Unfortunately that is impossible with current technology without it either costing 2K or having a battery life of ten minutes :p
Most likely if Microsoft does do a handheld in the future, it will have some crazy upscaling tech behind it.
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Xbox Game Studios + Bethesda + ABK |OT30| Why So Series X|S?
- Thread starter Andrei Rublev
- Start date
- Microsoft OT
Unfortunately that is impossible with current technology without it either costing 2K or having a battery life of ten minutes :p
Most likely if Microsoft does do a handheld in the future, it will have some crazy upscaling tech behind it.
The UK and US performance is actually staggering when you take a proper look at it. 2023 was really poor performance that should not have happened in a year that was touted as one of Xbox's best. Redfall, Starfield, Forza Motorsport, Age of Empires IV on console. They had a lot going for them.
Not a great year tbh. Out of that list you basically have Starfield and even that wasn't as hot as it should have been.
As much as I love Starfield, the only game on that list that I'd say broadly met or exceeded expectations is Age of Empires IV.
I didn't add Hi Fi Rush because that was surprise game but that's not a bad lineup on paper.
I think Redfall being a huge dud and Forza really disappointing hurt them a lot. I don't think Hifi or AoE were ever going to move consoles. Starfield did what it could, but I think we could agree that it didn't have the staying power of a Skyrim or even Fallout 4, which is what would have been needed to get console sales back on track.
2022 was actually half decent sales wise, mostly coasting off the great 2021, and the ABK news. The protracted ABK drama, and the lag from the absolute dearth of releases really sunk them last year. So far this year has not been encouraging either on the sales front. Hopefully the games hit and they can overcome the deflated public sentiment about the brand to get it back on track.
I'm very skeptical of anything he says after a lot of his insider info turned out to be total fiction.
They need a zeitgeist exclusive. The problem is after Starfield I don't know what else has that mass appeal. Judging from the Fallout pandemonium, it's clear Bethesda has that capability but we're 4 years away from TES6.
"very early preliminary" and "could fall apart" are red flags if you ask me.
Agree.
To put it into really simple language, I think what Microsoft don't seem to have grasped is that first party stuff cannot be less than "really good."
Halo Infinite is Imo, really good. But their reveal was less than really good and the game was crucified for it. To this day, that set the tone for discussion around Halo. I still see people saying it's broken, a dumpster fire, etc. etc. I had plenty of fun with campaign. I think the multiplayer is excellent. One chance to create a first impression.
Microsoft shouldn't have allowed Bethesda to put out Redfall. Whatever the developer/publisher, if it's Microsoft owned, it needs to be really good.
What Microsoft have allowed to happen is for people to not be sure if their first party output will be any good. Big mistake.
I started one, but I figured after 230+ hours in, I needed a break.
Yeah, agree. Preparing the ground to say "yeah, they couldn't agree terms" perhaps?
Let's be honest here - it's difficult to imagine a situation where Xbox wouldn't make it very easy to get the game on Xbox if Sony were amenable. Essentially, if Sony were after Xbox sales, then it would be happening. So, if it's got to the stage of being leaked, it's happening.
So, it's not happening, would be my take.
Fable has that capability.
Also, the collective effect of lots of very good games releasing one after another has that capability. It's not just about one game and it's actually unrealistic to put all the hopes on one game.
I'm not surprised Starfield wasn't the biggest thing, but I AM surprised that Fallout has dominated the charts off the back of the TV show. I wonder if it's taken Microsoft by surprise - you'd think having more than a next Gen update would be ideal. I would expect that if they'd had any idea of how well received the show would have been then a full remake of New Vegas could have been done. It's a fan favourite, but not as much of a mainline game (I haven't played it). So, perhaps that would have been a bit of a moment.
I think Blade is too far out and Indy is unfortunately coming off the back of a disappointing movie.
But, if Hellblade, Indy and Avowed review really well and Microsoft don't tell everyone to wait and buy them on PlayStation (and by that I mean offer assurances that those games are Xbox exclusive) then I think that's a decent lineup. Tell everyone you can play all of them AND COD on Gamepass and I don't see why more people wouldn't be buying Xbox hardware.
The thing with Gamepass is that it becomes more and more of a good deal as the time goes by as more and more Xbox/Bethesda/Activision games get added forever to the service.
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I'm iffy on Fable being that kind of game. It's been 14 years since anything Fable released. I don't doubt it will be great it's just I don't think it's gonna be that level. When I talk about zeitgeist I mean a game that captures the industry. Like BG3 did, or Wild Hunt. Something you can't ignore, that won't let you ignore it. Fallout 5 and Elder Scrolls 6 will make the industry pay attention. Basically too big to fail status like CoD.
And yes multiple great games can do that. But right now we need a shot in the arm. It only takes one game to sell a system. Then the rest keep you there.
We ain't seeing Blade until next gen but I 100% agree. Blade is just cool. Indiana Jones is a dark horse. If it's exceptional I think it can be huge this fall. But Disney crapping out Dial of Destiny isn't helping us
I agree with the crux of your point but I actually think they do know this. Phil's Xcast interview showed that (at least to me) they understand that it's not acceptable. The problem in these cases has been execution, not intention (in Redfall's case, they were too hands off for too long and by the time they understood the state of the game, it was too late to fix it). It's obviously still not acceptable and deserves criticism, but their goal is very much to make great games (and I still think the majority of their output is to the expected level of quality).
I'm also not sure it's entirely fair to put Redfall and Forza in the same camp. I understand the sentiment is similar (at least here), but Forza's reception was orders of magnitude better than Redfall's.
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Alemã que fala português, atriz de Hellblade II quer dublar o game - Jovem Nerd
Conheça Melina Juergens, a voz e rosto por trás da protagonista Senua, e sua inusitada conexão com o Brasil
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I disagree that it only takes one game to sell a system (that CAN happen, and there are examples, but it's not something you can rely on) but I do agree about the shot in the arm.
I really do believe Fable can do it. It's not just about the history of the franchise, it's about what Fable IS. It's an open world fantasy action RPG with very high AAA/AAAA production values, a major focus on story and melee combat. That's about as mainstream as it gets, especially in terms of appealing to fans of Sony games. The fervor for Fable is huge any time they release anything. Plus, there are lots of current PS players who were 360 players back in the day who loved Fable and would buy an Xbox for it (at least in the UK, I understand it's anecdotal but I know lots of people for whom that's the case). Perfect Dark is in the same camp, where a full reboot like this gives it the opportunity to reach further than the originals ever did and to become a major franchise. But obviously the most important thing is that the games are great.
I also think it's hard to predict what games will hit the mainstream. No one would have guessed Helldivers 2 would do it. For all we know, something like State of Decay 3 will hit that level.
Agree with you on Forza - though I don't play racing games, I am under the impression that fundamentally it works, but that people didn't like the progression system and it unfortunately came off second best in a lot of comparisons with GT. If the latter is incorrect then that's proof of the power of narrative setting online discourse.
The Redfall thing is weird though, they had an internal review simulation that predicted decent scores. And when I played the first few minutes of it I thought "this is pretty good?!" And then the enemy AI revealed itself.
It's a shame as the environments I saw, the setting, etc. All seemed pretty good. You can imagine that someone was saying "well, we'll fix this, and this will work like this" but as with so many games it seems like the work continues after release. I think Redfall could have been a decent game with more dev time. I'm sure there were various politics in play with regard to publishing and who's reporting to whom, but as you say, Microsoft probably need to be looking after their entire brand and being more hands on with checking basic levels of completion have been achieved.
It's a shame though, a lot of people will have worked really hard on Redfall, and I'm sure a lot of people in the industry would value their experience in a way that few outside the industry would realise.
Yeah, it was a mess and I think Xbox would be the first to admit that (as Phil essentially did). Arkane Austin got short changed and I hope they've learned lessons for the future. A Forza in the 80s isn't ideal but it's also not diabolical, whereas an Arkane game in the 50s is totally unacceptable.
And that!
I am looking forward to Fable, But i am also realistic. The game wont be perfect. Its the first time for them making that kind of game.
So that will always influence it abit. I am always comparing it to Horizon Zero Dawn. Good game but some issues you learn from for a second game
So that will always influence it abit. I am always comparing it to Horizon Zero Dawn. Good game but some issues you learn from for a second game
Of course but Horizon Zero Dawn still sold 20 million copies.
I do agree that Horizon is a good comparison though (very different games but there are key similarities).
Fallout and TES should not be exclusive anyway. Too big IPs and communities like COD, the ABK games and Minecraft (and I think Bethesda wouldn't be happy based on Pete Hines' email back in the day). It would almost kill those IPs on console outside of the USA.
Although it probably won't be anyway based on the ongoing pivot to multiplatform.
They do, but Blade is also distinctly lacking in any kind of exclusivity announcement so it's not a given it'll be exclusive.
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Big single player games are the bread and butter of exclusives. Giving up on those means leaving the console industry. Not saying it won't happens just that it'll go hand in hand with giving up on Xbox. So I hope it doesn't happen.
I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but the gaming market is changing so much.
Single player games are less successful than ever, financially. Much risker too. They are also much less of an incentive to choose one eco-system than another. it is much more about where your friends play because multi-player games are so, so dominant in the market. COD, FIFA etc. Spiderman 2 sales were basically rigged in terms of numerbs as it was bundled with the console.
There is a market correction going on ATM where platform holders/publishers are desperately trying to minimise the risks associated with single player game development. Some are trying to Sellotape on GAAS elements to them (e.g. WB - and usually failing), others are trying to cross subsidise with GAAS income (Sony - Helldivers, other GAAS attempts all over the place), whilst Xbox is trying to diversity what it sells and where (smaller AAA games, smaller passion projects, selling big AAA multi-platform).
As such, big, tentpole AAA games acting as loss leaders to get you into an eco-system simply isn't a strong strategy for the future any more.
90 minutes of "Je ne comprends pas" with Jeux Video sounds fantastic. All jokes aside I don't think European outlets really have access to Phil Spencer apart from Windows Central.
Agree with you.
It's the age of service games on any device possible.
Mobile gaming took a big piece of the cake in recent years so console gaming became stagnant.
For Multiplayer games the PC is slowy gaining more and more popularitiy because of the high frames and overall editorial advantages.
With all the data platform holders collect nowdays they also have a far better idea of the market needs than 20 years ago when noone really knew if players actually played the game they bought or how much time they actually spent with the game.
As long as the platform holders keep confimring future hardware noone should be worried about anything imo.
You are over estimating the impact of bundles on software sales. Spider-Man 2, EA Sports 24 and Call of Duty all have had PS5 bundles and all chart highly for individual units in Circana and European sales charts. Xbox will still invest in AAA Single player games.
View: https://x.com/chris_dring/status/1611353657626206209?s=46
They're not gonna keep Elder Scrolls and Fallout exclusive. Would be way to much investment in the console for them. We already saw them refusing to commit to Starfield being exclusive, on top of the rumors of it being ported to Playstation - which I have zero doubt is happening - and once that happens, why would they keep even bigger franchises exclusive?
I think the success of HZD points more to the momentum that Sony has behind them - HZD is dull, IMO.
Pentiment and Grounded were my two favorite games of 2022, and Hi-Fi Rush was way up there in 2023. But I know what you mean. They haven't been really great at delivering the sort of giant AAAA experience that wins all the awards. (It doesn't help that one of their most consistently well-regarded series, Forza Horizon -- which I'd argue actually is the industry leading driving game this side of Mario Kart -- is in a genre that apparently doesn't count for that sort of thing.) Starfield was supposed to be that, for them, but sort of wasn't. And the less said about Redfall, the better.
They really need their next few games to be great. And I'm not just talking about, like, Ara and Flight Simulator 2024 being great because a lot of people just do not care about those sorts of games. They need Avowed to be great. They need Indiana Jones to be great. They need Fable to be great. People have been waiting so long for them to finally get their studios "in gear" and have more games, and if the games finally do come and are duds that's going to hurt.
The time has come for them to execute.
Yes this is definitely not to say that their titles can't be people's favourite games of the year. Halo Infinite is one of my favourite games of the generation (and almost certainly my most played in terms of hours), but they need universally loved hits that everyone broadly agrees are in the top three best games of each year. They used to have that with the original Gears trilogy, with their deals for Mass Effect and Bioshock, with original IP like Crackdown and with studios like Bungie creating incredible Halo games. But there's a moment late in that generation where they just stopped producing hits and have never truly recovered. Ultimately it's quality control, they now have volume but if your big releases are Quantum Break and Ryse and Halo 5: Guardians and Redfall and Starfield and Crackdown 3 and just broadly okay games then you've got no chance, regardless of the Pentiments and the Hi-Fi Rush's.
I don't think that's a wildly held opinion. If Horizon wasn't appealing to people, it wouldn't be one of Sony's biggest franchises.
Horizon is my favourite PlayStation franchise FWIW.
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They went all in on games for the Kinect and that market disappeared really.
If Starfield goes multiplatform, sure (although that still doesn't mean TES and Fallout will be day and date multiplatform). But if they decide to keep Starfield exclusive (which they may very well decide to do), then there's no reason to think they won't do the same for TES and Fallout.
Thread 'Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has now a 40 FPS mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X.' https://www.resetera.com/threads/av...-40-fps-mode-on-ps5-and-xbox-series-x.851121/
No excuse for Starfield imo. 🫣
No excuse for Starfield imo. 🫣