Xbox Official Xbox Series X thread

[rikwebb]

So there are some interesting rumors about the upcoming Showcase

• New Doom game
• Call of Duty on Gamepass Day one

Just rumors.. the Doom one makes sense. COD on Gamepass is bold...

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/new-doom-reveal-hinted-at-by-zenimax-trademark

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-...g-the-next-call-of-duty-day-one-on-game-pass/

Can't think of how putting COD on gamepass makes sense. If you are a fan of the series and you already have a PS5 and/or a PC, I don't see how going out and buying an Xbox for $4-500 makes sense if you just want to save $70...

If I was an investor I wouldn't like this idea either.

Wait I do have a bunch of money in ETFs and that might include MS. Might be time to make some moves..

Yeah the Doom one came up in the leaks from the court case, current code name Doom : Year Zero

 

[mixmastermo]

Rumor floating around that MS wants to buy Valve now?

Microsoft Reportedly Readies $16 Billion Bid to Acquire Valve / Steam

Rumors have recently surfaced suggesting that Microsoft is considering a significant acquisition bid valued at approximately $16 billion for Valve Corporation, the entity behind major gaming franchises such as Half-Life and Portal, and operator of the Steam Store, the leading digital...

www.guru3d.com

They are better off remaining independent IMO

 

[SaiWa]

Rumor floating around that MS wants to buy Valve now?

Microsoft Reportedly Readies $16 Billion Bid to Acquire Valve / Steam

Rumors have recently surfaced suggesting that Microsoft is considering a significant acquisition bid valued at approximately $16 billion for Valve Corporation, the entity behind major gaming franchises such as Half-Life and Portal, and operator of the Steam Store, the leading digital...

www.guru3d.com

They are better off remaining independent IMO

For consumers. Yes. I am sure MS sees that differently though.

I don't see why Valve would sell? They're practically minting their own money.

Although I have recently purchased two games on Epic instead of Valve. Before that I was exclusively buying on Steam.

 

[Valhoven]

For consumers. Yes. I am sure MS sees that differently though.

I don't see why Valve would sell? They're practically minting their own money.

Although I have recently purchased two games on Epic instead of Valve. Before that I was exclusively buying on Steam.

Is this acquisition possible without divestment? I thought M/s was in antitrust territory post-ATVI.

 

[SaiWa]

Is this acquisition possible without divestment? I thought M/s was in antitrust territory post-ATVI.

And that's a great point. They barely got it through acquiring ATVI. The shitstorm they'll get from a Valve/Steam acquisition would be apocalyptic in comparison to acquiring ATVI IMO.

I think this is just a crazy rumor...

 

[method115]

I'm actually not sure MS would have much trouble with buying Valve honestly. It would be in their best interest to do it no matter what though I know that much. I'm positive they've already tried to do it before and will continue to do so. Gabe I don't think will ever do it but who knows what happens after he's gone.

 

[SaiWa]

I'm actually not sure MS would have much trouble with buying Valve honestly. It would be in their best interest to do it no matter what though I know that much. I'm positive they've already tried to do it before and will continue to do so. Gabe I don't think will ever do it but who knows what happens after he's gone.

Financially yes Ms can afford to buy Valve but from an antitrust side I think they will encounter a lot of problems. Valve is already kind of a monopoly considering they own 50-70% of the PC gaming market share (even seen 90%). If they had issues buying ATVI how can they not have even more issues buying Valve?

 

[KidBaize]

Yeah the Doom one came up in the leaks from the court case, current code name Doom : Year Zero

Word going around today is it's a medieval themed Doom to be announced June 9.

 

[KidBaize]

Financially yes Ms can afford to buy Valve but from an antitrust side I think they will encounter a lot of problems. Valve is already kind of a monopoly considering they own 50-70% of the PC gaming market share (even seen 90%). If they had issues buying ATVI how can they not have even more issues buying Valve?

They must be stopped before there's nothing left!

 

[method115]

Financially yes Ms can afford to buy Valve but from an antitrust side I think they will encounter a lot of problems. Valve is already kind of a monopoly considering they own 50-70% of the PC gaming market share (even seen 90%). If they had issues buying ATVI how can they not have even more issues buying Valve?

I don’t know I’m not saying you’re wrong but just seems like it might slide because it’s a store and the issue before was them buying big publishers and games. I could be wrong though Im no antitrust expert.

 

[GtehMVP]

I'm actually not sure MS would have much trouble with buying Valve honestly. It would be in their best interest to do it no matter what though I know that much. I'm positive they've already tried to do it before and will continue to do so. Gabe I don't think will ever do it but who knows what happens after he's gone.

Gabe is filthy rich and possibly has the means to make a meaningful dent in their market share with Steam OS. He's spoken several times about not wanting to be at the mercy of M$. They need to solve their anti cheat and native compatibility issues with other storefronts like GOG and Epic. If they can do that whenever they release Steam OS for PC, along with the Steam Deck follow up, they could be a legit threat to M$ in that area.

I'd like to see M$ release their own handheld/Switch-like device as a new console, with a leaner version of Windows that works well on a smaller touch screen (sleep mode essential too). I love my Steam Deck as a gaming machine, but I can't see Linux ever replacing Windows for me.

btw, M$ buying Valve would be awful IMO.

 

[rikwebb]

Looking like the Zenimax Asia office is shutting down at the end of June

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1795391773256409582

 

[rikwebb]

Black Ops 6 confirmed to be on Game Pass day one on release

Play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Day One with Xbox Game Pass - Xbox Wire

We're excited to confirm that Game Pass members will be able to jump into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on day one.

news.xbox.com

 

[Sycho Sid]

Black Ops 6 confirmed to be on Game Pass day one on release

Play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Day One with Xbox Game Pass - Xbox Wire

We're excited to confirm that Game Pass members will be able to jump into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on day one.

news.xbox.com

Bold strategy Cotton, let's see how it works out for them

 

[rikwebb]

Microsoft Game studios are financing the first game from the Rocksteady ( Batman Arkham Series) founders new studio

[Exclusive] Xbox Reaches Agreement With Batman: Arkham Trilogy Creators For A New AAA Game

Ex-Rocksteady directors-founded studio Hundred Star is collaborating with Xbox Game Studios Publishing for its first-ever AAA game.

exputer.com

Rocksteady co-founders Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker banded together to form a new AAA games-making studio in 2023 called Hundred Star, which is headquartered in London. Today, eXputer has learned that the developer is working on its first project: A AAA-standard, single-player, action-adventure game built in Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, not much else is known about this game, but the partnership has already been signed, and Xbox Game Studios is financing the studio's first project. The title is likely to be a platform exclusive, releasing in the imminent future for both Xbox consoles and PC, but considering Xbox's current approach toward exclusivity, it's hard to say what'll happen in the future.

Supposedly the studio is upto around 100 employees already

 

[SaiWa]

Microsoft Game studios are financing the first game from the Rocksteady ( Batman Arkham Series) founders new studio

[Exclusive] Xbox Reaches Agreement With Batman: Arkham Trilogy Creators For A New AAA Game

Ex-Rocksteady directors-founded studio Hundred Star is collaborating with Xbox Game Studios Publishing for its first-ever AAA game.

exputer.com

Supposedly the studio is upto around 100 employees already

With all the recent layoffs it was probably great timing and benefit to this company - Got the picks of multiple litters.

 

[Strychnine]

With all the recent layoffs it was probably great timing and benefit to this company - Got the picks of multiple litters.

D@mn... You're right.


Business is war.

 

[Zazen]

How does this help Microsoft? I doubt people will drop their current ecosystem to buy a 300 to 500 dollar box and on top of that pay 200 a year to play one game. Won’t they just fork out the 70 per year instead and they own the game too that way. Seems bizarre. Wish they got rid of GamePass , seems really bad for the industry by devaluing everything

 

[rikwebb]

Looks like Arkane Austin closure is 96 layoffs in total

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2024/05/08/austin-gaming-studio-shuts-down.html

It's been a rough few months for the gaming industry.

The latest "game over" in Austin is Arkane Studios LLC.

The studio said in a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission that it is permanently closing its Austin game development studio at 9420 Research Blvd. The move will result in 96 layoffs, which includes all of the Austin-based employees across dozens of game development roles, as well as administrative positions.

The closure stems from Microsoft's Xbox closing of several gaming studios, including Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog. Arkane, founded in France in 1999, opened its Austin studio in 2006. The company was acquired by ZeniMax Media Inc. in 2010, and ZeniMax was acquired by Microsoft in 2020. Arkane has worked on game titles including "Redfall," "Blade," and "Deathloop."

All told, Microsoft is cutting 1,900 jobs across Activision Blizzard and Xbox. That's about 8% of its gaming division, which has about 22,000 employees. It comes about six months after Microsoft finalized its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard and about three months after the teams formally joined Microsoft.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Rumor floating around that MS wants to buy Valve now?

I had the fortunate scenario of being downwind from this rumor since i was consumed with work since mid last week. This rumor was started by some random social media user that just resurfaced the 2015(?) attempted acquisition of Valve by Microsoft. That got picked up by the algorithm an proceeded to spread like wildfire across platforms.


Biggest farcical event of this rumor is the 16 billion dollar valuation price of Valve. During the BLM protests Valve refused to make a corporate statement. So instead they gave each employee 50K to donate to a charity of their personal choosing(thats 100 million dollars). Not to mention every year for two weeks each Valve employee along with their extended family get a fully paid vacation to Hawaii. During initial quarantine one Valve employee got bored an evaluated the company value per employee. They discovered they dwarfed Apple whose worth 2.9 trillion with 164K employees; which works out to 17 million per employee.