540°

Microsoft Labels Autistic Boy A Cheater On Xbox Live

There's a bit of a she-said, they-said situation going on near Seattle, with the mom of an 11-year-old boy saying Microsoft reset his gamerscore unfairly and the company saying it was done because he was cheating. Regardless of the truth, the boy has been branded a cheater on Xbox Live and has to earn whatever achievements he had before all over again.

Jennifer Zdenek told Q13 FOX News that her son Julius Jackson went online recently only to discover that his gamerscore had been reset and his account branded as belonging to a cheater.

Read Full Story >>
gameinformer.com
 
Nineball21124830d ago

Oh nice, Microsoft!! Way to pick on the less fortunate!

Ok, I just had to say that. I don't really know the details. :D

mcmmaster4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

You don't even need to see the details, clearly its the mum that is at fault as why on earth would she let an 11 year old boy play Dead Rising 2 (AN 18 YEAR OLD GAME, well in the UK), to make it worse he's autistic. Think its the mum that needs sorting out and not Microsoft

DaCajun4830d ago

Yea that is pretty messed up that you would let you kid play mature rated games and especially one as impressionable as a child with autism.

But on topic I like how microsoft just goes around banning whomever they want or resetting achievements without proof and SONY well never does anything to cheaters whether it be sharing saves to get trophies you didn't earn or just cheating on an online game to just plain internet stalking. One goes to the extreme the other does nothing. I had some loser on PSN with a racist name basically the name says he killed Ni***rs(Blacks), he would send me messages calling me the "N" word and would make new accounts when I blocked other ones. He went through 10 before he stopped. A Sony rep told me on the phone to just keep blocking him and that he didn't find the name offensive at all either even though dozens of people reported this racist stalking cheating POS. They also tried to push off responsibility to the publisher of the games. What a joke. Then you got M$ who will ban you or remove a gamertag if it even slightly offends someone and take away your achievements if you get enough of your friends to report one person as cheating for no reason but you don't like them.

One goes overboard and the other doesn't do crap but as for the boy I seriously doubt the kid was cheating he's probably just extremely good at games due to his autism.

edgeofblade4830d ago

It's quite telling that the mother was refereed to the legal department. That means she came in ranting and raving and claiming "AYM GONNA SEEW YEW" ("I'm going to sue you"). That's the standard response anytime someone threatens legal action.

Dante1124830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

@ DaCajin

Idk, DaCajin. You can get banned pretty quickly for cursing someone out in a back and forth argument (replying back with mgs) on the PSN, surprisedly even in chat (notice the censoring in the text chat) as well as for ANY little thing you say (Damn fool-banned) or do in Home.

N4WAH4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

@ DaCajun

"especially one as impressionable as a child with autism."

How exactly can a person that does not know right from wrong, danger from safety, life from death, be impressionable by video games or m rated anything?

"I seriously doubt the kid was cheating he's probably just extremely good at games due to his autism."

^This you couldn't be more right about. My nephew
(autistic) is a savant at counting, memory and he has uncanny balance. He loves video games but unlike the kid in this article, he isn't very good at them. So this is probably the one area this kid excels.

Either way MS should find a way to make this right.

rezzah4830d ago

parents usually dont care as long as they see their children smile, which isnt really bad because they want to make their children happy. It makes them happy.

However they should pay attention to the things that make them happy from time to time.

DaCajun4830d ago

@dante

I took pics of all the PSN text messages he sent me and sent them to Sony and they did absolutely nothing. I even called them a dozen time to get no help what so ever. Maybe others have had better luck but I had none, so now I don't even bother.

Blaine4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

@mcmmaster

You never played any games the "rating" said you were too young for? You'd probably be the only person on earth.

(I put rating in quotation because, really, I don't know anything about the people who hand out these ratings. I don't know of any studies to back these ratings either, and I don't know of any respectable study that says ANY game genre affects children in any negative way. But here's a case study of one for you: me. Played every violent game I ever wanted to before I was old enough to meet the "rating", and it hasn't affected me in the least.)

ComboBreaker4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

Now you gonna tell her how to raise her kid?

When you were a kid, you played Mortal Kombat II, and you turned out fine.

Christopher4830d ago

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Sure, I'd be right there to tell her what games are and are not appropriate for a child, though one should note that many autistic children have a stronger bearing over what is reality and what isn't when it comes to these sort of thing (I have two autistic nephews like this). But, regardless of the possibility of this being a matter showing bad parenting, Microsoft needs to have a way to explain why someone is a cheater as well as proof to prove that someone has cheated.

If I suddenly had my account labeled as such, you better believe I would be all over Sony or Microsoft with the reason why and method that they used to determine this. In fact, it's something they should have in place, ability to prove why someone is a cheater, prior to implementing the ability to label an account as such.

ExplosionSauce4830d ago

Microsoft banned some guy whose last name was "Gaywood". MS deemed it inappropriate and was banned from XBL, despite the guy proving them that it was his real name.

Microsoft can be pretty square to the point of lacking common sense at times.

gcolley4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

your post lacks common sense

jadenkorri4830d ago

yeah, bosse is Astrixed out on psn, i couldn't believe it, this was in a text chat room, confused the hell out of me as i was saying you have to defeat bosses to get your soul back in demon souls, i noticed and we loled over it.

AngryTypingGuy4830d ago

I can understand labeling someone with Parkinson's a cheater since they can press the buttons ultra fast, but a poor Autistic boy? This is uncalled for!

InactiveUser4830d ago

Who gives a hmmm if he's autistic or not. The question is, did he cheat or not? If he did, then it's deserved. It has nothing to do with being autistic or not. They're looking for sympathy support or something.

HolyOrangeCows4830d ago

Microsoft accidentally labeled a kid as a cheater who happened to be autistic.

Quick, attack their character! CHAAAAARGE!
/s

Kurt Russell4830d ago

You know there isn't enough war and famine in the world when the news are reporting tripe like this. Dumb fuck mum is unhappy because her spoilt brat had a fucking computer game score wiped. When I was a kid my high scores got wiped every time I went to bed... and nobody gave a fuck.

kunit22c4829d ago

yes, its true that the mom shouldn't let a little autistic kid play mature games, but Microsoft just labeling anybody that they "think" is cheating a cheater is so stupid, what a bunch of dumb asses if I had an Xbox I wouldn't even try to get my gamerscore high just because those guys might think i'm a cheater just because its high...

kancerkid4828d ago

ANd of course none of the trolls here who had none of the facts of the case are not commenting on the article that proves the kids was cheating...

+ Show (17) more repliesLast reply 4828d ago
Nineball21124830d ago

I'm sure they just saw how high the kid's achievements were and assumed he was cheating. Although, I'd think they'd have to verify it in some manner before labeling someone as a cheater. *shrug*

Anyone know what the procedure is for this?

SonyPS3604829d ago (Edited 4829d ago )

I really don't get the 8 disagrees you got for your comment.

Is N4G full of retards or something?

I was thinking the same thing, but surely they'd know for sure. Being "really good at a video game" shouldn't count as cheating, even Micro$oft know that.

MGRogue20174830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

omg.. look at the pic, he puts the 360 on the carpet while playing.. fail

Expect a RROD/E74 error any day now.

sobekflakmonkey4830d ago

The kid has autism you fuckn idiot..

gamingdroid4830d ago

Now we know how all those RROD came! People just don't care there are vent holes on the bottom.

Silentmerc3nary4830d ago

"The kid has autism you fuckn idiot.."

True. But his mum, however, does not.

antz11044829d ago

Speaking of, so the mother probably brought up the fact that her child has autism, how would xbox know that? She probably tried to use that as leverage to get the kids score back. Mom of the f#cking year right there.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4829d ago
Dave13514830d ago

Well we dont know all the details. Did the kid actually cheat for one? If he did then yea he deserves the word cheater. But if he didnt microsoft needs shot in the head.

Led-Zeppelin4830d ago

Microsoft is just jealous a autistic boy can kick their ass when it comes to getting achievements.

gamingdroid4830d ago

I find it hard to believe a autistic kid cheated (albeit I don't know the severity of his condition), but I find it also hard that MS would detect non-cheaters and label them a such.

That would open them up to lawsuit so it seems reasonable that MS is 100% damn sure some cheating went on regardless of who did it.

tdogg060519914830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

He shouldn't be playing those games regardless of his autism. He should be playing t for teen at best regardless of what or how he understands reality. Take that kid away from that parent.

Focker4204830d ago

Buy him a PS3, Way more autism friendly.

SonyPS3604829d ago

I actually laughed out loud.

JeffGUNZ4830d ago

This title is so missleading. Microsoft never even knew the kid had any disability. The kid cheated and got caught, cry me a river. The kid lied to his mother about cheating, who could ever imagine?!!!? That mom needs to stop making excuses for her child.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4828d ago
jay24830d ago

Yes love. And you've let your pre teen autistic son play 18 rated games. AND this news channel SHOW HIM DOING SON WTF! All of them are in the wrong. The news channel for showing and 11 year old playing obvously unsuitable games. The mum for buying the games. Come on guys, a normal 11 year old could buy them online but that poor kid most liekly can't :(. And that same mum just sitting on the sofa letting him play them.

BX814830d ago

Because you wouldn't let your kid play that game doesn't make her wrong. She clearly knows what he's playing. If she thought he couldn't tell it was a game not real life I'm sure she would do something. I guess your parents must have locked you in a room with Barney all day long?

jadenkorri4830d ago

as much as we all say we wouldn't allow kids to play 18 rated games, its gonna happened, fore most whats important is that they know its not real, 2nd would be you know their playing... and third if hes playing any game online and swearing like n**ger this and f**k you, please god take it away.

MidnytRain4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

That's not really the point of the article, though. No one is blaming video games for this, so I don't know why people are getting so defensive. There's no actual proof that shows us if he was or wasn't cheating, so it doesn't make sense to pick sides at this point. But I will say that this wouldn't be the first time Microsoft has punished somebody who was innocent.

tdogg060519914830d ago

I completely agree, that kid should not be playing those games. it is very irresponsible and its like letting your kid watch R rated movies you just don't do it. I am going to learn from all of these idiot parents.

Warprincess1164830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

Ok you guys need to stop acting like you never played a mature game when you were a teenager. Now if the boy had a ps3, this would have never happen.

Dante1124830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

Guilty lol

Back in the day....

Mortal Kombat 1, 2, 3.
Resident Evil 1, 2, 3
Doom games
Eternal Champions, etc.

.... It was my cousin's fault though lol

bilbob12345ca4830d ago

Surree blame the cousin ;)

Dante1124830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

lol XD

After seeing this, how could I resist.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

mcmmaster4830d ago

Yeah but this kid has autism for christ sake, this can't be good for the brain

Megaton4830d ago

Why is his mom content to let him be a loner just because he's autistic? Kid can still have friends.

Megaton4830d ago

You even watch the vid? She says the Xbox is so important to him because he can't have any friends because of his illness.

BX814830d ago

I'm sure Megaton is on his way right now to go hang out with the kid... I know I am... well his mom any way!

Boody-Bandit4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

Really, and you know this how exactly?
Autistic people don't all fall under one class. There are so many variables. Most autistic people lack social skills and most excel at certain things. Maybe gaming is his.

As far as mature rated games. I don't think this applies to most autistic kids. They don't know what age means. Sex, death, illness or right and wrong. How are they suppose to be influenced in anyway by M rated titles? Most of the people posting under this article obviously know very little about this subject.

SWORDF1SH4830d ago

But a News channel showing a 11yo playing a mature rated game is very irresposible. The vast majority won't understand your insight. I'm sure they could of showed him playing a different game.

Megaton4830d ago

Just judging by how he spoke to the camera, I highly doubt he's so bad that he can't have at least one friend. If for nothing else, just someone to game with.

Boody-Bandit4830d ago (Edited 4830d ago )

I agree with that swordf1sh but I am not debating that. I am merely pointing out that megaton could not be more wrong about autistic kids having friends. The most common trait of the illness, besides severe OCD, is next to no social skills.

Megaton perception is often very misleading. I don't get into it on this site to often but this is one topic I probably know more about the 99.9% of N4G members.

SWORDF1SH4830d ago

@BH
On that subject I totally agree with you. It's also nice to have insightful comments. Bubbles

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4830d ago
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280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple1014d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref3d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde3d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander19723d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville3d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff21833d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos3d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3d ago
isarai4d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref3d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan3d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis0073d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander19724d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

4d ago Replies(3)
Einhander19724d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

4d ago
4d ago
Zeref3d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde3d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander19723d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander19723d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier3d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto3d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff21833d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto3d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3d ago
Hofstaderman4d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts3d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts2d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic3d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)
370°

Could Xbox Soon Become The Next Dreamcast?

Microsoft's future in the video game space is murky right now, so let's break it all down.

Read Full Story >>
thegamer.com
ApocalypseShadow16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

Not anytime soon. But they're on that path.

One thing not mentioned in the article is Microsoft's money bags. If Sega had Microsoft's money, they would have still been around as a hardware manufacturer. Xbox as a platform only survives because of the money bags. They can continue making consoles for the core and port to PC.

The multiplatform strategy is only the result of arrogance and misguided leadership that blew up in their face. They thought gamers would jump on Xbox in droves if they knew that many of their favorite games would be only on Xbox. But that's not happening at all. Sales didn't increase. They decreased. Why? Because the dumb asses thought giving away these expensively made games in a cheap service would also turn the tide.

Gamers on other platforms are willing to buy quality. They don't need to be handed nearly free games in a service that aren't even finished and sometimes average in their development. Gamers buy Nintendo games. They buy Sony games. Microsoft groomed their base to not buy games. Even the quality ones. It has always been their plan to go digital. But most gamers still like single player gaming. Still like physical releases.

Microsoft's problem has always been that they don't produce high quality games at the same output as Nintendo and Sony. Actually, they should be producing quite a lot more because they're worth over 2 TRILLION. How they don't have more is ridiculous and no excuse. Buying publishers to take away from competition only backfired. Because it still takes millions of dollars to continue to make those games from the publishers they snatched. Their only choice was to crawl back to their competitors to help sustain those developers because Nintendo and Sony platforms were the ones buying games.

Am I sorry for Microsoft? Hell no! They deserved last place for putting in the least effort. They deserved the fallout for buying up the industry and didn't make a single blip on the radar against their competitors where they now need those same gamers they took away games from to support them. Part of it may have been to cash in on their competition. But the result is the slow death of their platform. They may go 3rd party. They may keep making hardware. I don't give a shit about them to worry about it. I only give a shit about the destructive nature of their industry moves that only negatively affect gamers. They could sell and drop out of the industry and I wouldn't blink. Probably laugh. But not blink. They deserve whatever comes to them. At least Sega put in the effort when it came to games. They just had poor leadership. Microsoft has poor leadership and barely makes memorable games. That's a killer combination. And not in a good way.

Cacabunga16d ago

That would be an insult to Dreamcast.. it had a crazy line up of legendary critically acclaimed games.

Crows9016d ago

I was thinking the same. Dreamcast had incredible games in such a short amount of time. It was truly exceptional.

darthv7215d ago

...and yet all those great games were not enough to sway people from the looming release of the PS2 at the time. Sony just has that kind of brand loyalty.

Cacabunga15d ago

Darth

I do not agree.. Sony had even better games thanks to an unprecedented 3rd party support..
DC had amazing lineup but 90% were arcade games..

88315d ago

@darth:
And Sony showed off "The Emotion Engine" and their real time demos that made everyone think they would miss out on REAL next gen 128bit magic if they jumped in before PS2s polygon pushing monster (and early lack of anti-aliasing with a healthy heap of shimmer + DVD playback) stepped up. PS2 was a fantastic system though with amazing games.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 15d ago
blacktiger16d ago

That's not true. Just because Microsoft has the money doesn't mean Microsoft can allow xbox to bleed entire Microsoft money. It doesn't work like they. Also SEC will be watching and investor won't allow it. Lot of reasons why Microsoft can not continue even if they wanted to. SEC regulations is expensive.

fr0sty16d ago (Edited 16d ago )

Exactly this... Microsoft is a publicly traded company, mostly owned by their shareholders (Approximately 59.24% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 7.73% is owned by Insiders and 33.03% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.). Their shareholders call the shots on the business decisions, and their shareholders want one thing and one thing only, for their stock price to go up. Losses do not make stock prices go up... so if the division continually posts losses on hardware, but shows profits on software and services (which has been the case with Xbox its entire lifespan, for over 20 years now), the shareholders are going to grow impatient and demand they stop making hardware and focus on the only thing that has ever made them money, software and services.

When Microsoft bought Blizzard and Activision for almost 100 billion, I knew that was the nail in the coffin for Xbox as a console... as the shareholders were going to expect a quick return on that investment, and when it didn't materialize, they were going to be out for blood... out to force Xbox to sell those games on as many consoles as possible, "and while you're at it, sell those first party exclusives that aren't selling well on other consoles as well... hell, just stop making consoles and sell games."

If there is another Xbox console generation, it will definitely be the last, but I doubt there even will be one at this point. I think the Xbox division planning on it just in case, but I don't think the project has been greenlit from Microsoft itself. The rumors that they have not yet even secured the chips needed from the chip fabrication facilities ties into this.

shinoff218316d ago

While I usually agree with you . Alot of what was said can just also be asked before any of that.

How long will the shareholders wait? It doesn't appear long at all

Babadook715d ago

I think I get your point. Like just because MS has money does not mean they are content to throw it away on a dying ecosystem. Xbox has to be profitable or “what’s the point?”

ifinitygamer15d ago

Money bags, yes, but are we ignoring that Xbox actually makes a profit on games and GamePass? Hardware is often a loss leader, and they're probably making profit 4 years into the life cycle, but games and services revenue have been very profitable while other parts of Microsoft's business is struggling. Say what you will about the quality of those games, of course, but this is kind of a reverse Dreamcast situation, where the console was dragging down the company and put it at risk of shuttering entirely. Killing that console saved the business and allowed it to continue to make games on multiple platforms. In this case, the service is very profitable, as are the games, and they're also double-dipping into Multiplatform to extend this further, while their hardware is just sort of what they believe to be the best for gamers and their own titles (whether that is the case or not...)

fr0sty15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

The issue is, they aren't selling enough hardware to make their exclusives profitable, and now that they've bought half the gaming publisher/dev industry, they have no choice but to go third party to make a profit... and that is making their shareholders take a real close look at their hardware division under the microscope... why keep making the hardware if the software is all that is making them money, and they continually, generation after generation come in dead last with hardware sales?

Look at a game like Spiderman 2... if it had been an Xbox exclusive, with the amount it cost to develop, it would have been a huge failure... simply not enough consoles out there to sell it on. They would have been lucky to break even.

ifinitygamer15d ago

@fr0sty agreed completely, which is why they're hedging by releasing other games to multiplatform, plus they have PC to make up for the difference in a lot of ways, which is why their games are not complete money pits. It brings up the question of whether or not those exclusives would drive sales of consoles, though. Let's say Spiderman 2 was an Xbox exclusive, it would certainly have pushed console sales, though who's to say how much is anyone's guess.

fr0sty15d ago

That's why you can't rely on just one exclusive, Sony has always delivered on a wide range of solid exclusives, even this generation (even if they haven't been strong on the first party exclusives, they've made up for it with third party). They don't rely on just one "system seller", they have a portfolio of them.

15d ago
JBlaze22615d ago

ApocalypseShadow To be honest Sony has more of a chance to go 3rd party because like you said Microsoft has money, Sony does not. Sony does not have games, Only games they have come from 3rd party. Sony has been losing money for years and you. Saying Microsoft has been putting the least effort just proves you have no idea what's been going on. All Sony has done is repeat and recycle, never innovating or doing something new. All Sony has is brand loyalty nothing else and it shows.

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LG_Fox_Brazil16d ago

Not sure about that. It's been two decades and I still think about Power Stone, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Seaman and others, but I'm not sure I'll remember Xbox Series X/S games in a few years from now... Maybe I'll remember about the franchises that the Xbox brand spawned, but I don't believe that the Xbox Series lives up to the late Dreamcast or even to the Xbox name itself. I do have great memories about the 360 with Blue Dragon, Gears 2 and Lost Odyssey though

isarai16d ago

Nah, sega actually makes good games

Becuzisaid16d ago

No, Dreamcast was ahead of it's time and most still have very fond memories of it that had one. It also had some good games on it even in it's short lifespan. Xbox has none of these qualities.

Profchaos16d ago

I remember it coming out at the time in a really bad place they hit the market before the PS2 but it was during this transitional time when Sony was promoting the power of the PS2 and so many of the Dreamcast games were awesome but often third parties simply ported the PS1 version increased resolution and performance but rarely fully utilise the capabilities of the console.

I think in the end bad marketing done it in and like the GameCube so many people are fond of it now but at the time it was looked at in the lense of the day and it didn't stack up.

Personally I miss Sega in hardware they took risks that many companies won't

Becuzisaid16d ago

I never owned it, and got the PS2 right when it launched. But there were certain games it had that I was always jealous of that I didn't have access to - Sonic adventure, crazy taxi, power Stone, code Veronica, shenmue, skies of Arcadia. I always thought it was a really cool machine though. I've never heard a bad thing about it though from those that had it.

FinalFantasyFanatic15d ago

I only ever saw one Dreamcast, and that was one my friend owned, pity I never got to play it, I wonder what games he had for it?

It would be nice if some of those games got ported to modern systems.

Profchaos16d ago

Oh man sonic adventure on the Dreamcast made me so jealous as a huge sonic fan on the mega drive who also moved to PlayStation 2 I never got the chance to play it back in the day either. The Dreamcast in Australia where I am was always relegated to the smallest corner of EB Games it was kind of a strong first indicator that things were not going well at the time.

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Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox and weekly streaks to be killed off soon

Microsoft has announced the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox will be discontinued in April and has confirmed that weekly streaks will also be coming to an end.

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