Xbox’s Game Awards Absence - Kinda Funny Xcast Ep. 120

[@RamonGuthrie]

As Nintendo and now PlayStation fan, I love watching the xcast for Snowbikemike's energy and honesty keep up the great work!

[@AviDMurDa]

Mike keeps me coming back every day lol

[@DeadBrane]

Mike killing that hosting spot, ever since to the launch of the new studio he's been on point! Even if he had to be convinced to wear actual pants! :P

[@thalunizz21]

See the thing is, I'm annoyed at PlayStation for not showing much in awhile; but I know things are coming - with Microsoft, we've been playing the waiting game for how long now?

[@Episode_13]

Xbox loads coming, so that answers your question etc

[@eq7161]

​@@Episode_13when exactly?

[@basementality4924]

@@eq7161next year. And then in 2023 it will also be next year. It’s never this year.

[@zaneplatt3533]

@@Episode_13 been saying that for a decade...

[@Dyldog79]

You see this a lot but when exactly have we been waiting? I have played many games on my Xbox and have tons of backlog so I haven’t been waiting for any games.

[@Cozmicsuga]

A separate Xbox showcase doesn't bring as many new eyes as an awards show does.

[@robballer]

Happy Holidays and New Year to the whole KF crew!! Thank you for all you do and good luck to another successful year.

[@dylanbuc1867]

Mikey, the mustache is looking S T R O N G love it!

[@TxTaylorIII]

Love you guys and I love the X Cast nice to have Greg on before the break talking Xbox! Merry Christmas Everyone! be safe see you in the new year!

[@mikeybeeee07]

The Xcast set goes so hard

[@fusingentree3928]

Arron and Phils words dont mean anything anymore. They are clowns that always just talk and never walk. They just talk "this year will be special year" and "we cant wait to show you good stuff" but never show anything. I just dont take them seriously anymore.

[@musicmathieu]

Playing High On Life on Hardest difficulty and I think the combat is very good and boss fights are challenging. Some much content was put into this game to explore. Having lots of fun.

[@samyoung9253]

Starfield, Redfall, Forza, Hollow Knight 2, Ark 2, Flintlock Siege of Dawn, Minecraft Legends, Lightyear Frontier, The Last Case of Benedict Fox, Ereban: Shadow Legacy, Ravenlock, Cocoon, Replaced all announced/shown at the June Xbox showcase, promised within "the next 12 months" but none of them have dates. The spring is already starting to fill up with release dates, and that isn't Xbox's fault, but it really feels like some of them will slip. Putting that "over the next 12 months" label on the showcase seemed smart at the time but that may look dishonest in retrospect if all of these games don't make it out by June.

[@jasonaguilar3109]

PlayStation fan here, just watch the Xcast cuz of the great cast no pun intended :P

[@dxk65]

Gamepass is great and all but I'm ready to see Xbox first party games from all the bazillion different companies they've been swallowing up.

[@reach5589]

'They're coming'

[@thbrett]

@ Mike Howard, why does no one talk about how Sony has a monopoly on anime? Sony was allowed to buy both Funimation and Crunchy Roll, which are both basically the only anime streaming services

[@StillChewy]

I love th3e XCast so much! Loved this episode and thank you guys for making every about 90 minutes of my week way much better. Love y'all!

[@seanb.9170]

Mike you're killin' it with the look this episode! keep rocking the host gig my dude

[@pokecore95]

I'm probably only about half way through High on Life and while it's definitely a swimmin in 7s kind of game but I'm still loving it. Parris is spot on about how it feels like a 2000s era shooter. I personally felt like it was like a watered down Bioshock in terms of how the guns feel and how each of them have an ability that could be compared to the tonics. Even some of the grapple hook stuff feels reminiscent of Infinite

[@jackied962]

It feels like Xbox is now willing to sabotage themselves just to get the Call of Duty deal done. As someone that doesn't even care about Call of Duty, I'm just kind of over it.

[@NottAdam]

That game pass and riot games link up I going to save me a lot of money

[@danielmartinez9933]

Grate episode happy holidays and happy new year!!!

[@rodrigochaves6562]

MILLER!! on the X-cast!

[@FILTHYGEARSMUSIC]

I mean he has more negative to say about PlayStation than positive so it it’s a good fit. Blessing too.

[@TommyBoyB]

Comes from a place of love I'm sure.

[@davidfowler1022]

Great show my! Love the xcast hosts merry Christmas y'all! 🎅 🎄

[@maunzquisitorfd9987]

Xbox's new old motto TV, TV, TV is now Gamepass, Gamepass, Gamepass 😂.

[@Episode_13]

Game pass is great, so this isn't a negative by the way, wake up!

[@zaneplatt3533]

@@Episode_13 This simply isn't true. We have seen with the streaming wars (I have long predicted that it wasn't viable and needed to be ad supported to make money half a decade ago and I have since been proven right), now they are moving back to more traditional releases in cinemas and offering ad supported tiers.... Day one game pass is a bad thing for the industry because it is designed to accrue patrons that will then be heavily monetised through live service games and/or ads. It is economically unable to equal quality because the metrics literally make no sense. Spend tens of millions at least, to make a game that either loses money on the service or makes it back via aggressive monetisation. Gamers just don't understand economics and business reality, they are being pulled along by a shiny coin on a rope like a stupid kid in a film from the 40's.

[@ManiLink]

Paying 70 dollars for ever ballooning budgets with under paid voice actors and artists who have to crunch to finish games that you will only play once. That seems smart...

[@zaneplatt3533]

@@ManiLink Your comment actually inadvertently advocates for games to be more expensive, not less... Next time, think before you type.

[@ManiLink]

@@zaneplatt3533 No it doesn't. Games budgets don't need to be sky high. Sony is pushing sky high budgets which means they need to make more money to break even. It's hubris. Nintendo spends way less and makes way more. Its simple economics. Stop widening the gap between Indie and AAA. Gamepass allows greater diversity and sure profits.

[@axellsabode]

They need to update the Upcoming section on game pass mine has basically said High on Life and Hello Neighbour 2 for the past 6 months. Only once as game comes out a day or 2 later do they put it as a new release. Actually bought Dark Tide then found out couple days later it was on game pass, luckily able to get a refund for it. If that was advertised on gamepass at all, that mix up wouldnt happen

[@jasonc2341]

They are doing it!

[@Mr8T1]

Someone takeaway Barret's mic.

[@squishybuspr]

2:00 Paris is like “Hell Nah” 😂😂 🤌🏼🥫 PREMIUM

[@n2nother]

No one who does commentary on games should “love” executives at these companies.

[@jermelpurse3018]

I’m torn because when I think about the game awards, we all knew Microsoft wasn’t receiving any awards this year. So is it fair for us to bring up that they weren’t receiving any awards while Sony that awards. We should’ve already know Microsoft wasn’t getting any awards this year. We hope to see awards come next year. Now, when we look at presenting new games, should we really expect Microsoft to present new games to us brand new titles we’ve never heard of without let’s be honest here having delivered titles, we’re already been told to expect. Remember the last major direct we saw from Microsoft they said all these games will be out in one year or less so anything we saw them present at the game awards shouldn’t they adhere to that same message? Anything we show you now will be out in one year or less. So let’s look at the games we know we’ll be out in one year or less when you Starfield or Redfall Next let’s be honest and ask the tough question. Do you want to see a quick trailer? No. When we see either of these games next, we want to things deep dive, and a release date a deep dive it’s not something you show with the game awards you just don’t get the time to do that. A release date that’s interesting I think, we should probably be getting a release date but I can understand if they said they want to wait until after the holiday let’s say late January early February to pin down release dates for these titles. We already know they aren’t coming early in the year so that means we know they’re coming in late March early April at the earliest. So what honestly could we have expected from Microsoft given all of this information? The games that are coming in the next six months we need to have a deep dive on them and anything else that they announce we want it in a year or less should we have expected them to announce something given those tight circumstances? I think the answer is no. Don’t get me wrong I would love to have seen something and we should be on their backs for not showing anything but this speaks more to the business model and it’s inability to hit it’s strides. It’s sort of like an engine a huge engine and it doesn’t have good timing yet. It still needs to be recalibrated to get the timing just right so it fires on all cylinders. We’re sputtering putt, putt, putt, putt putt. That’s what we need to fix. Not necessarily the fact that we didn’t have any games at the game awards. It’s the fact that we didn’t have any games this year. That’s the overarching issue consistency when it comes to game releases that’s what we need and if we can’t get consistency when it comes to game releases, then Microsoft need to secure Third-party Contant that they can brag about.

[@basementality4924]

I disagree, Xbox was front runners for the “most money spent with no results” award.

[@nikohunt5187]

Imagine playing a shooter and complaining about shooting to much 😂

[@GMcClendon89]

Been Excited for this one!

[@gamerzwithjobs330]

I agree with all their points about High on life, but my only question would be what difficulty are you playing on? Because if you're playing it on normal, it's gonna be really boring and I can see why you didnt like the arena shooting areas, but playing it on hard so far, it makes the shooting stuff more enjoyable because it isn't challenging per say but the enemies are more aggressive, doing damage to you, and actually making you move around those arena areas using all your abilities, and shooting doom 2016 esq style.

[@billcosgrove2112]

I really hope Xbox gets their stuff together and has a great showing this coming year. Sadly the last few years it feels like Xbox has been making games equivalent to Syfy direct to TV movies while PS has been making Interstellar. I can't wait to play Redfall but I can't help to be worried that it's going to be another game I play for a weekend and never come back.

[@_theduckofdeath_]

That's a bit of a stretch. 😄

[@zaneplatt3533]

I really respect Paris's perspective and realism here. He rightfully calls Xbox out and I hope for his sake that Xbox prove me wrong (see my other comments) and give that awesome man some great games.

[@jvjv3061]

Xbox has made 3 conferences and was at all the video games physical events during the year which was not the case of all editors, and console builders.... Xbox had already announced/shown 7 games from its own studios for 2023...

[@kylemartin8804]

On what planet is 10 hours a long game.

[@themightyant.]

When the game outlives it’s bad mechanics

[@kylemartin8804]

@@themightyant. that's just called disliking a game. You aren't forced to play a game so why would anyone say they prefer this game they don't like to be shorter?

[@mattj2692]

I'm really having a good time with High On Life, been taking it nice and slow only doing one bounty per night and so far nothing is grating or feeling like it's dragging on for me. Def a solid 7/10 game, the humor will either bump that up or knock it down depending on you.

[@QuarantinedCapricorn]

It’s pretty obvious that Xbox isn’t showing anything that makes them look good until the Activision deal goes through. They are all hands on deck to make sure that deal doesn’t get blocked.

[@BlatantNinja23]

In Hellblades defense., we've known that it is an UE5 game. So we knew that was wasnt going to be any time soon when they were showing it.

[@R.L._Stine_88]

They always mentioned that they would show some of Xbox's biggest announcements at the VGA's because it gets 80 million eyes on it. They shoulda dated Redfall and Starfield. N even as someone who is very on the video game news side of things, and I still feel like they really need to sell me on Starfield still

[@mrpopo5097]

Honestly, that’s what I was waiting for, Xbox to reveal the release dates of red fall and starfield at the game awards

[@wyrmslayer1991]

Great thumbnail

[@Pachaco77]

Honestly I would probably have cared to look for all the collectible/hidden stuff in HOH but the lack of a map just annoyed me. The performance was horrible. I don't know if that recent patch fixed some of it but omg the final boss for me ran at like 5 fps. I wouldn't even recommend it unless its fixed because it ran and looked so bad even on a C2 with VRR on. But it was your typical Roland humor and that was executed pretty well.

[@zaneplatt3533]

It is worrying for me as a new PC gamer (I just built a pc but I am primarily a playstation gamer) because xbox needs to build trust with its consumers when it comes to game quality. Playstation and Nintendo have built that, Msoft needs to start winning people over with God of War and Breath of the Wild level experiences. Something like High Life is fine and has its place, but considering the recent output of Sony in particular (Returnal, HZD: FW, Miles Morales, God of War: Ragnarok etc.), this feels like releasing a solid Ferrelly brothers movie whilst your competition is releasing Inception and Top Gun: Maverick.

[@audiolatte]

I really love the Ferrelly brothers movie though more than those other 2 ☺

[@zaneplatt3533]

@@audiolatte That's perfectly fine, you do you, but they are objectively far less successful and far less acclaimed.

[@LicoriceLain]

We just need more FH5 and Psychonauts 2 level stuff.

[@zaneplatt3533]

@@LicoriceLain Yep. My personal hope however is that they focus on making RPG's their overall priority (Sony has action adventure and Nintendo has family games). RPG's sell well, they already own Obsidian and Bethesda, and it is a corner of the market that is open. If they went down this path, it would be a awesome to have the big three with their own, unique focuses. One of Xbox's issues has been that their niche of meathead shooters has been outdated and/or surpassed by others. Sony's focus on third person storytelling games hasn't and Nintendo's focus on whimsy and tight gameplay hasn't either.

[@zaneplatt3533]

If I were Xbox for instance, I would have a studio (similar to bluepoint for Sony) that they use to remaster or remake games like Fallout 3, NV and Oblivion (this is a guaranteed money maker and those games are very old now). I would have Obsidian do the next Fallout game (not because I dislike Bethesda games but they need to get Elder Scrolls 6 into mass production and this is another guaranteed money maker). I would put much more of an emphasis on developing in house engines for the future (this is something Xbox has failed for a decade). Once these games are finished and they hopefully succeed and garner goodwill, I would move away from day one Game pass and use it is as a place for live service titles, indies and older experiences. I would put Halo on ice and completely clean 343 up, have Arkane work on an established I.P (like Sony do with Insomniac and marvel) with a much better writer brought in to pen the story because their games tend to nail everything but narrative and don't sell as well as they could considering their track record of great quality. Playground would continue with Forza and Fable (unless fable flops). Finally, I would not make any more Gears of War, instead I would have them make something fresh.

[@R.L._Stine_88]

I just decided to download Valorant because of that Riot deal... that is HUGE. Some people are going to sign up just for that honestly.

[@Trolleri87]

Avowed Everwild Gears 6 Perfect Dark Fable Hellblade 2 Starfield Forza Motorsport State of Decay 3 Redfall Indiana Jones Stalker 2 Two years into this console cycle and the only games they've released is Horizon 5 (that came and went) and Halo Infinite that is a shell of a game (even though it took 6 years to release it)...

[@philsnook1391]

Not a big fan of the Zordon wall concept for the off site personnel. Any other ideas? Just think it cheapens the look of the otherwise gorgeous set. IMO

[@zaneplatt3533]

If I were Xbox I would have a studio (similar to bluepoint for Sony) that they use to remaster or remake games like Fallout 3, NV and Oblivion (this is a guaranteed money maker and those games are very old now). I would have Obsidian do the next Fallout game (not because I dislike Bethesda games but they need to get Elder Scrolls 6 into mass production and this is another guaranteed money maker). I would put much more of an emphasis on developing in house engines for the future (this is something Xbox has failed for a decade). Once these games are finished and they hopefully succeed and garner goodwill, I would move away from day one Game pass and use it is as a place for live service titles, indies and older experiences. I would put Halo on ice and completely clean 343 up, have Arkane work on an established I.P (like Sony do with Insomniac and marvel) with a much better writer brought in to pen the story because their games tend to nail everything but narrative and don't sell as well as they could considering their track record of great quality. Playground would continue with Forza and Fable (unless fable flops). Finally, I would not make any more Gears of War, instead I would have them make something fresh.

[@dbly50]

MS has a list of announced games that we havent seen anything from, they could have shown any number of them did not even have to be a new game, where is an update on fable, everwild, forza motorsport 8, state of decay or hellblade(which was orignally announced at the game awards so would be a nice synergy to have an actual trailer for it), some of these were announced during the series x announcement stream and havent been seen since Does anyone think they might have been going to have a big activision/xbox trailer and pulled it because of the FTC lawsuit

[@zaneplatt3533]

Yeah, it is much more worrying for me as a new PC gamer (I just built a pc but I am primarily a playstation gamer) because xbox needs to build trust with its consumers when it comes to game quality. Playstation and Nintendo have built that, Msoft needs to start winning people over with God or War and Breath of the Wild level experiences. Something like High Life is fine and has its place, but considering the recent output of Sony in particular (Returnal, HZD: FW, Miles Morales, God of War: Ragnarok etc.), this feels like releasing a solid Ferrelly brothers movie whilst your competition is releasing Inception and Top Gun: Maverick.

[@realadelphstar]

Love this show best show on kinda funny

[@KILLAWATTS804]

Xbox is on life support😆 I guess somebody forgot to tell these guys!

[@zaneplatt3533]

I find it funny and scary that people currently root for Microsoft in any fashion. They have been so tremendously awful at making games and successful consoles for two generations, so they are trying to buy success and win people over with a service (day one gamepass) that is very bad for gamers in the long term (it is a patron accruement scheme tha leads/will lead to exceedinly aggressive monetisation, poor quality games, ads in the future and so on). Whether it is successful or not, their current path should terrify people who understand economics and product development. Best case scenario is that their whole plan fails and the games industry monetise their products in a fashion that allows for a better balance between profit and quality.

[@TheBigMurk]

Mike is always referring to Xbox as "We" like he is part of the team. Is Mike getting kick back for pushing Xbox products? I am just joking but I did notice this and maybe it maybe something he avoids so that does get mistaken for someone who is watching for the first time js

[@Episode_13]

Game Pass is the best value in gaming.... Still now! No one can touch it. Enjoy High on Life, great game!

[@cchhen21]

2022 was the year of L’s for Xbox.

[@_theduckofdeath_]

BotW 2 has a release date?

[@evaristo_1272]

What an embarrassment Xbox is now. All those studios you own and you had absolutely nothing to show?? Really? How many more times do I have to hear “The games are coming”. Honestly after they had the perfect opportunity to show some surprises and dropped the ball, I give up. Sad. Gamepass can no longer be a bandaid for Xbox!

[@thedude2596]

Seing nothing about Starfield blow me away, clearly this game is not coming out before next Christmas. If you are hoping for March, forget it. 3 months away and no promo, isshhhhh...

[@frankkent5567]

It feels like the hosts are running out of reassuring things to say because Xbox's failures are outpacing the excuses.

[@garethsmith6611]

Terrible Xbox Management, that's what's to blame here. Fancy not showing any games

[@kevinmacdonald4068]

They are being sued by FEC about making games exclusive I'd assume that impacted their decision about showing things

[@WillOnCode]

No because that's one set this is another that's an excuse

[@0Gumpy0]

Wasn't someone reporting a few weeks ago that Xbox wasn't going to be at the Game Awards because of the Actiblizz acquisition? Basically they don't want to be showing off in case the FTC uses that against them? Parris briefly mentioned this but mostly wrote it off, but it's an interesting thought

[@n2nother]

That was never actually true.

[@malazan6004]

Not surprising at all let's be honest and it sucks

[@antonc2180]

The weaker Xbox looks the better chances they have with the CMA and U.S. judges deciding in their favor for the biggest acquisition in their history. What a surprise they prioritize a massive deal for the entire company that will significantly impact their stock price vs a few quarters of announcements and hype in their Xbox division.

[@preyingocelotgames4397]

You just made that up in your head lol

[@vinski19]

I think you're missing the point of Xbox being absent from the awards. They knew that the narrative for them would be having no games competing for the big awards this year so why bother promoting a catalogue without release dates. Their bottom line is stable, big games are coming, there's no panic from them. We're not going to see quality, consistent releases from these studio acquisitions for maybe another two or three years so pushing now when the headlines are erring on negative - no new releases, Activision/Blizzard deal not yet agreed, no exclusives winning awards, etc - is like shouting at a wall. They'll wait till they have consistent things to promote and push them hard. Sony has done a good job making Xbox look good lately, but as we all know, it is about games. And Sony is still sitting comfortably on top of that pile.

[@FILTHYGEARSMUSIC]

So with this and pentiment Xbox now has interactive experiences instead of games? Tell me, what do these people care about actual games? Gamers want games not boring filler

[@dageekynerd2898]

Xbox reminds me of the DCEU can never really get any momentum, always keeping fans waiting and hoping. The struggles with Halo can be compared to Superman etc. An Xbox only show isn't gonna have the views of the VGAs, aren't they trying to reach the masses?

[@tjrage6168]

Mike is such a jabroni

[@Episode_13]

He's awesome, good Xbox fan!

[@swaeshow]

No first party releases all year then no announcements at TGA? This is why I have yet to buy an Xbox SX

[@nintendad8168]

i'm a playstation , nintendo guy but i was xbox as well but the lack of games ya know hopefully with bethesda and others they will pump something out before i'm too old 😂 not gamepass i own or have played all those games pretty much real triple A bangers

[@n2nother]

One day people will catch up to what I’ve been saying for years: Phil Spencer is terrible at his job.

[@FILTHYGEARSMUSIC]

To Greg’s points the score should be 1 out of 5 if you want the length of the game halved but admitted he won’t even finish it. Appalling journalism

[@DaRkLoRd-rc5yu]

Even sony mostly only brought news of their pc ports. Which makes sense to me as this is an event with a much wider audience including pc players. They could announce it at their own event but how many pc players are going to watch a playstation showcase if they dont own a playstation. Where as the game awards is a much better event for advertising. Although having said that, although microsoft didnt announce anything there was a ridiculous amount of ads for gamepass so they did get alot of value from the event as well.

[@zaneplatt3533]

Value for a service that doesn't profit and is going to have to need to be monetised by either live service games or ads. Not trying to be a dick, but I predicted the streaming wars fallacy that is being proven right and I am right about the day one game pass service being awful long term. These service should be just for live service and older games. Msoft have just been hoping to create an unsustainable industry by offering an unrealistic service that was designed to accrue patrons who they then monetise aggressively when their is no serious competition left...

[@impotenceaura]

I love the xcast.... I just wish Xbox had games to give me a reason to care about them...