According to the WSJ, with this transaction MS will be the 3rd largest game company behind Sony and Tencent by game revenue. So, in a way, they're playing catch up?
This is a bad deal for Microsoft. The only ones who benefit are Bobby Kotick and his cronies. Heads are going to roll in a year or two when Microsoft realizes this was a mistake.
My solution is to not play ( buy ) many games. Unfortunately, I haven't time in my life to spend hours in front of the TV playing, but I still love JRPGs. Last year, I spent months on Xenoblade Chronicles and a few years ago, I spent months on Persona 5. Sure, I'll try a game out here and there on Game Pass, but unless it's a JRPG, I usually won't finish it. Even though I'll spend months on a game, I don't think it's hurting my enjoyment. To each their own I guess.
Several years ago, I built a 9th gen Intel mini iTX PC 16 GB RAM and a GTX 1080. The only storage was a 2 TB NVMe SSD. Air cooling, no LED bling etc, etc. Recently I updated the graphics to a GTX 3070. It does the job and handles pretty much anything I throw at it running 1440p.
Having said that...
Some people simply don't have the time or desire to tinker with PC hardware especially if they want a blinking, light show, but for me, building a PC was a no-brainer. I just wanted a solid performer that was pretty much a gaming PC with few peripherals.
I'm going to throw some shade at Xbox regarding its streaming capabilities.. You'd think that the series S would work as a solid solution, but there is no Xbox media remote that does as well as the PS5 remote. I've tried several brands on my Series X and none of these remotes feel right to use. They don't feel right when holding them in my hand. None of them make it easy to navigate and select streaming services. None of them do HDMI-CEC very well. Actually, HDMI-CEC stinks on the Xbox. Sony knows how to do HDMI-CEC.
It makes me chuckle to think that back in '13, Xbox wanted to be the end all, be all media device in your living room, and yet here we are in 2022 and I'm using the PS5 as my default media streaming device.
I'm not much of a college football fan, but I can't help watching this game. On the football field, there are several Playstation logos. Not to mention several PS5 banners surrounding the stadium.
Haven't seen any Playstation commercials, but I'm sure they're incoming. I wonder if Xbox sponsors any sporting events?
I use Gamepass as a way to discover games to play and I suspect I'll use the new PS Plus service in much the same way. For me, it's not enough to watch somebody else play a game to help me decide if a game is worth playing. I have to try the game out myself.
And on a somewhat related note. Whatever happened to demos? Seems like there are fewer of them around for new games compared to 10 years ago. Hmmm. I guess the advent of Gamepass and other gaming services pretty much spelled the end of demos as a way to get gamers to notice the latest titles.
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