Microsoft Consoles and Updates

[DANGERMAN]

16 hours ago, Nag said:

Oh... forgot one other thing... there's no "red lines" in regards more Microsoft ip's heading multiformat apparently. 

I think that's a bit of a shame. I've always understood it with the Bethesda and Activision stuff, something like Ori or whatever. Halo and Gears just feels like a shame 

 

I'm not even sure it's really worth it. All you're doing is pissing off Xbox owners, Nintendo and PlayStation people, by definition, don't hold those franchises in the same regard. Halo especially because at least Gears looks fancy, Halo doesn't stand out anymore 

[Nag]

Obviously it's Gears keeping me in the Microsoft garden... Say E-Day was to go to PlayStation even with a 3 month exclusive launch on Series that would be enough to keep me in that garden... a day and date launch on a Sony machine (with back catalogue of games) and I'd have to do some real evaluation as to what console I'd be getting next gen.

 

Also there's a lot with what @Maf is saying I agree with... and quite a bit I don't. 

[one-armed dwarf]

This is their new marketing strategy apparently, feels like something we've been sort of talking about, the de-emphasis on the console as a central hardware platform and moreso re-framing it as a service available on all sorts of hardware

 

 

Wonder how far they are from putting a PS5 in this image, and am curious what their VR strategy is given their general lack of interest in that area thus far

 

Anyway it makes a lot of sense IMO

[Maryokutai]

It does make sense in context but this entire marketing strategy is built around context. Without prior knowledge of the brand and at least some idea where they're going this probably looks like some indecipherable nonsense à la WiiU to an average consumer. They give a service the name of a hardware platform and pseudo-rebrand the platform you already own – it's marketing forcing you to connect the dots and do the homework, and that rarely works unless its super intriguing visually but this isn't. But I suppose time will tell, maybe I'm just looking at it from the wrong angle.

 

Edit: forgot to mention, I see your point @Maf, don't quite agree with it, but better not too derail the topic too much.

[Nag]

PS5 doesn't have a Web browser does it?

[DANGERMAN]

3 hours ago, one-armed dwarf said:

This is their new marketing strategy apparently, feels like something we've been sort of talking about, the de-emphasis on the console as a central hardware platform and moreso re-framing it as a service available on all sorts of hardware

 

 

Wonder how far they are from putting a PS5 in this image, and am curious what their VR strategy is given their general lack of interest in that area thus far

 

Anyway it makes a lot of sense IMO

people use their phone to make calls ??? 

[mfnick]

Remember when MS were wondering why devs weren’t on Xbox. 

 

https://www.thegamer.com/microsoft-is-asking-developers-why-they-arent-on-xbox/

 

I think that marketing explains why. What’s the point when even MS aren’t bothered about the Xbox console. Why should a dev develop for that eco system when they’re not bringing gamers in. Whats the point of owning a Xbox now? Sure offering the service everywhere is technically good. But we know what people are like. They’re not going to move from Steam. Putting it on TVs isn’t going to get non gamers playing no matter how much they want it. Mobile gaming is already fucked & people arent going to sub to Xbox to play Indiana Jones on an iPhone. Even I don’t know what hey offer on the Quest… All they’ve done is given reasons for people to not even bother with Xbox. 
 

The console is what brings people into the eco system to start with, once you’ve built that up then expand. But they’ve basically abandoned it. 
 

 

[Nag]

And on the flip side you have Square basically saying they've fucked up concentrating on exclusive games and are planning on doing Xbox (and Switch 2 versions I'd guess) from now on... so obviously there must be some reason.

[one-armed dwarf]

Jez Cordon isn't happy, he points out tho that he can't play most of his library on PC. That does make me think of the BC stuff with Xbox and how they use that to get people to invest in their ecosystem, like I've literally considered buying one just cause it's the only way to play the 'good' version of Ninja Gaiden and its sequel

 

I know it would never happen but it would be ace if MS could make a 360 and Xbox emulator or something

 

 

[Maryokutai]

 

Rather proud of myself.

[shinymcshine]

Isn't the 'This is an Xbox" strategy exactly what OnLive and Stadia failed to sustain ?

 

It's great in principle, and cloud gaming sort of works okay with Gamepass (apart from when you're queued to play at busy times) but it's wholly dependent upon someone else's infrastructure (high speed broadband provider) to actually work well.

[mfnick]

That Jez Corden also makes a good point there. 
 

99% of my Xbox games I can’t actually play on any of those other Xbox’s. I know they’re on about makin your digital library cloud compatible but god knows if that’ll actually happen. GeForce Now started off like that didn’t it? I remember all the publishers kicking off about it & stopped that almost immediately. 
 

Even if that was to happen Cloud gaming varies in quality massively to the point even casual players will notice how bad it is. & they’re likely to have worse internet than us exacerbating the issue. My Setup for example doesn’t like it. I couldn’t even get a Portal to work without stuttering all the time even with 5ghz setting, prioritising it in my router, giving static IP addresses etc. it was still shit. No casual user is going to do all that shit even if it worked 100%. Xbox remote play is even worse and that should be even more reliable than cloud. Pixelating and stuttering to the point it’s near enough unplayable. 
 

There’s still a huge barrier of getting people to buy a Xbox controller too if they’re trying to get new people in through these setups. If they’re serious about it they really need to include a free controller & 1 month free with the TVs and streaming sticks already synced up & ready to go. Having that in the box may make people curious enough to actually try it. 

 

[Metroid66]

On 14/11/2024 at 22:02, one-armed dwarf said:

Jez Cordon isn't happy, he points out tho that he can't play most of his library on PC

 

Surprised me how many games didn't go over to pc from my Xbox collection, especially with this play anywhere nonsense. I basically got tomb raider 2013, and psychonauts.

 

Load of bollocks

[Maf]

I said this when they did their podcast officially talking about games going to PS. When asked what is a big selling point of Xbox they talk about cross play, cross save, play anywhere. But it’s only on select titles and not a blanket, dependable feature. This new marketing they have is bullshit. Trying to say all these devices are an Xbox, what they should say is all these devices can play Gamepass on the cloud 

 

But it doesn’t sound good and is again, not a great way to play most games 

 

The worst thing about all this Xbox marketing is that the Series X is a fantastic console. Not as good as the 360 (respective of that time) but it’s still awesome and fun to play on. Xbox has too many goals or shift strategy too quickly. They should just focus on the Xbox. 

[Maryokutai]

Yeah, that's actually a good point. They haven't been sticking to one strategy for one generation since the 360. They had to pivot from the One's initial concept because it was a big pile of poop and then again with Series X because they couldn't get any momentum and upper management lost its patience. To an extent even the 360 had a weak backend due to them chasing the casual motion control dream with Kinect. As fast-paced as the medium is, it seems like that's just not a good way of handling things, because the box you put out there is by definition stagnant, and the best course of action is to double down on its premise, instead of trying to wrap it up in different colours all the time.

[Nag]

The list of Play Anywhere games is almost 600 games... admittedly there's a lot of shit there but knowing what you guys play I refuse to believe that 99% isn't playable. 😂

[mfnick]

The play anywhere tag only shows Xbox and PC at the minute? Has that changed? Otherwise the points still stands. 

[mfnick]

Edit just tried some recent games ive gotten/played along with a couple of faves

 

Armoured Core 6 - Nope

Mafia Definitive Edition - Nope

Sekiro - Nope

Hogwarts Legacy - Nope

Volgarr The Viking 1 & 2 - Nope

Blasphemous 1 & 2 - Nope

Crash 4 - Nope

Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth - Nope

Yakuza 0-6 - Nope

Like a Dragon - Yay! (Finally one of them works)

 

… that’s just not good enough for that kind of marketing. Only recent games I’ve played which are on there are Game Pass releases. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nag]

Do you think this kind of marketing is aimed at people already in the Microsoft infrastructure?... people like us already know that every device can't play every game... these adverts aren't aimed at us.

 

This is aimed at new people who, if they can get interested on biting, will more than likely remain there. It's pretty obvious that console sales aren't the main push now it's player numbers... regardless if it's an Xbox, TV, phone or PlayStation. 

[mfnick]

Well kind of yea. I’d like games to be available anywhere like they’re saying but theyre not. For MS benefit this would also give me a reason to buy the Xbox version of a game instead of the PS5 one. As well as providing word of mouth to other people not in it. 
 

Also the points of them saying it’s play anywhere and showing everything’s a Xbox when it’s actually only across Xbox and PC is kind of fucked up. The moment a new casual customer realises their game isn’t included in these very specific lists of compatible games it all falls apart. 
 

& I’m sticking with the 99% of my games not working on any of those “Xbox’s” is pretty true after checking the list. So saying they’re Xbox’s is still bollocks.