I'm in the same boat. Bought a PS5 first. Then a Series X. Bought it for the exclusives and a few games from Xbox that I was sure were only going to be on xbox. So far, I feel like I've been scammed. No sooner than I got it, they stopped putting out decent quality games, and now they are pretty well a 3rd party publisher

No Microsoft is killing Xbox they want their money back and they wanted yesterday

Yup , i feel the same way and they lied for the 50th time which pissed me off to the point i sold my series x to get a PS5 instead. I'm just done with that platfrom. Wonder who is gonna be dumb enough to buy their next gen console lol

The only reason they haven’t stopped production of their consoles is because of their gamepass users on console. They did this lazy $599 2TB refresh to make it look like they still care, but they are looking for a way to get out of the console race without losing GP subs.

Former OG Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One X owner here now migrated to the PS5. I'll give you the number one reason I went with PS this gen: they fucked up Halo. Had they stuck the landing with Halo I'd be on board. Second thing: their move to digital distribution bothers me. I own 99.9% of my games on physical (180+ ps4 and ~40 ps5 games) and I refuse to adopt a Netflix model or digital download only delivery of ownership. I guess that's somewhat boomer of me but I like actually owning my games. I actually like looking at box art and reading a manual or glancing over at my collection and going "hell yeah" Last reason is the lack of exclusives on xbox. Sorry, but the 360 days of plenty are long gone sadly. Hell, I'd rather boot up and play Left for Dead 2 on 360 than 90% of the bloat out there on current gen anyway. You made some great points, thanks for the content.

Sell it, because this is a company that has no problem Lying to you I have no faith that they're releasing a console in 2026

I purchased a Series X from Walmart it was $350 loved it brought it back a month later bc of MS +Xbox not being truthfull with what's happening

Very good points bro, i am here with u. I really think Gamepass is the reason all this is happening.

I think the industry has ballooned over the past decade. More than people realise as we have lived in this ecosystem. You have games like GTA which have generated more money than any other piece of media. So as many have said since this ABK deal they’ve finally seen for the first time in over a decade what successful live service and releasing to all systems gets you money wise. MS isn’t small they want growth they have this stained reputation since Xbox One people have decided which system to support by now. Any new players will gravitate to what friends and family own to allow for connectivity. Unfortunately this means moving forward they will most likely target games as if they themselves are the third party publisher. They’ll most likely offer timed exclusivity to GP and the consoles then depending on the IP 6 months to a year before it ships to PS. This industry is in a similar boat to when ET sunk it but instead of it struggling to gain popularity and success they are instead suffering from it. They constantly up development budgets whilst also cutting dev numbers. So to then lock it to a third place system and not budge would kill them out entirely. Want to also state I only game on an Xbox so I’m not sending hate in any direction it’s just history repeating itself. Someone put it perfectly in another comment of Xbox knowing what the future will be but jumping the gun. They’ve done this every single time now. Here’s hoping they figure it out as them disappearing will only give Sony an even greater excuse to cut corners, lack creativity and innovation. Great chat though mate can’t wait for the upcoming videos we shall be doing 😁✊

Hate seeing Xbox go this route, I buy console base on the exclusive lineup if I didn’t preferred the Xbox ecosystem I’ll go ps even though I play everywhere.

Completely agree with you on almost all fronts bud. If there were more exclusives on the PS side I wanted to play I would be fuming right now and basically chuck my Xbox to the side in favour of a PS5 or PC. I think cloud is the future of gaming (for better or worse) but we're nowhere near there yet, and as usual, Xbox is jumping the gun way too early. What pisses me off the most is the fact that, like you said, they were SO close. And the exclusive model was very obviously the strategy they were going with. But like I said before, every single thing changed post-ABK. All those greedy MS profit-driven eyes turned to Xbox and made it beholden to interests they never had to be beholden to before. It's just way too much money to ignore. And the really frustrating part is that Xbox as a division was already making profit before, including Game Pass (which brought in about $3B a year while spending about $1B in 3rd party content). But of course, these corporate mofos always want more. And that's the thing, what they're doing makes every bit of sense financially. But it kills the identity of the brand in the process. I wish they had never acquired it because that will clearly lead to the death of Xbox as we know it. And tbh I was never really into ABK games lol. The only thing I think differently on is the relevance of exclusives for the casual market. I care about it, so do you, so do lots of people, but the data tells us that for casuals that isn't really the case. Look at what just happened last month: after being down for so long, Xbox Series sales went up 48% YoY (almost twice as much as PS at 25%) solely on the back of multiplat College Football. And look at what happens every single month: every game topping the charts on both machines for most played is almost always multiplat (COD, Minecraft, Fortnite, GTA, Roblox, NBA 2K, etc). So I think there are 2 very different stories at play here: one of the hardcore fanbase and one of the casuals. And sadly, the casuals are the ones who generate the most money. What actually pisses me off here is that Xbox has never made as much money as they're making now. Which for the bean counters only means 1 thing, keep doing what you're doing. So yeah, it absolutely sucks. And the main problem to me isn't even the lack of exclusives as such (I think they give ecosystems flavour but I couldn't care less if another person gets to enjoy the same game I do on a different machine). It's the fact that the lack of exclusives will, at least partly, lead to less consoles sold, and less consoles sold means less devs willing to port their games onto it. So the only system I care to play on ends up missing out on a ton of games. That's what sucks to me as pretty much an Xbox-only player. I posted this on Twitter and got a ton of flak for it: I bought literally every single model on release, but the Series X was probably my very last Xbox console. The only things that could change that for me would be a) a change back to the exclusive strategy (which will never happen) or b) full Steam integration in the next console (which is highly unlikely). Dude these are dire times for an Xbox fan lol

I’m sad about Halo. Not even a 343 thing I just wish they would use the IP more.

I wish they never bought Activision

Honestly just really sad to see Xbox hurt the console industry status quo

I love my Series X but I think you’re right. I’m gonna be sad if this is the last Xbox console we get.

Bought a Xbox series S before getting my Ps5 and once I got it, I sold my Xbox while the value is still high. Initially only got it for future exclusives but those never came so I’m glad I sold it when I did

Loving the shorty vids bro! Keep it up

Xbox just out to make money 💰

With the global one personally I’d like it more to be like Assassin Creed. With a map and you send your group off to do it, also with the sims thing they sort of did it in Saint Row 2022 where you collect statues and stuff and you can place them anywhere in your house.

Have seen some hate online for the show but I thought it was decent enough. To be fair, I didn't have high expectations, so that probably helps.

Thankfully I’m all good for this year. Just got Black Myth Wukong. I got 3 games pre ordered and the rest will be whatever is on gamepass and backlog. Still need to play Flintlock plus whatever looks good on Xbox. For the pre orders I got space marine 2, Enotria the last song and metaphor refantazio (most likely goty) hehe.

W

So excited for mafia. Didn't know gamesconn started, I'll watch tomorrow. Keep up the great videos!

Loved the Show. Heres some of the titles that stood out to me. Love Death and Robots is one of the best shows ive watched. You should 100% watch the series if you haven't, i definitely recommend it. I really like how they are tackling games now, but i think that most of the games they picked were weird, like Concord and Newworld, really? i do think im the most hyped for Sifu, GoW, and Warhammer. but hopefully the animation and storytelling make up for the lack of interesting games. Mafia 4 wasn't surprising considering the leaks that it would get announced this summer. I agree with you that going to Italy is definitely really interesting. The setting of Mafia ruled Italy would be similar to an aesthetic like Witcher's Blood and Wine. They had massive estates and controlled a ton of shipping around the southern cities, so i think they could go for a country side and city side open world map which would be very pretty. I did like my Vegas idea better though lol. As a massive Civ fan, Civ 7s reveal was both very good and very disappointing. I will spare you the rant, but basically they are going in a direction that removes alot of the personalty from the series in favour of gameplay changes. The leaders looked like Sims characters and the perspective that they put them in is terrible. But the game looks very pretty and from what ive been hearing it plays well. So im very cautiously optimistic. Sf6 Terry looked fucking amazing. FF City of the Wolves looks really damn good and Mai looks fantastic. Really hyped for that coming out next year. Black Ops 6 honestly looked really fun and reminded me of the old games. Visuals were fantastic too. So yeah, a really good show with some reveals that really appealed to me. The only thing that i didnot like about the show was the pacing. Felt like it could have had some less gamescom advertising, cause about 30 minutes of the runtime was about gamescom.

hey man im a huge fan will you be doing gamecom reactions?

Unfortunately because of the Sleeping Dogs movie when I look up Sleeping Dogs it also shows a lot of videos of the movie.

If they add martial arts fighting styles they should add martial arts weapons . Any min games that are on story mode should be on online from the start .

I have come to accept the backlog as helping support gaming by buying them. I did just get a ps portal and a legion go as well. That should ease the number a bit.

Hot Takes 1. Detroit Become Human is a 9 or 10 out of 10 game that got hate for its references to the civil rights movement. However, even though I in no way think robots are equal to humanity, it was still a very interesting perspective to play through. Especially because the act of playing as the robot made you humanize the machines more. 2. Ghost of Tsushima is not so similar to Assassins Creed as people claim. It is a FAR better game thanks to the more impactful story, the absolutely amazing side quest, and the incredible graphics that bring the world to life.

Another great video. Like how you can agree or disagree in a well manner not judging the others opinion . Few of my hot takes 1.Nintendo doesn’t have casual gamers only kids or people with nostalgia to the nes/gameboy era . 2. Gaming has become a trend of your favorite KZbins says this game is good or this game it’s bad that dictates people opinion without ever making their own opinion 3.not every game is intended for everyone . Many games have their target audience just because it’s a “another metroidvania” “soulslike“ game doesn’t mean the game is bad .. 4.people who only play shooters or sports games are still gamers . Hope I can make it on the follow video love your channel..

Great video! I agree with Xbox Series X's Game Pass being worth it for me. I don't blame people though for not wanting to get an Xbox and preferring the PS5 or Switch. But I still love my Series X.

Moandain is dropping the nuclear heat! LOL I think he is saying me pulling the funds out of my 401k and putting it into my Sega collection was a bad idea.

Such a great idea to open this up to the public, read their hot takes react to them and then give your opinions. Of course we all have our own hot takes and we're not all going to agree and mine align a lot with yours. Although I can't have an opinion on some of them because they're either games I haven't played or experiences I haven't had. Especially love Moandain's all at the end. I feel the exact same way about Pokémon 😂

Loved your responses man haha. Agree with your response to the 10/10 and the comparison one. 10/10s can be made on the first playthrough. but i agree with you that its more of a reviewer issue. You should really give Edgerunners and Arcane a try, they both knock TLOU and Fallout out of the park imo. You gave me a good laugh with the response to the motion controls LOL. I knew that would probably be the hottest take i had!.

Awesome video will be listening to this while doing my battles in Lost Odyssey ✊😁

This was fun. Nice to let a few Hot takes just Fly!

I just discovered your channel and I'm loving these podcast style videos. Do you achievement/trophy hunt at all? You mentioned in one of your videos that you tend to use achievements as a way of cataloging your game journey. I've been achievement/trophy hunting for 18 years now and lately I've been struggling with the idea of quitting and just playing and beating games for fun. My backlog is over 1000 games and I noticed that I've played games over the years in ways that I didn't necessarily enjoy just for trophies and achievements. A recent example is Fallout: New Vegas. I've been playing the absolute worst version on PS3 (very laggy, long load times, etc) solely to go for the Platinum because I got the idea in my head to get every Fallout Platinum. I own the game on PC/Steam Deck and it's so much better on there but I'm 'forcing' myself to play the crappy version for trophies. What are your thoughts on this?

BTW Brandon and other Supermassive fans, what are your thoughts on soon to release The Casting of Frank Stone? Personally, I think it looks like it could be one of their best games yet.

I really enjoyed the discussion guys. Took me several days to get through the episode because I enjoy watching your interactions with each other’s choices. So 1:40 took me some time to sit and watch Backlog played in 2024: Mafia, Mafia 2, Enslaved, Plague Tale Requiem, Wolfenstein New Order, 007 Blood Stone 2023 had some real bangers for me: RDR2, Uncharted 4, Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Tomb Raider 2013, Horizon Zero Dawn, Alan Wake, The Suffering, Uncharted Lost Legacy, Walking Dead Telltale series I’ve tried backlog organization, but it just stresses me out. Loon has been helpful recently pointing me in direction of a few I probably never would’ve gotten to: Blood Stone which I really liked the action and story. It was pretty easy on normal difficulty. Driving was janky as hell 😂 and current release Flintlock, a souls-light that has some minor issues but man am I enjoying it. Maybe try DS again once done with this 😮 Look forward to the 3 hr ranking video in the future!

This was a super interesting conversation! I definitely feel overwhelmed by my backlog at times, but it’s not really something I let stress me out anymore as a 39 year married guy with 2 little kids. Trying to just take it at my own slow pace and only play stuff I really enjoy. I really liked the hypothetical at the end about a game you could forget. Had to think about this a bit, but mine would probably be Tomb Raider Legend when I randomly played it on my brothers 360 back in like 2008. That’s the game that really got me into those kind of narrative driven experiences, and it convinced me to purchase the Uncharted PS3 bundle. Obviously games like the Last of Us were huge steps up from Tomb Raider legend, but that one is very sentimental for me.

How do you make time to play all of these games? I mean I don't know if you living alone but still its a lot. just think about GTA V its plenty of gameplay, not to mention multiplayer stuffs.

My backlog only really started recently when I started going for platinum trophies, they take 20 hour games and turn them into 50. Next year I’m skipping trophy hunting and just playing some games. Still got to play God of war Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2.

I just don't think about the backlog coz I know I won't beat complete it. Just too many games. Another note about the small segment about gears and uncharted. I feel the uncharted games, especially the first 1 hasn't aged that well. It definitely needs a remake. To be fair, naughty dog's gameplay wasn't really great until uncharted 4. The shooting and cover system in the ps3 naughty dog games weren't as good as gears. Uncharted has the better story, but gears definitely has the better gameplay.

Games I'm most proud of completing in my backlog this year; Returnal and Unchartered 4. I had those in the backlog for so long. Loved UC4 and Returnal was a massive surprise You mentioned the Tomb Raiders! I got the 3 reboots off the backlog last year. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was the best of the 3 for sure, though the first isn't far behind it! Not sure if you guys have had a video on it before, but I'd be interested to know if there's genre's that you really didn't think you would like, but then found a gateway game that got you through the door on the genre. I ask as Returnal has done that for me this year. Rogue likes and feeling like i was wasting time during deaths.. But Returnal was just the right amount of challenge, story and atmosphere that I'm now keen to give a few others a try

Great discussion guys Personally, i love having a backlog. I have zero issues with it, even though it contains 100-200 games. There's a different level of excitement going through the backlog when its time to choose that next game S-Tier backlog games for me would be; - Alan Wake 2 - Final fantasy 7: Rebirth - Final Fantasy 9 - LoZ: Breath of the Wild - All the Resident Evil remakes we've had Just coming up with those... there were so many other titles i could place in s tier as well!

Hope they have strip clubs, including g3y strip clubs too

MGS4. I've been trying to get to it since it released but seems to remain my forever S tier backlog game!

Just got a steam deck. Screen too small. Gets hot. Awkward to type. But the worst part is most games on steam wont play on it. I'm getting a gaming laptop for around $800 that will play all of them and easier for off steam pickups.

I'm commenting as I'm watching so expect this to get updated quite a few times. The backlog constantly stresses me out my concern with the first point of S tier backlog games is that you're going off someone else's word and you don't know until you play them if they're S tier backlog games. Inevitably some hidden gem in your collection that might be your favorite game is not going to get played in your lifetime and that's something I struggle with. Missing that epic adventure and never getting around to it. Had you talked to me about this 5 years ago I would say this is a non-problem because I was not much of a gamer at all and it's been such a blessing in my life and so liberating and freeing that while games aren't everything they are a big part of who I am now and they make me happy. Any unplayed game is a tough pill to swallow, but knowing we'll be passing the collection onto Alex and potentially his kids and his kids' kids, gives me hope that someone will find a game we didn't get around to and love it. Brandon, I also picked up Alan Wake too on pre-order. Very excited for it and I hope it lives up to the hype we've been hearing about for the last year. Glad I held out and I'm sure you are too. I'll be interested to see your take on it and I'm hoping to clear my schedule to play it it as soon as it releases physically. Really love these tips on defeating the backlog and I think the one that holds the most weight with me is playing a game on easy. There's no accolades to getting your ass kicked for an extra 10 hours when there's so many other games to be played and it can also completely change or ruin your experience. If I'm going off just playing gateway drug game into gaming. I have to probably say Alice Madness returns because it really changed my viewpoint and I started picking games for myself at that point. The Last of Us 2 simply for how impactful and heavy it was. I also have to put Skies of Arcadia in there for how much I wasn't expecting to be emotionally charged and affected by it but I absolutely was

I have so Dream games I want to Platinum, but after that I’m chilling! I love having games I have to get to eventually