EvaUnit02 on 5/2/2024 at 20:15
The rumours lately have been that older Xbox 1st party games might be ported to other competing manufacturers' consoles later. Eg Hi Fi Rush to Switch + PS; Sea of Thieves to PS; Starfield + expansion compilation to PS.
My opinion? This is a huge nothing burger. The only thing that would hurt from 1+ year old games being ported to other hardware platforms would be console warrior adult children's feelings. If anything a live service game like Sea of Thieves would benefit from having a potentially larger public playerbase thanks to crossplay.
It's been obvious to anyone would with an ounce of critical thinking skills that transitioning entirely to online services + software (i.e. exiting the hardware market, outside of likely input peripherals and streaming boxes) has been the long term trajectory for the Xbox brand for the last ~8 years. They've been working to put Game Pass service on as many platforms as possible, eg streaming to mobile phones and smart TVs. Having GP on direct competitor console platforms was obviously going to be a huge unlikelihood, given all of these closed ecosystem marketplaces depend on getting a percentage cut of every transaction made for their console platforms. Allowing GP cloud streaming would bypass that. Just doing native ports of older games seems like a reasonable compromise.
Sulphur on 6/2/2024 at 04:28
It matters in the long run for the market, because Xbox solidifying their hardware pull-out means console gaming gets a duopoly, or if Microsoft's bet pays off for the nature of how people like to access their games, further down the line the industry consolidates into games playable most via streaming and subscriptions. Neither option is great for people who prefer being able to make choices spurred on by healthy competition.
heywood on 6/2/2024 at 12:45
I'm not surprised that the software business is more lucrative than the hardware business considering that's been their strategic focus. The current-gen XBox is a bit of a sales dud for whatever reasons, and I doubt they want to keep losing software sales to help push an unpopular product.
Sulphur on 6/2/2024 at 13:31
It's sort of surprising that the Series S and X haven't worked out too well, because the hardware's pretty capable (well, maybe not the S, but you're not buying it for that reason). The general thought process the public had around their spending spree was for it to shore up their exclusives, which they've had precious few this generation, and that will pay off in one way or another in the next bunch of years... but for Game Pass. If the hardware sales picked up too, that would have been a pretty good self-reinforcing double whammy.
Anyway, the upshot is that if Game Pass is really successful as they say it is, but it's not driving sales of the Xboxen that much, then a large chunk of their audience is on PC or on streaming. I'd be really interested to see the Game Pass hardware platform breakup.
Pyrian on 6/2/2024 at 16:43
Quote Posted by Sulphur
It's sort of surprising that the Series S and X haven't worked out too well, because the hardware's pretty capable (well, maybe not the S, but you're not buying it for that reason).
They overextended, IMO. They tried to compete in the low-end
and high-end market, and basically got neither instead of both.
Anarchic Fox on 6/2/2024 at 23:57
Quote Posted by Pyrian
They overextended, IMO. They tried to compete in the low-end
and high-end market, and basically got neither instead of both.
That makes a lot of sense.
Aja on 7/2/2024 at 01:58
I think the Series S was actually a pretty consumer-friendly move. It made Xboxes actually affordable for most people, and it forced developers to optimize their games better to work on lower spec hardware, which benefits everyone. My opinions about this are all parroted from Digital Foundry, but they were talking about this recently, and the consensus seemed to be that while Microsoft has and undoubtedly will continue to prioritize software and subscriptions, it wouldn't make sense to have Gamepass without there being a specific device meant to use Gamepass on. Maybe it'll end up being something handheld or maybe another console, but I doubt they'd exit the hardware market entirely.
heywood on 7/2/2024 at 14:34
The Series S also got Xboxes into peoples hands earlier than PS5s because it was less affected by the scarcity of high end parts during the pandemic. I bought one. I didn't care about 4K gaming or 120 Hz refresh rates, I got it for the backwards compatibility, and I've always liked Microsoft's controllers. The graphics quality and framerates are fine for me and it's small and runs cool and quiet. I have had some issues with the video output randomly stopping, which requires resetting the device to fix. And I've spent hours working around bugs in Microsoft's family management. But I like it for what I got it for, which is a platform for older games I still like to play.
My kids and their friends don't get much use out of it. They went from liking Nintendo games and retro classics to casual games where they can interact online like Minecraft, Among Us, and Roblox. None of these games provide the best experience on Xbox. Roblox for Xbox is total garbage, which is actually fine by me because they will try playing what their friends are playing, get frustrated, and move on. I won't install it on anything but the Xbox :ebil: For that sort of casual online gaming, it's not worth the Game Pass subscription when there are better experiences which don't require a subscription on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.
It seems like everybody waited for and jumped on the PS5 this cycle. I don't know what drove that, but I'm curious.
EvaUnit02 on 7/2/2024 at 20:43
Quote Posted by heywood
For that sort of casual online gaming, it's not worth the Game Pass subscription when there are better experiences which don't require a subscription on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.
If you're mainly into a handful of F2P live service games like Roblox and Fortnite, then no shit GP won't offer you much value.
For Gen Z people and older who actually came up on the traditional gaming retail sales model, then the GP library has a lot of value IMO. I got to rent to Ark clone/"Pokemon with guns" open world survival Palworld on both PC and Series X without having to commit to buying the superior Steam version.
Quote:
My kids and their friends don't get much use out of it. They went from liking Nintendo games and retro classics to casual games where they can interact online like Minecraft, Among Us, and Roblox. None of these games provide the best experience on Xbox. Roblox for Xbox is total garbage, which is actually fine by me because they will try playing what their friends are playing, get frustrated, and move on. I won't install it on anything but the Xbox For that sort of casual online gaming, it's not worth the Game Pass subscription when there are better experiences which don't require a subscription on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.
When I was at my nephew's birthday party about a year ago I got to witness a Roblox LAN party. One was on Xbox, another on a laptop PC, the rest were on tablets and phones. It was very cool sight to behold IMO.
Crossplay is very awesome, so it's highly disappointing when new games released don't have it. (Less of an issue now that I have a Series X, but it's annoying cuz I'd still rather play on PC.) 2023's Dead Island 2 and 2022's Dying Light 2 immediately come to mind.
heywood on 8/2/2024 at 11:09
+1 on crossplay.
Nothing beats a LAN party. We had one with family visiting between Christmas and New Years, also with a mix of systems: 2 desktops, 2 laptops, Xbox, and two tablets. We played Roblox, Among Us, and Quake. I can't remember which Roblox games, the kids picked them and they were boring. There is really nothing worth paying for on that platform. We all loved Among Us, once we got chat issues figured out. We didn't have Quake on the tablets, so my wife and her sister dropped out when we played that. That was fun, but the kids were hilariously bad. The next day, we played Among Us all morning.
I agree Game Pass is a good value. We're just not using it much anymore. My kids are onto something else, and when I play without them it's on PC. And I only play like one or two new games a year at this point. My daughter likes to take videos of herself playing Minecraft on the TV, and we'll occasionally play old XB1 and 360 favorites. That's about all the use it gets now.