Xbox has repeated the same terrible mistakes for over a decade. The reason is simple: its priorities are back-to-front.
  • Ashtear@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Xbox buys talent, mismanages it in search of impossible scale, and cuts it loose - be that the 20-year experts of Fable, or the battle-scarred makers of Dishonored, or the invigorating new generation behind Hi-Fi Rush.

    Talking up the demerits of capitalism in the massive gaming industry has been more common as of late (perhaps especially so on Lemmy), and I do think there is nuance in that conversation.

    There’s no reasonable nuance here. Microsoft clearly wants insane return on investment from their studios, and I don’t see how that leaves room for the art of video game design.

  • Sir Arthur V Quackington@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    It is so damning that the entire industry has reacted that way. It’s not that they closed a studio, that cod have been ignored. It’s how brazenly they closed successful studios for being successful while talking out the other side of their mouth to the press.

    It feels gross in a much more palpable way. And with everything else going on in tech it feels so wrong coming from one of the biggest companies in earth.

    I’m 100% over Xbox. I hope their next console is the worst release since ET on Atari.

  • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    Gaming journalists sure want a Sony monopoly of gaming consoles, don’t they?

    If Xbox didn’t exist, consumers could only choose PlayStation. Nintendo has shown they have no interest in making real console hardware to compete with Sony or Microsoft anymore, so consumers will get literally only one console choice. That’s bad. Especially since they could set prices at whatever they want and nobody could challenge it.

    I get journalists hate Xbox, but Xbox needs to exist as a consumer option.

    • Blackmist@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      I don’t think anybody wants a monopoly, because it means the leader can stagnate, and honestly that’s already happened. Sony are getting complacent, the big releases are few and far between. We’re all getting less for our money, no matter what team you’re on.

      I often buy multiple consoles in a generation, but I didn’t get the Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles, because there’s no reason to, and it’s not because I’ve got an expensive PC either, still being on a 1060. Being late to the game is fine, PS3 did that and ended up selling pretty much as many as the Xbox 360 in the end, but where is that spark from MS? They’ve gambled it all on Game Pass and I’m not sure you can run an entire gaming division on that, same as Netflix couldn’t compete with Hollywood without the box office money. The cloud growth just hasn’t happened for them. It doesn’t feel as good as local play, and I suspect it never will. A PS5 has hit pricing that isn’t really that expensive for fairly casual gamers, although the most casual went mobile ages ago and I doubt they’re coming back.

      Xbox hardware is fine, there just isn’t any reason to own it. If it ran Windows and I could install my Steam library on it, I’d have got it on day one, but how does that make MS money? There’s even been noises about the next Xbox allowing Steam, although I don’t know how true that it is. I would guess the only way that can happen is if MS get a chunk of Valve’s money every time somebody buys a game through Steam for Xbox. It’s the only real feature that would get me to buy one right now.

      • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        The Steam Deck is not a console, it is a handheld Linux PC with “console gaming” TV output as an afterthought, just like the Nintendo Switch is a handheld android tablet with console gaming as an afterthought.

        • mortalic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          K… This is just not true. Plenty of AAA games run well on the steam deck. Currently installed on mine, RDR2, cyberpunk 2077, horizon zero dawn, Forza horizon, uncharted legacy of thieves, the last of us, and for funsies I just started another fallout 4 playthrough. I’m sure others have lots of other AAA games they play on their deck.

          If it’s the exclusives you’re missing, like Gran Turismo or something, I think that’s a different argument.

          • RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.worldEnglish
            01·
            2 years ago

            Being able to play AAA games is not a qualifier for a console. My PC can also play AAA games, but it is not a console.

            The Steam Deck, and Switch, are both handhelds. It is a subcategory of game console, but it is not considered a game console just the same as a Game Boy is not considered a console, but it is a handheld. Both the Steam Deck and Switch have a screen and internal battery, along with a controller that is built onto the device, like a Game Boy.

            A Steam Machine is a Linux PC, but is more similar to a console than the Steam Deck.

            • mortalic@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              2 years ago

              I mean, the nuance you describe is notable. But I sit on the couch, using controllers and play the same games you would on ps or Xbox. Both of which run variants of Linux/windows.

              It appears the nuance is no longer important.