Ahh, hadn't thought about it being a direct X implementation. Fair enough.
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The question is not if the online multiplayer paywall falls. The question is when.
I think that's why so many are having issues with Sams' prediction. =P
It would be a horrible move to increase the cost of online multiplayer, even if it includes Game Pass.
This would be a bad move. As good as game pass is, forcing it into people would be like Kinect all over again. A lot of gamers just log on to play their one game, call of duty, destiny, fifa or whatever. They are not gunna want to pay for games pass.
However, keep XBL gold and make an XBL platinum? Which has Gold and Gamepass for a discounted rate? That would be sweet.
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If MS wants to, they could get it running. Just not sure they will burn the dev resources for the PS5 version. The majority are already playing MC the way it is. RT will probably just be a nice RT showcase for Series X.
But gold is already 10 dollars a month so you're not paying any extra. If you wanted the option for online free that's not going to happen. Microsoft can only afford to make them 2 for 1 by removing the option to choose one or the other so they can cover the widest amount of users under a single subscription. Having gamepass be 10/month and multiplayer be free is a not realistic.
The scary thing about this prediction is that it would completely destroy all the goodwill Microsoft built up and actually set the next generation back at Xbox One 2013 levels.
That's why I don't see Microsoft even considering that. People think with their wallets first and foremost.
Game Pass basic is already $9.99/month but $120/year. There's no guarantee they give a yearly option of $60/year under this scenario.
Nah. Some people will complain, but that shouldn't be a dealbreaker. Besides, I'm not sure Mojang got a PS5 devkit early, so there's room for a timed exclusive
There would be no price increase, normal Xbox live gold subs would still be a thing. Just that game pass for console would have added benefits.
That's certainly a way to boost the Gamepass userbase. You'd also expect many of them to resub, so it could be a big win for MS.
I think this makes more sense than the $1 deals that are often abused.
The Xbox Games Showcase begins in just 96 hours; in the lead up to the event we are looking at what to expect from each first party studio - today we look at Playground Games.
Founded in 2010, Playground Games has been responsible for the Forza Horizon series since its inception, which has turned into one of Xbox's best series after starting out as a side project. Much like Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon has come out on a biannual basis since the first in 2012, steadily improving with each entry. Forza Horizon 4 (2018), their latest, received a 92 on both Metacritic and Opencritic making it the this generation's highest rated game from XGS. Of all the studios acquired in 2018, Playground Games made the most sense given their close association. However, they've had their sights set on something other than racing, building a second studio in 2017 to construct an open world game. The future is bright as Playground seems set to become one of the premier developers in the world.
During the announcement of the acquisition at E3, Phil mentioned that they would continue to work on Forza Horizon, and would be bringing their open world expertise to an entirely new project. Given that Playground currently has two studios, it seems safe to assume these are the games in production. Forza Horizon has really emerged as something special, and the fifth entry would normally be due out this year. However, with Forza Motorsport getting extra time for their next game, its likely the timeline for Forza Horizon 5 has been pushed out as well. The question is, if it doesn't need the additional time that Forza Motorsport has been granted, would they be willing to release it sooner - or are they willing to wait until potentially 2022 to release one of their best games? And if there is no new Forza this fall, is it possible we see another update to Forza Horizon 4 to coincide with launch of the Series S/X - it doesn't seem that far fetched. While it will be interesting to monitor, what about the location for the new Forza Horizon game? So far they've hit the United States, Southern Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom; there has been a pretty widespread call for it to be in Japan, and it would make for a striking showcase of visuals, but there is nothing concrete and a ton of locations would work just as well within the series. So what about that other open world game? Initially, this project wasn't going to be connected exclusively to Xbox, however that seemed to have changed prior to the acquisition and certainly is exclusive now. The rumors have been far and wide that the new game is going to be in the Fable universe - likely a reboot built from the ground up for Series S/X, rather than Fable IV. It makes sense handing off this franchise from a UK developer to a new one, as the Fable IP is fantastic in my opinion and shouldn't go to waste, even if the reboot is only tangentially related to it, like this concept art. Their new studio has been staffing up and acquiring a ton of talented leads to forge the way for what should be a new pillar for Xbox. While we don't exactly know how it will look, it seems to be a guarantee that it will be Fable, and Playground's take on the series should be fascinating and will provide another big time RPG coming from XGS in the next generation.
Playground will be at the Showcase, and we may possibly see both games depending on how the game pipeline is shaking out. Fable will be announced, though how grand its debut will be is unknown - this is not a game that is been in development for that long, what will they have ready to show? I bet we see an environmental trailer that showcases the visuals but doesn't reveal too much and a 2022 release date. As for Forza Horizon 5, its possible to me that we'll see it. Though given Matt and Phil's comments about the generational transition, is the next Forza Horizon title even being developed with both systems in mind? Given the nature of the Forza Horizon games, releasing on both doesn't seem like too big of a deal; but when development was started, maybe they were given the go ahead to wait and build it exclusively for next generation - we'll just have to wait and see. Playground is set to make a splash in four days, and it should be a big one for these UK devs.
Do you expect to see Playground Games at the Showcase - If so, what are your hopes? If not, why and when will we see them next?
- 96 Hours Remain -
*If I forget anything or the wording/information is off, feel free to let me know in a post or DM and I'll edit it in; same goes for things you may think I'm unaware of for studios I've yet to post. I try to keep track of everything, but I may lose sight of some smaller things and rumors so all resources are appreciated!
Click the image below to see the posts for each studio that has been revealed so far.
No. Sams is predicting that Xbox Gold goes away, and is morphed into Xbox Game Pass basic which is currently at $9.99/month, $120/year. That's an increase of double the yearly cost.
He was making the point that there are too many subscriptions so Gold needs to go.
Yep. So no surprise if Minecraft DXR remains exclusive to XSX for quite a while
I meant more around forcing those players who only have Live to play games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, etc. into a Game Pass subscription, which is more money per month. Reality is, Live has been $60/year, not $120. Most people pay in advance, meaning $60/ year versus $10/month. That doesn't make sense, it's not wishful thinking.
I would be as well. Minecraft is bigger then console sales and it'll stay multi platform because of it.
I just have no idea how they'll deliver a good raytracing experience given what we know about how raytracing works on AMD cards going forward and how it performed on Series X but I suspect that will be Microsoft's PR problem not Sony's.
The 60 number was a mistake in my original post. I was just saying it's unreasonable to expect free multiplayer if you don't take gamepass (i.e. not sub at all).
So I'm actually agreeing with you. Combining the subs for 120 year is great value. If you don't want gamepass but want online multiplayer you're paying the same anyway and gamepass is just another bonus. If you wanted online multiplayer for free without any sub that was never going to happen.
The MVP studio right there.
The Xbox Games Showcase begins in just 96 hours; in the lead up to the event we are looking at what to expect from each first party studio - today we look at Playground Games.
Founded in 2010, Playground Games has been responsible for the Forza Horizon series since its inception, which has turned into one of Xbox's best series after starting out as a side project. Much like Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon has come out on a biannual basis since the first in 2012, steadily improving with each entry. Forza Horizon 4 (2018), their latest, received a 92 on both Metacritic and Opencritic making it the this generation's highest rated game from XGS. Of all the studios acquired in 2018, Playground Games made the most sense given their close association. However, they've had their sights set on something other than racing, building a second studio in 2017 to construct an open world game. The future is bright as Playground seems set to become one of the premier developers in the world.
During the announcement of the acquisition at E3, Phil mentioned that they would continue to work on Forza Horizon, and would be bringing their open world expertise to an entirely new project. Given that Playground currently has two studios, it seems safe to assume these are the games in production. Forza Horizon has really emerged as something special, and the fifth entry would normally be due out this year. However, with Forza Motorsport getting extra time for their next game, its likely the timeline for Forza Horizon 5 has been pushed out as well. The question is, if it doesn't need the additional time that Forza Motorsport has been granted, would they be willing to release it sooner - or are they willing to wait until potentially 2022 to release one of their best games? And if there is no new Forza this fall, is it possible we see another update to Forza Horizon 4 to coincide with launch of the Series S/X - it doesn't seem that far fetched. While it will be interesting to monitor, what about the location for the new Forza Horizon game? So far they've hit the United States, Southern Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom; there has been a pretty widespread call for it to be in Japan, and it would make for a striking showcase of visuals, but there is nothing concrete and a ton of locations would work just as well within the series. So what about that other open world game? Initially, this project wasn't going to be connected exclusively to Xbox, however that seemed to have changed prior to the acquisition and certainly is exclusive now. The rumors have been far and wide that the new game is going to be in the Fable universe - likely a reboot built from the ground up for Series S/X, rather than Fable IV. It makes sense handing off this franchise from a UK developer to a new one, as the Fable IP is fantastic in my opinion and shouldn't go to waste, even if the reboot is only tangentially related to it, like this concept art. Their new studio has been staffing up and acquiring a ton of talented leads to forge the way for what should be a new pillar for Xbox. While we don't exactly know how it will look, it seems to be a guarantee that it will be Fable, and Playground's take on the series should be fascinating and will provide another big time RPG coming from XGS in the next generation.
Playground will be at the Showcase, and we may possibly see both games depending on how the game pipeline is shaking out. Fable will be announced, though how grand its debut will be is unknown - this is not a game that is been in development for that long, what will they have ready to show? I bet we see an environmental trailer that showcases the visuals but doesn't reveal too much and a 2022 release date. As for Forza Horizon 5, its possible to me that we'll see it. Though given Matt and Phil's comments about the generational transition, is the next Forza Horizon title even being developed with both systems in mind? Given the nature of the Forza Horizon games, releasing on both doesn't seem like too big of a deal; but when development was started, maybe they were given the go ahead to wait and build it exclusively for next generation - we'll just have to wait and see. Playground is set to make a splash in four days, and it should be a big one for these UK devs.
Do you expect to see Playground Games at the Showcase - If so, what are your hopes? If not, why and when will we see them next?
- 96 Hours Remain -
*If I forget anything or the wording/information is off, feel free to let me know in a post or DM and I'll edit it in; same goes for things you may think I'm unaware of for studios I've yet to post. I try to keep track of everything, but I may lose sight of some smaller things and rumors so all resources are appreciated!
Click the image below to see the posts for each studio that has been revealed so far.
Wait, the PlayGround RPG started off as a multiplat? Do you have a source for that?
The Xbox Games Showcase begins in just 96 hours; in the lead up to the event we are looking at what to expect from each first party studio - today we look at Playground Games.
Founded in 2010, Playground Games has been responsible for the Forza Horizon series since its inception, which has turned into one of Xbox's best series after starting out as a side project. Much like Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon has come out on a biannual basis since the first in 2012, steadily improving with each entry. Forza Horizon 4 (2018), their latest, received a 92 on both Metacritic and Opencritic making it the this generation's highest rated game from XGS. Of all the studios acquired in 2018, Playground Games made the most sense given their close association. However, they've had their sights set on something other than racing, building a second studio in 2017 to construct an open world game. The future is bright as Playground seems set to become one of the premier developers in the world.
During the announcement of the acquisition at E3, Phil mentioned that they would continue to work on Forza Horizon, and would be bringing their open world expertise to an entirely new project. Given that Playground currently has two studios, it seems safe to assume these are the games in production. Forza Horizon has really emerged as something special, and the fifth entry would normally be due out this year. However, with Forza Motorsport getting extra time for their next game, its likely the timeline for Forza Horizon 5 has been pushed out as well. The question is, if it doesn't need the additional time that Forza Motorsport has been granted, would they be willing to release it sooner - or are they willing to wait until potentially 2022 to release one of their best games? And if there is no new Forza this fall, is it possible we see another update to Forza Horizon 4 to coincide with launch of the Series S/X - it doesn't seem that far fetched. While it will be interesting to monitor, what about the location for the new Forza Horizon game? So far they've hit the United States, Southern Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom; there has been a pretty widespread call for it to be in Japan, and it would make for a striking showcase of visuals, but there is nothing concrete and a ton of locations would work just as well within the series. So what about that other open world game? Initially, this project wasn't going to be connected exclusively to Xbox, however that seemed to have changed prior to the acquisition and certainly is exclusive now. The rumors have been far and wide that the new game is going to be in the Fable universe - likely a reboot built from the ground up for Series S/X, rather than Fable IV. It makes sense handing off this franchise from a UK developer to a new one, as the Fable IP is fantastic in my opinion and shouldn't go to waste, even if the reboot is only tangentially related to it, like this concept art. Their new studio has been staffing up and acquiring a ton of talented leads to forge the way for what should be a new pillar for Xbox. While we don't exactly know how it will look, it seems to be a guarantee that it will be Fable, and Playground's take on the series should be fascinating and will provide another big time RPG coming from XGS in the next generation.
Playground will be at the Showcase, and we may possibly see both games depending on how the game pipeline is shaking out. Fable will be announced, though how grand its debut will be is unknown - this is not a game that is been in development for that long, what will they have ready to show? I bet we see an environmental trailer that showcases the visuals but doesn't reveal too much and a 2022 release date. As for Forza Horizon 5, its possible to me that we'll see it. Though given Matt and Phil's comments about the generational transition, is the next Forza Horizon title even being developed with both systems in mind? Given the nature of the Forza Horizon games, releasing on both doesn't seem like too big of a deal; but when development was started, maybe they were given the go ahead to wait and build it exclusively for next generation - we'll just have to wait and see. Playground is set to make a splash in four days, and it should be a big one for these UK devs.
Do you expect to see Playground Games at the Showcase - If so, what are your hopes? If not, why and when will we see them next?
- 96 Hours Remain -
*If I forget anything or the wording/information is off, feel free to let me know in a post or DM and I'll edit it in; same goes for things you may think I'm unaware of for studios I've yet to post. I try to keep track of everything, but I may lose sight of some smaller things and rumors so all resources are appreciated!
Click the image below to see the posts for each studio that has been revealed so far.
Just curious as it makes the Fable rumours a tad murky. Either way, just wanted to tell you that your work on these has been excellent. Thanks for keeping us engaged. 96 hours to go!
...and it obviously falls with the next gen, because waiting another 5-7 years for next next gen wouldn't make sense.
Completely agree. It's going to hurt but it inhibits potential growth. That is one huge leap of faith though.
Yup, same. I get excited for a new AC each time even though I've played 1, part of 2, part of Black Flag, and now a portion of Unity. Each new entry I'm like "NICE! i'll play that."
Yeah, I think this makes the most sense.
It would be more unreasonable of Microsoft to expect people who only want online multiplayer and not Game Pass to suddenly be okay paying twice the yearly cost.
That won't happen and it'll be disastrous for them if it does. The great value of Game Pass means nothing for people who don't see value in it due to their own gaming habits or simply can't budget a recurring cost of $120/year vs $60.
This isn't really the type of conversation I love getting into, but I would argue Bloober's track record (especially Observer and LoF1) is better than Compulsion's at this point. That being said, with increased resources and creative guidance, I'm sure both could make incredible games in their spaces!
If they go in this direction, they will have data to support it, such as the number of people who currently have regular Gamepass AND Gold subs, likely unknowingly. I bet it's a large number.
Woah, it's so strange to think of Sony sending a PS5 dev kit to MS.
The only way to force people to do anything is making it mandatory, so what do you mean free online but force people who have Live for a few games to subscribe to Game Pass?
How many have it due to the $1 deal tho? I have friends that have it due to that but will instantly go back to just Gold once it expires. How do I know? They've said as much. They don't see value in Game Pass for them.
Ah ok then my whole point is irrelevant - I thought they were both 120 a month (I don't own an xbox one and only sub to gamepass on PC).
The desired costing then would be:
Xbox Live Gold - 60/year
Gamepass (including Xbox Live Gold) - 120/year
That means gamepass players now get online multiplayer and xbox live gold players can upgrade for 60 instead of an additional 120 per year.
But I'm not sure that's sustainable long term....Who knows, I'm sure they've crunched the numbers to hell and back.
Playground Games. Our pick of the bunch.
The Xbox Games Showcase begins in just 96 hours; in the lead up to the event we are looking at what to expect from each first party studio - today we look at Playground Games.
Founded in 2010, Playground Games has been responsible for the Forza Horizon series since its inception, which has turned into one of Xbox's best series after starting out as a side project. Much like Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon has come out on a biannual basis since the first in 2012, steadily improving with each entry. Forza Horizon 4 (2018), their latest, received a 92 on both Metacritic and Opencritic making it the this generation's highest rated game from XGS. Of all the studios acquired in 2018, Playground Games made the most sense given their close association. However, they've had their sights set on something other than racing, building a second studio in 2017 to construct an open world game. The future is bright as Playground seems set to become one of the premier developers in the world.
During the announcement of the acquisition at E3, Phil mentioned that they would continue to work on Forza Horizon, and would be bringing their open world expertise to an entirely new project. Given that Playground currently has two studios, it seems safe to assume these are the games in production. Forza Horizon has really emerged as something special, and the fifth entry would normally be due out this year. However, with Forza Motorsport getting extra time for their next game, its likely the timeline for Forza Horizon 5 has been pushed out as well. The question is, if it doesn't need the additional time that Forza Motorsport has been granted, would they be willing to release it sooner - or are they willing to wait until potentially 2022 to release one of their best games? And if there is no new Forza this fall, is it possible we see another update to Forza Horizon 4 to coincide with launch of the Series S/X - it doesn't seem that far fetched. While it will be interesting to monitor, what about the location for the new Forza Horizon game? So far they've hit the United States, Southern Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom; there has been a pretty widespread call for it to be in Japan, and it would make for a striking showcase of visuals, but there is nothing concrete and a ton of locations would work just as well within the series. So what about that other open world game? Initially, this project wasn't going to be connected exclusively to Xbox, however that seemed to have changed prior to the acquisition and certainly is exclusive now. The rumors have been far and wide that the new game is going to be in the Fable universe - likely a reboot built from the ground up for Series S/X, rather than Fable IV. It makes sense handing off this franchise from a UK developer to a new one, as the Fable IP is fantastic in my opinion and shouldn't go to waste, even if the reboot is only tangentially related to it, like this concept art. Their new studio has been staffing up and acquiring a ton of talented leads to forge the way for what should be a new pillar for Xbox. While we don't exactly know how it will look, it seems to be a guarantee that it will be Fable, and Playground's take on the series should be fascinating and will provide another big time RPG coming from XGS in the next generation.
Playground will be at the Showcase, and we may possibly see both games depending on how the game pipeline is shaking out. Fable will be announced, though how grand its debut will be is unknown - this is not a game that is been in development for that long, what will they have ready to show? I bet we see an environmental trailer that showcases the visuals but doesn't reveal too much and a 2022 release date. As for Forza Horizon 5, its possible to me that we'll see it. Though given Matt and Phil's comments about the generational transition, is the next Forza Horizon title even being developed with both systems in mind? Given the nature of the Forza Horizon games, releasing on both doesn't seem like too big of a deal; but when development was started, maybe they were given the go ahead to wait and build it exclusively for next generation - we'll just have to wait and see. Playground is set to make a splash in four days, and it should be a big one for these UK devs.
Do you expect to see Playground Games at the Showcase - If so, what are your hopes? If not, why and when will we see them next?
- 96 Hours Remain -
*If I forget anything or the wording/information is off, feel free to let me know in a post or DM and I'll edit it in; same goes for things you may think I'm unaware of for studios I've yet to post. I try to keep track of everything, but I may lose sight of some smaller things and rumors so all resources are appreciated!
Click the image below to see the posts for each studio that has been revealed so far.
Sams' tweet about bundling Live into Game Pass. The way I read his tweet meant you would need Game Pass to have Live (online play).
Understandable.
Game Pass doesn't have a yearly option so you have to buy it at cost - which is $9.99/month.
Gold has a subsidized yearly option of $60/year.
The number there is probably too small to worry about. Remember, GP has been around since 2017. Just think how many people likely have had Gold charged to their card once a year for years on end because they either forget about it or they actually use it. Then they signed up for GP and are engaging with it enough to keep it or they forgot about that too. These people will see the fact that they are dropping Gold as a cost savings.
I agree that Minecraft is coming. Raytracing is probable but pathtracing less so. I think there is an incentive for Xbox to have the best non-PC version of Minecraft, much like how MLB The Show will probably take full advantage of PS5 but not full advantage of Series X.
So we are supposed to those 6+ demos starting tomorrow? Does anyone know when they hit the store?
Edit:60+
Edit:60+
I think they aren't coming until Tuesday. Should have the list tomorrow
I don't think there's any way to tell that. From personal experience, 5 out of 7 people I can think of that I know with Game Pass will drop Game Pass when their $1 sub expires. The $1 offer is still available too as far as I'm aware. Had a friend recently take advantage of it, or something similar (but he'll drop it when it expires).
Most in my experience also buy cards so they deactivated recurring billing after the offer too. You can buy Gold cards at a discount to beat the $60 offer on XBL anyway.
Yea, I'm trying to track down an article - it was pretty flatly stated by a reputable source in one of these threads from here or the old place. Everyone rightfully felt it was a mistake for Xbox to let Playground get away. This would've been at some point in 2017, and as I recall it was stated that Xbox passed on locking down whatever it was as an exclusive. The details changed over time though, as I'm not sure if Playground was able to find a suitable publisher, and by 2018 the rumors began that it had turned into a new Fable game. Maybe originally Playground wanted to do something totally separate, and Xbox wanted to instead craft it into a return of Fable, but thats just total speculation on my part. When Xbox got the go ahead to spend more, I assume one of their first moves was correcting this mistake before announcing the acquisitions at E3 2018. Maybe someone in here can clarify or present a sourced article.
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