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[RetroGamingUK]

The facts are…

- PlayStation will have exclusive marketing rights

- PS5 will have a GTA VI bundle

- PS5 Pro will be the best place to play for a year or two

- PS5 version may likely run slightly better than Series X version

- Series S version will run like shit

This game won’t boost Xbox, it’s going to bury it

 

[Esppiral]

This thread looks more like wishes than predictions.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

A sub $200 firesale for series s? What would be the point? Sure to get rid of existing inventory before discontinuation but they don't have significant inventory now and shouldn't be building it up just to lose a ton of money in a fire sale selling them at a huge loss when GTA 6 launches.

You only burn your money like that when you're stopping manufacturing. So I'm not sure how the analyst thinks this move would "pay off" for MS.

Series S is already losing a bunch of money being sold at 300$. I highly doubt Microsoft lowers the price ever again. Especially this late in the generation, as most people who have not upgraded their consoles are much more likely to be casual gamers. These remaining consumers will spend much less money in any given ecosystem, which will make it a lot more difficult for Microsoft to recoup investments on consoles sold at a steep loss

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

yay!!. we are winning Mr. Nadella!!

 

[reinking]

This forum is obsessed with them

This forum is obsessed with gaming news. Unfortunately, MS/XB has been on the negative side of news since the ABK acquisition. It is fascinating in a way. Xbox should have come out on top after that merger but instead has floundered to a point that Xbox no longer means an Xbox. No way I would have guessed that. I thought Sony was in for a fight and instead they reaped part of the rewards by a competitor becoming less competitive.

 

[skyfinch]

What do you mean the generation has been won? South of Midnight hasn't been released yet. No one gives a shit about GTA6.

 

[Horseganador]

At this point GTAVI is almost a PS5 exclusive seeing the state of the Xbox brand.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

I’ve got a feeling Xbox will still end up frumbling, they should have at least 10 million Xbox Series S’s prepped for the GTA 6 launch.

There are plenty of people struggling right now but have at least $250-$300 to drop on a new console for GTA 6.

 

[FrankWza]

You only burn your money like that when you're stopping manufacturing. So I'm not sure how the analyst thinks this move would "pay off" for MS.

It's windows central. I don't think they classify as analysts. After the DS2 trailer and with MGSD being Pro enhanced the tide is turning into a tsunami

 

[fastest finger]

Poor Jez. He really is trying to put a positive spin on things.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

I’ve got a feeling Xbox will still end up frumbling, they should have at least 10 million Xbox Series S’s prepped for the GTA 6 launch.

There are plenty of people struggling right now but have at least $250-$300 to drop on a new console for GTA 6.

10 million????

 

[Ceadeus]

The facts are…

- PlayStation will have exclusive marketing rights

- PS5 will have a GTA VI bundle

- PS5 Pro will be the best place to play for a year or two

- PS5 version may likely run slightly better than Series X version

- Series S version will run like shit

This game won’t boost Xbox, it’s going to bury it

You're 14 years old arguing against your younger sister or what?

''it's gonna be dis and it's gonna be dat..''

Like what are you doing?

 

[XXL]

they should have at least 10 million Xbox Series S’s prepped for the GTA 6 launch.

 

[Zacfoldor]

For them to get a GTA boost they needed a mid gen refresh. Sony got one, Xbox did not, so Xbox will fail again and Sony will get all the GTA money.

This seems simplistic but it only seems that way because it is so true and obvious it really can't be denied.

If they are putting conditions and "last chances" then as we know the Xbox will never live up to them and whatever "or else" fate they have in mind will come to pass.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

10 million????

GTA 5 sold over 210 million copies, I’m willing to bet 5% of those sales come from poor broke people struggling.

A $199 Xbox Series S will absolutely fly off the shelves when GTA 6 drops. Throw on top of that these same people get to play all their F2P games like Fortnite in higher resolution with better framerates compared to Xbox One/PS4.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

GTA 5 sold over 210 million copies, I’m willing to bet 5% of those sales come from poor broke people struggling.

A $199 Xbox Series S will absolutely fly off the shelves when GTA 6 drops. Throw on top of that these same people get to play all their F2P games like Fortnite in higher resolution with better framerates compared to Xbox One/PS4.

It will not sell 10 million Xboxes. Doesn’t matter how broke people are.

Besides, if they really wanted a cheap Xbox, they would buy it now.

 

[Leviathicus]

"Last hurrah!"

 

[Topher]

I wouldn't be too sure of that .

I think our conversation was tapped

Today is one day

That article was actually written before our conversation. I remember reading it at the same time.

 

[onQ123]

That article was actually written before our conversation. I remember reading it at the same time.

Oh

 

[mayham2199]

I agree that it's more likely due to install base and cost but it's not a given either. The ABK trial/Take two stuff that leaked just gave me a hunch that it might not be so clear cut. I remember with GTA4 everybody thought Sony had it due to GTA3.

Yea but GTA4 came out when MS actually cared about the console. They don't anymore so winning the marketing rights doesn't really matter. I'd be surprised if they even looked into trying to do it.

 

[diffusionx]

Series S did okay when nothing else was on the shelf. The moment PS5's stock issues were resolved, people stopped buying the Series S. And I don't think many people bought the Series X, period.

Nobody is going to say "GTA6? Better get a Series S."

 

[begotten]

Would bet that MS knows that PlayStation has the marketing rights for GTA6 and that it's actually been a major reason not talked about as to why they're becoming aggressive as a multi-platform publisher and bailing from the traditional console market / leaving regions. ESPECIALLY with the Switch 2 coming in hot soon.

No doubt also GTA6 will create a bump in hardware sales for both PS5 and XSX - but that 5:1 difference is going to become even larger also.

 

[MayauMiao]

“Last Hurrah”​

Windows Central acknowledges that Xbox is dead.

 

[viveks86]

If people in their town say "hurrah" before they die, instead of gasp like normal humans, then yes

 

[Yoboman]

GTA doesn't even have cross play nobody is buying an Xbox for it

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Not really.

The combo of Series S & X is just magnitudes less appealing to the market than the PS5 & PS5 Pro combination. SIE have the marketing deal for GTA6. Xbox hardware sales have been in freefall for over a year now.

Most importantly, the vast majority of gamers who want to play GTA6 around launch...either have a PS5 or will be wanting to buy a PS5 to play it, so they can be on the same platform their friends are on, sharing their experiences and whatnot. The PS5 is also a system that looks to have a healthy future; the same can't be said for Series consoles and even most casuals have picked up on this (or are coming around to notice such).

Generally, people want to be on the winning team: console-wise that's without question PS5 at this point. With no PC version planned this year, maybe Series X & S can get a small boost back to late 2022 sell rate when GTA6 comes out, but how long will that last? A month? Two months? I don't see it being much longer than that especially considering the momentum PS5 has (and will have even more of by the time GTA6 launches), not to mention the licensing deal.

If anyone out there knows someone saying GTA6 is going to miraculously revive Series console sales to be competitive with PS5's again, tell them to put down the pipe.

GTA doesn't even have cross play nobody is buying an Xbox for it

OOF! Yeah, that's a death knell right there. People are going to want to play with their buddies, and even if GTA Online 2 isn't at launch, chances are they may at least have online co-op for the story mode.

GTA6 is going to be a very major social event...why go to the rinky-dink party in a failing basement (Series S/X) when you can go to one at the 5-star beach hotel (PS5/PS5 Pro)? Even casuals and mainstream will be asking themselves this, let alone enthusiasts.

 

[Fess]

This should be the last year of fanboy-ism and console wars. It won't be, but it should.

The platform war will just evolve into PlayStation versus Steam, already happening for some games and discussions. And if Valve has a new lineup of Steam machines and if SteamOS grows in popularity and if there is a new Xbox with Steam access, then the console war will go full steam ahead again, no pun intended. Plus, Nintendo is still out there too.
There is no end to this.

 

[Shubh_C63]

At this point GTAVI is almost a PS5 exclusive seeing the state of the Xbox brand.

It’s been mentioned before, but the thought of how many consoles will sell if PS6 is the only place to play GTA6 is chilling.

Multiple key Sony studios have been given a breather and time to experiment in light of GTA6 (almost a PS6 timed exclusive) launch.

 

[FrankWza]

The platform war will just evolve into PlayStation versus Steam, already happening for some games and discussions. And if Valve has a new lineup of Steam machines and if SteamOS grows in popularity and if there is a new Xbox with Steam access, then the console war will go full steam ahead again, no pun intended. Plus, Nintendo is still out there too.
There is no end to this.

There's a reason Playstation has been going with a well rounded ecosystem that only PC can rival. You can get a Pro and every major accessory for your PS5 for less than a high end card.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The platform war will just evolve into PlayStation versus Steam, already happening for some games and discussions. And if Valve has a new lineup of Steam machines and if SteamOS grows in popularity and if there is a new Xbox with Steam access, then the console war will go full steam ahead again, no pun intended. Plus, Nintendo is still out there too.
There is no end to this.

That would seem like the normal progression to this, but I'm unconvinced.

We've had multiple ways of playing games for decades outside of just console. Handheld, arcade, PC... e.t.c. these have always been seen as sufficiently outside of the console space and serve very different functions.

The Steam Deck is evidence that the Steam Machine doesn't have much probability of wide spread market success. As I've said, any Xbox with Steam is going to be expensive hardware to make up for the lost software sales.

Nintendo is out there but unless they're going to enter the fray of spending big money on AI upscaling and raytracing, they aren't going to be able to compete in any "console war" and by doing so they would deflate one of their biggest selling points which is affordability.

 

[Fess]

That would seem like the normal progression to this, but I'm unconvinced.

We've had multiple ways of playing games for decades outside of just console. Handheld, arcade, PC... e.t.c. these have always been seen as sufficiently outside of the console space and serve very different functions.

The Steam Deck is evidence that the Steam Machine doesn't have much probability of wide spread market success. As I've said, any Xbox with Steam is going to be expensive hardware to make up for the lost software sales.

Nintendo is out there but unless they're going to enter the fray of spending big money on AI upscaling and raytracing, they aren't going to be able to compete in any "console war" and by doing so they would deflate one of their biggest selling points which is affordability.

Steam machines alone won’t ever be as big as consoles in sales, not even as Xbox, possibly like Dreamcast. But Steam as a platform is going to be everywhere going by logo updates Valve did recently, and the assumed push is targeting the living room, and the versus talks are already happening. It’s going to be wild in a couple years.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Steam machines alone won’t ever be as big as consoles in sales, not even as Xbox, possibly like Dreamcast. But Steam as a platform is going to be everywhere going by logo updates Valve did recently, and the assumed push is targeting the living room, and the versus talks are already happening. It’s going to be wild in a couple years.

Not sure how you think they'll gain entry into the living room. Can you expand on that?

 

[Fess]

Not sure how you think they'll gain entry into the living room. Can you expand on that?

Steam big picture mode already does it, my PC is essentially my Xbox and PlayStation today, I barely use the consoles at all.
But to grow they need SteamOS to go big, in Steam machines and prebuilds, cheaper alternatives and more plug and play than having a regular Windows PC plugged into a TV. Plus handhelds, SteamOS handhelds are coming. And people will use SteamOS for small form factor PCs. The final push will be Half-Life 3, exclusive to SteamOS. They’ve used the Half-Life IP like that before, they’ll do it again. Get ready!

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Steam big picture mode already does it, my PC is essentially my Xbox and PlayStation today, I barely use the consoles at all.
But to grow they need SteamOS to go big, in Steam machines and prebuilds, cheaper alternatives and more plug and play than having a regular Windows PC plugged into a TV. Plus handhelds, SteamOS handhelds are coming. And people will use SteamOS for small form factor PCs. The final push will be Half-Life 3, exclusive to SteamOS. They’ve used the Half-Life IP like that before, they’ll do it again. Get ready!

I hope you understand that you fundamentally did not answer my question.

 

[SJRB]

 

[Moses85]

Are these machines still produced?

 

[DenchDeckard]

The facts are…

- PlayStation will have exclusive marketing rights

- PS5 will have a GTA VI bundle

- PS5 Pro will be the best place to play for a year or two

- PS5 version may likely run slightly better than Series X version

- Series S version will run like shit

This game won’t boost Xbox, it’s going to bury it

Everything you say is complete facts. But, due to the size of GTA even the series S will see a boost in sales (if it still exists) when GTA VI launches.

 

[Fess]

I hope you understand that you fundamentally did not answer my question.

?
I think I did.
You can’t see the growth potential and Valve gaining access to the living room through increased Steam popularity and Steam big picture mode and Steam in next Xbox and SteamOS prebuilds and Steam machines and SteamOS handhelds and Steam exclusive Half-Life 3?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

?
I think I did.
You can’t see the growth potential and Valve gaining access to the living room through increased Steam popularity and Steam big picture mode and Steam in next Xbox and SteamOS prebuilds and Steam machines and SteamOS handhelds and Steam exclusive Half-Life 3?

You're ignoring that there is no market for steam machines or steamOS handhelds.

There are two ways into the living room, TVs and consoles, period.

 

[damidu]

what hurrah? it'll only widen the gap between ps5.
maybe they can get some sales, if they drop series s price to $99 as some last resort, cheapest way to play the game.

 

[amigastar]

Rockstar will definitely triple dip with this console gen and PC and next gen consoles.

 

[Crayon]

Uuuhhhh sure. The mountains of casuals getting a console for this game have not been waiting around for an excuse to get an xbox for 4 years. Few will short themselves with a series s at the moment of truth.

 

[Elios83]

Emmm GTAVI will be a defacto PS5 exclusive for a good while.
Sony probably secured the marketing rights in 2020 already.
And we'll get casuals buying the PS5 DE to play it while a good amount of core gamers will upgrade to the Pro.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Only way the XBOX sales are getting a giant boost is if GTA VI launches on the XBOX alongside PS5. Being a timed exclusive most people would just have it on the PS5 and when the timed exclusive ends, the rest will get it on PC instead of XBOX.

Xbox's Halo to Halo 3 prime days are over.

 

[Fess]

You're ignoring that there is no market for steam machines or steamOS handhelds.

There are two ways into the living room, TVs and consoles, period.

No market? That’s a surprisingly negative and short-sighted opinion. And I already listed examples how Steam will be on TVs and on consoles and console-like devices. So just take it easy, they’ll get there.


And do you know why I have a living room PC today?

It’s essentially because I docked a Steam Deck plugged into the TV and found out that it was just like using a console.
I think lots of people are sleeping on Valve’s capabilities in that space. I did too.

Then I found out that big picture mode was nearly the same thing.
And that’s that.

So from my perspective Valve is already in the living room.
But this is the enthusiast perspective. To pull in the mainstream they will need the things mentioned earlier, and they’ll have that.

 

[j0hnnix]

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No market? That’s a surprisingly negative and short-sighted opinion. And I already listed examples how Steam will be on TVs and on consoles and console-like devices. So just take it easy, they’ll get there.


And do you know why I have a living room PC today?

It’s essentially because I docked a Steam Deck plugged into the TV and found out that it was just like using a console.
I think lots of people are sleeping on Valve’s capabilities in that space. I did too.

Then I found out that big picture mode was nearly the same thing.
And that’s that.

So from my perspective Valve is already in the living room.
But this is the enthusiast perspective. To pull in the mainstream they will need the things mentioned earlier, and they’ll have that.

How will Steam be on TVs elaborate.

console-like isn't a console.

There are levels to this that I think you're downplaying. Economies of scale in which are impossible to compete with where even a 50 dollar difference is significant.

Valve doesn't make enough games themselves nor do they have the experience in making hardware to become a serious competitor in that market. They don't have the relationships with retail.

Simply having access to multiplatform games isn't enough, see Microsoft on that.

PC gamers don't want consoles and they don't want a console-like experience just like they don't want a handheld like experience, hence why the Steam deck has sold so poorly.

And console gamers don't want to pay a premium to Valve for less than what they're getting now....

 

[bender]

 

[panda-zebra]

My guess is they don't even make these consoles any more so there's no boost happening from GTA 6 or anything else.

Maybe they have enough parts to build some at some point, but probably should put out a bounty on anyone finding a Series console with a 2025 manufacturing date just to see if they exist.

 

[Stamps1646]

Watching people try to play GTA VI on the Series S, is going to be painful to watch.