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Comment by ThrowawayB7 | Hacker News Reader

Xbox has been languishing badly and Microsoft games in general have not been doing very well over the past decade despite gaming becoming completely mainstream so one might suspect that he is being retired rather than retiring. Yes, he was better than Mattrick but that was a very, very low bar to clear.

I will give Spencer a bit of credit though for bringing back Microsoft Flight Simulator.

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I want to agree but I don't see the greener grass at all. Please bear in mind that this is totally anecdotal.

I own all three major consoles. My PS5 has been switched on about six times since I purchased it at the time the PSVR2 was released. Is it because I'm not into the funky and weird JRPG titles or am I just sold to the Xbox ecosystem? I play Xbox almost every single day. My PS5 is just using up space and for two titles which didn't fully grip me (Horizon and The Last of Us).

What am I missing here? Is the answer PC/Steam?

I haven’t looked at the specifics but it’s seemed to me that for years anything that came out on Xbox also came out on PC on the same date, and the PC has titles that aren’t on either Xbox or PS5. There are a lot of games that come out on PS5 and then either never come to PC or there’s a year+ delay. Thats why I have a PC and a PS5 and haven’t considered buying an Xbox for a long time.

You're sold to the Xbox ecosystem.

All Xbox games are available on PS5. You can play Forza Horizon just fine on PS5 but Ghost of Yotei is never coming to Xbox. Microsoft had to do this because Xbox sales are dismal (below Xbox One) and they're being outsold 3:1.

I'm probably sold as you said. There's no Halo on PS5, there's no Gears either. Not much into racing games so wouldn't know.

Ghosts of...Yes, I agree. I still need to get through the first one.

I still think I'm one of those outliers who isn't into games with cartoony graphics and titles like:

" Re:Coded Genesis — Moonlight Ephemera & The Seven-Fold Path of the Crimson Paradox: Definitive Resonance Edition"

(Disclaimer: I used AI to generate that ridiculous title and I think it's funny)

Edit: Daid -> Said

> There's no Halo on PS5, there's no Gears either.

There's Gears Reloaded, and the upcoming Halo remake will be on PS5.

Microsoft already announced Halo is coming to PS5. There are no more Xbox-exclusive games.

Funky and weird JRPG titles and games with cartoony graphics and ridiculous titles are (a) a small percentage of the PlayStation library given that >99% of games are cross-platform, (b) not nearly global enough in their appeal or sales figures to make any disinterested persons the outliers, and (c) in my experience, many of them also release on Xbox, Switch, and/or PC.

I own no consoles and am neutral on JRPGs and cartoony graphics, so I have no skin in this game. But you seem oddly focused on writing off a functionally identical piece of hardware based on the existence of one particular genre that doesn't interest you.

Sounds like the GP still has the mentality of the PS2/late PS1 era, where JRPG with cartoony graphics were indeed the big trend and pushing force of gaming.

But that very abruptly ended with the PS3, between development costs ballooning and shutting down many longstanding studios, trends shifting to chase open world or the blossoming online FPS genre, a shift of Japanese developers towards "global appeal", and the extremely slow start of the PS3 as a viable console to sell for.

Any JRPG studios surviving past that purge are the stragglers, not the trendsetters. And every company has their battle scars from that time. Final fantasy development exploded in budget, the "Tales of" series coasted along (fans would call it the "call of duty of JRPGs"), Atlus had to be bought out by Sega to survive (and fortunately, thrive), Monolith broke off of Bandai Namco and went to Nintendo, and so many more stories. Falcom seems to be the only one who simply cruised on by, which speaks to how lean and consistent their development cycle was.

When did the last new Gears and Halo games come out again? 5+ years ago? That's what Xbox has, historic exclusives. Gears 1 Reloaded came to PS5, Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming to PS5. All the big recent Xbox games have either come to PS5 or are coming. Indiana Jones, Avowed, Flight Simulator 2024, Forza Horizon 5, etc. Then you have to remember most everything else but Halo 5 and a few Gears games were already on PC too.

The only reason to keep an Xbox these days is for your existing library.

2020 yes. 2024 on PS5 IMO was a waste of money. The problem is they both require tons of computing power to run smoothly and look good.

I truly don’t understand how they bought so many legendary studios and haven’t come up with anything great from any of them.

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