There was a time when the hardcore were determined to own the latest and greatest right out of the gate. But is that hardcore group dwindling in number?
XDefiant was originally supposed to be out in summer 2023, but following a seemingly-successful beta test in April of that year, it was bumped to October 2023, and then delayed again to an unspecified future date. In its February 2024 financial report, Ubisoft slated XDefiant for launch in the fourth quarter of its 2023-24 fiscal year, which ended March 31.
A week before that date arrived, rumors surfaced that the game would be delayed yet again, and a few days later Ubisoft made it official.
"The game has always been community-first, with player feedback as a top priority," the development team said in the update. "While we hoped to go live by the end of March, there are still some improvements that we need to test before that."
Ubisoft said it's "finishing preparations" for a server stress test that will run for 12 hours on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. "After this short test, we expected to be able to lock a launch date and start sharing more about exciting content XDefiant has to offer in the future!"
The previous news was from the team/rumors this is ubisoft themselves now saying the game is delayed again no new date set but they will have a stress test on a date that has not been set.
So the game is delayed to _____ TBD
Network stress test at ____ TBD
Ubisoft we make games whenever for whoever we just do not care
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurec...
I'm just going to be honest here and say what people seem to not want to, XDefiant success is going to be short-lived and it's because it's a game that's going to be under Ubisoft's umbrella. The development team can be absolute rockstars, but with Ubisoft steering the ship it's not going to go anywhere.
It could be a truely amazing game (it won't be) but with Ubisoft it will be monitized within a inch of its life.
The game is dead move on. It's the same with the Finals. These short period hype games doesn't last.
A new rumor suggests the next Xbox console is currently being tested by developers in South Korea.
If true, hopefully a fully fledged next gen console and not some unnecessary mid gen refresh system.
It could be that rumored Xbox portable, who knows
Next gen would make sense. They said they'd talk about new hardware at the end of this year, and Xbox usually starts talking about next gen systems 2 years before they release. Late 2026 would make sense for next gen. Though it also seems a bit early for next gen dev kits to be going out.
Next gen wouldn't make any sense right now. They still have 1st party to release in the next few years. If they announce their next console at the end of the year that would do them harm more harm for their console. The console barely sells as is anyway. People would just wait off until the NEXT console. That's right, they'll have you playing the waiting game again.
If it does have anything to do with NextGen, Sony could have forced their hand by making the ps5 pro so powerful, with it said to be at over 33 teraflops and up to 4x the ray tracing performance, along with AI-powered upscaling that works on all games without patches required, according to Moore's Law is Dead, who is a very reliable source (and he also leaked photos of the internal documents confirming this).
What doesn't make sense is South Korea, why only there?
MS is talking next gen because they already released 2 different SKUs, they cannot release a 3rd SKU because the cost of optimizing every game for 3 different consoles would be prohibitively high. MS essentially will abandon current gen xbox owners because otherwise they dont have any way to respond to PS5 PRO.
MS plans really backfired on them this gen.
Next gen this early? People just bought their consoles. What about people with the current gen consoles? Will MS support the series S? Or just abandon them?
@StormSnooper
What do you mean "this early"? They're just talking about the hardware at the end of the year, not releasing it. It wouldn't come out until holiday 2026. Personally I'd prefer waiting until holiday 2027 as we've barely had any games that really take advantage of the current consoles. But 6 years is pretty standard for a generation.
Replies(4)That's the million dollar question Microsoft seem to indicate they want to start the next generation off early while PS is seemingly going for a refresh and next gen system in 2028.
However if they start the generation off say next year while only having the xsx on the market for 5 years consumers will start to question the lack of dedication to the systems.
A 5 year console cycle hasn't been relevant since the PS1 era and we've barely seen any convincing software that really shows the need for the current generation as is.
I feel like they need to wait until 2028 at least abs take PS on head on again
What would a fully fledged next gen console be though. The power creep is only high enough in 2024 to make a 'pro' type increase unless they make it super expensive. And given not as many are interested in the full powered Series X as it is. Who's buying it?
It wouldn't be releasing in 2024. This is just a dev kit, they're always different from the final hardware.
Designed now, yes, but the final hardware isn't available now. They'd have a general idea of what they're targeting but they'd still be working with AMD to build custom chips using upcoming architecture, not currently available chips. This is how every generation works.
"MS already abandoning the generation. That is how bad they are doing."
The only one "abandoning" the generation is Sony which barely scratched the surface with the PS5. So far there´s not a single first party game that pushed the hardware closer to its limits with true next gen games.
All its have to show from first party so far, is remakes, remasters, re-releases and cross-generation games.
The worst part of it all is that apparently, even the PS5 Pro will be released without a single first party game to show why that thing is needed in the first place.
That´s why I´m happy Xbox ditched the idea of another mid gen refresh Xbox, and will continue to focus on both SX and SS for the foreseeable future.
Hah that is a hilarious response.
Look at MS leaving the generation halfway in the middle. At least in prior generations they would just give up, now they are abandoning their consumers too! like “sorry you bought what we sold you, but we gotta move on now, byyyeee”
While I can understand the annoyance with a mid gen refresh considering the severe lack of first party support on this console gen I'd argue it's very necessary considering most games still don't hit native 4k 60 on console.
The PS5 Pro won´t achieve native 4k 60fps for most games either!
That´s why it´s pointless.
Same CPU in Pro, so the expectation is that it'll just be a res boost unfortunately.
According to Obscure, a mid-upgrade is “unnecessary” but a whole new generation is just dandy. My question is, why is that? I mean at least with a mid-gen upgrade gamers aren’t being left behind. If its too early for a mid-gen, then why is it not too early for a new gen? lol sorry I have to laugh.
another console for no one to buy, the series is tracking lower than the xbox one, buy your games and support them
@Obscure
Sooo a mid-gen upgrade is too early and “unnecessary”, but a whole new gen that leaves gamers behind is good?
A mid gen console releasing this year using the same CPU, vs a next gen console with all new hardware launching more than two years from now. Mid gen is pointless because without a significant CPU upgrade games will still struggle with performance. A CPU overclock isn't remotely enough.
The biggest obstacle regarding performance this gen is the CPU, this is what causes so many games to have hitching, stuttering, sudden fps drops, 30fps, etc. A faster GPU cannot alleviate these issues, games won't just magically be 4K60fps with raytracing. That's not how it works.
Each frame has to be processed by the CPU before being handed off to the GPU. So a game can ultimately only perform as fast as the CPU can feed the GPU. This is why consoles focusing so heavily on GPU power is a problem, after the first couple years when you start really pushing the GPU the CPU becomes a bottleneck. We need more balanced consoles next gen.
@porkchop
fps, raytracing, etc is all gpu stuff. So when they do gpu tests, they use the exact system but use different gpus, the results are huge if you look at the top vs bottom. CPU will give you a higher ceiling but all graphics stuff is gpu work. FPS is gpu.(you plug gfx card into monitor)
"All games and cards are tested with the drivers listed above—no performance results were recycled between test systems. Only this exact system with exactly the same configuration is used for all results in this review."
Thats from rtx470 super ex review, rx5700xt does 44% compared to rtx470super ex 100% at 2560x1440 resolution. For games gpu is the best upgrade.
https://www.techpowerup.com...
@S2Killinit
"Sooo a mid-gen upgrade is too early and “unnecessary”, but a whole new gen that leaves gamers behind is good?"
Have you paid attention to what I´d actually said?
I said that I rather MS to stick with the SX and SS for the foreseeable future!
And what you mean by "leaving gamers behind"?
It´s been 4 years and so far the PS5 don´t have a single true next gen first party game which pushes the console to its limits and, yet, Sony already have a pointless mid gen refresh console ready to launch which according to DF themselves it´s nothing but a disappointment as far CPU performance is concerned.
So why in the hell would I want MS to follow the same route?!
I rather have a full next gen Xbox console released by 2026-2027 rather than a worthless Xbox Series XX to be released this year.
A new generation this early?? How is that a good thing??.. at least give us an upgrade. Some people barely bought their current gen consoles….
Series x only came out 3 years and four months ago, talking about a "fully fledged next gen console" is just as unnecessary right now. Better hope not, an xbox portable would fail miserably.
Yeah its wayyy too early for a next gen. People were even saying its too early for a mid-gen upgrade, let alone a new generation. And what happens to all the current xbox gamers? Leave them behind?
At one time MS said that the one x/ps4 pro model would be the standard going forward. If theyre testing something new, its safe to say its a mid-gen upgrade. They’ll probably have another “Series-letter” name too. Callin it
Could be the refresh console perhaps? I doubt it'll be the new console. Might be the portable rumored device.
Regardless the fact we're talking about new hardware already is absolutely pathetic. Barely any current gen stuff out and the stuff that is out or coming is at 30 fps or doesn't, doesn't look current gen and what have you.
All we're doing is chasing power and not creating the games to harness said power.
Worse generation so far easily.
I have a hypothesis about the rush to move to next gen:
They want to really bake in AI integration in some way. How exactly? No idea, but perhaps new hardware would expedite a lot of development and reduce needed labour. Something they can't do with current hardware, perhaps.
I don't really know, but I reckon we'll get a good sense of it once we learn about the actual features of a new Xbox/Playstation.
Above you said it makes no sense but these days a lot of things make no sense to some people. Ps portal, mid gen refresh doesnt make any sense either to some. Another thing is the switch came out earlier because the wiiu flopped. Sense xbox aint doing so well dont it make sense to start fresh on the next system and get the jump like the 360. Overall we don't know nothing.
The reason it would be unusual is because releasing in, say, the next two years would really restrict the technology it could implement. For example, they'd maybe get Zen 4 with FSR3 instead of waiting a bit. Moreover, if they intend to live up to the claims of it having the most significant leap, they can certainly do that, but the price is likely to be harder to stomach.
Frankly, I wouldn't recommend getting the jump on the competition too early. Xbox 360 was a phenomenal console in its early years, but it was also God awful because it was absolute garbage quality.
Releasing too early relative to competition is a dangerous bet, especially for a company like Microsoft given their history.
It WOULD help xbox’s image not to release next to PlayStation day and date. That way numbers can be played with. (i.e. “we are best selling console”)
The only thing that makes me think this crazy news might be true is that MS already released two SKUs. If rumors are true that we will be getting a second SKU PlayStation (PS5PRO), then i dont think MS can release a third SKU as costs would be prohibitive for developing games for 3 separate SKUs that are so far apart in performance.
Solution: next gen xbox to leave some consoles out in those instances where developer can’t justify the cost.
This is bad news for xbox gamers indeed.
"Could be the refresh console perhaps?"
The Series X one, yeah. That was my thought, but why would it need a dev kit? They're changing something. Maybe it's just some minor bump like the One S last gen.
It was reliably leaked just a month ago that MS hadn't signed contracts for next gen till literally weeks ago- the same leakers that correctly leaked that hi fi rush and pentiment and sea of thieves were going to ps5. So this is very very very unlikely- if not impossible. Also it's way too early....
Tell us oh great timeline masta… what speed should a shady trillion dollar company move at to compete with their “non rival” rival?
GB: "The Switch is inarguably in its final stages of its lifecycle. As such, we try to speculate what its successor would look like from a specs perspective."
It’s just a guessing game until Nintendo officially reveals the console. Better to keep expectations low.
More than anything, unless Nvidia is really doing some crazy magic, I would say keep expectations in check regarding what can be achieved with DLSS.
Its still amazing that it will have it, specially coming off so many Switch games with reaaally low resolutions and no AA, it can definitely provide an advantage.
But DLSS still has a render budget cost to implement, its not free fps, and like all super samplers, its worst quality is when starting from really low base resolutions.
Same with DLSS 3, even if it were technically possible from a hardware standpoint, its not really meant to be used with base 30fps
This, I got so sick and tired of the Nintendo Pro spec/release date rumours, now I'll probably get it all over again with the Switch successor (except the Switch 2 actually exists and will come out).
Lol yeah, DS played gameboy games, 3DS played DS/Lite/i games, Wii played GameCube games, WiiU played Wii games and accessories, yeah a huge prayer is needed hahaha
No bc is a no buy for me. I'm done supporting the practice of our game libraries not moving forward with us.
Pc has done this for years and years. Consoles can to, there no excuse.
My only expectation would be it can play existing switch carts and digital games. Like 3DS did with DS
I think with the way things are shifting to more a PC mentality, having access to your digital library is not only necessary, it’s mandatory.
Unless Nintendo is stuck in the past, which we’ve seen they have been, I can’t imagine them closing off the Switch eshop like it’s a WiiU eshop. I’d hope they’d be like Sony and Xbox moving forward and their digital marketplace.
Nintendo is always 2 steps forward, one step back, I really hope they don't mess BC up, they have taken steps that indicate that we'll be able to keep our Switch libraries, some of those games could really benefit from more processing power.
I haven't touched my switch for years despite there are some games on it I want to play because there's no achievement system.
Glad I’m not the only one, and I feel like there could be some really cool achievement tiles and game related achievements to the first party Nintendo games like Mario, Zelda, etc
I know they won’t have them because Nintendo is so out of touch, but if they had achievements switch would have been my console of choice I think.
We have to be realistic given the requirements Nintendo usually considers when deploying a new console the last few years.
It must be power efficient and small in form factor in addition to being hybrid (therefore lowered specs in comparison with other consoles). This means that it will not become as hot when playing as say the Steam Deck.
It must be relatively cheap (not in the 500$ price range but lower)
It must be backwards compatible with Switch
Therefore I am expecting base PS4 power level with newer hardware and upscaling tricks. Anything more powerful will eat the battery rather quickly especially if the rumours about the 8 inch screen are true.
But consider having a Zelda with Ghosts of Tsushima level of graphics! That would be simply stunning
Switch 2 should be at least double what the Switch 1 is, which itself is below 1tf. so seeing a Switch 2 hit around the 1.6tf would put it in Steam Deck range, maybe a little better than that thanks to FSR and DLSS support.
There is no way the graphics would be up to par with ghost in my opinion. All Nintendo cares about are the first party games. That’s what all their creativity goes into (that’s not a bad thing because their first party games are great) but they’ll never implement graphical power or even decent online services. They just don’t see it as important.
The latest iPhone already has more graphical power than a PS4. I think Nintendo is going to have to spec Switch 2 a little higher if they want to convince people to upgrade.
@DeusFever
Iphone 15 pro run appears to use a dynamic resolution in Death Stranding and it seems to average around 400p in typical play (with frame rate issues on top of it) according to Digital Foundry whereas PS4 run at 1080p.
https://www.eurogamer.net/d...
Resident Evil 4 remake has 300p upscaled to 720p in comparison to 900p resolution on SP4
So not exactly on the same level
I am definitely getting a PS4 on day one! I'll wait for the other since I have a high end PC as well.
If it's backwards compatible, I'll buy it day one. If not, I'll finish my huge backlog first, and then buy it.
Its wise to buy anything on launch day..unless its software. Console makers usually have hardware kinks, bugs and other things that need to be tweaked. I'm never in a hurry to spend money lol.
But there are fans who are excited to buy a new product, whether an Apple product, new console etc. More power to them.
Ill buy one if Gran Turismo is a release title.