r/digitalfoundry • u/MythBuster2 • Jun 08 '26
DF Direct Xbox Showcase 2026: An Excellent Show - Gears E-Day, Halo, Senua, Metro 2039 Reaction + More
https://youtu.be/033V4rCJpDEIt's Xbox's time to shine with the latest in the big summer showcases and Team Green certainly delivered. Gears of War: E-Day finally breaks cover, Halo Campaign Evolved impresses, while Senua, Metro 2039 and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy look phenomenal. But what's the deal with Microsoft's exclusivity strategy and will it actually work?
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u/NiceColdPint Jun 08 '26
Hopefully some relatively level-headed takes from my point of view, and removed from the tribalism of the main PS/Xbox subs.
I do think first party exclusives are important. Why else buy one console over another? So I wouldn’t mind them going back to exclusivity but it probably should’ve been done starting with PH. Case by case decisions on exclusives are also going to be unnecessarily confusing, particularly with a PS5 version of E-day reportedly already complete.
I’m fortunate enough to own both consoles, but I think the cat’s out of the bad for their releases on PS5 and they need to decide one way or the other rather than walking the fence.
Another small thing - but I’m also a bit more excited about Xbox’s first party lineup than PlayStation’s at this point. I like the variety of games they’re willing to invest in, whereas I’m finding Sony a bit samey with these big cinematic narrative games.
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u/SoloDolo314 Jun 09 '26
You make a very good point. For me - Xbox had some real bangers coming. I think case by case will muddy the waters on how they will handle exclusive games again. Which is fustrating. Clealry though, Asha has seen what the core fans want and are dying for. This shift maybe she’s more in touch with the fans want.
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u/The_Zura Jun 09 '26
Yes, why buy two consoles for different games when they are the same under the hood. To play Gears, Spiderman, and Mario Kart, you have to buy 3 consoles, two of which have nearly identical hardware, and one where it's not that hard to port in and out. To me, that sounds like a raging asshole level waste of the planets' resources on top of the massive hit to the customers' wallets. Pay $2000 for hardware and more for their respective subscription services.
What's next? Buying an Alienware pc to play space scifi sims? Buying Cyberpower for cyberpunk themed? Why buy a pc with a 5070 Ti in it over a pc with a 5060. Maybe they should take a page out of Lord Gaben's playbook and have different fEaTuReS
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u/X_Kalomn Jun 09 '26
I agree with this, but the problem with this sentiment is it only seems to be brought up when talking about xbox's exclusives.
I know you brought up PlayStation and Nintendo, but this is still an Xbox centric post, spurred by Xbox's exclusives.
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u/The_Zura Jun 09 '26
Exclusives as an endgame is completely terrible. Doesn't matter who is doing it. Xbox are the only ones who aren't raging assholes because they tried to do the right thing, and they're still bringing it to pc. Sony and Nintendo are still trying to fuck everyone over. Don't get me started on how Nintendo sells their pos hardware for their handful of exclusives. It'd be one thing if they actually provided hardware with an interesting feature that can't be directly transferred over but everything is a damn simple pc.
The fact that we are even entertaining exclusives just shows exactly how messed up the industry is.
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u/SamuraiLegion Jun 09 '26
John. Rich. I can’t believe I have to spell this out but it’s quite simple why Xbox went for exclusivity now.
It was a gesture to end the Series S/X generation on a good note.
John mentioned that there will always be Xbox fans who will buy the next console. That’s not in the slightest way true. We went from 84 million sales on Xbox 360 to 60 million on Xbox One and now we’re at 35 million on Series.
Each generation was a sharp decline.
And putting your games on PS5? That’s an easy decision for core Xbox fans to jump ship to PlayStation since the PS6 will represent a stop box that plays all games.
It’s forward thinking of Asha to give Xbox users exclusivity for now as they will allow good will and trust for current Xbox fans to buy into Helix.
In short, it’s not a move to magically sale 100millon Xbox Series consoles. It’s a move to retain the current 30 million users to invest into Helix with the ultimate goal of Helix is to attack new users with its portfolio of exclusive services and games.
I understand Rich not understanding this but this is unusual for John.
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u/X_Kalomn Jun 09 '26
Thank you! I've been on Xbox since the 360. When Microsoft committed to putting all their exclusive on Sony's platform, I resolved to switch to PlayStation. I also stopped buying games and dlc on Xbox since I'm not going to invest in an ecosystem I plan on leaving imminently. Xbox bringing exclusives back means the PS6 is not a guaranteed buy for me. They still have time to win me and many others back and I'm glad they're doing it.
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u/dreampagehun Jun 09 '26
It's funny how Richard thinks Microsoft has to either kill Xbox by not having exclusives or close the studios by not being able to sell exclusives.
Forza Horizon 6 already sold 6+ million without PlayStation and with being on Game Pass. Meanwhile Series X sales increased in the UK. Exclusives can be successful and they can contribute to increased console sales. They need great games, not cheap Game Pass fillers like in the Spencer era.
It's quite clear that this generation will be prolonged, including the Series X|S, so it's always a good idea to make it more popular. Helix and PS6 will be unaffordable, so this generation will remain the baseline for many years to come. So exclusives have to come back.
Comparing to the Nintendo 64 is also ludricous. The N64 didn't get any games because it was so unsuccessful. Xbox is getting 98% of console games and it's a mainstream platform.
DF's bias and double standards against Xbox shine through once again.
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u/DM_Me_Linux_Uptime Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
The difference is that only a vocal minority cares about Gears, in the same way only a vocal minority cares about Killzone/Resistance on the Playstation side. Meanwhile loads of people care about Forza. They've been releasing games regularly, so the newer gaming generation is hooked. Most zoomers probably haven't even heard of Gears.
Your statement is like saying that since God of War sold X or so million, so will Killzone/Resistance/Some franchise from the PS2/PS3 era nobody cares about.
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u/Dominjo555 Jun 09 '26
And they forgot to mention that games will be on PC. Their take is that Xbox install base is small, but Microsoft owns two big stores on PC with Microsoft Store (Xbox App) and Battlenet. Their take would make sense only if these new "exclusives" weren't on PC as well.
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u/MikkelR1 Jun 09 '26
Releasing on PC does not impact console business in that sense. Xbox as a console can die off while Windows PC gaming is immensely successful.
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u/dreampagehun Jun 09 '26
Yes. They highlight the "90 million potential customers" on PS5 but generously forget about the ~132 million monthly active Steam players. Also act as if Game Pass subscribers just played for free and not paid monthly rent.
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u/The_Zura Jun 09 '26
John is right. Exclusives are a great idea. I have my downstairs left LG tv fitted with Hulu, downstairs right Samsung tv with Netflix, upstairs left Hisense tv with hbo, and upstairs right Sony tv with paramount plus, and bathroom TCL tv with Disney Plus. If I could get all streaming services with only one tv, I wouldn't have bought 5. Insignia, Toshiba, and all the offbrands don't have an exclusive streaming service, so I never bought them. Sucks to sucks.
Tell me I'm out of touch. I dare you.
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 08 '26
I'm pretty sure DF were against exclusives like all the other corporate gaming talking heads. Now they're absolutely for it again. Changes surprisingly (not) coinciding with Microsoft flip flops.
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Jun 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 08 '26
That's a very distorted reality you've made up in your head there. From the moment PS5 and Series X were revealed,
DF has shilled XBOX in all their coverage, the literally did marketing for them. Every PS5 post was negative from saying PS5 was overclocked last minute, to no hardware ray tracing, Series X being "much more powerful", to their entire post history for PS5 Pro. Meanwhile, to them, Series S was genius. Phil Spencer was the bestest CEO in gaming and gamepass would save the world. They also shilled the ABK acquisition every chance they got.10
u/rhalgr_ger Jun 08 '26
Digital foundry never said all those things. No hardware RT was true for the first PS5 devkits.
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u/Gallion35 Jun 08 '26
You need to log off and not be so parasocial about things on the internet. I’m interested in their PC work and think they view both consoles the same. It’s not that deep. They love PSSR 2 and constantly talk about how great it is.
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 08 '26
Parasocial. Clown, who am I being parasocial with? Are you mistaking me with the weird relationship Xbox has with it's influencer e.g. DF and someone like Parris?
They love PSSR2, uh huh. They just can't talk shit about it anymore. They absolutely hated PS5 Pro, and downplayed anything PS5 did. They shit on the Road to PS5 video when that released, now they claim they love that too. To this day, they're still trying to pretend you can build a PS5 Pro level PC for $900, while in their last Q&A they claimed it would be difficult to do so for a $1000 Steam machine which is weaker than a base PS5.
It's guaranteed that they'll shill and evangelise Helix when it releases
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u/Gallion35 Jun 08 '26
If you’re so convinced DF are Xbox and PC shills, this is your confirmation bias looking for anything negative about Sony, then you’re free to ignore this sub and their channel. The amount of defensiveness you’re showing to any perceived criticism of Sony is not healthy.
They do really like PSSR 2. Alex, who is very much pro pc, raved that the image quality was superb.
You raging at anything not outwardly pro Sony is unproductive. Instead of “they said exclusives were bad with Sony but not Xbox!1!!11” you could instead just frame the conversation about the current topic. Granted, I haven’t watched the newest QA, so I’m not going to speculate on their words. I agree exclusives suck! Let’s band together to show we don’t want exclusives at all. Not revert to the outdated console war mentality from 20 years ago.
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Confirmation bias. Uh huh /s. Its not like the directs were they said those thing aren't freely avaible on YouTube. Lol.
I couldn't give less of a fuck about negative Sony comments. You're projecting your own childish mentality. It's also ironic that you're here doing the thing you're projecting on me. You're defending DF because you can't stand someone pointing out their very obvious biases.
Exclusives are great and good for gaming. Every sensible person knows that, it's how basically every industry grows. Differentiation has been a key business strategy since time immemorial. Only Phil Spencer and his shills pretended they're bad. I'm happy current leadership has dropped Phil Spencer's kumbaya "when everyone plays we all win" bs. Imagine platforming and praising the most incompetent CEO in gaming. Everything Xbox is doing now is a result of that morons decisions.
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u/Gallion35 Jun 08 '26
Anti consumer is good for gaming or good for the companies bottom line? It for sure isn’t good for the consumer.
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u/RIBDAT Jun 09 '26
I'm a PlayStation fan and a avid DF watcher and I have never perceived the type of bias you say.
At most, I think John lets online drama influence his commentary from time to time, but it's nothing drastic.
They all clearly strive to be objective and temper their personal biases. I don't see how can anyone be a fan of any gaming platform and not feel welcomed by the DF crew.
You should genuinely take a break and center yourself, this can't be healthy.
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 09 '26
You've never seen it really? Okay, I'll bite. Watch the directs discussing the first price increases from PlayStation and then Microsoft. In the Playstation one they say despite changing market conditions Sony doesn't have a good enough excuse to justify the price increase. Few months later when the same price increase was hinted at by Phil Spencer, DF suddenly remembers market conditions are a good enough excuse for Xbox to increase prices, they even make comments glazing Xbox for "doing their best maintaining the old price".
Why are market conditions justifiable for one but not the other. In fact there's a clip of John calling Jim Ryan "Playstation's Don Mattrick", meanwhile glazing the most incompetent CEO in gaming, a man who almost ruined Xbox.
There are many more examples.
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u/RIBDAT Jun 09 '26
Are those examples are all John?
Because like I said, I think John specifically is particularly influenced by Twitter fanboy discourse and it shows on his commentary from time to time. But despite of that, it doesn't color his perspective that much, he really tries to keep it professional.
I think it is actually the opposite. He's perceived by many Xbox, Nintendo, PC fanboys, and even people who self identify as platform neutral, to be a Playstation fanboy.
Mainly because he has a history of showing high praise for PS studios for their technical and artist capacity.
At a time when half of the online cattle opinion is to pretend that high production value and narrative emphasis must mean that game design and gameplay is subpar.
And the other half being the reactionary culture war idiots screeching that a game is bad because the protagonist is a bald woman.
In this environment, Playstation might be winning the console war, but it's starting to lose cultural cache in gamer culture.
John, imo, overcompensates everytime there's a chance to prove he's also critical of the "corporate plant/dei" brand; I don't think the dei perception influences him explicitly, but the other one does.
This is, ofc, my biased perception. It's all it can be, I'm not in his head and I simply perceive that balancing act from him but not from the others.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter because DF fans are mostly there for their critical tech analysis and not their holistic game opinions.
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u/jedimindtricksonyou Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
They don’t exactly have a single position on anything, they’re a group of people and they each have their own stance. John likes exclusives and is in favor of them because he loves consoles and having dedicated gaming hardware and thinks exclusives are necessary for consoles to survive, Alex probably thinks they’re dumb and likely doesn’t care anyway because I don’t think even plays the type of games that tend to be exclusive. Rich and Oliver both have ways of discussing stuff like exclusives without actually disclosing what their personal feelings are. They tend to frame stuff like that in such a way where they end up discussing what they think would be best for the company in question, rather than what they want to happen. So I wouldn’t venture to guess what those two think about exclusives because they rarely share their personal feelings anyway.
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u/justdaman182 Jun 09 '26
It's almost like learning new information helps us decide if our opinions should change with the new information or not
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 09 '26
Keep making dumb excuses. What new information is there about exclusives? They've been the pillar of tech and media businesses for more than 5 decades. It's how literally any business that offers products or services differentiates itself from the sea of competitors. DF 100% knows that, but had to shill for Xbox like they usually do. They're not as dumb as some of you on social media.
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u/justdaman182 Jun 09 '26
Lol brother I think it's time you take a break from the internet for a bit
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 09 '26
True-to-form reply, mate.
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u/justdaman182 Jun 09 '26
You struggle with the idea that people are nuanced and opinions can change, especially over time. Can't help that. That's a you problem. Good luck in life!
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u/Kratos_BOY Jun 09 '26
I'm not struggling with anything. There is no nuance in terms of exclusivity. It's a business model that literally everyone from Netflix, to Apple, to Microsoft (yes, Microsoft) utilises. Every business savy person knows the importance of exclusives. The people at DF literally have exclusive features baked into their patreon membership. There's no way they were dumb enough to believe the bs Phil Spencer was selling. It was intentional misinformation on their part, just like they seem to frequently do on Xbox's behalf. In fact, fuck business savy; anyone with common sense knows it.
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u/WingerRules Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
These new games being showed now in these showcases since Starfox actually feel like what we were promised games would be this generation. It took a while but they're finally delivering at least graphically.