Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

Xbox continues to have the best social media presence

STALKER 2 will contain NFTs and some BS about the ‘STALKER metaverse’ so that’s my most anticipated game totally ruined. I truly doubt that anybody who’s read Roadside Picnic or seen the ‘79 movie would be happy with supporting NFTs, due to the very obvious metaphors for climate change. The Zone is not that far removed from the hellscape seen in several countries already, although the game just uses the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone instead. Really hope this nonsense doesn’t get more popular.

@nessisonett Yeah, not really sure what they are thinking with that decision. One could say people would still buy enough of them to make the backlash worthwhile, but this isn't Call of Duty, NBA 2K, or something big like that where the game will still be really popular regardless of the backlash.

@KilloWertz They’ll have the Game Pass players though. That’s actually genuinely worrying, devs using Game Pass to funnel players trying out a game into crypto.

@nessisonett True, and it is a concern as well. In all honesty, it doesn't matter to me much as I wouldn't consider paying money for content like that in any game. Once I realized you have to pay for VC in the NBA 2K games to have your created player actually be good, that was the last time I ever played one.

If the game ends up being pretty good, I'll consider playing it. It has to be for me to consider it though with it also being roughly 150 GB, which is what it is supposed to be on the Xbox Series consoles. I'm sure it will be smaller on the PS5, but still, I'm only going to take that much time to download a game on DSL internet if it's really worth it.

@nessisonett At least we can get to try the game without any extra cost to us and decide whether those NFT's are intrusive or not to the experience. If so, we can easily stop playing and haven't wasted money on it. If not, we can play the entire game and just delete it afterwards.

There are several things that may well impact on the 'success' of NFT's - one of which is how they are implemented in game, how intrusive etc and the other is how much money they can make. The more intrusive, the more negativity and anger towards the Devs. The more they sell the more other game devs will want to add NFT's but also things like the percentage of players buying will matter too. If we all play the game but only a handful of people buy NFT's, that sends out a statement more than ''boycotting' a game because of NFT's. Boycotting will tell the devs that 'something' didn't appeal - whether that's NFT's or game-play, story etc. If only 1% bother with NFT's, that sends a message that the vast majority of people are not interested in NFT's.

So at least with Game Pass, I can at least 'start' playing this and if I feel that NFT's are too intrusive, I can stop playing. If not, I can play the whole campaign at no 'extra' cost to myself and by not buying NFT's, let the devs know I am not interested in these!

@KilloWertz With Game Pass Ultimate, you may not even have to spend hours downloading and installing to 'try' the game out yourself as you can use streaming to play. Granted if you own a Series X in particular, the Visuals will take a big hit but you can at least experience the game-play without the hassle. If you enjoy it, then you can decide to download to get the 'best' visual experience...

@BAMozzy I know.

Streaming isn't really an option for me as I'm stuck with DSL internet. Not going to bother with streaming, especially since we also stream our TV. I can only imagine trying to do both at the same time. Thanks for trying to help though.

@nessisonett it's really disappointing to see this happening. Curious, do you think games being included on Game Pass may be more likely to do this sort of thing? They take a lump sum for being on there, and hope they can lure more poeple into this scam because they will have so many people just download it to try it.

@NedStarksGhost It wouldn’t surprise me. It’s frustrating because I really do like Game Pass and it’s great value for gamers who don’t have as much disposable income after saving up for a console. They can basically use Game Pass as a gateway drug. This is after Phil Spencer’s come out against NFTs and now a game Xbox are helping to fund and is exclusive will now contain them? There’s no way he didn’t know.

@nessisonett he definitely knew. I have a feeling his recent comments are a PR move to try and maintain this Xbox consumer friendly look they've had going for them.

I think the Halo Infinite free to play model backs that up as well

@Kidfried You're not wrong, but at the same time does it matter that much when the money you are paying is still far less than what you get out of it game wise. It's not perfect by any means, but the value still is undeniable.

They backed out of it. Good.

@Voltan Fantastic news. Still won’t be re-pre-ordering (god what a mouthful) but it’s a solid step.

@KilloWertz Well that's not ideal - but should you be in a different position in the future, one where you have a reasonable Internet connection, its a very viable option. Streaming doesn't seem like a great way to play, having the game running miles away from you and your controller, the 'lag' should be very noticeable. However, it feels very 'normal' and easily forget that you are not playing locally - apart from the Visual Clarity on Series X as you only get 1080p.

STALKER would of course benefit by playing Locally from a Visual perspective and now with the removal of their NFT plans, I am more inclined to Download and play to get the full visual impact rather than 'try' by streaming first (if this is one of the games added to their Cloud service).

Now Gamers need to get on to Ubisoft and get them to cancel their NFT plans too...

@Kidfried You may not have any control over the games being developed or added to Game Pass and there is a certain amount of 'faith' that over the course of a year say, there is 'enough' content of interest to you that exceeds the amount of 'money' you have invested. The games themselves are generally (at least right now) not 'made for Game Pass' as such but Games that are also being Sold at retail. They are not 'exclusive' to Game Pass. If you play Halo, Forza etc, you get the same experience as those that bought the game.

Microsoft have their own First Party studio's which will all release games day 1 on Game Pass so you are not buying too blindly. You know what a number of games will be on Game Pass in the future - Games like Redfall, Starfield, Avowed, Outer Worlds 2, State of Decay 3, Fable, Perfect Dark etc. On top of that, you have the ID@Xbox programme which brings a lot of indie games to the service and Xbox Publishing as well - like Contraband by Avalanche Studio's and quite a few 'codenamed' projects in the works. On top of that, there is the 3rd Party developed/published games that will be on Game Pass too - like Outriders, MLB21, Back4Blood, Plague Tale: Requiem etc.

So whilst you may not have any say on the content or what developers put in their games, do with your money, there has to be enough titles coming with enough 'value' already on the service for 'EVERYONE' regardless of their preferred gaming genres etc.

Just in the last few months or so, I have already got more 'value' of games than I spent on Game Pass Ultimate for the year. At most, it would cost me £132 but with Xbox Rewards, discount codes etc it cost me less than that - but have played a LOT more games than that £132 would of bought and they are Games I would of Bought - not including the games I tried because they were in Game Pass that I wouldn't have bought.

So yes, we don't really have a say in the games our Subscription fees are 'funding', but I feel that I get far more back than I put in from a financial perspective. I don't get to tell Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ etc which TV series or Films to make. You either Subscribe because it has 'enough' content to justify its cost to you or not. No guarantee they will keep the series you liked going either. You don't get to tell Sony/MS what games to add to PS+/Gold either.

For MS, they have to have a wide variety of games for all tastes so I fully expect them to add games that have NO appeal to me. Flight Sim doesn't appeal to me for example but over the course of a year, I think 'every month' had at least 1 game that I could/would play added. If I only wanted to play the Gunk for example this month, that would of cost me £25 to buy, but £11 to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate and after playing it, find a LOT of other games to play.

As I have said, its down to individuals to decide if its the right service for them as everyone has different preferences, budgets etc. In my case, in the last year, I have played a LOT more games on day 1 than the amount of money I spent would of allowed. That's not including some of the 'older' games that I missed out on either - and that includes EA Play titles too. Its not 'just' First Party either. To play Outriders, Back4Blood and MLB21 for example on PS5 would have cost me more than a year of Game Pass but that's why it's 'right' for me because I get more 'value' than I would without it and already know that I will get more games I want to play in 2022 via Game Pass for '£132' a year and that's without knowing the full line-up. I don't need to have my 'say' on what projects will come to Game Pass, I know that some won't appeal to me at all, but I know that more than enough will appeal to justify my cost.

It also works very well with Quick Resume too as the service is Digital. Its great if you own a game on Disc and it comes to Game Pass as you don't need the Disc in to play, use your GP subscription to play as the game is already installed...

Wow, Forza Horizon 5 won IGN's GOTY award, that's really cool! As a person who's been playing the Horizon games since 2014, it really is nice to see this series finally receive the recognition that it deserves. I'm still playing the game but yeah, it really is so good!

@LtSarge How could an Xbox game win GOTY? IGN has been trash for years, but this is a new low to pick an Xbox game over the greatest rougelike game in the history of gaming. Returnal is the greatest thing I've ever stopped playing a couple of hours in because I'm simply not good enough and have no right to complain about the lack of accessibility in the game when that wouldn't effect the game at all for anybody that wants to be a purist and just play it as intended....

Phew, that was long winded sarcasm there. It is refreshing that something totally different won it. I believe Control won it for 2019, which was awesome to see too.

@KilloWertz I think the most important question is: how could a racing game win GOTY?

You should see the comments on Twitter: "All you do in a racing game is drive around, it doesn't deserve to win GOTY". Well, all you do in a shooter is shooting, all you do in a platformer is jumping, lol.

But yeah, it's definitely been a lot of refreshing GOTY winners this year. It Takes Two won GOTY at The Game Awards and now Forza Horizon 5 has won it as well. Moreover, Deathloop won Gamespot's GOTY award. Lots of great games this year!

Interesting to see how different each GOTY award has been. I’d probably say Resi Village or Deathloop but still have very much a soft spot for The Pedestrian.

@LtSarge Apparently there were no good games released this year as they all got delayed till next year.