Xbox first party titles expected to hit $80 USD this holiday; Game Pass pricing currently unchanged.
Game Pass pricing currently unchanged.
That is because the job of Game Pass isn’t to make money, it is to funnel customers into subscription services and destroy the idea that people buy games from artists.
Game Pass either succeeds and destroys the gaming industry like spotify did to music or Microsoft will abandon Game Pass.
They’ve already plateaued and basically admitted to it. It’s a large revenue stream that’s not as large as they thought it would be, so now they’re going to coast with it and rely on just being a massive publisher instead.
Renting games and music seems like a bad idea to me, but I am in the minority. Buy a new album once a month for $8, after a year I have 12 albums. Pay that to spotify and I have nothing.
Gamepass is priced more aggressively at $12/mo, but I assume it’s a loss so they can eventually raise prices. Even so, if I buy a new somewhat discounted game for $36 every three months, after a year I have four games. With gamepass, I’m pretty sure I end up with nothing.
But I don’t think humans are known for long term thinking.
“Artists” lol.
The ratio is 100:1 (1 being an actual artist or a studio still enacting on this believe)GamePass used to be such a good value, but it’s gotten so overpriced. I’d rather keep the money and spend it on a few games a year I get to keep. Plus, not being available on Linux and/or Steam Deck makes it easier to ignore. Never going back to Windows.
Yeah, subscriptions are trash. Will be glad to see it go when it finally does.
It’s strange really. You can buy 4 extremely good indie games for the price of one game. And that’s at a 20 each.
And with steam sales and sharing…valve is fun.
Trying to raise the “standard” price to $80 will have very nice ripple effects of more pricing diversity, where each game will really consider what it’s actually worth, which we haven’t had for a long time. Even now we’re getting first-party Microsoft titles releasing at $20, $30, and $50.
Steam doesn’t advertise at the scale of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. It won’t have a ripple effect because it won’t change the degree to which artificial hype drives people towards the “Buy” button.
A lot of games priced at $70 right now are having a rough go of it, so charging more on top of that isn’t going to help, but there are the likes of South of Midnight and Clair Obscur launching at $50. If your game isn’t as hot of a commodity as Mario Kart, you’re probably going to try to lure people in with a lower price.
there are the likes of South of Midnight and Clair Obscur launching at $50.
Beautiful games, both. But again, they aren’t having the full court press of advertising like a new Call of Duty or Final Fantasy or Diablo would.
That’s the real cost savings. You don’t need to change $80+ for a game if you aren’t focused entirely on presale figures to justify your studio’s budget.
Incidentally, you also get to focus on a better game. Balatro didn’t need wall to wall subway ads in New York to end up on everyone’s phones.
Steam doesn’t need to. It’s got the steam sale and a hundred million people to share memes of “sale so good spent all my money no time to play all the games I bought in such massive sale”
You don’t need to promote if everyone else does it for you lol.
How much is Factorio worth though, everything?
The amount of time I’ve put in it could have cost me $200 and it would still be one of the best $/hr games I have
I bought it long before the steam release, back when multiplayer was in experimental. So glad that there are 1000s of hours that were never tracked so I don’t need to see those.
If they charged according to value no one on Earth could afford to buy it
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you dont own those games brotherman
Not ALL steam games have DRM. Yes, you should buy from GOG whenever you can, but if you use Linux like me, GOG doesn’t give a shit. It can be hard to decide, support DRM free games and proper ownership with GOG, or expanding compatibility with Linux and improve it in general. If its cheaper on steam cause of a sale or something, I’ll buy on steam, then years later like with DOOM 2016 for example, I’ll buy it when it hits like 4 bucks on gog. That way, I have acces to an offline installer, and I show support and interest to valve for investing in proton.
Another option is to buy through Heroic Games Launcher. Heroic gets a cut, and GOG sees what they’d have to do to earn your entire dollar.
Completely forgot about that, I do really like the Heroic Launcher.
What? You can buy gog games through heroic?
Yeah, it just launches a web browser in the client, but behind the scenes, it’s using a referral code in partnership with GOG to make sure they get a cut. So you can support DRM-free and Linux gaming support at the same time.
Oh shit I had no idea. If I didn’t buy so many on my phone I’d be doing this. Next time I’m buying gog on my deck, it’s through heroic.
thanks for spreading the word
looks like the solution i needed for all the smaller more useless launchers. wich it included connectability to ea/ubi/battleNet’s launchers too
Xbox for example seems more solid to me as a gamerscore addict for example. Steam obviously the main standard you wouldnt want to compress
I’d almost argue the same with modern consoles with all the crappy digital bullshit and planned obsolescence
Your not wrong. If it weren’t for steam being absolutely stellar than I wouldn’t be buying games from them. I would try to go through gog. But with their work on proton alone I personally give them a pass.
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?
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.
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.
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
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They were until an orange bitch started a trade war. Now everything is going to be too expensive, consoles and PCs alike.
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.
Thank you Microsoft, for taking pressure off Nintendo. 😛
The difference is: Microsoft and Sony 1st party titles go on sale and eventually come down in price over time.
Nintendo first party titles are always full price, even for 5 year old games.
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Yup. The reality, while shitty, Microsoft still publishes games on multiple platforms (2 at minimum - PC and xbox). On PC, the games are sold on multiple storefronts with varying discounts and sales. Oblivion remastered just launched with a 17% discount on another store on PC for example.
Nintendo has a complete monopoly on the platform they publish for and completely control the prices.
For me, all these price increases are doing is moving me more towards PC. And to a larger degree off AAA titles all together.
Every game that has a physical release (and even some that don’t) does get sold by other retailers, and those retailers do regularly have sales.
Even, yes, for first party Nintendo games.
The discounts usually aren’t too steep, but games do go on sale periodically. DekuDeals is a fantastic resource for price tracking.
That’s fair… But the point I was more trying to make is that Breath of the Wild, an 8 year old game that has a sequel out, is currently full price. It went on sale earlier this year for 40% off.
40% off a $70, 8 year old game is very different than 40% off an 8 year old game that was selling at $40-$50 without a sale.
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…)
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.
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.
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.
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
So are the vastly more affordable 8BitDo controllers!
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.
Unfortunately greed is rampant in the PC market, too.
Wait till you find out about Nvidia and AMD
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
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.
ARGGGGHH ya filthy vermin 😂 Fuck your subscriptions. 10tb checking in.
Fuck the US for inflicting this on the rest of the world.
At least the ones that voted the orange guy.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.
Oh no.
Anyway.
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.
