Metro writes "Beyond Europe, there have been concerns around Xbox stock in other territories. In October, Microsoft gave a very vague answer when addressing reports of Xbox pulling out of Saudi Arabia, while restocks in India have reportedly been delayed until March next year.
Even if this is a temporary hitch, Xbox’s lack of presence in these territories doesn’t bode well for its future hardware plans, or if it simply wants to exist as a brand on other platforms."
Ubisoft announced its financial results for the fiscal year 2024-2025, and they're not good, but Assassin's Creed Shadows is doing well.
Three companies keep showing their true faces and telling us who they are but for some weird reason we refuse to believe them. Even when everything they show just makes their greediness even stands out more
Keep messing with the consumers and keep being greedy. Keep telling your consumers to get comfortable now owning your games and we will. You only have few IP's that gamers care about anyways so
"soon enough tencent will buy you out. They already own 49%. Keep deleting games from gamers libraries and getting sued over it instead of making offline play possible for the crew" it's sad that I believe in 10 cents more than UBI because atleast tencent knows how to run a proper business
These executives can taking millions and bonuses and stock options yet they fire those actually making the games without thinking twice. Gaming has become so greedy that their own greed will be their downfall. Companies like Capcom have realized making good quality games and treat gamers with respect
AC series started with a soul but now it's just a soulless empty option world with icons filling the game map. They make their own games so grindy so that they can see the XP boosters to even the odds. As a gamer in my 40's all I want to know is when did gaming just stop being about Fun and all about greed. Double XP weekends selling cosmetics and dances. I use to be a big sports game guy when I was in my 20's the other day I wanted to play NBA 2k and after doing some deep research I realized the best NBA game was 2k17 and NBA 2k25 at $9.79 I couldn't pull the trigger on that 2k25 for how egregious the micro transactions were. So much of the fun is behind a pay wall
True words, buddy.
Q: "So how many units did Shadows sell?"
Ubisoft: "Well, look, we ... it's been a busy week."
For over a decade, the price of video games remained steady. We paid $50, then $60 for full, content-rich experiences. Developers found creative ways to deliver incredible games without charging more. From the PS2 era through the PS4/Xbox One, pricing consistency gave players a sense of value and trust.
But then came the jump to $70 during the PS5 and Xbox Series X launches—justified by "rising development costs." And now, barely four years later, we’re seeing $80 price tags becoming more common for standard editions. At this pace, by the time the next generation of consoles launches around 2027, $90 games could be the norm. And with a behemoth like GTA 6 on the horizon, a $99.99 base price wouldn’t be shocking at all.
Yet we’ve also seen proof that this kind of pricing isn’t necessary for success. Look at the recent launches of Expedition 33 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Both released at $49.99 and have been met with strong sales and positive reception. These games show that there’s still plenty of room for high-quality, mid-budget (AA) titles that offer great value—and gamers are more than willing to support them at fair prices.
But here’s the problem: the big publishers don’t care. If we as consumers keep paying for deluxe editions, early access, and overpriced base games, they’ll keep pushing the limits. They’re not going to back down unless we speak with our wallets—because that’s the only language they listen to. If they see record sales, they’ll take it as validation.
It’s frustrating when these same companies report record-breaking revenue and profits—yet still complain about tariffs, still find excuses to raise prices, and still hand out bigger bonuses to their CEOs. If they’re doing so well financially, why are they passing more of the burden onto players?
It’s because gaming has become the second biggest entertainment market in the world. And with that comes attention from hedge funds, investors, and boardrooms focused on short-term profit, not long-term player trust. To them, your passion is just a revenue stream. They care about quarterly numbers, not the health of the industry or the joy of the experience.
And unless we—as players—take a stand, the greed won’t stop. The monetization will grow, the price hikes will continue, and the soul of gaming will keep slipping away. The choice is ours. We can either keep paying more for less, or we can push back. One purchase—or one refusal to purchase—at a time
"And unless we—as players—take a stand, the greed won’t stop."
And that's the tough part about it.
Look at those annual figures showing billions and billions of money being spent on the most ridiculous add-ons, DLCs, pre-release accesses, even pre-orders, digital deluxe crap, etc.
I mean - we've stood together at times. I don't say it didn't happen before.
But within all of our communities there's so much passive aggressive defensiveness.
Look at the debates regarding physical vs digital.
Publishers can't keep a straight face reading our discussions in which many people abandon physical.
Playing straight into the cards of publishers out there.
When you don't disclose units sold... and your stock goes down... how is this doing well?
"According to the company, Assassin’s Creed Shadows achieved the second-highest Day 1 sales revenue in franchise history, following Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. It actually had the best Day 1 performance of Ubisoft’s history on the PlayStation Store."
"BLEACH: Rebirth of Souls is a competent arena fighter that will please series fans more than newcomers looking to catch up with the long-running IP."
Stuart Cullen, TechStomper
"The Walnut Creek-based (CA, the US) indie games publisher Maximum Games and Lyon-based (France) indie games developer & publisher Breakfirst Games, today announced with great delight and excitement that their Co-Op puzzler/adventure game "How 2 Escape: Lost Submarine" (the latest entry in the critically acclaimed "How 2 Escape" franchise), is coming to PC (via Steam) and consoles (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch) via digital stores on June 24th, 2025." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
Both can be true. They're claiming that high customer demand is the reason for the outage. However, we do know that XBox sales have been slowing down by alot in these countries in the last year or more. More than likely, Microsoft had already pulled back on stock numbers here a while back, but now that the Holidays are here, there is a bigger demand on a smaller stock. So "technically" there is a higher demand, but that doesn't necessarily equate to high sales numbers. If a store has only 20 units, it's pretty easy to sell out of 20 units.
I also think it's dead in Brazil; basically, no official retailer has it in stock. You can still find it through third-party sellers, but at a pretty marked-up price. Which is sort of sad, given that Microsoft had, at one point, good control of that market.
I feel bad for the people that keep falling for MS’s exaggerated promises each generation. They sure make a shiny presentation at the beginning of each generation.
Hi demand my follically dense buttocks. XBOX Series have never historically sold well anywhere in Europe. Poland traditionally has always been PC and PlayStation land. Unless they counting eveything as XBOX as per their latest marketing schlep.
Given how the Xbox is being outsold 3:1 by PlayStation in the US, it's strongest territory, it might as well quit Europe.