Xbox first party titles expected to hit $80 USD this holiday; Game Pass pricing currently unchanged.
That’ll fix their record low sales!
“Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some cash for our console, it’s called xCloud”
if anyone was looking for a good time to switch to PC, it’s now. some stuff will be harder but you’ll have steam sales and control over your own device (more than a console anyway, if your running windows you’ll still have to put up with Microsoft).
if your running windows you’ll still have to put up with Microsoft
Luckily, there is another choice. Linux runs pretty smooth and has gotten much simpler to use over the years.
All hail Proton!
that’s what I was implying I switched back in August
Plus steam deck is pretty solid.
I have Win11 at work and its frustrating as hell. Definitely switching over to linux when I decide to buy a new pc
Yeah, I’ve been an xnbox user since 360 but I don’t think I’ll stick with another console.
I’ve been looking at handheld PC`s…
personally I prefer a laptop over a handheld but those should work decent too
Thank you so fucking much Nintendo for upping the standard and the everyone else falling in line because consoomers didn’t scoff at all and sold out pre-orders
Like Nvidia video cards did during the pandemic…
Valve hasn’t gotten the memo yet. Someone email them again?
No no no no someone stop them !
I think it was actually publishers like EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard, and Activision that started the price increase. For big titles they started raising them to $70 a year or two ago, then to 80. I think I remember Diablo 4 launching for $80, or so.
I only know this because I refuse to buy from these publishers.
I still use my Xbox One to play some Battlefield games. But I’m never buying a new console ever again. Fuck Microsfot. Fuck Sony. And you know what Nintendo fuck you too. Price gouging, greedy fucks the lot of them. PC+emulators is now the way to go, fuck all these greedy companies.
Wait till you find out about Nvidia and AMD
Unfortunately greed is rampant in the PC market, too.
As we are all switching from Windows to Linux, I’m actually surprised Microsoft is doing this. I guess they really don’t want to be competitive in the consumer market anymore. I guess they are making enough money through military contracts now that they don’t need to cater to us.
We all? I mean, I have, but we represent single digit percentages of the market, which is why they keep shoving more bullshit into Windows that no one wants, because hardly anyone leaves Windows. The most that this affects Linux gamers is if you like their controllers or individual games that they publish, but that would be the same as on Windows as well.
We all, all of me. I don’t have to care about what others are buying, because Steam and Linux is an amazing gaming experience and they’re the ones missing out. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
But your entire point was based on the idea that people are switching to Linux in droves…
That was somebody else’s point. I just chimed in with my own take. :D
Haha my bad! I’m usually good at looking for usernames, but I definitely didn’t look this time. Carry on, my bad
Truth. I swapped my laptop to linux a couple weeks ago, and then my ROG Ally, and next I’m putting linux on my gaming desktop. Just trying to decide on a distro for that one.
On my laptop I switched from Debian to Fedora and that had a distinct impact on gaming performance, though I think it had more to do with how I had it set up previously. For instance I used full disk encryption for Debian, but skipped that on Fedora, because it does seem to impact games noticeably.
But it also might be because Fedora is more bleeding edge, so the OS itself might actually play a role here.
On my desktop I’ve been running Bazzite and that’s been pretty great so far.
I have fedora on my laptop, and it seems to game fine. I do have full disk encryption on. Maybe if I turn that off I’ll get even better performance? I have Bazzite on the ROG ally and that is doing really good. I’m thinking about putting fedora on the desktop
Weren’t consoles supposed to be the cheaper, more convenient option?
They were until an orange bitch started a trade war. Now everything is going to be too expensive, consoles and PCs alike.
To be fair, the trade war was going on long before trump enacted tariffs.
If you ever saw someone spreading FUD about Huawei or Tiktok, it’s because they’re peddling rhetoric put there by our rulers to stoke the fires.
I mean, barring Nintendo, they still are and will continue to be as long as you don’t need to have games on day one. I very rarely spend more than $20 on Xbox games. Most AAA games go on sale within the first few months. $70 Ubisoft titles will literally be $15 a month after release, not that Ubisoft makes much worth buying these days but it was just an example. The digital storefronts (again, not Nintendo) have sales constantly, you just need a little impulse control.
Oh no.
Anyway.
PC Linux Sales
I didnt know Linux manufactured solid controllers. Can you link me one? /s
Like for real: Xbox Controllers are actually good.
8bitdo controllers are fucking amazing.
Fact. Thats all I use now. Just ordered another one today lol
It’s all I use now. They are so good.
Wish I could agree, but the consistently broken bumpers really irritate me.
I have gone through probably 20ish Xbox controllers, the 360 controllers were the most durable (except the stick rubber bit) whereas the core and series controllers and even my elite 2 controllers have all had the bumpers break or otherwise stop functioning.
I replaces the bumpers several times manually, then with the elite 2 they changed the design but now it breaks at the actual button instead of the flimsy plastic piece like on the core/series controllers.
Luckily putting some ISO on the button and throughly cleaning it along with sticking a small piece of paper near the actuator seems to have fixed it for several months.
I would love a solid controller with Xbox style layout (particularly the thumbsticks) replaceable sticks and 4 back paddles. I think the Playstation TouchPad would also be a welcome addition for PC navigation or steam input mapping.
20 controllers bro you have a problem and it’s not the controllers. My original Xbox 360 controllers from 2006 still work. My original Xbox one controller still works. My series x launch controller from 2020 still works. And I play dark souls. You have some other issues to sort out.
I blame Skyrim/Fallout and Dark Souls/ER, so much bumper pressing in those games.
I also use them A LOT, even being a PC gamer lol if it supports controller, that’s how I’m playing it.
I do think where I comfortably press it probably has to do with it.
If you think I’m like throwing them around or doing crazy stuff like that, I don’t haha.
Edit: If you look online, it’s very common for the bumpers to fail
You’ve probably tried this but in case you haven’t: try putting isopropyl alcohol in the gaps around the bumpers, it can clean the contacts and make the bumpers work again.
But yeah I’ve also has a ton of first party xbox controllers fail on me, although usually its the left stick or right trigger (I mostly play rocket league which abuses both) and was mostly the xbox one controllers so I’ve switched to more durable 3rd party controllers.
Ha yeah, that’s how I got the elites functional again, took it apart and did it directly at the button, so far so good after several months.
The Xbox one/core controllers though it was usually part of the thin plastic bit that connects the bumpers (it’s all one piece for some reason…)
So are the vastly more affordable 8BitDo controllers!
Playstation controllers have more features though, and arguably better Linux support.
Said features are mostly gimmicks, and quite frankly the symmetrical stick placement is uncomfortable and outdated by nearly 20 years. Even my $40 8bitdo controller I use for my Switch feels more premium than a $80 PS5 controller. In every other case be it PC, android, or Xbox I am going with the Xbox controller.
and quite frankly the symmetrical stick placement is uncomfortable and outdated by nearly 20 years
sorry but I have to disagree, it’s so much more comfortable than the mismatched sticks other controllers have
fuck Sony BTW, they patented said symmetrical stick placement and the world is worse off because of this
I prefer the symmetrical sticks, calling it outdated is just cult of inevitable progress vibes. Also the touchpad is hardly a gimmick when we’re talking about PC as a gaming platform. If anything a touchpad should become standard on all controllers.
My biggest complaints with the dualsense controller is that the shape of it starts to feel uncomfortable after long game sessions, the ds4 was better. Also the dpad sucks.
Idk, gyro aiming is pretty sweet.
I’m also not a fan of the symmetrical sticks, but it doesn’t bother me a ton, and having gyro aiming as an option is a big value add. I definitely don’t pay full price though, I’ll only pick it up on sale.
Fuck the US for inflicting this on the rest of the world.
At least the ones that voted the orange guy.There has always been an inherent value to consoles but if that goes away then I can genuinely see them dying off. Personally I thinks the current gen is a huge disappointment anyway and this news just makes it even more ridiculous.
I’ve always been a console peasant for the convenience of having a dedicated gaming device hooked up to the TV that uses a controller as well as the ability to trade in games when I’m done with them, not to mention consoles are cheaper than comparable PCs. I do have a decent PC, but I find I rarely play through entire games when I have to sit at a desk to do so. With digital games looking like the only game in town in the future and consoles being walled gardens with no other places to buy games for them, that cost advantage will be gone and it will be cheaper in the long run to pay more up front for a PC and get games for less. I got a Steam Deck recently, and it’s been a great showcase for how a PC hooked up to the TV using only a controller can work. I had no idea Steam had such a robust system for remapping controllers and have been able to play games with them that would have been a huge hassle before.
If Sony does away with physical games like Nintendo is come the PS6, I’m definitely switching to PC gaming.
To be fair PC gaming is a whole different monster to deal with because of the extortionate prices of new hardware and extreme consumerism.
I just want to play games and not be a target for all these companies :/
Considering consoles no longer go down in price and are even getting price hikes, not to mention mid-gen refreshes like the PS4 and PS5 Pro, I’d argue they’re no less susceptible to “extreme consumerism.” PCs do require more effort and research to get what you want at a price that makes sense, that’s true, but you don’t have to have the latest bleeding edge tech for everything, especially if you’re okay with running games at 1080p and 60fps like I am.
The lack of alternative places to buy games for consoles used to be mitigated by the second hand market. Without it, console games are just going to be too damn expensive for me, especially considering they’re nothing more than data. There is no reason they should cost this much other than pure greed.
And you may ask yourself “my god! Where are the games?”
ARGGGGHH ya filthy vermin 😂 Fuck your subscriptions. 10tb checking in.
I wonder if the price increase will be spent on making a chart that tells me which XBox is which?
I don’t know exactly when I got old, but I feel angry every time Xbox reminds me that I’m too old to know which is which.
A 2TB Xbox Series X now costs more than a PS5 Pro (in the US at least).
That is mental. Xbox hardware division must be bleeding money hand over fist. I honestly doubt they’ll do another generation, and stick to trying to monetise GamePass through PC and streaming. Maybe you’ll even see GamePass for PS6 since they own so many studios now.
They’ll only get Game Pass on PlayStation with Sony’s blessing, which is unlikely. And the next Xbox will just be a PC. I don’t think any of the consoles are in the market of selling units at a loss anymore. Those days are done. So with tariffs and inflation, this is the only way it could go.
EA Play is on PS5.
Assuming MS exit the console market, I don’t see why Sony wouldn’t allow it (as long as they get their pound of flesh from every sale of it). They’d basically just be another publisher.
The breadth of the Game Pass catalog is far larger, and Microsoft isn’t exiting the console market, as much as they don’t care about exclusivity. So personally, I doubt it, but I don’t have a crystal ball.
Yeah, there’s probably a fair bit of overlap between GamePass and PSN Premium games.
I suspect to try and push their own products, we’ll be entering an age where games are $80, and almost never go on sale, purely to make their own subscription services seem better value. And then they’ll crank the price of those as well.
I think all Xboxes have been PCs…?
Yeah, there’s always someone bringing this up, but you can’t just run Steam on it, and that’s what’s about to change. Xbox games still go through cert and need explicit ports above and beyond the PC SKU.
Steam can’t release a “console” soon enough.
Thousands of them already exist. They’re called PCs.
Millions you mean.
Hundreds of millions.
There’s some nuance.
- One of the bigger issues about PC gaming these days is the shader compilation stutter. Valve is able to precompile and upload these for SteamDeck, so a fixed hardware “console” from them will solve this problem too.
- SteamDeck is pretty weak but games are still sort of optimised for it. Same would be true for such a console, making devs focus on a target platform directly.
- Assembling PC yourself can have its own issues. You may not get all the ROPs, or a new Windows update may break your games, or you may occasionally update drivers to make a game more playable without black screens, or wouldn’t turn on with a controller when set up as a “console”. I’m not saying it isn’t doable, but there is an audience for consoles who would love whatever SteamDeck has done for handheld but in console form, and may not want to bother with setting everything up. Valve can disrupt that
And if you want that SteamOS experience; Bazzite and ChimeraOS is nice
You can connect the deck to your tv if you want a “console” experience.
I did that at my friends place: Worked very good. Screen was turned off and connected my xbox controller.
Minor nitpick: If it’s connected via a powered dock they should circumvent the battery.
It ain’t powerful enough for modern titles sadly. I’m trying to say that there’s a space where Valve made steam machine with niceties of SteamOS and power of say PS5 can really thrive.
I think it’ll happen soon. Tariffs threw a wrench in everyone’s plan but Strix Halo currently exists. Ryzen 395+ is in minipc’s now and should give a solid ~PS5 level experience that should come down in price over time as AMD releases successor generations. At least now could be cheaper with Valve putting somethings out with razor thin margins expecting to get return from software sales
The tariff situation makes it a bad idea to release or even announce new hardware right now. What they should do is finish Steam OS so they can officially release it for all platforms.
The last three games I paid for were Minecraft, Factorio and Dwarf Fortress (pre-Kitfox).
I haven’t needed a new one since that.
