’s talk about the S and the X and the fact that Spencer expects the far less hyped Series S to be the bigger long-term hit.

At launch, Spencer expects the X to be the hotter seller, driven by the kinds of early adopters who snatch new consoles. Though he also noted that demand for the new Xboxes and the other new November console, the PlayStation 5, will cause everything to fly off store shelves in the early going.

“I think, over the generation, our expectation would be that price really matters and that you would see the Series S sell more,” Spencer told me.

So no, the mission was never to price the S at $299 and then get 500 million buyers up front, it was intended for those who weren't into 4K, and casuals who weren't that into gaming, or who wanted didn't care about specs and just wanted a decent device to play games here and there for short sessions.

It's very clear based on Phil and Liz among others who were interviewed across 2020 that no one was expecting the S to take off at the start, but it was supposed to gradually get ahead due to it's price of the X through the generation as Microsoft where already counting on price cuts being rare this gen.

The fact that the S has ended up ahead earlier is mostly due to continuing production issues with the X while the S is easier to produce and get stock in the wild. If anything the S is exceeding their original expectations and because of supply issues the X is below. This is obvious reading statements from those at Xbox that the S was less hyped and was expected to be a slow burn so how can it possibly be underperforming? The higher retail stock levels of S compared to the X now is because there was MORE demand than what Microsoft expected and they increased production accordingly so now they can move more units with deals like this.

The amount of distain for the Series S is mindblowing.

 

[Tarin02543]

Which has better mobile Wifi service: Orange or Proximus? I need to switch to a Belgian provider soon.

Just switched to Proximus, they have the most antennas.

 

[Ozriel]

They're doing those to try and move volumes of unsold Series S systems that have probably backed up the distribution pipeline and maybe even led to a lowering of units being produced until older stock is cleared through to customers (why keep manufacturing at the same or even increased pace when the channels are getting backlogged?).

Source?