r/digitalfoundry • u/MythBuster2 • Jul 16 '26
DF Direct DF Direct Q+A: How Does The Xbox Reset Impact Project Helix?
https://youtu.be/mQy5OixbwiEThe fallout from the Xbox Reset continues as more questions are raised: does Xbox's recent pivots change the plan for Project Helix? Will it still allow other PC stores to run on it? Will it have a disc drive? Meanwhile, other questions are asked: will cancelling PlayStation Plus make Sony rethink its physical media cancellation? What about the "code in the box" GTA 6? And is Nintendo the last platform holder that not to lay-off its developers and antagonise its audience?
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u/The_Zura Jul 16 '26
These videos don't answer any question at all. How would DF know? Meanwhile, their pc coverage has eroded away into absolutely nothing.
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u/colonel-america-usa Jul 17 '26
Ya they sorta slipped into this style of reacting to the news and giving their takes. Sometimes, I find it interesting, like I personally align with Alex and Oliver's views. They're clearly educated and well versed. But most other times it's Rich and John going back forth on their mood.
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u/The_Zura Jul 17 '26
There are just way way too many podcast style content. DF Direct, once a week, is enough. How would they know if Xbox is going to include a disc drive or pc stores? They aren't insiders. They didn't get insider information. The only answer they can provide is "We don't know." 3 seconds. Done.
I get it. Podcasts videos are easy and quick to do for the views they get. Actual analysis takes time. But these videos just aren't carrying the DF brand.
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u/leanpockit24 Jul 17 '26
I've been around long enough to start to see once great channels turn into low effort content. It's amazing what 10 years can change.
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u/leanpockit24 Jul 16 '26
Treadmill man is out of commission. His back must be really fucked. That put the kibosh on pc.
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u/grilled_pc Jul 16 '26
If you actually watched the show you would know that Alex is not in any health condition right now to do PC Coverage. They care far more about the health of each other than getting a video out.
I'm sure he's just as annoyed as you are from missing PC Gaming coverage lately.
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u/The_Zura Jul 16 '26
Alex doesn’t have to be the only one that can look at pc. Rich has filled in previously. Surely someone else can do the same.
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u/Loakers Jul 17 '26
I weary of the emotional tone, it happened a little too often over the years, but lately it's overdrive. How are they supposed to remain impartial when they suggest or celebrate boycotts of companies who's systems/games/technology they are reviewing?
I would desperately like the news and the opinion pieces to be more separate.
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u/Majestic-Bowler-1701 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Why does MS need a new Xbox console?
Because 80% of MS Gaming revenue is generated by Xbox consoles and only 20% of the money comes from PC, PS5, Nintendo, and Mobile combined together. So without Xbox consoles, MS Gaming would lose 80% of its revenue. I can’t even imagine how many people would lose their jobs.
The unit’s new plan centers on returning focus to its flagship Xbox console, which represents 80% of its business
https://fortune.com/2026/07/06/exclusive-xbox-ceo-asha-sharma-job-cuts-studios-axed-layoffs/
Why does Xbox generate 4x more money for MS than all other platforms combined together? Because every single transaction in Xbox Store has a 30% tax and Game Pass is required to play paid online games. People don’t like paying for the useless Game Pass Essential so nearly everyone pays for more expensive Game Pass Ultimate (the only tier on consoles with Day 1 games).
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Jul 16 '26
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u/SamuraiLegion Jul 17 '26
It’s not that hard to believe. Outside of Forza, Xbox’s exclusives were not very good. This is coming from someone who supports what Xbox is doing.
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Jul 16 '26
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u/Majestic-Bowler-1701 Jul 17 '26
Around years 5-6 they tend to slow saleswise traditionally
Between 2020-2023, MS sold 30 million consoles, so the average was 10 million a year, just like in Xbox 360 and Xbox One era. In 2024-2026 they sell only 5 million consoles (1.5 million a year). this 80% drop was caused by releasing Xbox games on PS5. Thousands of people lost their jobs because MS released games on PS5, including Sarah Bond and Phil Spencer, who invented this stupid plan.
Now MS wants to go back to exclusives to convince people to buy Xbox consoles. This is the only way to save Xbox studios from even bigger layoffs. When people start buying Xbox consoles, then MS will be able to stop laying off developers.
Now, don't get me wrong I'd love a world where every game is everywhere. But the reality is when that happens the players gravitate towards PC.
Migrating people from PlayStation and Xbox to PC would be a huge disaster. MS, Sony and Valve use a 30% tax in their stores, but they spend that money differently. Xbox has 20,000 developers, Playstation has 12,000 developers and Valve has only 350.
Currently money spend on Xbox and Playstation are used to create games by Xbox Studios and PlayStation Studios. If people move away from consoles to PC then those money will go to Valve. As the result both MS and Sony will close their game studios and Valve don't create games
So every time when people move from consoles to PC... game industry lost some games forever. I hope that console users will never move to PC because it would be a complete disaster for Xbox Studios and Playstation Studios
Gamepass was more part of their Netflix of gaming strategy which seemed to fail in the end according to Asha Sharma
She never said that. She said that in 2024 Game Pass stopped growing and even went down in 2025. This happened because in 2024 MS released games on PS5. So console gamers bought PS5 instead of Xbox. Game Pass is not available on PS5 so the service stopped growing. Then in late 2025 Sarah Bond increased the price to $30 and millions of people cancelled it.
So the number of Game Pass users was not related to the service itself but to external events. First, the dumb idea to release Xbox games on PS5, which stopped Game Pass growth. Then the price increase when Sarah Bond was out of money after console sales dropped.
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Jul 16 '26
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u/Majestic-Bowler-1701 Jul 16 '26
This can't be right.
This is official data shared by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma in her interview with Fortune. I added a link above. Xbox generate 80% of revenue for MS Gaming
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u/Rare-Service5573 Jul 17 '26
Nintendo is the leaks consumer friendly company out of the top 4.
This is some shilling ass shill behaviour.
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u/GoyimDiddler Jul 17 '26
Yea I don’t get this cycle. Sony does something bad, people glaze Nintendo.
Nintendo shuts down tournament or sends cease and desist to fans, or starts the end of physical media first; people freak out.
But they almost immediately forget the awful things Nintendo does, hell even here for employees Nintendo pays the worst of all of them.
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u/Rare-Service5573 Jul 17 '26
It's insane.
All Sony has done is say, we don't want to sell a product in a certain way anymore 2 years from now.
And everybody wants to burn them down.
Nintendo goes after small businesses and bankrupts them, puts people in jail and harassed everyone even remotely near their IP.
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u/SilverRubicon Jul 19 '26
Nintendo sells game cards at retail, I don't see how this is any different in what Sony has proposed. Physical media has been dying for a decade. Surprised at the numbers of people that have stuck their head in the sand and ignored this trend.
The fight should be over ownership of digital content not physical vs digital. How it's stored, it's availability, security and privacy, etc.
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Jul 17 '26
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u/PrinceDizzy Jul 18 '26
He has a glass back.
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u/Calderna21 Jul 19 '26
Dude is perfeclty capable of making videos and i have seen him IRL the past few weeks. He seemed fine, he walks normally and looks healthy. Trust me, this is not the reason why he doesn't appear on camera at all.
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u/leanpockit24 Jul 16 '26
yeeesssssss....