160°

Microsoft is giving us choices, we should be happy

Robert Kingett, DarkZero: "The choices presented are pretty staggering, though they should have happened sooner and not just a few days ago, but still, people have many more options now. Developers will have a better understanding of the market because they will know that some people will have the Kinect bundled Xbox and the Kinect-less Xbox. "

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darkzero.co.uk
Ballsack3625d ago

Microsoft are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts

I'm happy that gamers have finally realised we can talk with our wallets and make billion dollar companies bow to our demands ..Microsoft have had their tail between their legs ever since they tried to screw us over..they are literally begging us to take notice of them again with the amount of 180s they have done ..

we now need to this with certain game publishers and their microtransactions etc

Mikelarry3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

"we now need to this with certain game publishers and their microtransactions etc"

ever since the MS fiasco i have hope that when push comes to shove majority of gamers will stand together for the better good of the industry. all those publishers that are milking dlc,season pass and what-like should enjoy it now because i know that type off business is not sustainable in the long run same goes for publishers and dev who are on a re-release agenda not willing to take risk on new ideas and IP's they will only have themselves to blame once the bubble bust.

OT: I am happy MS are now giving us more choices so happy that I am now a proud owner of an xbox one and I say bring on E3

ZodTheRipper3625d ago

Of course people on this site are happy that MS is going the gamers route again ...but it was certainly not because of goodwill or "to please the fans". Sales were simply below expectations and that said I don't even think that siding with the gamers again will save them. Especially WE know exactly how soon MS abandoned the X360 and how timed exclusives came to PS3 a few years later ...and we know exactly which console is more powerful and yet cheaper... and who has the better support from developers and the superior first party lineup. These are things that MS can't influence at all and that is the reason why gamers won't be happy with them anytime soon.

supes_243625d ago

@Milkelarry,
Same here. I now have an x1 also. I wish I wouldn't have started wolfenstein on my PS4, or got it for my x1, because I want to get in to my new system so bad. But once I start something I have to finish it. I set up my x1 when I bought it and I love it and Ryse is sitting there waiting for me to play it.

amiga-man3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

Correction MS are giving us choices now!! after trying and failing (thank goodness) to take our choices away and they deserve no credit for putting right something that should never have been done in the first place

user14394143625d ago

MS will only follow what Sony do, they cannot lead the way they just wait for someone to innovate and then copy them and try and exploit gamers with false hopes. Like all this talk of the power of the cloud and DX12, until I see it working and they show us it working on an XB1 its then I am not interested. Sony will continue to lead the way and Microsoft will continue to follow behind. Microsoft tried to lead the way and look what happened they wanted an always online console with no way to trade your games that is the future what Microsoft want.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3625d ago
aceitman3625d ago

Well at 1st it seemed like they did do it to give gamers a choice(they said they did it cause the fans wanted it. :o ) but after the sales numbers came out it open the eyes of many(not all) that it was removed to lower cost and see if the sales would pick up. Which from the looks at things it's not changing things it's looking worst, the preorders for kinect less x1is at amazons 285 spot even for preorders that's not good at all. And the titanfall bundle is at 58 and dropping more in the past few weeks. It would have been something to be happy about if it where true that they did it for choices , but it left ms no choice at all but to disconnect something they said they will NEVER do . ( go kinect less) I don't care what anyone says they did it for lack of sales. They gave gamers a better choice when they had the kinect bundles with games for 399-449$. And at that time is when they did not sell to expectations , so how is a 399$ kinectless X1 without a game a better choice, now it's barebones . Which one do u think will sell better a kinect less 399$ or a bundle with kinect and a game for 399-449$ for some it's easy to pick for some it will be blinding to see. And will defend the one that is not the better choice because they feel ms did it for them.

Sloth-Eater3625d ago

I 100% agree. Having both the ps3 & 360 I knew from last E3 I wouldn't be touching Xbox this gen. Some people have too short a memory.

Mikelarry3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

But the same could be said about sony last gen as they were arrogant with statements like you will have to get another job to own a ps3 or leaving the UK in the cold for awhile before it was launched in our region or the premium price the ps3 originally launched at. They realised thier mistakes and gamers gave them another chance so why cant that same logic be applied to MS, they have realised thier faults due to aony kicking thier ass noone is saying they are making all theaw choices from the goodness of thier hearts so they ahould be giving another chance

Why o why3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

Mike, although I agree with your sentiment, the 'two jobs' statement if you ever actually read it has ben misconstrued to the point there's no point explaining it again. Mud sticks, even if it shouldn't. The difference between the two in my opinion is that ms were doing dodgy arrogant sh%t from last gen too. The final 3rd took the piss, their fanboys were way too happy to wave the multiplat flag on top of the 'na only matters' flag because MS would make a point of each (greenberg)

Like many have mentioned, ms isn't doing this for the love. They have been forced to. Either way its benificial for gamers, forced or not but it still leaves a bitter taste in many gamers mouths.

Obviously, those who defended each crap policy that ms has now reversed didn't see any faults so speaking to them was pointless and ms already 'had' them. Enough of the world did see fault and ms had to respond to increase appeal to them or risk falling even further behind sony.

Pogmathoin3625d ago

Regardless, whether it is for out of kindness or desperation, there are more choices, that many here asked for, will have cheaper, kinect free X1.... Many games being announced, many exciting things happening. Now is the time to see those who have talked the talk non stop here, if they will walk the walk, and do what they have been saying non stop last 6 months..... I would buy an Xbox if MS did this..... Did that....... Does it matter how it was done?? Prove yourselves, or just stop the bitter complaining about a company and grow a pair.....

Mikelarry3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

@ why

Trust me i understand that ms is not doing it from the goodness of thier hearts and only made theae changes to save face what i am trying to get across is all these companies have sometimes in the past shot themselves in the foot even nintendo back in the day with the way they treated developers putting games on thier console but they realised thier faults for whatever reason and should be giving a fair chance if they have backed tracked on the policies gamers / developers were upset about

Yetter3624d ago (Edited 3624d ago )

Funny, I feel the exact same feelings towards Sony.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3624d ago
gamer78043625d ago

Its a business for MS and Sony. It would be terrible if they made decisions based on the goodness of their hearts

Darkstares3625d ago

I buy products based on what it offers. Not on what was said in the past. After all, are we not paying for experiences? Seems like a complete waste of time going on and on about what Microsoft was proposing in the past. The vocal minority either need to just come out and say they will never buy the XB1, move on, and stop talking about it. Or explain what's stopping them from buying one right now which would only include software, price, or hardware related matters.

rainslacker3624d ago

What's kept me from buying one day one, and right now is their initial policies with the system.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy that they reversed them, and I do like all the moves they're making now to make the console better, but I've watched MS business moves since I was old enough to understand them.

The initial X1 reveal only reaffirmed to me that MS is still the same company they have always been. Anti-consumer, and only interested in pushing their own agenda regardless of the benefit to their customers. This same sentiment is what made me hold off on the 360 until it got to a point where I didn't need one because the PS3 was more than delivering content.

There are games I want to play on the X1. I was ready to buy one day one. But MS has to do a lot more than just put on a good show to make me think that I should support their overall hostile mentality towards customers. When a company goes decades doing the same thing over and over again, and then "fixing" their products after they realize people won't buy it is not a company that listens to customers. It's a company that constantly backpedals on it's policies to remain relevant and line their own coffers. A company that listens to consumers fixes these issues early, and not after sales numbers come out.

There is absolutely no way that MS didn't know what kind of backlash they would have gotten. They are too big and too smart to not do focus research. Even if they didn't do all that, their potential customers were extremely vocal about what they though before the reveal. They didn't care, because they thought they were important enough for people to just accept it like most people do with their windows OS. I have no doubt that many higher ups in MS put their OS mentality into the X1 reveal and release.

I'll probably get an X1 by the end of the year but only to play those few games that I feel I absolutely want to play. The only other thing that would make me get one sooner is them opening up dev kit access to the system.

GundalfDeGrej3625d ago

Happy customers are paying customers. Them trying to make us happy is a good thing for everyone.

marlinfan103625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

when sony dropped the ps3 price last gen do you think it was out of the goodness of their heart? companies do what they can to get sales. after all, thats the point of the company, to earn money. you fanboys think these companies are here purely to make the customer happy and do whatever they can for us. in reality, none of the big companies are. thats just the real world.

No_Limit3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

"Microsoft are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts "

LOL, give me one company that is doing anything out of the kindness of their heart other than either trying to compete or gain more customer's support? Even non-profit organizations like Salvation army are known to scam customers.

On the videogame front, do you think:

-Nintendo is giving an extra download game voucher with the purchase of Mario Kart 8 is due to the kindness of their heart or it is due to the fact that they want to gain more console sales?

-Sony providing "playstation Now" over Gaikai is because they are doing it just for fan service or because they can charge an extra monthly fee out of it?

-MS is no different with dropping the Kinect because they are not doing it compete and gain more marketshare. Simple as that.

But all that really doesn't matter to us gamers because it all benefit us due to healthy competition so fans of XB1, including myself, will just pretend it is out of the kindness of their heart. Speaking of which, I was at the MS store yesterday and got a great deal on 3 XB1 games for $60 for the memorial day sale. I think MS might be loosing money on that end, so who knows, maybe that is out of the kindness of their heart. :)

3-4-53624d ago (Edited 3624d ago )

" Staggering" choices ?

Definition:

Stagger - walk or move unsteadily, as if about to fall.

^ Anyone else pick up on that?

Joey_Leone3624d ago

The damage has been done, Xbox is trash/a scam to me.

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 3624d ago
akaFullMetal3625d ago

It's good that Microsoft is giving us options because options are always good. But to look at this as if Microsoft is doing this out of the goodness of there heart, no, they are doing this because they are way below sale expectations compared to there competitor. In order to become competitive they are 180ing everything that people have been complaining about since the reveal a year ago, it just took a sales beating for them to finally give us (quotation marks) choices.

DLConspiracy3625d ago

People feel the same way about Sony. I heard a guy say they wanted to raise donations for Sony because of the sales they lost in other divisions. Nobody should think a corporation cares.

Darkstares3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

Well of course they are doing these things because they want to remain competitive.You think Sony is now charging to play online for the PS4 because it's thew goodness of their hearts? You think they dropped PS2 functionality on the PS3 because of the goodness of our hearts?

All companies will either have to make changes or face low sales. Nintendo is learning that with the Wii U as well, it's why they reduced the price. How long before the Wii dropped in price compared o the PS3? You think Sony dropping servers for many games is all goodwill?

snookiegamer3625d ago

Askin' gamers to be happy is like askin' the sun not to shine in California ;/

Whitey2k3625d ago

Hardware design is at its worst aswell even the 360 is a better design the the x1

christocolus3625d ago (Edited 3625d ago )

Errm, how is that even related to the article?

dream21003625d ago

Man or girl take your ass to sleep

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120°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv7212h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

purple1012h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos1h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac51m ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad36m ago(Edited 35m ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10115m ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

300°

Microsoft Seemingly Closes Bethesda France

As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people

Read Full Story >>
insider-gaming.com
Hereandthere1d 9h ago

Microsoft should have left them stay 3rd party

GamerRN1d 6h ago

If they are let go, they can be whatever they want. They ARE 3rd party now... 🤦

Barlos1d 4h ago

Yeah, they're also jobless.

GamerRN21h ago

They can form a company if they want, they are just as jobless as if "Microsoft had left them as 3rd party".

peppeaccardo23h ago

"MIcrosoft leaves Bethesda do what they know how to do best" ... close! Oh the irony ....
(Citation from a week old article)

ChasterMies19h ago

I think Microsoft and other game publishers are letting people go because they think ai will replace them. Doesn’t matter how much profit they make. They were always going to be let go.

PassNextquestion1d 8h ago (Edited 1d 8h ago )

Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much

Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region

blacktiger1d 6h ago

that's a shame for you to say that, i'm sure Elite loves hearing what you just said.

Mr Logic16h ago

What a stupid thing to say. The elites give 0 fucks what we say on an obscure website in the comments section.

Crows9016h ago

You can always reach out and give them jobs at your company man. Don't wait

Profchaos1d 8h ago (Edited 1d 8h ago )

Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.

I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games

Tacoboto1d 8h ago

It's France too, there's a high likelihood only 1-2 people on the team even had an Xbox.

Profchaos1d 8h ago

Possibly guven all the leaks we know the Xbox brand is really struggling in the region.

Yi-Long1d 5h ago

Well, if your consoles and games are barely found in any stores any more, of course you're gonna struggle finding consumers ...

XiNatsuDragnel1d 7h ago

Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo

Profchaos1d 5h ago (Edited 1d 5h ago )

I think it would have been better for all parties really especially gamers

TheColbertinator1d 6h ago

The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.

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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?"

purple10112d 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 ☝️

Zeref11d 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.

DarXyde11d 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.

PhillyDonJawn11d ago (Edited 11d 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.

Einhander197211d 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.

MrBaskerville11d 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.

shinoff218311d 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.

Profchaos11d 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 11d ago
isarai12d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref11d 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.

MrNinosan11d ago

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

mkis00711d ago (Edited 11d ago )

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

Einhander197212d 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.

12d ago Replies(3)
Einhander197212d ago

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

12d ago
12d ago
Zeref11d 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.

DarXyde11d 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.

Einhander197211d 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.

Einhander197211d 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.

BehindTheRows11d ago (Edited 11d 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.

Zeref11d ago (Edited 11d 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.

Chevalier11d 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.

Tacoboto11d 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.

shinoff218311d ago

Yay steam

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

Tacoboto11d 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 11d ago
Hofstaderman11d 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?

crazyCoconuts11d 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.

Xeofate11d ago (Edited 11d 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.

crazyCoconuts10d 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

FinalFantasyFanatic11d 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)