Poll: *** Xbox Series X|S - General Discussion Thread ***

[unwashed potato!]

@unwashed potato!

my oldest childs (child A) core game pass ran out yesterday so I cancelled his sub. Child B core game pass sub runs out on 10th July, I have cancelled his sub but still can use it until that date. So, my understanding is to resub Child A to the Ultimate and not to sub Child B to anything, set Child B xbox as home for Child A and from there on, they can play any game together.

Is this all correct?

That's correct, but the one thing to add is it's been a while since I've done this with a variety of games. The most recent ones we've done this with are dead by daylight, orcs must die. These worked fine.

But over the years (around 2018 to 2023) I've done this with red dead redemption 2, it takes 2, sea of thieves, gta, Minecraftt and I forget the rest.

I put 2023 as that was about when we stopped playing games so much so I can't confirm it definitely works when 2 play the game at the exact same time, but I'm sure it must still.

One thing to note is that sometimes on xbox b, when loading the game it may say "player a is signed in, what do you want to do". Just select "sign them out here" and then you may need to reload the game. It doesn't remove their profile, it just signs them out of that game.

The xbox may not ask that question as it seems player A would never be playing on xbox b.

this happens for me as I do play on xbox b more as that's my TV xbox, but when my partner wants to play coop, I'll go to the other xbox, and then it asks her to sign me out.

I hope this helps and if any issues please post here I'll try help, but I'm sure it will all be fine

 

[Droolinggimp]

I have just done it all, but nothing changed on Child B xbox. I will assume its because he still has 10 days left on his current sub.
Does Child A have to be signed into Xbox B (childs A, now home xbox?) at same time as child B

 

[unwashed potato!]

Does Child A have to be signed into Xbox B (childs A, now home xbox?) at same time as child B

Nope. Child A needs their profile on xbox B, but they don't need to be signed in.

 

[McPhee]

Perfect Dark & Everwild cancelled, The Initiative has been shut down

Microsoft is closing down Xbox studio The Initiative, with Perfect Dark killed as well — joining Everwild and ZeniMax's new IP, and other unannounced projects

Microsoft is closing down The Initiative, after 7 years. The partnership with Crystal Dynamics will end, and "Perfect Dark" will be cancelled.

www.windowscentral.com

I guess this shouldn't be the biggest shocker. The Initiative was set up seven years ago, and who knows how far they were from releasing Perfect Dark (or whether what they had made was any good). And as for Everwild, did Rare ever given a clear indication that they even knew what the game was?

 

[ic1male]

Blimey. Imagine paying seven years of salaries and whathaveyou all for nothing.

 

[xaldub]

Makes me wonder if the the new Fable game will ever see the light of day.

 

[Vandle]

Good. Give us something new instead.

 

[malachi]

Good. Give us something new instead.

At this rate we wont be getting anything new due to no staff.

 

[mid_gen]

Perfect Dark & Everwild cancelled, The Initiative has been shut down

Microsoft is closing down Xbox studio The Initiative, with Perfect Dark killed as well — joining Everwild and ZeniMax's new IP, and other unannounced projects

Microsoft is closing down The Initiative, after 7 years. The partnership with Crystal Dynamics will end, and "Perfect Dark" will be cancelled.

www.windowscentral.com

I guess this shouldn't be the biggest shocker. The Initiative was set up seven years ago, and who knows how far they were from releasing Perfect Dark (or whether what they had made was any good). And as for Everwild, did Rare ever given a clear indication that they even knew what the game was?

Another few years of my labours down the drain never to see the light of day. The life of a game dev in 2025.

Well, ex-game dev in my case now. I have bailed on this mess of an industry, for now at least.

 

[Kyle009]

Big staff restructuring across all of Microsoft but Xbox feels like it's been particularly hit, as this isn't the first round of job cuts this year.

Hard to see how Spencer or Bond continue to hold onto their jobs but I absolutely hate this culture that is across all business at the minute that seems to aim for infinite growth and infinite shareholder returns. Impossible.

 

[McPhee]

Another few years of my labours down the drain never to see the light of day. The life of a game dev in 2025.

Well, ex-game dev in my case now. I have bailed on this mess of an industry, for now at least.

Which of the two were you working on?

I was really looking forward to both.

 

[Mark1989]

Helldivers 2 is going to Xbox, Sony being nice there.

Brilliant game and perfect for friends to play together

 

[Timber]

Helldivers 2 is going to Xbox, Sony being nice there.

Brilliant game and perfect for friends to play together

Sony doesn't own Arrowhead so joins a list of Sony published games on Xbox. As a live service it's also about MTX spending and was co-ported by Nixxie. So again unlikely to have been a huge effort and has been a hit everywhere. So makes sense.

Certainly there were people saying this rumour a year ago so must have been held back by exclusivity agreement.

 

[xaldub]

Another few years of my labours down the drain never to see the light of day. The life of a game dev in 2025.

Well, ex-game dev in my case now. I have bailed on this mess of an industry, for now at least.

That must be so frustrating to see years of work vanish into the ether. Was it Everwild you were working on ? I'm not in the industry but a know a few that were and have no regrets about leaving for pastures new. Present day game studios just don't have any job security at all, unless in a senior management position.

 

[mid_gen]

Which of the two were you working on?

I was really looking forward to both.

That must be so frustrating to see years of work vanish into the ether. Was it Everwild you were working on ? I'm not in the industry but a know a few that were and have no regrets about leaving for pastures new. Present day game studios just don't have any job security at all, unless in a senior management position.

Was on Everwild for ~3 years. A lot of friends are losing their jobs, in a brutal job market. The industry is a total mess. Tbh a big part of it is changing spending habits, there's a second generation of kids coming through now that don't spend money on anything other than Roblox/Fortnite/Minecraft, it's properly kicking the foundations out from under the industry. Funding is just drying up everywhere, literally every time I log onto LinkedIn another studio has closed or project been cancelled.

I do want to go back to games, but think when I do it will be as my own indie.

 

[dannyjo22]

Surely it's not just those games killing the industry and more starting to clear the way knowing they won't need anything like as many people in the coming AI days. Every industry where you sit in front of a computer is going to go through the same. I do see some of what you're saying though, my son has just turned 16 and apart from two of the games you mentioned he's not spent any money on games in his life apart from Fifa and two spider-man games. It's killed any creativity in games and need to push new gens. Still none of his mates have even entered this gen because they can play all the games they want on the xbox one. So all we get are re-masters and re-releases.

Microsoft would've been better off spending the money on getting Epic to release Fornight 2 that required next gen consoles.

 

[mid_gen]

Surely it's not just those games killing the industry and more starting to clear the way knowing they won't need anything like as many people in the coming AI days. Every industry where you sit in front of a computer is going to go through the same. I do see some of what you're saying though, my son has just turned 16 and apart from two of the games you mentioned he's not spent any money on games in his life apart from Fifa and two spider-man games. It's killed any creativity in games and need to push new gens. Still none of his mates have even entered this gen because they can play all the games they want on the xbox one. So all we get are re-masters and re-releases.

Microsoft would've been better off spending the money on getting Epic to release Fornight 2 that required next gen consoles.

There are many factors, but a very significant one is that people are simply spending far less money on games that aren't Fortnite/Roblox/Minecraft. The money isn't there, investment is drying up. This is not exclusive to AAA, there are indie studios closing on a weekly basis as well. It's incredibly hard to find funding.

Video games spending by young Americans is dropping sharply, report suggests

The average weekly spending by 18-24 year-old Americans on video games has dropped sharply year-over-year, according to…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Timber]

Still none of his mates have even entered this gen because they can play all the games they want on the xbox one.

I've got friends like this on PlayStation Network, where they are still gaming on PS4 because the games they want to play are still there. Some live services and some of the big single player hitters. Particularly where they don't need to play everything day-one; so Horizon Forbidden West, for example.

I did see Mat Piscatella (Executive Director at NPD) who noted a few interesting points yesterday around why it's so difficult to call the reasons for these cuts; particularly when Microsoft as a whole is doing so well. It's probably a few different factors where some are specific to how Microsoft manages things.

https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social%2Fpost%2F3lt2xfet47k2t

It was interesting to see Zenimax Online Studio's working on a new MMO since 2018 (I hadn't realised this). Between 2017 and 2021 I really got into The Elder Scrolls Online and it would have been really interesting to see something new from the same developers. Massive loss and shame. However that's probably true of all the studio's impacted this week. Hopefully all those impacted find new jobs etc.

 

[biron_w]

This was all bound to happen because of the greed of the big publishers and the fact that players have a limited amount of money.
Publishers will tell their shareholders that they can keep increasing profits every year but that's just not sustainable. Gamers don't have unlimited money.
So when publishers keep whacking up prices and keep adding stupidly expensive micro-transactions then something was going to give eventually.

 

[xaldub]

This was all bound to happen because of the greed of the big publishers and the fact that players have a limited amount of money.
Publishers will tell their shareholders that they can keep increasing profits every year but that's just not sustainable. Gamers don't have unlimited money.
So when publishers keep whacking up prices and keep adding stupidly expensive micro-transactions then something was going to give eventually.

Capitalism is the main issue, really. As you say, gamers have a limited amount of money, but there is also a finite number of gamers. Expecting year-on-year profit ad infinitum is just not realistic. The video game industry is going to crash on its current trajectory. The studios who stand the best chance of surviving are those that are privately owned and not beholden to investors. There is a lot of money to be made ( the video game industry exceeds the profits of the music and film industries combined ) but that money is not being used wisely ... instead it's going into the pockets of CEO's, major investors etc. Greed, in other words.