130°

What’s Even The Point Of Xbox Game Pass Now?

Between a larger industry trend toward risk-averse development and indie devs reporting that deals for the service are drying up, Game Pass is starting to feel potentially purposeless.

Futureshark22d ago

The whole thing started to stagnate a long time ago, it was the introduction of BC that kept it going with the odd release here and there.
Nothing like that to fall back on now.

CrimsonWing6922d ago

It’ll probably turn into Xbox Live Gold and get 3 free old games a month.

Jingsing22d ago (Edited 22d ago )

The problem is whether it is Gold or Game Pass or any similar service they all become stagnant and run out of stuff you give you. It was a foolish thing in the first place. The best model is the one that has been around since the start, buy the games you actually want to own and play. Restaurants used to do all you can eat until people found out it is just stupid when you can't eat everything or don't even want to try. It is a fake of premise making you think you are getting a bargain when you aren't.

CrimsonWing6922d ago (Edited 22d ago )

Yea but that “original model” isn’t working, either. Things like FF7 Rebirth not effected by Gamepass aren’t selling enough. I mean a lot of games, in general, just aren’t selling enough for a ROI.

You’ll get something like Helldivers 2 that’s GaaS and sells a ton, the industry looks at that and says, “well shit none of these traditional games are selling, let’s do what “they’re” doing!,” and then you’ll have a flood of the market with derivative games and GaaS to boot.

So, then there’s also talks of raising the price of gaming even more or raising the cost of services to make up for it. I really wouldn’t be surprised if we hit a game crash at some point. I’ll tell you this, if games hit $100 a pop I will only buy them on sale. That’s just crazy, especially in this economy.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

@CrimsonWing69,
The games industry at the moment is pretty crazy as it is, I would not be surprised if you saw more studio closures, higher prices, and other attempts to nickle and dime us. I've heard some say a crash is impossible, but with the quality of titles being pushed out and the amount of finical flops we're seeing, I think we're really close to having one.

Smellsforfree22d ago

Game Pass isn't for me. I'm not looking for the best value in gaming, I'm looking for the best experiences in gaming.

medman22d ago

I also am looking for the best experienced in gaming. I own a ps5 and series x but unfortunately in this ps5/series x/s gen, I don't feel I'm getting much of what I was looking forward to. I thought for sure 60 fps would be locked in with these new machines, but we are for the most part still stuck with 30fps for most titles. And that is despite the fact so many of these current gen titles are actually cross gen titles. So many years in and we still don't know what some of Sony's big teams are working on. But don't worry....Sony is going to attempt to sell an upgraded, more powerful ps5 so we can better enjoy all these cross gen titles. This gen so far has been a damp squib, imo.

Chocoburger22d ago

Sony first party cross gen games period is over at this point, third party cross gen will continue for smaller games, and indie cross gen is perfectly fine, no need to make them current gen exclusive. Sony are not going to sell us a PS5 Pro just to play cross gen games.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

I couldn't agree more, this gen has been more or less a bust compared to the previous ones, Nintendo seems to be the only bucking the trend, but they offer a different experience, more-so now that ever.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

I feel like they shot themselves in the foot, it's expensive for Microsoft to maintain and they need a steady stream of high quality games to feed into the service. With the closure of all these Microsoft/Xbox studios, it just signals that Game Pass wasn't as profitable as they lead people to believe, if we have a video game crash, this is probably going to be one of several linchpins that causes it.

150°

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's Scope Was Impacted by Xbox Series S Limitations

Wccf tech writes: "Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's scope was impacted by the Xbox Series S hardware limitations, as developers could only make a game that was 25% bigger than its predecessor."

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wccftech.com
-Foxtrot6h ago

This is the issue with things like this

Xbox Series X is apparently to MS the worlds most powerful console

However the Series S is obviously a limitation because it’s underpowered and developers have to go for parity.

So what’s the point of the world’s most powerful console if you are holding third party developers back? They aren’t going to push themselves if they have to think about the weakest console.

The issue wouldn’t be as bad if it was just Xbox but you are also affecting the PS version aswell

I think developers need to start just taking advantage of a console and if one of them can’t do X Y and Z then f*** them…why should the others suffer. What’s MS going to do? The bigger the franchise the least chance MS are going to tell them to f*** off. Baulders Gate 3 seemed to have stood their ground and suddenly their “strict” parity rule didn’t really matter. We suddenly got super optimisation efforts for the Series S that got things sorted.

anast2h ago

I agree, and the sad part is use normal folk saw it the second they announced their plans.

LucasRuinedChildhood7h ago

More info from the author of the article, I think: https://www.reddit.com/r/ki...

Quote:
"1) I was told this info from the producer of the game Martin Klíma.
2) He specifically said the game will have only one mode.
3) And this mode is 4K 30 on PS5/XSX and 1440p 30 on XSS.
4) He said that the game is already running north of the 30 FPS cap so the performance should be stable on launch, much better than KCD1.
5) The limitation was XSS because of the 10GB memory. He said that's why they wanted to make the game 25% larger.
6) Speculation on my part: the output resolution is probably upscaled and the reason why there won't be a 60 FPS mode is because it'll most likely be very CPU heavy, like Dragon's Dogma 2 for example."

Doesn't seem like they're adding a 40fps mode on PS5/Series X for launch even if they can handle it.

Sgt_Slaughter2h ago

I'd much rather have 1440p/60fps or even 45fps. Having just one, even with the Series S in mind, is disappointing.

franwex1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Remember when xbots were adamant that the series s won’t hold back the gen?

Microsoft just needs to let go of the mandatory parity. Who cares if your grandma doesn’t understand that a game cannot be played on the S. It’s not like it she can buy you a physical game for it anyway. Before buying the game put up a notice that it only works on series X. If you’re buying for a friend-allow for a refund.

Bam. Everyone is happy. Most series s owners are for casuals that want Game Pass anyway and most likely don’t purchase most games.

If the developers want it to run on S, let them figure it out.

Jin_Sakai1h ago

“During the event, the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 producer also revealed that on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the game will run at 4K resolution and 30 frames per second“

Another “creative decision” right? 🤦‍♂️

IHateNate49m ago

Amateur hour. Very incapable developer.

Outside_ofthe_Box30m ago(Edited 29m ago)

Since you're not an amateur and clearly know more than them, can you over there and help get the game running on the S without having to sacrifice their true vision. Us gamers would really appreciate you using your wisdom for good 🙏

IHateNate26m ago

Thousands of games run just fine on S.

But Kingdom Come is the game that can’t. Must be one hell of a game!

Show all comments (11)
100°

Celebrate the Diablo Anniversary with March of the Goblins

Come celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Diablo IV and the 2-year anniversary of Diablo Immortal! There are heaps of rewards to mark these celebrations with a bounty of devilish goods across both games.

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terminalgamer.com
anast8h ago

This game is about to get buried by Path 2.

LordoftheCritics6h ago

Still no global chat or group finder.

The emptiest MP game ever made.

OtterX6h ago

1 more month then I can celebrate 1 year since i stopped playing and uninstalled the game.

Walalon5h ago

We are on the same team brother!

Rynxie2h ago

I uninstalled d4 after they kept screwing over the sorc build and I beat the game. I also uninstalled immortal after reading the end. I actually went back to d2r here and there.

70°

Tales of the Shire Stands at a Fork in the Road Regarding Magic

Tales of the Shire has many hurdles to jump to live up to the J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece, and magical elements might be its most pertinent one.

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gamerant.com