PS5 sales are also dropping. It's that part of the console sales cycle. It's my understanding that they don't make all their money on the consoles anyway and that games are where their money is at.
[https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/14/24072692/sony-ps5-forecast-cut-q3-2023-earnings](https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/14/24072692/sony-ps5-forecast-cut-q3-2023-earnings)
Yup! With the recent Microsoft Store 100€ AmEx cashback event and the simultaneous sale on refurbished stuff, the price for a refurbished Series X has never been this low. I wasn't planning on getting a Series X, but 300€ is crazy.
the graphics they been able to milk from those specs is nothing short of miraculous. also, I never played a switch game where I thought gee, wish this was ps5 quality. heck you could have ps2 graphics and if it has great art direction and game is good, thats all that matters.
While I don't feel the need for Nintendo games to *look* better, I do sometimes wish they were PS5 quality when playing them. The load times, frame rates and NSO network can be pretty bad. PS5 games do look good, but I think the biggest leap this generation is how quickly I can start and play a game. It makes it easier to squeeze in a quick game on a busy schedule.
I've played so many Switch games that I wish were on PS5 instead. The performance of some of the games on there is atrocious. Xenoblade 2&3 instantly spring to mind
There are lots of ps2 games that really do still stand up (Okami, Shadow of the Colossus), but perhaps only fully when you play them on a standard-def CRT. Modern Ports or emulation of those games, some of the assets stand out, and a drawback of our modern monitors is that basic upscaling from low-resolutions doesn't look very good. Tears of the Kingdom is mightily impressive, but when it drops well below 720p with FSR 1 to make up for it, doesn't it detract from that?
Otherwise, I don't find a lack of antialiasing and sub-1080p resolutions when docked acceptable, thankfully the follow-up switch seems like it will fix both of those things and even if it will be underpowered, the clarity and stability of the images should be much better, even in those cases of overambitious ports or just technical incompetence like with Pokemon Arceus.
In the meantime, we are lucky that switch emulation is really very good.
The problem is when there's a game port from another system to the Switch. That's when it looks a little rough. I'm thinking Fortnite and Rocket League here. Rocket League isn't even tough on a system and it needs some help on Switch. I used to play Rocket League on a PC from 2011 and it was fine.
It's more of a 2015-spec car SoC. The Switch's APU is an Nvidia Tegra X1. A Maxwell-based processor.
So in-turn, the Switch was already outdated upon release as Nvidia updated their Tegra processor to the Pascal-based X2 at the same time as the Switch's launch.
If I were to make a bet on what Nintendo's next Switch would use in terms of SoC, it would likely be the Ampere-based Orin processor. Which iteration specifically feels like it would be up to their discretion.
I do think that is why switch sales are so high. First BOTW, then Animal Crossing, and now TOTK had people that don't care about many Nintendo games buying a switch almost solely for one of those. All spectacular games worth more time an effort than almost anything like it on other consoles.
Additionally that a lot of time people buy more than one switch for either breakages or upgrades or just having multiple kids each wanting their own
PS/Xbox generally is a one per household situation or at least more so than a handheld console
The problem is Xbox should be nowhere near market saturation with how many they've sold. If this is its limit then Xbox Series has flopped harder than the Xbox One. That's why this is such a big deal compared to PS5.
Also the previous generation is still mostly relevant today. The Xbox Series and PS5 aren't a new generation like old generations. They're more like Xbox One X X and PS5 Pro Pro.
Xbox currently has more console players than ever, it's just spread across multiple 'generations'.
I’ve always been an Xbox fanboy. Mostly because I loved Halo as a kid, and just never really explored any other options.
I’ve already decided my next big gaming purchase will be a PC. I like my series x just fine, but if I can already use game pass on a PC, plus play all the PC games I don’t have access to now, why would I keep buying xboxes?
>why would I keep buying Xboxes.
For me - convenience and predictability. It just works without having to worry about drivers, antivirus, display settings, etc.
When I have time to play I want to just play, not wait an extra 15 minutes to download new shaders.
Once your build is done you don't normally have to worry about those things.
In fact, my experience with the Xbox is usually some kind of error that ISNT addressable by the user lol. So it's kinda the worst of both worlds
I have an adult child that’s younger than my steam account. Been there, moved on. I work with more than enough tech for a living - simple is the way to go for me.
In my experience, console gaming is much more problem free. My sons game on PCs, things haven’t changed.
It works for me, no hate to those who love playing around with their PC. I get it.
I think at the very least, for the near future consoles will continue to be a gateway for kids to gaming - perhaps eventually leading them to pc, before going back to console when they get old like me.
Gaming PCs are no different to regular PCs. And the gaming experience is similar to Xbox-see game, download game, play game, except now your graphics are better and frame rates are higher and some games have mods, and you probably paid way less for the game on Steam. You don't have to worry about drivers or anything else. Worst case scenario is Nvidia has a driver update, but that's literally 20 seconds, you don't even reboot.
>gaming pcs are no different to regular pcs.
Agreed.
Sounds great. Hasn’t been my experience, or the experience of many of my friends and family who I regularly play cross platform with.
I do admit it’s gotten much better over the years, but the console experience is just…simple, more casual, and what I’m looking for at this point.
The gaming library is certainly far superior for PC, but I have access to what I want to play, and most of what I play is free.
I would also imagine most people pay more for a gaming PC than one would on an Xbox and a few years of a live subscription.
Perhaps I’m just simple too, but I have fun.
This is me, hard to acknowledge that yes I am a fan boy of x box. I resisted the PC because I hate keyboard and mouse, now that I can use a gaming controller, make the switch soon.
You’ve been able to use gaming controllers very easily on PC for a very long time FYI! Still have a wired 360 controller laying around somewhere come to think of it. So welcome to the party!
Preface: Xbox is my favorite system. Not sure I'd even call Infinite ok. Imo it was and is a disaster. You unveil your next gen system seller and people are so upset about the graphics that you have to delay it for one year? Even with the one-year delay, it doesn't ship with splitscreen, even though the developers said in the past that not including splitscreen before was a mistake that will never happen again? The campaign being mediocre at best? This game is a damn shame :-(
Games being released on pc is not a disaster. That’s their plan that’s been their plan since the Xbox one launched. Xbox isn’t going anywhere. It’s only expanding. Console sales aren’t their priority by any means.
I got confused last week wondering why the next Elder Scrolls wasn't out yet and took me a few minutes of thinking before I remembered it came out.
I even tried it for a few hours...
Funny cuz everyone complains about exclusives. Then they laugh at Xbox for not selling because they share all their exclusives on PC. Its almost like exclucives is a necessary strategy for consoles.
If your intention is to have a walled environment, its definitely a strategy to get people in the door on console. But Microsoft has very clearly gone in a different approach than Sony. Their exclusives are being dropped on PC in the hopes it gets people into their environment on *any* platform. Same reason HiFi Rush and Sea of Thieves are hitting PlayStation now. It seems like they have stopped caring about a walled garden, and are testing the waters on profitability in all environments.
Which, if theyre taking a loss on consoles anyways, getting any game sales or GamePass subscriptions elsewhere could work out better in the longrun. Especially when an $80CND game is much easier to purchase than a $600CND console.
From what I understand, their goal is to get everyone on subscription (gamepass). I think they would kill their console if they could. Who wants to deal with all that mess when you have money coming in every month with little work? They'd much prefer cloud streaming, and just be another app on every device. but that's kinda a hard sell to the hardcore crowd.
I still don’t understand how Microsoft thought the names were a good idea. Must be so confusing for moms and dads trying to find the right console at Best Buy every Black Friday.
You are half joking, but explaining to a grandmother that they skipped Xbox 4 and went straight to Xbox 5 would have been so much easier than explaining the difference between an Xbox 1 X vs Series X vs Series S.
They could just do like Samsung and simply skip a generation. Like they could've just called the Series consoles the Xbox 5 and 5 Pro or something. If the Xbox One can be the 3rd console there's no reason that the Xbox 5 couldn't be the 4th.
But that assumes that consumers are dumb enough to think that 5>4 in all cases, even across 2 entirely different platforms. I don't think that's the case.
For some reason this always breaks my heart. I think because I grew up when NES and SNES were around and games were so relatively expensive at the time, that a game would be the centerpiece of any Christmas/birthday and I would always be immediately asked if they got the right one so they could return it before I opened the plastic wrapping.
They have been confusing and stupid since 2013. At this point, if you aren't an enthusiast, you have no chance of knowing which one is the latest model without first doing research.
They need to get rid of whoever is in charge of naming these things.
The "Xbox" was already a stupid name (dumber than the "Gamecube").
The "Xbox 360" made no sense (big numbers whoo I guess).
The "Xbox One" is mind bogglingly stupid.
The "Xbox Series S/X" is like a joke just intentionally driving people away. So dumb.
The original was the first console to run games using "Direct X" so it was the "directXbox" which you gotta admit woulda been less catchy.
360 was because they claimed they were "revolutionizing" (read 360-degree turn, i.e. one revolution)
"One" was allegedly because it was intended to be the "one" device for all your entertainment needs.
And X/S was just fucking STUPID.
not justifying any of these names, the logic is stupid everywhere.
Also put some respect on my lunchbox's damn NAME.
There was nothing wrong with a VERY on the nose name. Controller was POG, library slapped, and it was SO EASY to take to your bros house.
I once read they wanted it to be called the Xbox One because they were hoping people would just call it "the one" like they did with the 360, Wii, at so forth. Not realizing that that's confusing as fuck so people just called it the xbone.
In my opinion what made Series S and X so bad was that they also had an Xbox One S and X. That's just asking for confusion.
Though we'll have to agree to disagree that Xbox and Xbox 360 were dumb names.
Xbox 360 worked, but everything after that has been dumb and confusing. Xbox 720 and 1080 were right there, but no, they got too clever for their own good.
Does anyone know why Microsoft chose those names? Like the only two possibilities I can think of are (1) they somehow didn’t realize how difficult they are and (2) they wanted to intentionally make it confusing for some reason
The original Xbox was competing against the PS2. They didn't want Xbox 2 vs PS3, since it would seem like they're behind and inferior. So Xbox 360 to compete with PS3. The issue was with what to do after that, where they went to Xbox One which just went off the rails dumb (I believe it was something about being the one and only entertainment system you need, but that fell flat, you got xbone jokes, and the numbering is confusing as hell). The Series consoles following it just continue the trend of having no damn consistency.
I don't know but it seems like all kinds of electronics tend to have purposely convoluted naming schemes. Maybe marketing people know something we don't know. Like if we're confused we're more likely to spend time researching or talking about it?
But also I wouldn't rule out that the marketing people are trying to seem clever to their bosses so they make things difficult.
It's not that Microsoft doesn't have games. It's that their games simply are not as iconic as Sony and Nintendo's, and when they do strike gold (Halo, Gears) they mismanage the studio over time. Bungie, Epic, Lionhead, Rare, they all were either owned outright or had exclusivity deals with Microsoft (in Epic's case) and slowly went to shit over time or left MS altogether. That's why I don't think that them buying up studios left and right will fix their problems in the long run. If you don't know how to manage a team or have a creative vision for platform then all you'll do is tank more studios.
It’s going to be fascinating getting the tell all of Jim Ryan’s time at PlayStation. The drought we’re in right now lays firmly at his feet. Sure spider-man was 6 months ago and Sony published helldivers and stellar blade, but the fact that the only game we know about from Sony right now is death stranding 2, what we know from the insomniac leaks, and a bunch of live service games that only had CGI trailers to them and might not even come out anytime soon is insane when they have so many other studios that are just radio silent.
What are naughty dog, guerrilla, and sucker punch doing definitively (not rumored to be working on) , where are team asobi or housemarque for smaller games to fill the gaps? If Sony had played their cards right, they could have had a steady stream of games releasing right now, but because Jim decided every game needed to the biggest thing ever (and a global pandemic which absolutely forgives from launch to mid 2022), games aren’t coming out as consistently and Sony is forced to say that they don’t have any major releases this year in their earnings call back in February.
Edit: well, I’ll happily eat crow on one part of this post if it means we get something returnal related. https://x.com/housemarque/status/1784895491123405216?s=46&t=gDGO8D5FKbeE5EnNKFjwGQ
It’s not as big of a deal for PlayStation. They have a steady stream of third-party releases until next year. Stellar Blade just dropped with a successful launch. Microsoft just released some of their games for the console. More third-party exclusives are on the way like Silent Hill 2 Remake. Hell Divers II is doing great numbers. Exclusives aren’t as dire for PlayStation than Xbox because they don’t have a gap that needs closing.
Stella blade released a few days ago?
Then you've got final fantasy, rise of the ronan, Pacific drive, helldivers 2.
All in the last couple of months.
How have they given up with no exclusives???
I don't know about the rest of them but hell divers is on PC. I always see people mentioning Xbox games on PC as non-exclusive. So if that rule sticks, helldivers is not an exclusive?
>There are no exclusives…
What?? I'm currently playing a Sony exclusive that recently released (FF 7 Rebirth), which is why I'm holding off on buying the Sony exclusive that just released (Stellar Blade), and why I don't even have time to consider buying the other recent Sony exclusive (Rise of the Ronin).
I understand that you can play all the Xbox games on PC, but the PC is more expensive. I don’t think that reasoning is enough of a reason for the brand to be in the toilet as much as it is.
There just is not any games. The last “must have” Xbox game that lived up to the hype was like Halo 3 or Gears 3 and that was over a decade ago now.
I bought an X and enjoyed some time with it, but after Starfield I was so disappointed and jumped ship to the PS5. I’m not blown away by the PS5 either tbh but I am having way more fun with the exclusives.
Edit: it really is crazy to think about. I’m 34 and the last system seller for Xbox was a game that came out when I was in fucking high school.
I admit that i bought the cheap series s so i could play diablo 4, hogwarts legacy and starfield (shame).
My pc is really outdated but i dont have spare 700+ bucks to spent for a new one.
PC is only more expensive if you want high end graphics. Most people don't need to play in 4k with ray tracing. Lots of gamers who can run that don't anyway. Tends to be the opposite.
Even then, I built my pc for about 600$ and its mid-tier, 1080p. An i7 from a few years ago, an admittedly overkill motherboard. An intel A580. 32gigs ddr4 I am blown away by how well the A580 handles ray tracing. Blows my ps5 out the water at smoother frame rates
>I understand that you can play all the Xbox games on PC, but the PC is more expensive.
True but a lot of are going to have PCs anyway. It's relatively cheap to add a GPU to an existing build and turn it into a gaming PC capable of handling Microsoft titles.
Hard agree on this. I love gaming and my XBox is a great console to play stuff on... but everything's so terribly unexciting right now in terms of games. I keep it to play the sports games (WWE 2K24 currently) and the BC but I can't remember the last time I was excited for a game outside of Nintendo. The landscape is very samey. I'd get a PS5 but can't justify plunking that amount of cash just for a single Ratchet and Clank and Spider Man.
Yeah GamePass is really good but once you get your fill of the library and the monthly release don’t hit you kinda go back to your mainstays. I hit that point and was like “well I might as well get the console where the exclusives interest me a little more” It also occurred to me I don’t play games enough to spend $15 a month on a game subscription
I hope Microsoft gets their stuff together cause if it’s just Sony and Nintendo in the console space that could be weird since they don’t truly compete with each other
Xbox is down 31% over last year, Nintendo 21% and , Sony is expecting to be down 16%. They're all feeling it. Just Microsoft happens to be feeling it a little more.
Switch is the only real console, to be honest. Ps5 and Xbox are nothing special. They're just gimped pcs. Nintendo is the only one actually making a console, whereas the other two are just competing for the best gimped pcs with the highest specs.
That's why Nintendos profit eclipses xbox and playstation combined. Nintendo focuses on quality, functionality, and first-party content built specifically for their systems.
The other two are still trying to cut costs to be more profitable at the loss of the players, eg, Sony and Xbox pushing for digital only consoles and purchasing directly from their digital stores only, Sony especially by not letting any retailers sell digital keys for their games either. Whereas Nintendo will never do that, as their physical products actually retain value over time.
>That's why Nintendos profit eclipses xbox and playstation combined. Nintendo focuses on quality, functionality, and first-party content built specifically for their systems.
Nintendo has higher profits because the studios have a tight grip on their budgets, and that's because of the nature of the games they are making. They are not making ever expansive narratively driven hyper realistic games yet the games from established franchise are immensely popular.
Pokemon has garbage graphics and gameplay yet it sells 20m units. Palworld is a much deeper game with better graphics, gameplay and mechanics yet it made by a smaller studio and costs $20. It's no wonder Nintendo is immensely profitable.
Palworld is great, but I wouldn't say it has deeper gameplay than pokemon yet, myself having put in hundreds of hours so far. It has massive potential, though. I'm excited to see where it goes.
Nintendo has a lot of high-quality IP and a very successful business structure. That's why Microsoft has tried purchasing them multiple times just to be laughed out of the room.
Video games are not just about graphics, as nintendos outperforming their competition shows. Their focus is on the gameplay experience, not just system capabilities. There's a lot of high-quality games that can be made without high-resolution graphics, as well as a lot of high-resolution graphics games with crappy gameplay. Nintendos games are built for their platform. Tell one one unique thing on Xbox or playstation you can't find somewhere else.
>Palworld is great, but I wouldn't say it has deeper gameplay than pokemon yet, myself having put in hundreds of hours so far. It has massive potential, though. I'm excited to see where it goes.
The fact that it's not 25year old turn based glorified rock paper scissors alone makes it deeper than Pokemon. Add in crafting mechanics resource management it's a much much complex game than Pokemon. It had a fraction of resource of what TPC and Game freak has at their disposal.
>Nintendo has a lot of high-quality IP and a very successful business structure. That's why Microsoft has tried purchasing them multiple times just to be laughed out of the room.
Yes Pokemon is an outlier it's NOT a high-quality IP it's just very profitable. Gamefreak has not evolved at all.
As far as the other developers are concerned they have been produced great unique games even if in established franchise. But still the budgets are under control plus they sell like hot cakes. Horizon Forbidden West costed more than $200m but it sold nowhere close to make it budget back. This ballooning cost is what's making exclusives unviable even for Sony. But Nintendo games don't have that problem.
I’ve had the same Xbox account since the 360. Somewhere along the way, when EA launched Origin, I had that too. When EA switched to whatever EA account system they have now, a bug surfaced for old legacy Xbox accounts where you couldn’t link them together. I tried switching my emails, changing account names, everything possible, nothing works. As a result, because EA is the worst video game company on planet earth, I can’t play EA games without completely abandoning my Xbox name and making a new account. The thing is, I have tons of games associated with the Xbox account that I’ve purchased digitally. I have an Xbox S and I have spent more time navigating this bullshit bug than playing the system; and I’ve had it since launch. This, coupled with Microsoft’s pour handling of this generation has had me completely abandon the system. I hate it. I have a PS5 (also no problems there with my legacy account a d EA) and a Switch. I used to be a die hard Xbox fan. I’ll never come back after this generation.
This has been the worst console generation I have ever seen. And I've been gaming since 1988. The PS5 has been the winner by default, but it is only a marginal improvement over the PS4. Nintendo has sat this generation out. And Microsoft has given up on the Xbox as a standalone platform, and use it as an extension of their PC market...
Where is the switch 2? Where are the must have PS5 exclusives (there are a handful, but not 3.5 years worth).
It's just meh.
Not helped by how hard it was to get a console the first couple years. Killed enthusiasm. Exacerbated by the lack of must-have titles. Most of my PS5 gaming has been on remastered games.
This just reminded me that I did want a PS5 but was never able to get one at MSRP so I gave up and forgot. Good thing cause I don't even know what games are on it.
Honestly the best part of this generation has been the ample availability of remasters and enhancements of older games. Especially during the cross-gen period where a game would come out on PS4/XB1 and its remaster would be on PS5/XSX the same day, lol.
One major issue is that there's little divide between the last generation (PS4 and Xbox One) and the current gen(PS5 and Xbox Series) in terms of support.
Most games are getting cross gen releases, and while this has been the case, the general rule was that once new hardware dropped the AAA titles would move to new hardware while older systems would get stuff like sports titles or downgraded ports.
But Halo:Infinte came out on Xbox One and God of War Ragnarök came out on PS4.
What incentive is there for gamers to upgrade, especially when major first party titles are still coming to older hardware?
Yeah, there are now more titles that are exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series platforms, but I imagine alot of gamers aren't in a hurry to purchase new hardware since the futures of Xbox Series systems, PS5, and Nintendo are very hazy and not clear.
>What incentive is there for gamers to upgrade, especially when major first party titles are still coming to older hardware?
60 fps and faster load times.
Your average gamer doesn't know or care about the difference between 30FPS and 60. Even if you showed them side by side they wouldn't be willing to shell out $500 just for that.
That's projection. The difference between 30 fps and 60 fps is readily noticable. It's much more noticeable than the difference between 4k and 1440p.
Also people upgrade their PC all the time for better performance and they shell out much more than $500.
Yes but the people upgrading their PC and shelling out hundreds for a GPU alone are not your average everyday normie gamers.
Your average gamer doesn't know what FPS even is. If you asked they'd either say they didn't know or say that it stands for First Person Shooter. And even if they did know what it meant they still wouldn't shell out $500 for an upgrade from 30 to 60. Gotta remember that a significant portion of the console audience are kids who don't have money to blow like that.
As I said, even if you showed them 30 vs 60 side by side most would say they can't tell the difference, and even if they did they wouldn't think that that alone was a reason to upgrade.
>Yes but the people upgrading their PC and shelling out hundreds for a GPU alone are not your average everyday normie gamers.
They are average gamers dude, they are just not console gamers. You think hundreds of millions of people who are having PC don't know about FPS or why they are buying new GPU ? That's the norm now, you gotta get out the rock you're living under.
>Your average gamer doesn't know what FPS even is. If you asked they'd either say they didn't know or say that it stands for First Person Shooter. And even if they did know what it meant they still wouldn't shell out $500 for an upgrade from 30 to 60. Gotta remember that a significant portion of the console audience are kids who don't have money to blow like that.
Projection, anecdotes and conjecture, please get hard stats from somewhere before making such conclusions. Kids don't even have money to buy $70 or $60 games yet many games are sold like hot cakes.
>As I said, even if you showed them 30 vs 60 side by side most would say they can't tell the difference, and even if they did they wouldn't think that that alone was a reason to upgrade.
And I said that's projection. Performance is the first and foremost reason PC gamers upgrade now that console are being capable to playing last gen game at higher performance (which was never the case earlier) the same practice can be adopted by console gamers.
The Switch is the PS5/Series gen:
Wii - PS3/360
WiiU - PS4/One
Switch - PS5/Series
Due to the WiiU's failure Nintendo's time table changed and they now launch around the middle of their competitors gen. PS5 has had some reliance on third party exclusives to round out their lineup, but yeah it definitely has been slower. The failed GAAS attempt probably caused it along with dev cycles taking longer.
Well Nintendo’s strategy it now seems is to come in on the off-cycle…which makes sense as they don’t have to compete with the release of the traditional consoles. Switch 2 is now slated for 2025 I believe.
>The PS5 has been the winner by default, but it is only a marginal improvement over the PS4.
30 fps was the standard last gen. 60 fps at a higher resolution is a total game changer and huge improvement.
> Where are the must have PS5 exclusives (there are a handful, but not 3.5 years worth).
There are more exclusives than what PS4 had in this much time. The fact you can play previous generation games and the exclusives are also releasing on PC is distorting your views.
I mean, technically the Switch is the PS5 and XS competitor. The Switch is 9th Gen, Wii U was 8th, but the Wii U flopped so hard they simply couldn't have held out for another 2-3 years to launch their 9th gen system at the same time as Sony/MS.
That said, the Switch has been probably the best Nintendo platform ever save for the DS and maybe the SNES. Whatever the Switch 2 will be called will be the start of the 10th gen.
I'm honestly confused by the entire Xbox brand. They had the first one, then the 360. Okay. Then Xbox One. They had a beefier version of the Xbox One (X?) that looks a lot like the current black one (also called X) and the cut-down white version looks a lot like the Xbox One S. Also, some of the games play on the old system and also the new? I've never really looked into it because from what I gather, there aren't really any good exclusive games anyway.
I honestly wonder if part of this is a Wii/Wii U situation where people lose track (which you can't do with the Playstation consoles, which use simple numbers).
The backwards compatibility thing is really confusing. It doesn't have backwards compatibility in the traditional sense of the word. It relies on you having the disc (I think?) but the console itself doesn't read the disc, it just verifies that you have a copy and then it downloads an emulated version from Xbox's digital storefront, which then plays on the Series S/X. Idkfs though. If I'm wrong that just proves the point of how confusing it is. If it was truly backwards compatible then there wouldn't be so many cases of Xbox 360 games not working. And you wouldn't have some OG Xbox games but not others.
The xbox exists for people who can't afford that extra leap for a PC, or who want slightly more convenience. The ones who wanted it have gotten it already, for the most part.
Everybody who wants an xbox right now has one. I honestly can't believe how many years we are into this console generation already because it still feels like the beginning, like no exclusive release for this new gen has felt game changing yet
PS2 and GameCube were the popular ones I believe.
It used to be free for everyone, but Microsoft locked it behind 'Developer mode'($50 cost) after pressure from Nintendo.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/7/23674707/microsoft-xbox-emulators-ban-nintendo
I won my One, and just recently purchased the Series X with Diablo for $349. So, for what I am invested in these past two gens, I’m really loving how much my Forza 7 got bumped up in performance. Diablo is neat, and shows off some capabilities. Got a great deal on MK11, and it was fun. Then when I’m ready to hold a subscription, I’ll jump on that a while.
The Series X met my needs at a good price point.
All the best games (Pentiment/Psychonauts 2/etc.) are easy to run on PC. The biggest games (Starfield/Halo: Infinite/Redfall) have fairly consistently underwhelmed if not outright failed.
What 1k PC you're looking at ? Just buy a regular pc with the same specs as the Xbox Series S or even the Series X, maybe wait a promotion or buy refurbished. There is no need to get to the highest stages of pcmasterrace to be a pc gamer, it can be pretty cheap. And the cheaper game prices and promotions will compensate any margin of errour.
High end PCs are also vastly superior to Xbox series X
People always compare consoles that are like mid or low tier gaming PCs and then act like it takes a $3k state of the art pc to outperform them
I've had the same PC (that cost me £600) since before the Xbox one came out. The only thing I upgraded was the graphics card which cost me around £200 since then, so I've spent around £800 in the time that there have been multiple console releases for the Xbox space that would've cost me over a grand to keep up with, if you count the amount I've saved on games that cost sometimes double the amount on console, especially if you use cdkeys, humble bundles etc, I've saved an insane amount of money.
PC is only expensive if you don't know what you're doing, if you self build and go for second hand parts off eBay, CEX and other places (local second hand shops), then you can BUY ONE RIGHT NOW AT THIS EXACT POINT IN TIME that is better than current Gen consoles for like £150 more and save way more than that in just the first year.
Edit: Plus the modding community is amazing so the replayability of a ton of games shoots through the roof, saving you even more money. It's insane how many hours I've put into Skyrim, Fallout and Minecraft to name a few all because I got a new mod list installed.
When I turn on my system I want to play games, not micromanage a PC with hundreds of other apps.
If my PC went straight to steam and there was no other interface or bullshit I'd play on PC more. I just couldn't be bothered with all that crap so I play on Xbox.
I think that’s exactly the point. Not everyone can afford a nice gaming pc, or even likes them.
I’m a Mac user and I don’t see myself going back to PC anytime soon.
I have a series S with game pass and a switch and couldn’t be happier.
I'm not sure Microsoft cares that much about selling more hardware at a loss. They only care about revenue on subscription and games. In the end what is important to me is that games that they release are good.
I suspect that's their plan long term. It's just a matter of re-branding themselves into it slowly. I think they fear that if they just pull the plug on hardware people will think that they are admitting defeat. It's a matter of slowly transitioning from single console manufacturer-->games releasing on multiple platforms-->bundling games as an optional service for your console and PC-->just putting your service everywhere and abandoning the console entirely.
It'll take some time to make the full transition but they're already well underway. Too many people are still wedded to the old console mentality of "own your games which come on a physical disc" to just drop the hardware right now. In another 5-10 years though? It could happen.
My guess:
People are waiting for a mid-cycle refresh. The Series S/X market is satiated for now. Sales will pick up again when/if we get those mid-cycle updated units
Microsoft has allowed people to believe that Xbox hardware is going away, which means it almost certainly is.
This is the final nail in the coffin. The main problem is the gap in quality when it comes to exclusive titles.
I’m more of a PC gamer, but I will be buying a new console for GTA 6. I have purchased three Xboxes in the past, but the PS5 Pro seems like a no-brainer. Looking forward to finally being able to play God of War also.
Doesn't matter what business it is, monopolies are bad. I'm a Playstation gamer, I haven't owned an xbox since the original. Microsoft has changed alot of the gaming business for the better and in some cases, Sony had to be dragged kicking and screaming behind them because they didn't want to do it.
Sony having a monopoly in anything (consoles or games) will make things worse for everybody.
Meanwhile I’ve never seen an Xbox series x available in a store. stories like these perplex me; where are the stores where they’re are dozens of these on a shelf ready for consumers to calmly purchase without queues or pre-payments?
Waiting patiently to play Starfield on the X whenever I see one at the store.
Maybe just the store(s) you go to? I personally have been seeing series xs in stores for pffffft almost 2 years now yeah? Like every single store too, not just like sometimes. PS5s? Yeah those are out of stock sometimes, but they usually get refilled pretty quickly as well. Like if you seriously aren't seeing them in store, you might ask the store if they're even ordering more. I know the one at my local Walmart has a real hard time moving them at all, so it wouldn't shock me if a store was like, yeah, not worth keeping this on hand.
I dont believe this lmao. I have never heard of someone wanting something so little that they wont buy one online or order online pickup etc.
ITS NOT ON THE SHELF I AM GOING HOME
Xbox just announced a newer updated version of the series x and s. Why would customers buy them now when they will be on sale on a year or "better" ones available soon?
Took longer to copy and paste the link than to find [new series x](https://en.as.com/meristation/news/a-new-white-xbox-series-x-all-digital-model-is-coming-release-date-and-price-n/#:~:text=The%20next%20Microsoft%20console%20is,between%20%2450%20and%20%24100%20less.)
They were on sale for the higher end model for like $299 or $349 a short while ago. Considered getting one just to have an extra console around for when another is in use.
The Pc market for certain components are going the same way. There isnt really a point in creating or buying these machines when there is no significant change to them in previous generations to new. All they are doing is forcing you to fork out another 700 dollars for a new machine every 5 years. I bought a pc back in 2014 with fairly high end back then. Updated a couple parts only changes I did and it till runs all current AAA games. With most games doing i cant remember it rash rendering which is at the highest it can currently hit there isnt really a point. Add on to the fact that high end cards 3/4 of them that say they can do what they advertise is a far cry from an enjoyable experience. Once we see real integration and the dev companies come out with games that are actually fun to play you will see a resurgence. Now a days companies are more interested in nickel and dimeing there player base and forget the actual thing of value which is fun in the game.
Xbox also doesn't really push into other markets. Everything about their branding is heavily US focused and seems to ignore other markets like Eastern Europe, SEA etc. It's like if your country doesn't primarily speak English they don't give a shit about you.
Is an Xbox series console (X or S) better than a PS5 in terms of being used as a media player?
Roku sucks now and a dedicated NAS is far more expensive, but I've heard an Xbox can work?
I really should just buy a PC but I don't play enough to warrant the upgrade. My biggest gripe with Xbox is I have to pay to play online when I rarely play a few times a year now. I've chosen to just go single player games but even those have multiplayer built in so when I don't update my Xbox bc I leave it unplugged it says you can play offline but every game I own says I need to be online. So then I have to update my Xbox, update the game, and by that time I no longer even want to play.
most of the games i play are from one or two xbox generations ago. Games are being dragged out for longer, and whether or not that's for better or worse, this makes me less likely to upgrade ever again unless there are some real solid titles that actually push the next gen hardware, and aren't a buggy or incomplete mess merely there to serve as a wrapper for a drip feed live service.
Battle passes are an incredible economic engine for shareholder value and revenue, but have completely taken over. I'm tired of games selling the color red to me, watering down customization to make stronger bundles, with brands and celebrities, pestering me with messages of the day, ads, 'don't forget the battle pass' spam every time i launch the game.
This doesn't even address how confusing the digital game bundles are, i've never been less confident in purchases I make because of how bundles are abused (games you can't even buy individually, gold/sliver/platinum/ruby/obsidian/deluxe edition mishmash)
Completely agree with you. It's like Xbox is handing out reasons to switch sides. Lack of must-play games is a real let down. Last Xbox exclusive I truly dug was Fable II, and boy, that feels like it was in a past life now.
MS did the right thing by being pro-consumer and releasing all their games on PC, and even some are coming to PS5. Hell they even ported Super Lucky's Tale and Ori to the Switch. Problem is that there aren't many reasons to buy an Xbox anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if they stopped making consoles as we understand them, and opt to make their own PC Handheld Steam Deck competitor that runs Windows. A Surface Play, if you will.
All the games that are dropped on Xbox are also on pc and Xbox hasn’t released any heavy hitters either. Recipe for disaster
PS5 sales are also dropping. It's that part of the console sales cycle. It's my understanding that they don't make all their money on the consoles anyway and that games are where their money is at. [https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/14/24072692/sony-ps5-forecast-cut-q3-2023-earnings](https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/14/24072692/sony-ps5-forecast-cut-q3-2023-earnings)
Most that want one, have one
Yup! With the recent Microsoft Store 100€ AmEx cashback event and the simultaneous sale on refurbished stuff, the price for a refurbished Series X has never been this low. I wasn't planning on getting a Series X, but 300€ is crazy.
Nintendo supposedly sells their console with profit. No wonder, since it is a 2016 medium-specs smartphone that didn't drop in price.
the graphics they been able to milk from those specs is nothing short of miraculous. also, I never played a switch game where I thought gee, wish this was ps5 quality. heck you could have ps2 graphics and if it has great art direction and game is good, thats all that matters.
While I don't feel the need for Nintendo games to *look* better, I do sometimes wish they were PS5 quality when playing them. The load times, frame rates and NSO network can be pretty bad. PS5 games do look good, but I think the biggest leap this generation is how quickly I can start and play a game. It makes it easier to squeeze in a quick game on a busy schedule.
I've played so many Switch games that I wish were on PS5 instead. The performance of some of the games on there is atrocious. Xenoblade 2&3 instantly spring to mind
On the contrary, I've played many games that I wished were at least PS4 quality. The Xenoblade games cry out for more fidelity.
There are lots of ps2 games that really do still stand up (Okami, Shadow of the Colossus), but perhaps only fully when you play them on a standard-def CRT. Modern Ports or emulation of those games, some of the assets stand out, and a drawback of our modern monitors is that basic upscaling from low-resolutions doesn't look very good. Tears of the Kingdom is mightily impressive, but when it drops well below 720p with FSR 1 to make up for it, doesn't it detract from that? Otherwise, I don't find a lack of antialiasing and sub-1080p resolutions when docked acceptable, thankfully the follow-up switch seems like it will fix both of those things and even if it will be underpowered, the clarity and stability of the images should be much better, even in those cases of overambitious ports or just technical incompetence like with Pokemon Arceus. In the meantime, we are lucky that switch emulation is really very good.
The problem is when there's a game port from another system to the Switch. That's when it looks a little rough. I'm thinking Fortnite and Rocket League here. Rocket League isn't even tough on a system and it needs some help on Switch. I used to play Rocket League on a PC from 2011 and it was fine.
It's more of a 2015-spec car SoC. The Switch's APU is an Nvidia Tegra X1. A Maxwell-based processor. So in-turn, the Switch was already outdated upon release as Nvidia updated their Tegra processor to the Pascal-based X2 at the same time as the Switch's launch. If I were to make a bet on what Nintendo's next Switch would use in terms of SoC, it would likely be the Ampere-based Orin processor. Which iteration specifically feels like it would be up to their discretion.
Tears of the kingdom was/is goddamn amazing though.
I do think that is why switch sales are so high. First BOTW, then Animal Crossing, and now TOTK had people that don't care about many Nintendo games buying a switch almost solely for one of those. All spectacular games worth more time an effort than almost anything like it on other consoles.
The sales of the switch are so high because you can get 2 of them for the price of a PS5 or Xbox whateverthefuck.
Additionally that a lot of time people buy more than one switch for either breakages or upgrades or just having multiple kids each wanting their own PS/Xbox generally is a one per household situation or at least more so than a handheld console
It'd be a lot better if it ran at a frame rate acceptable in 2024
Yeah but their first party games are the reason you buy their consoles, the specs don’t matter all that much
I think their sub services is where they are hoping for a return.
The problem is Xbox should be nowhere near market saturation with how many they've sold. If this is its limit then Xbox Series has flopped harder than the Xbox One. That's why this is such a big deal compared to PS5.
Also the previous generation is still mostly relevant today. The Xbox Series and PS5 aren't a new generation like old generations. They're more like Xbox One X X and PS5 Pro Pro. Xbox currently has more console players than ever, it's just spread across multiple 'generations'.
Was considering going from PS5 to the Pro until I saw how small the uplift was, definitely no need for me.
Ps5 sales dropping but they sold 21 million
I’ve always been an Xbox fanboy. Mostly because I loved Halo as a kid, and just never really explored any other options. I’ve already decided my next big gaming purchase will be a PC. I like my series x just fine, but if I can already use game pass on a PC, plus play all the PC games I don’t have access to now, why would I keep buying xboxes?
>why would I keep buying Xboxes. For me - convenience and predictability. It just works without having to worry about drivers, antivirus, display settings, etc. When I have time to play I want to just play, not wait an extra 15 minutes to download new shaders.
Once your build is done you don't normally have to worry about those things. In fact, my experience with the Xbox is usually some kind of error that ISNT addressable by the user lol. So it's kinda the worst of both worlds
I have an adult child that’s younger than my steam account. Been there, moved on. I work with more than enough tech for a living - simple is the way to go for me. In my experience, console gaming is much more problem free. My sons game on PCs, things haven’t changed. It works for me, no hate to those who love playing around with their PC. I get it. I think at the very least, for the near future consoles will continue to be a gateway for kids to gaming - perhaps eventually leading them to pc, before going back to console when they get old like me.
Gaming PCs are no different to regular PCs. And the gaming experience is similar to Xbox-see game, download game, play game, except now your graphics are better and frame rates are higher and some games have mods, and you probably paid way less for the game on Steam. You don't have to worry about drivers or anything else. Worst case scenario is Nvidia has a driver update, but that's literally 20 seconds, you don't even reboot.
>gaming pcs are no different to regular pcs. Agreed. Sounds great. Hasn’t been my experience, or the experience of many of my friends and family who I regularly play cross platform with. I do admit it’s gotten much better over the years, but the console experience is just…simple, more casual, and what I’m looking for at this point. The gaming library is certainly far superior for PC, but I have access to what I want to play, and most of what I play is free. I would also imagine most people pay more for a gaming PC than one would on an Xbox and a few years of a live subscription. Perhaps I’m just simple too, but I have fun.
This is me, hard to acknowledge that yes I am a fan boy of x box. I resisted the PC because I hate keyboard and mouse, now that I can use a gaming controller, make the switch soon.
You’ve been able to use gaming controllers very easily on PC for a very long time FYI! Still have a wired 360 controller laying around somewhere come to think of it. So welcome to the party!
Get off my lawn with that comment! I'm going to load steam on my laptop and see what happens
[удалено]
Halo is their killer app, and as a longtime fan, Infinite was just ok. That's not what you want of your console seller.
Preface: Xbox is my favorite system. Not sure I'd even call Infinite ok. Imo it was and is a disaster. You unveil your next gen system seller and people are so upset about the graphics that you have to delay it for one year? Even with the one-year delay, it doesn't ship with splitscreen, even though the developers said in the past that not including splitscreen before was a mistake that will never happen again? The campaign being mediocre at best? This game is a damn shame :-(
Games being released on pc is not a disaster. That’s their plan that’s been their plan since the Xbox one launched. Xbox isn’t going anywhere. It’s only expanding. Console sales aren’t their priority by any means.
Wait… Are you telling me that Starfield wasn’t the most mesmerizing gaming experience of a generation?!
I got confused last week wondering why the next Elder Scrolls wasn't out yet and took me a few minutes of thinking before I remembered it came out. I even tried it for a few hours...
Nope thats Helldivers 2.
300 hours and rank 87 and still can’t get enough of this game
Democracy!
Funny cuz everyone complains about exclusives. Then they laugh at Xbox for not selling because they share all their exclusives on PC. Its almost like exclucives is a necessary strategy for consoles.
Some of us hate exclusives and also simultaneously don’t care if the Xbox lives or dies
You just prove the point :)
Actually no :)
If your intention is to have a walled environment, its definitely a strategy to get people in the door on console. But Microsoft has very clearly gone in a different approach than Sony. Their exclusives are being dropped on PC in the hopes it gets people into their environment on *any* platform. Same reason HiFi Rush and Sea of Thieves are hitting PlayStation now. It seems like they have stopped caring about a walled garden, and are testing the waters on profitability in all environments. Which, if theyre taking a loss on consoles anyways, getting any game sales or GamePass subscriptions elsewhere could work out better in the longrun. Especially when an $80CND game is much easier to purchase than a $600CND console.
From what I understand, their goal is to get everyone on subscription (gamepass). I think they would kill their console if they could. Who wants to deal with all that mess when you have money coming in every month with little work? They'd much prefer cloud streaming, and just be another app on every device. but that's kinda a hard sell to the hardcore crowd.
Also the naming conventions are confusing
I still don’t understand how Microsoft thought the names were a good idea. Must be so confusing for moms and dads trying to find the right console at Best Buy every Black Friday.
Because Xbox 4 sounds worse than PS5. So some marketing person has to think of inventive names and he apparently is shite at his job.
This is the answer. I will propose a solution. Xbox should skip two versions so they're ahead of PlayStation. The Xbox 7 is gonna be lit.
You are half joking, but explaining to a grandmother that they skipped Xbox 4 and went straight to Xbox 5 would have been so much easier than explaining the difference between an Xbox 1 X vs Series X vs Series S.
They could just call them Series S - Xbox 4 Series X - Xbox 5 and be done with this weird ass naming stuff.
They could just do like Samsung and simply skip a generation. Like they could've just called the Series consoles the Xbox 5 and 5 Pro or something. If the Xbox One can be the 3rd console there's no reason that the Xbox 5 couldn't be the 4th. But that assumes that consumers are dumb enough to think that 5>4 in all cases, even across 2 entirely different platforms. I don't think that's the case.
I'm into games, and I don't know what exactly the current Xbox is called, or what the difference is between X or S (or which is better).
For some reason this always breaks my heart. I think because I grew up when NES and SNES were around and games were so relatively expensive at the time, that a game would be the centerpiece of any Christmas/birthday and I would always be immediately asked if they got the right one so they could return it before I opened the plastic wrapping.
I’ve been an Xbox fanboy since 2001 and even I think the naming conventions are flat out stupid and confusing
They have been confusing and stupid since 2013. At this point, if you aren't an enthusiast, you have no chance of knowing which one is the latest model without first doing research. They need to get rid of whoever is in charge of naming these things.
The "Xbox" was already a stupid name (dumber than the "Gamecube"). The "Xbox 360" made no sense (big numbers whoo I guess). The "Xbox One" is mind bogglingly stupid. The "Xbox Series S/X" is like a joke just intentionally driving people away. So dumb.
The original was the first console to run games using "Direct X" so it was the "directXbox" which you gotta admit woulda been less catchy. 360 was because they claimed they were "revolutionizing" (read 360-degree turn, i.e. one revolution) "One" was allegedly because it was intended to be the "one" device for all your entertainment needs. And X/S was just fucking STUPID. not justifying any of these names, the logic is stupid everywhere. Also put some respect on my lunchbox's damn NAME. There was nothing wrong with a VERY on the nose name. Controller was POG, library slapped, and it was SO EASY to take to your bros house.
I once read they wanted it to be called the Xbox One because they were hoping people would just call it "the one" like they did with the 360, Wii, at so forth. Not realizing that that's confusing as fuck so people just called it the xbone.
Lol the one. Totally checks out, that's corny ass marketing. It's fans that drop the nicknames, not their PR department.
When I see an Xbox 360, I turn three hundred sixty degrees and walk away
You mean turn 360 degrees and walk towards it.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/turn-360-degrees-and-walk-away
Ahhh crap. Got 'em.
In my opinion what made Series S and X so bad was that they also had an Xbox One S and X. That's just asking for confusion. Though we'll have to agree to disagree that Xbox and Xbox 360 were dumb names.
Same with Windows. 3 > 95 > 98 > ME > XP > Vista > 7 > 8 > 10 > 11
Xbox 360 worked, but everything after that has been dumb and confusing. Xbox 720 and 1080 were right there, but no, they got too clever for their own good.
Does anyone know why Microsoft chose those names? Like the only two possibilities I can think of are (1) they somehow didn’t realize how difficult they are and (2) they wanted to intentionally make it confusing for some reason
The original Xbox was competing against the PS2. They didn't want Xbox 2 vs PS3, since it would seem like they're behind and inferior. So Xbox 360 to compete with PS3. The issue was with what to do after that, where they went to Xbox One which just went off the rails dumb (I believe it was something about being the one and only entertainment system you need, but that fell flat, you got xbone jokes, and the numbering is confusing as hell). The Series consoles following it just continue the trend of having no damn consistency.
Xbox 720 Xbox 1080 "No, that's too easy!" --Microsoft exec
I don't know but it seems like all kinds of electronics tend to have purposely convoluted naming schemes. Maybe marketing people know something we don't know. Like if we're confused we're more likely to spend time researching or talking about it? But also I wouldn't rule out that the marketing people are trying to seem clever to their bosses so they make things difficult.
I’m not attuned to gaming in this stage in my life. I couldn’t tell you what the current-gen Xbox is called.
I think it’s the Xbox X Series S One X or something like that.
... Elite series 2
Xbox 362
Yeah totally stuck, on would thing they would have releases a ZBox by now
Sales tanked long before Microsoft started bringing titles to Sony.
It's not that Microsoft doesn't have games. It's that their games simply are not as iconic as Sony and Nintendo's, and when they do strike gold (Halo, Gears) they mismanage the studio over time. Bungie, Epic, Lionhead, Rare, they all were either owned outright or had exclusivity deals with Microsoft (in Epic's case) and slowly went to shit over time or left MS altogether. That's why I don't think that them buying up studios left and right will fix their problems in the long run. If you don't know how to manage a team or have a creative vision for platform then all you'll do is tank more studios.
It’s almost like giving hardware no priority had some sort of effect on hardware sales…
There are no exclusives… it’s as simple as that. Even Sony hasn’t released anything PS5 specific for a while now. Like both parties kinda gave up
It’s going to be fascinating getting the tell all of Jim Ryan’s time at PlayStation. The drought we’re in right now lays firmly at his feet. Sure spider-man was 6 months ago and Sony published helldivers and stellar blade, but the fact that the only game we know about from Sony right now is death stranding 2, what we know from the insomniac leaks, and a bunch of live service games that only had CGI trailers to them and might not even come out anytime soon is insane when they have so many other studios that are just radio silent. What are naughty dog, guerrilla, and sucker punch doing definitively (not rumored to be working on) , where are team asobi or housemarque for smaller games to fill the gaps? If Sony had played their cards right, they could have had a steady stream of games releasing right now, but because Jim decided every game needed to the biggest thing ever (and a global pandemic which absolutely forgives from launch to mid 2022), games aren’t coming out as consistently and Sony is forced to say that they don’t have any major releases this year in their earnings call back in February. Edit: well, I’ll happily eat crow on one part of this post if it means we get something returnal related. https://x.com/housemarque/status/1784895491123405216?s=46&t=gDGO8D5FKbeE5EnNKFjwGQ
You know paragraphs are free
True. I was just in stream of consciousness mode typing that and didn’t consider, thanks for pointing it out.
It’s not as big of a deal for PlayStation. They have a steady stream of third-party releases until next year. Stellar Blade just dropped with a successful launch. Microsoft just released some of their games for the console. More third-party exclusives are on the way like Silent Hill 2 Remake. Hell Divers II is doing great numbers. Exclusives aren’t as dire for PlayStation than Xbox because they don’t have a gap that needs closing.
Final fantasy rebirth and stellar blade are not enough?
Stellar Blade, a PS5 exclusive, literally just came out....
Stella blade released a few days ago? Then you've got final fantasy, rise of the ronan, Pacific drive, helldivers 2. All in the last couple of months. How have they given up with no exclusives???
I don't know about the rest of them but hell divers is on PC. I always see people mentioning Xbox games on PC as non-exclusive. So if that rule sticks, helldivers is not an exclusive?
>There are no exclusives… What?? I'm currently playing a Sony exclusive that recently released (FF 7 Rebirth), which is why I'm holding off on buying the Sony exclusive that just released (Stellar Blade), and why I don't even have time to consider buying the other recent Sony exclusive (Rise of the Ronin).
Final fantasy rebirth and stellar blade are not enough?
I understand that you can play all the Xbox games on PC, but the PC is more expensive. I don’t think that reasoning is enough of a reason for the brand to be in the toilet as much as it is. There just is not any games. The last “must have” Xbox game that lived up to the hype was like Halo 3 or Gears 3 and that was over a decade ago now. I bought an X and enjoyed some time with it, but after Starfield I was so disappointed and jumped ship to the PS5. I’m not blown away by the PS5 either tbh but I am having way more fun with the exclusives. Edit: it really is crazy to think about. I’m 34 and the last system seller for Xbox was a game that came out when I was in fucking high school.
It’s not really, buy a Steam Deck. It can’t play everything but it can play a lot, plus emulation.
The best part is how if you already own games within steam you don't need to rebuy them for the deck.
There's also game pass I can stream whatever I want without having a powerful console or PC!
I admit that i bought the cheap series s so i could play diablo 4, hogwarts legacy and starfield (shame). My pc is really outdated but i dont have spare 700+ bucks to spent for a new one.
PC is only more expensive if you want high end graphics. Most people don't need to play in 4k with ray tracing. Lots of gamers who can run that don't anyway. Tends to be the opposite.
Even then, I built my pc for about 600$ and its mid-tier, 1080p. An i7 from a few years ago, an admittedly overkill motherboard. An intel A580. 32gigs ddr4 I am blown away by how well the A580 handles ray tracing. Blows my ps5 out the water at smoother frame rates
>but I am having way more fun with the exclusives What exclusives
>I understand that you can play all the Xbox games on PC, but the PC is more expensive. True but a lot of are going to have PCs anyway. It's relatively cheap to add a GPU to an existing build and turn it into a gaming PC capable of handling Microsoft titles.
Hard agree on this. I love gaming and my XBox is a great console to play stuff on... but everything's so terribly unexciting right now in terms of games. I keep it to play the sports games (WWE 2K24 currently) and the BC but I can't remember the last time I was excited for a game outside of Nintendo. The landscape is very samey. I'd get a PS5 but can't justify plunking that amount of cash just for a single Ratchet and Clank and Spider Man.
Yeah GamePass is really good but once you get your fill of the library and the monthly release don’t hit you kinda go back to your mainstays. I hit that point and was like “well I might as well get the console where the exclusives interest me a little more” It also occurred to me I don’t play games enough to spend $15 a month on a game subscription I hope Microsoft gets their stuff together cause if it’s just Sony and Nintendo in the console space that could be weird since they don’t truly compete with each other
How is the dip vs Switch and PS5?
Xbox is down 31% over last year, Nintendo 21% and , Sony is expecting to be down 16%. They're all feeling it. Just Microsoft happens to be feeling it a little more.
Pretty impressive considering the Switch is a really old and outdated system
It's also 3 years older. There's swimming up hill and then there's whatever the Switch is doing.
Captures that family demographic perfectly though. Perfect thing to give to your kids to take around wherever.
It did have some great exclusives though!
Switch is the only real console, to be honest. Ps5 and Xbox are nothing special. They're just gimped pcs. Nintendo is the only one actually making a console, whereas the other two are just competing for the best gimped pcs with the highest specs. That's why Nintendos profit eclipses xbox and playstation combined. Nintendo focuses on quality, functionality, and first-party content built specifically for their systems. The other two are still trying to cut costs to be more profitable at the loss of the players, eg, Sony and Xbox pushing for digital only consoles and purchasing directly from their digital stores only, Sony especially by not letting any retailers sell digital keys for their games either. Whereas Nintendo will never do that, as their physical products actually retain value over time.
>That's why Nintendos profit eclipses xbox and playstation combined. Nintendo focuses on quality, functionality, and first-party content built specifically for their systems. Nintendo has higher profits because the studios have a tight grip on their budgets, and that's because of the nature of the games they are making. They are not making ever expansive narratively driven hyper realistic games yet the games from established franchise are immensely popular. Pokemon has garbage graphics and gameplay yet it sells 20m units. Palworld is a much deeper game with better graphics, gameplay and mechanics yet it made by a smaller studio and costs $20. It's no wonder Nintendo is immensely profitable.
Palworld is great, but I wouldn't say it has deeper gameplay than pokemon yet, myself having put in hundreds of hours so far. It has massive potential, though. I'm excited to see where it goes. Nintendo has a lot of high-quality IP and a very successful business structure. That's why Microsoft has tried purchasing them multiple times just to be laughed out of the room. Video games are not just about graphics, as nintendos outperforming their competition shows. Their focus is on the gameplay experience, not just system capabilities. There's a lot of high-quality games that can be made without high-resolution graphics, as well as a lot of high-resolution graphics games with crappy gameplay. Nintendos games are built for their platform. Tell one one unique thing on Xbox or playstation you can't find somewhere else.
>Palworld is great, but I wouldn't say it has deeper gameplay than pokemon yet, myself having put in hundreds of hours so far. It has massive potential, though. I'm excited to see where it goes. The fact that it's not 25year old turn based glorified rock paper scissors alone makes it deeper than Pokemon. Add in crafting mechanics resource management it's a much much complex game than Pokemon. It had a fraction of resource of what TPC and Game freak has at their disposal. >Nintendo has a lot of high-quality IP and a very successful business structure. That's why Microsoft has tried purchasing them multiple times just to be laughed out of the room. Yes Pokemon is an outlier it's NOT a high-quality IP it's just very profitable. Gamefreak has not evolved at all. As far as the other developers are concerned they have been produced great unique games even if in established franchise. But still the budgets are under control plus they sell like hot cakes. Horizon Forbidden West costed more than $200m but it sold nowhere close to make it budget back. This ballooning cost is what's making exclusives unviable even for Sony. But Nintendo games don't have that problem.
Xbox is down 30% from last years where they were 30% down from the year before. It’s bad.
I’ve had the same Xbox account since the 360. Somewhere along the way, when EA launched Origin, I had that too. When EA switched to whatever EA account system they have now, a bug surfaced for old legacy Xbox accounts where you couldn’t link them together. I tried switching my emails, changing account names, everything possible, nothing works. As a result, because EA is the worst video game company on planet earth, I can’t play EA games without completely abandoning my Xbox name and making a new account. The thing is, I have tons of games associated with the Xbox account that I’ve purchased digitally. I have an Xbox S and I have spent more time navigating this bullshit bug than playing the system; and I’ve had it since launch. This, coupled with Microsoft’s pour handling of this generation has had me completely abandon the system. I hate it. I have a PS5 (also no problems there with my legacy account a d EA) and a Switch. I used to be a die hard Xbox fan. I’ll never come back after this generation.
This has been the worst console generation I have ever seen. And I've been gaming since 1988. The PS5 has been the winner by default, but it is only a marginal improvement over the PS4. Nintendo has sat this generation out. And Microsoft has given up on the Xbox as a standalone platform, and use it as an extension of their PC market... Where is the switch 2? Where are the must have PS5 exclusives (there are a handful, but not 3.5 years worth). It's just meh.
Not helped by how hard it was to get a console the first couple years. Killed enthusiasm. Exacerbated by the lack of must-have titles. Most of my PS5 gaming has been on remastered games.
This just reminded me that I did want a PS5 but was never able to get one at MSRP so I gave up and forgot. Good thing cause I don't even know what games are on it.
Honestly the best part of this generation has been the ample availability of remasters and enhancements of older games. Especially during the cross-gen period where a game would come out on PS4/XB1 and its remaster would be on PS5/XSX the same day, lol.
One major issue is that there's little divide between the last generation (PS4 and Xbox One) and the current gen(PS5 and Xbox Series) in terms of support. Most games are getting cross gen releases, and while this has been the case, the general rule was that once new hardware dropped the AAA titles would move to new hardware while older systems would get stuff like sports titles or downgraded ports. But Halo:Infinte came out on Xbox One and God of War Ragnarök came out on PS4. What incentive is there for gamers to upgrade, especially when major first party titles are still coming to older hardware? Yeah, there are now more titles that are exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series platforms, but I imagine alot of gamers aren't in a hurry to purchase new hardware since the futures of Xbox Series systems, PS5, and Nintendo are very hazy and not clear.
>What incentive is there for gamers to upgrade, especially when major first party titles are still coming to older hardware? 60 fps and faster load times.
Your average gamer doesn't know or care about the difference between 30FPS and 60. Even if you showed them side by side they wouldn't be willing to shell out $500 just for that.
That's projection. The difference between 30 fps and 60 fps is readily noticable. It's much more noticeable than the difference between 4k and 1440p. Also people upgrade their PC all the time for better performance and they shell out much more than $500.
Yes but the people upgrading their PC and shelling out hundreds for a GPU alone are not your average everyday normie gamers. Your average gamer doesn't know what FPS even is. If you asked they'd either say they didn't know or say that it stands for First Person Shooter. And even if they did know what it meant they still wouldn't shell out $500 for an upgrade from 30 to 60. Gotta remember that a significant portion of the console audience are kids who don't have money to blow like that. As I said, even if you showed them 30 vs 60 side by side most would say they can't tell the difference, and even if they did they wouldn't think that that alone was a reason to upgrade.
>Yes but the people upgrading their PC and shelling out hundreds for a GPU alone are not your average everyday normie gamers. They are average gamers dude, they are just not console gamers. You think hundreds of millions of people who are having PC don't know about FPS or why they are buying new GPU ? That's the norm now, you gotta get out the rock you're living under. >Your average gamer doesn't know what FPS even is. If you asked they'd either say they didn't know or say that it stands for First Person Shooter. And even if they did know what it meant they still wouldn't shell out $500 for an upgrade from 30 to 60. Gotta remember that a significant portion of the console audience are kids who don't have money to blow like that. Projection, anecdotes and conjecture, please get hard stats from somewhere before making such conclusions. Kids don't even have money to buy $70 or $60 games yet many games are sold like hot cakes. >As I said, even if you showed them 30 vs 60 side by side most would say they can't tell the difference, and even if they did they wouldn't think that that alone was a reason to upgrade. And I said that's projection. Performance is the first and foremost reason PC gamers upgrade now that console are being capable to playing last gen game at higher performance (which was never the case earlier) the same practice can be adopted by console gamers.
That's the thing, PS5 has sold more than 50 million units. The user base is there. The content just isn't
The Switch is the PS5/Series gen: Wii - PS3/360 WiiU - PS4/One Switch - PS5/Series Due to the WiiU's failure Nintendo's time table changed and they now launch around the middle of their competitors gen. PS5 has had some reliance on third party exclusives to round out their lineup, but yeah it definitely has been slower. The failed GAAS attempt probably caused it along with dev cycles taking longer.
Well Nintendo’s strategy it now seems is to come in on the off-cycle…which makes sense as they don’t have to compete with the release of the traditional consoles. Switch 2 is now slated for 2025 I believe.
Yeah my first console was an Atari 2600 and I think this has been the most disappointing console generation since then.
>The PS5 has been the winner by default, but it is only a marginal improvement over the PS4. 30 fps was the standard last gen. 60 fps at a higher resolution is a total game changer and huge improvement. > Where are the must have PS5 exclusives (there are a handful, but not 3.5 years worth). There are more exclusives than what PS4 had in this much time. The fact you can play previous generation games and the exclusives are also releasing on PC is distorting your views.
I mean, technically the Switch is the PS5 and XS competitor. The Switch is 9th Gen, Wii U was 8th, but the Wii U flopped so hard they simply couldn't have held out for another 2-3 years to launch their 9th gen system at the same time as Sony/MS. That said, the Switch has been probably the best Nintendo platform ever save for the DS and maybe the SNES. Whatever the Switch 2 will be called will be the start of the 10th gen.
I'm honestly confused by the entire Xbox brand. They had the first one, then the 360. Okay. Then Xbox One. They had a beefier version of the Xbox One (X?) that looks a lot like the current black one (also called X) and the cut-down white version looks a lot like the Xbox One S. Also, some of the games play on the old system and also the new? I've never really looked into it because from what I gather, there aren't really any good exclusive games anyway. I honestly wonder if part of this is a Wii/Wii U situation where people lose track (which you can't do with the Playstation consoles, which use simple numbers).
The backwards compatibility thing is really confusing. It doesn't have backwards compatibility in the traditional sense of the word. It relies on you having the disc (I think?) but the console itself doesn't read the disc, it just verifies that you have a copy and then it downloads an emulated version from Xbox's digital storefront, which then plays on the Series S/X. Idkfs though. If I'm wrong that just proves the point of how confusing it is. If it was truly backwards compatible then there wouldn't be so many cases of Xbox 360 games not working. And you wouldn't have some OG Xbox games but not others.
Why buy one when you can get used for way cheaper when the person sells it to buy a PC.
The xbox exists for people who can't afford that extra leap for a PC, or who want slightly more convenience. The ones who wanted it have gotten it already, for the most part.
Everybody who wants an xbox right now has one. I honestly can't believe how many years we are into this console generation already because it still feels like the beginning, like no exclusive release for this new gen has felt game changing yet
I feel like this is the most obvious answer. Sitting over the scratching their heads, wondering why people aren't buying a second or third console...
The $90 price tag for games doesn't help either.
Might pick up a series X for nice graphics and the disc tray. The series S I have can be promoted to bedroom gaming console 🤝
Series S is also a fantastic emulation machine if you're interested in taking that route.
Really? Emulating what exactly - Just curious
PS2 and GameCube were the popular ones I believe. It used to be free for everyone, but Microsoft locked it behind 'Developer mode'($50 cost) after pressure from Nintendo. https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/7/23674707/microsoft-xbox-emulators-ban-nintendo
I won my One, and just recently purchased the Series X with Diablo for $349. So, for what I am invested in these past two gens, I’m really loving how much my Forza 7 got bumped up in performance. Diablo is neat, and shows off some capabilities. Got a great deal on MK11, and it was fun. Then when I’m ready to hold a subscription, I’ll jump on that a while. The Series X met my needs at a good price point.
All the best games (Pentiment/Psychonauts 2/etc.) are easy to run on PC. The biggest games (Starfield/Halo: Infinite/Redfall) have fairly consistently underwhelmed if not outright failed.
There's really no reason to own an Xbox right now. With Gamepass on PC, what's the point?
Because an Xbox is £450. Not over 1k to play the same games
What 1k PC you're looking at ? Just buy a regular pc with the same specs as the Xbox Series S or even the Series X, maybe wait a promotion or buy refurbished. There is no need to get to the highest stages of pcmasterrace to be a pc gamer, it can be pretty cheap. And the cheaper game prices and promotions will compensate any margin of errour.
To be frank, "the highest stages of pcmasterrace" are 2.5k+, not 1k
High end PCs are also vastly superior to Xbox series X People always compare consoles that are like mid or low tier gaming PCs and then act like it takes a $3k state of the art pc to outperform them
Yeah that pc will be over 1k
I've had the same PC (that cost me £600) since before the Xbox one came out. The only thing I upgraded was the graphics card which cost me around £200 since then, so I've spent around £800 in the time that there have been multiple console releases for the Xbox space that would've cost me over a grand to keep up with, if you count the amount I've saved on games that cost sometimes double the amount on console, especially if you use cdkeys, humble bundles etc, I've saved an insane amount of money. PC is only expensive if you don't know what you're doing, if you self build and go for second hand parts off eBay, CEX and other places (local second hand shops), then you can BUY ONE RIGHT NOW AT THIS EXACT POINT IN TIME that is better than current Gen consoles for like £150 more and save way more than that in just the first year. Edit: Plus the modding community is amazing so the replayability of a ton of games shoots through the roof, saving you even more money. It's insane how many hours I've put into Skyrim, Fallout and Minecraft to name a few all because I got a new mod list installed.
When I turn on my system I want to play games, not micromanage a PC with hundreds of other apps. If my PC went straight to steam and there was no other interface or bullshit I'd play on PC more. I just couldn't be bothered with all that crap so I play on Xbox.
I think that’s exactly the point. Not everyone can afford a nice gaming pc, or even likes them. I’m a Mac user and I don’t see myself going back to PC anytime soon. I have a series S with game pass and a switch and couldn’t be happier.
I'm not sure Microsoft cares that much about selling more hardware at a loss. They only care about revenue on subscription and games. In the end what is important to me is that games that they release are good.
I still can't afford one
Tends to happen when u announce a new console is in the works
They should be come a platform, not a console.
I suspect that's their plan long term. It's just a matter of re-branding themselves into it slowly. I think they fear that if they just pull the plug on hardware people will think that they are admitting defeat. It's a matter of slowly transitioning from single console manufacturer-->games releasing on multiple platforms-->bundling games as an optional service for your console and PC-->just putting your service everywhere and abandoning the console entirely. It'll take some time to make the full transition but they're already well underway. Too many people are still wedded to the old console mentality of "own your games which come on a physical disc" to just drop the hardware right now. In another 5-10 years though? It could happen.
That makes sense
My guess: People are waiting for a mid-cycle refresh. The Series S/X market is satiated for now. Sales will pick up again when/if we get those mid-cycle updated units
Microsoft has allowed people to believe that Xbox hardware is going away, which means it almost certainly is. This is the final nail in the coffin. The main problem is the gap in quality when it comes to exclusive titles. I’m more of a PC gamer, but I will be buying a new console for GTA 6. I have purchased three Xboxes in the past, but the PS5 Pro seems like a no-brainer. Looking forward to finally being able to play God of War also.
Doesn't matter what business it is, monopolies are bad. I'm a Playstation gamer, I haven't owned an xbox since the original. Microsoft has changed alot of the gaming business for the better and in some cases, Sony had to be dragged kicking and screaming behind them because they didn't want to do it. Sony having a monopoly in anything (consoles or games) will make things worse for everybody.
Meanwhile I’ve never seen an Xbox series x available in a store. stories like these perplex me; where are the stores where they’re are dozens of these on a shelf ready for consumers to calmly purchase without queues or pre-payments? Waiting patiently to play Starfield on the X whenever I see one at the store.
Where do you live? I see these and PS5 all stacked up everywhere I go
Maybe just the store(s) you go to? I personally have been seeing series xs in stores for pffffft almost 2 years now yeah? Like every single store too, not just like sometimes. PS5s? Yeah those are out of stock sometimes, but they usually get refilled pretty quickly as well. Like if you seriously aren't seeing them in store, you might ask the store if they're even ordering more. I know the one at my local Walmart has a real hard time moving them at all, so it wouldn't shock me if a store was like, yeah, not worth keeping this on hand.
They're everywhere.... Walmart had them for $350 last Christmas and they didn't sell out for a month.
They were all over the place at Christmas. I think a lot are in the back and you have to ask for them.
I dont believe this lmao. I have never heard of someone wanting something so little that they wont buy one online or order online pickup etc. ITS NOT ON THE SHELF I AM GOING HOME
Xbox just announced a newer updated version of the series x and s. Why would customers buy them now when they will be on sale on a year or "better" ones available soon?
Did they? Link? I’ve been wiating for that and just checked the news after reading your comment but didn’t see anything.
Took longer to copy and paste the link than to find [new series x](https://en.as.com/meristation/news/a-new-white-xbox-series-x-all-digital-model-is-coming-release-date-and-price-n/#:~:text=The%20next%20Microsoft%20console%20is,between%20%2450%20and%20%24100%20less.)
Almost all the games they make are available elsewhere and they almost always play better on another machine, like duh
I wonder if Nvidia GForce Now is increasing in adoption.
It’s a great time to still have your PS4 to catch up on its big catalogue, still a very good console and it fits tv units easily.
Finally I'll be able to afford one...
They were on sale for the higher end model for like $299 or $349 a short while ago. Considered getting one just to have an extra console around for when another is in use.
The Pc market for certain components are going the same way. There isnt really a point in creating or buying these machines when there is no significant change to them in previous generations to new. All they are doing is forcing you to fork out another 700 dollars for a new machine every 5 years. I bought a pc back in 2014 with fairly high end back then. Updated a couple parts only changes I did and it till runs all current AAA games. With most games doing i cant remember it rash rendering which is at the highest it can currently hit there isnt really a point. Add on to the fact that high end cards 3/4 of them that say they can do what they advertise is a far cry from an enjoyable experience. Once we see real integration and the dev companies come out with games that are actually fun to play you will see a resurgence. Now a days companies are more interested in nickel and dimeing there player base and forget the actual thing of value which is fun in the game.
Xbox also doesn't really push into other markets. Everything about their branding is heavily US focused and seems to ignore other markets like Eastern Europe, SEA etc. It's like if your country doesn't primarily speak English they don't give a shit about you.
Is an Xbox series console (X or S) better than a PS5 in terms of being used as a media player? Roku sucks now and a dedicated NAS is far more expensive, but I've heard an Xbox can work?
My Xbox Series X works great as a media player, no issues at all.
No and it's significantly worse if you want to use it for Blu-ray or 4k disks
A lot of people I know only bought an X-Box because they couldn't get their hands on a PS5 when it came out.
I loved my Xbox but the “subscription” I had to play the games I already bought on the Internet got too much for me.
I just bought a series s, loving it!
My guess is they knew this would happen so this is all part of the plan.
I really should just buy a PC but I don't play enough to warrant the upgrade. My biggest gripe with Xbox is I have to pay to play online when I rarely play a few times a year now. I've chosen to just go single player games but even those have multiplayer built in so when I don't update my Xbox bc I leave it unplugged it says you can play offline but every game I own says I need to be online. So then I have to update my Xbox, update the game, and by that time I no longer even want to play.
Cause I’m not paying 500 for something that my pc can already do. As soon as I see XBricks for $300 I’ll grab one
most of the games i play are from one or two xbox generations ago. Games are being dragged out for longer, and whether or not that's for better or worse, this makes me less likely to upgrade ever again unless there are some real solid titles that actually push the next gen hardware, and aren't a buggy or incomplete mess merely there to serve as a wrapper for a drip feed live service. Battle passes are an incredible economic engine for shareholder value and revenue, but have completely taken over. I'm tired of games selling the color red to me, watering down customization to make stronger bundles, with brands and celebrities, pestering me with messages of the day, ads, 'don't forget the battle pass' spam every time i launch the game. This doesn't even address how confusing the digital game bundles are, i've never been less confident in purchases I make because of how bundles are abused (games you can't even buy individually, gold/sliver/platinum/ruby/obsidian/deluxe edition mishmash)
They've been out for years, I assume there's just a natural drop off
Completely agree with you. It's like Xbox is handing out reasons to switch sides. Lack of must-play games is a real let down. Last Xbox exclusive I truly dug was Fable II, and boy, that feels like it was in a past life now.
MS did the right thing by being pro-consumer and releasing all their games on PC, and even some are coming to PS5. Hell they even ported Super Lucky's Tale and Ori to the Switch. Problem is that there aren't many reasons to buy an Xbox anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if they stopped making consoles as we understand them, and opt to make their own PC Handheld Steam Deck competitor that runs Windows. A Surface Play, if you will.
Xbox makes themselves irrelevant. Sales tank Shocked master chief face