What's Going on With X-Box?

Nice to see. I guess I did not have acces because I only used the App on PC and there it is only announced. Let’s hope it is not a fluke and will go on. Thank you for informing me about it!

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I’ve been patiently waiting for it as well, but do benefit from GamePass on GeForce Now, so didn’t feel it as much.

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Xbox is trying to be the “windows” of the gaming industry.

“The new hardcore FPS from X-Box; Call of Clippy.

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I have a feeling that this guy would be up for a Call of Flippy.

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This is an interesting development:

Microsoft integrates Nvidia’s GeForce Now into its Xbox game pages

Microsoft is integrating Nvidia’s GeForce Now service into its store pages for Xbox games. The integration will allow you to pick between either Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia’s GeForce Now service when you view a game listing on the web.

Currently, Microsoft only lists its own Xbox Cloud Gaming service under “play with cloud gaming” on game listings, so it’s surprising to see the company add Nvidia’s GeForce Now service. At the time of publication, the new “play with cloud” button isn’t available just yet, so it’s not clear whether this is simply a link to the main homepage of GeForce Now or whether this deep links and launches the game directly on Nvidia’s cloud gaming service.

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Thanks for posting this.

If it means there will be no more delays in Game Pass games coming to Geforce Now, then I see it as a plus. If they have an overall agreement, they don’t have to haggle over each game individually to see if it can be on GFN or not.

On the other hand, weren’t GFN and XBOX Cloud supposed to be competitors? Less competition is always bad for the consumer.

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I had you in mind when I posted it.

I really don’t think they would classify as true competitors given you can’t buy games from GeForce Now. They are just a platform for streaming access, so to my mind Xbox is actually in competition with Steam, epic. etc., and GeForce Now just provides streaming access to the games to all the various platforms. Partnering with GeForce Now just means Xbox can still effectively offer cloud streaming to PC Game Pass users who don’t receive access to Xbox specific cloud streaming, thus offsetting the infrastructure and bandwidth costs to a third party.

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Xbox Game Pass Price Increases Have Been Called “Product Degradation” By FTC

In particular, the FTC points to the removal of the existing Console Game Pass service and replacing it with the more expensive and slightly worse Game Pass Standard service and says it’s “exactly the sort of consumer harm” that it has alleged in the past during its court battle with Microsoft.

It also claims that Microsoft’s actions at the moment are “inconsistent” with its claims in court, claiming that these price increases just so happened to coincide with the release of this year’s Call of Duty on Game Pass’s most expensive tier. One of Microsoft’s big points about the merger is that it would be beneficial for customers as Call of Duty would be available on Game Pass, but the FTC claims that Microsoft did not mention that the price of the service would increase with the introduction of the series to Game Pass.

The FTC isn’t wrong, but I can’t say this is a surprising move given Game Pass growth could and would never be infinite. It’s also easy to make these criticisms now after they already had a chance to prevent the kind of consolidation that is leading to these problems. Companies as big as MS and Sony shouldn’t be given free license to swallow up most of the industry, only for the regulators to lob mild critiques after they squandered their chance to actually do something about consolidation and anti-trust actions.

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What they’ve done with GP is basically shrinkflation. Almost every industry has gone through this - not that that makes it okay, mind - so I’m not surprised gaming has. As bad as shrinkflation is, the big issue is that the door way that was opening gaming to those less financially stable has now well and truly smacked them in the face as it closes.

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Microsoft says it’s wrong to call Game Pass ‘degraded’, responding to FTC

What MS is doing is shitty, no matter how they try to swing it.

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FTC and users: “This deal is getting worse all the time!”

Microsoft: “Buy Game Pass Ultimate and pray we won’t alter degrade the deal any further.”

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And yet another reason to ditch Xbox;Looks like they don’t consider Europe an important market.

Hate to think what’s happening in Australia.

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“You don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox”

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I had a feeling that Smart Delivery would eventually result in something like this because MS spent a ton of time advertising that smart delivery automatically provided the correct version of a game for your Xbox, be it a One X/S or Series X/S. It seemed like a good idea because consumers did not have to think about whether or not their games would play, they would all just play thanks to Smart Delivery. And they didn’t have to worry about which version to buy in stores because there was only one, unlike PS4 and PS5 games that come in separate boxes. Well now that games are dropping Xbox One compatibility, consumers are confused when they buy a new game and realize only after the fact their Xbox One won’t play it:

EA College Football Is A Perfect Storm Of Confusion For Xbox Fans

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I’m yet to be convinced of the “play anywhere” thing. If I’m gonna pay £60+ for a game I’m not gonna be playing it on my phone.

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This confuses me, too.

Who’d wanna play a game about collage football?

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after a short early access period for those willing to pay the publisher’s ransom fee.

Nice wording! Glad to see an outlet not fall for the “early access” bullsh*t and calling it what it is.

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It amazes me just how quickly Microsoft have killed the Xbox brand. I don’t know the ins and outs off all companies, and obviously I’m just seeing this as a consumer, but it’s like they sucked all the hope and joy out of X-Box in just a few short months.

Going back on their dedication to physical, pushing subscriptions and then upping the prices, closing studios even if they had successful games, relegating markets to the “not important” box. At this point it’s hard to think what else they could do to ruin their reputation more.

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Wait…what?

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