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[Windows Central]Xbox is closing out 2024 with a ton of momentum, and plenty of cause for optimism:COD, record engagement, and Xbox Game Pass success

Humdinger

Gold Member
please, please, please dont fucking tell me is jez corden.

It's Jez Corden


carol burnett maxwell smart GIF
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
I still have a bit of faith in fable.
Understandable, but I’m not convinced of anything they’re doing. We haven’t seen much of Fable, and I’m definitely not in the target audience, but nothing they have shown looks above mid.

This isn’t just a Microsoft thing, but they’re definitely included. I can think of almost no upcoming game with anything significant shown off that doesn’t seem tired and/or mediocre.
 

Nydius

Member
"Record engagement" but hardware sales are in still in freefall. Jez claims they have "significant increases" in Game Pass subscriptions and yet I haven't heard Microsoft themselves say anything of the sort. Even if that is the case, how many of those subscriptions are short-term, one month, sub-and-done people who decided they'd just spend $20 to play Black Ops 6 rather than spending $70 to buy it outright? I can only assume there's quite a few.

Engagement means jack shit. They spent billions to buy COD and cannibalized all of its sales on their own primary platform by putting it on Game Pass. The "highest number" of players in the Asian market doesn't mean shit when it's still massively dwarfed by the number of players on competing platforms. New hardware? That no one cares about? Hell, the two stores in my town that carry electronics won't even carry Xbox hardware anymore because it doesn't sell. The Walmart in town has a sign on the two meager Xbox shelves saying hardware is available online.

I'm only interested in seeing how Indiana Jones turns out. Avowed looks increasingly like ass. I have no faith in Fable. The rest of their studios are in shambles. COD is carrying the Xbox brand on its shoulders.... thanks to PlayStation game sales.
 
Understandable, but I’m not convinced of anything they’re doing. We haven’t seen much of Fable, and I’m definitely not in the target audience, but nothing they have shown looks above mid.

This isn’t just a Microsoft thing, but they’re definitely included. I can think of almost no upcoming game with anything significant shown off that doesn’t seem tired and/or mediocre.

I think Stalker 2 looks good. That's about it though. I also heard Indy is more stealth oriented though and I actually do like that. We get such few stealth games these days.
 
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Pop

Member
You just need to feel like your have optimism. Momentum is just a vibe

Screw the numbers and actual data
 

6502

Member
When do I get to play Perfect Dark and the new Gears? I feel that I have enjoyed "engagement" enough...

Just hoping Indy delivers at this point.
 

GymWolf

Member
Understandable, but I’m not convinced of anything they’re doing. We haven’t seen much of Fable, and I’m definitely not in the target audience, but nothing they have shown looks above mid.

This isn’t just a Microsoft thing, but they’re definitely included. I can think of almost no upcoming game with anything significant shown off that doesn’t seem tired and/or mediocre.
The graphic definitely looks high level.
 

odhiex

Member
I would say that Xbox is still regarded as a platform that has weaker exclusive games than its competitors, Nintendo and PlayStation both. That seemingly hasn't stopped the console from enjoying "record" engagement, despite a decrease in new players entering the ecosystem in favor of PC and smart devices. Indeed, PlayStation and Nintendo both reported year over year console hardware sales declines. The traditional console market has hit a saturation point ahead of what will likely be the slow roll-out of a new generation with the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025, with the possibility of an Xbox handheld on the horizon as well.
Jez then
on X: me neither lol, had heard vague rumors of a reveal next year in fact. perhaps a good thing I didn't believe those lol
Jez the next day
 

playbignbox

Member
Except it has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft, they count CoD since they bought Activision. Everything that made CoD the success it is has nothing to do with Microsoft. If anything - previous experience shows Microsoft is a poison to any talent. They went on a buying spree because they are incapable of nurturing and growing the talent inside the company. Guess what, now all these companies that they bought are inside Microsoft...

Think Hold On GIF by Rosanna Pansino
The game had nothing to do with MS until Activision was acquired... From that moment on, I believe that MS is responsible if the game is a success or failure.

And I believe many gamers think so, as most critics of games like Redfall or Starfield criticized MS. Following your logic, if the success of a game like CoD cannot be attributed to MS because it already existed before the acquisition, neither could the failure of a game like Starfield Redfall, since MS's involvement with the game was very short and the studio had been working on it for a long time.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
The game had nothing to do with MS until Activision was acquired... From that moment on, I believe that MS is responsible if the game is a success or failure.

And I believe many gamers think so, as most critics of games like Redfall or Starfield criticized MS. Following your logic, if the success of a game like CoD cannot be attributed to MS because it already existed before the acquisition, neither could the failure of a game like Starfield Redfall, since MS's involvement with the game was very short and the studio had been working on it for a long time.

Interesting and valid point.

Won't work here though.

On another point and to the user who posted it.

We really need to stop posting cunt Eastwood. It's not healthy to read that guys psychotic thought dumps. They are not based in any form of reality.
 
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nowhat

Gold Member
We really need to stop posting cunt Eastwood. It's not healthy to read that guys psychotic thought dumps. They are not based in any form of reality.
I dunno, I find him weirdly entertaining. I mean, I don't follow him on Twitter (or "X" as Musk would want us to call it), I don't do Twitter in general. But his takes are just so out there that I can feel "welp, maybe I'm not a complete derp after all".
 

Elog

Member
At what point do these people realize that lying about the state of things do not result in the required changes? It seems like they never do.

The first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one.
 
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Astray

Member
At what point do these people realize that lying about the state of things do not result in the required changes? It seems like they never do.

The first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one.
He makes a living through the access he's granted by Microsoft. He probably already realized it and even hates it, but he can't just back down now he's in too deep.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
Flight Sim
Indeed.

Xbox momentum:

Their actions lately are to create the appearance of active work, but at the same time not moving anywhere.

I don't know man... In reality It's impossible to not have "momentum" with a 70B investment and wildly successful service games like BLOPS6 and Flight Sim under their wings.

It no longer make much sense to look at "Xbox" network/services and Xbox console system hardware as the same thing.

In some ways there are similarities in Playstation, who's also making a push into multiplatform services.

Difference in the end is trends, and weights and balances.
 

Mayar

Member
Indeed.



I don't know man... In reality It's impossible to not have "momentum" with a 70B investment and wildly successful service games like BLOPS6 and Flight Sim under their wings.

It no longer make much sense to look at "Xbox" network/services and Xbox console system hardware as the same thing.

In some ways there are similarities in Playstation, who's also making a push into multiplatform services.

Difference in the end is trends, and weights and balances.

Sorry, but so far all we've seen from their 70B investment is a few products that didn't live up to expectations and some of the biggest layoffs in the gaming industry.
And also the death and closure of several studios.

As for СOD, it breaks sales records every year, this was before the purchase of Microsoft, so it would have shown absolutely the same figures without Microsoft's participation. Although we see in Europe (In any case, it is better to wait for the full figures, I think we will have to wait another 2-3 weeks). But in the same UK, we see that Microsoft has actually killed game sales.

PS5: 257,000 (70%)
PC: 59,000 (16%)
Xbox: 37,000 (10%)
PS4: 15,000 (4%)

At the same time, the game sells much better on the competitor's console. As for subscriptions, it is better to wait for quarterly reports, since the user movement in them is in waves and a slice for 1 month does not show anything. Because yes, now due to the release of СOD the number of users has increased, but how many people will renew their subscription after they finish playing COD, only God knows. Now it is very common to buy an Xbox subscription in order to play a game and not pay the full price for it and then not renew the subscription.

Flight Sim - I love this thing, I'm waiting, I will play. But this is a niche product for enthusiasts, it hardly somehow influences the market as a whole.
 
Looking over what the trolls with say and the silly stuff from Jez.

It is a great end to the year for Xbox and Gampass and it should be a great early start to next year with Avowed (gutted it not out for Christmas mind)
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I dunno, I find him weirdly entertaining. I mean, I don't follow him on Twitter (or "X" as Musk would want us to call it), I don't do Twitter in general. But his takes are just so out there that I can feel "welp, maybe I'm not a complete derp after all".

Yeah, but I just feel that half the posts that are shared are so bad that it correctly so, just drives insults etc...but then what can happen is the conversation just moves away from the thread into derailed posts. Luckily we don't have a mess of all these lunatics, Jizz, Red Dragon, and many more being posted all the time.

I get you though. Lets you know you arent that FAR gone lol.
 
"Record engagement" but hardware sales are in still in freefall. Jez claims they have "significant increases" in Game Pass subscriptions and yet I haven't heard Microsoft themselves say anything of the sort. Even if that is the case, how many of those subscriptions are short-term, one month, sub-and-done people who decided they'd just spend $20 to play Black Ops 6 rather than spending $70 to buy it outright? I can only assume there's quite a few.

Engagement means jack shit. They spent billions to buy COD and cannibalized all of its sales on their own primary platform by putting it on Game Pass. The "highest number" of players in the Asian market doesn't mean shit when it's still massively dwarfed by the number of players on competing platforms. New hardware? That no one cares about? Hell, the two stores in my town that carry electronics won't even carry Xbox hardware anymore because it doesn't sell. The Walmart in town has a sign on the two meager Xbox shelves saying hardware is available online.

I'm only interested in seeing how Indiana Jones turns out. Avowed looks increasingly like ass. I have no faith in Fable. The rest of their studios are in shambles. COD is carrying the Xbox brand on its shoulders.... thanks to PlayStation game sales.
Look I don't hate Xbox, but Jez in particular has gotten very predictable. It's almost as if you already know what his next media piece is going to be, even before he publishes the thing for the world to see. He tries to sway the court of public opinion the other direction to try to get people to relax their criticisms a bit and immediately following that, a Microsoft exec or spokesperson comes and completely kills any and every positive impact that article might've had.

· Jez makes a point about Xbox starting the next gen earlier with a handheld being part of the pipeline. Phil comes out and says that it's still prototyping and years away(putting a dent in the 2026 new gen rumours).
· Jez talks about record gamepass growth thanks to Black Ops 6. In the Bloomberg interview Phil doesn't mention anything even once, although if that was the case they'd be screaming it from the rooftops like they always do, and yet... Dead silence
· Jez talks about growth in the user base for Xbox.
Surprise, surprise, sales are still stuck in the mid 20 millions (around 26 million last I checked), where's the growth, why can't I see it.
· Jez talks about massive growth in the Asian markets. Adoption in Asian markets is abysmal and slow. In 4 years, they've sold close to 700k Series consoles. In contrast, their main competitor has shifted close to 7 million hardware units across the entirety of Asia making their effort and growth look comically tiny.

Jez is like a curse at this point, dude's a walking, talking contradiction in all honesty. For every negative piece he has to do damage control to try to reduce the impact while huffing the strongest type of copium imaginable. I want to hold out hope for team Green, but they're not giving me valid reasons to do so. Phil's getting more honest and upfront instead of being dodgy with questions, so that's a breath of fresh air for execs to be honest.
 
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Humdinger

Gold Member
We really need to stop posting cunt Eastwood. It's not healthy to read that guys psychotic thought dumps. They are not based in any form of reality.

I actually thought he sounded fairly sane and reasonable in that recent video. I was surprised.

edit: except for the comment about Hellblade II being a "blockbuster."
 
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