OldBoy

^ that looked real good and Ron Pearlman!

EinCB

This is a shame. I bought a couple of games on sale and also exchanged my broken Xbox One X.

https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/26/microsoft-retail-store/

Michael Corvin

Always a shame to see businesses close up shop but I didn't quite understand that business model to being with. They're largely a software company and the bulk of software is digital now. Sure they have the Surface and a few things here and there, but they don't have the same brand appeal as Apple necessitating the need for retail locations. Everything they sell you can get elsewhere and likely cheaper.

Adam Tyner

Yeah. I always made it a point to go to the Microsoft Store in SouthPark whenever I was in Charlotte, but I don't think I ever saw more customers than employees there. I'll miss it as much as I can a store that didn't have a presence within an hour's drive of me. They hosted my first and only real VR experience! They had an Xbox One media remote for my wife after they'd vanished from seemingly every retailer the world over! I think that's where we bought her headset! Or maybe we just browsed there and ultimately bought one at Best Buy. I don't remember, and it doesn't matter anyway.

milo bloom

Whenever we went to Oak Brook mall and went through, the only people were the kids and teenagers playing games on the Xbox displays.

We bought one thing there once, simply because we needed it as a gift and it would have taken too long to ship.

Not sure what the point of them was.

Michael Corvin

This would be a cool reason to go check out a MS store... if they were big into VR. The only way someone will be sold on VR is to experience it first. Of course that's in a pre-Covid world. Sharing VR goggles in a mall isn't going to be happening, or at least be a draw for most people for a long while.

Deftones

MS wants to buy the WB studio. This would be a great way to build 1st party game library.

https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-wb...lm-batman-sale

K&AJones

I was glancing over several sites and saw this....this is a bit of a shocker especially with the Xbox One X.....

Microsoft Halting Production of Xbox One X and Xbox One S Digital ......https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/07...tal-xbox-one-s

fujishig

There are probably enough left in the wild to last a while, the new system is coming out soon and is fully backward compatible, and the One S (non digital) is still being made for those who want a cheaper option. I think this makes sense. They'd have to firesale them anyway if they just kept producing them.

Dan

Not sure how it's a 'shocker' at all, to be honest. Halting production of those two units with Series X on the way makes sense, because at this point all/most who want one of those already has one. I'd expect a sale on units out in the wild in Sept/Oct.
I'm only moderately surprised they kept the S over the SAD, but my guess is that the SAD just didn't seem like the right one to keep going forward.

As mentioned in other places on the internet, it appears that they're heading towards keeping 3 SKUs going, at least for the next year:
- XBox One S - This will remain the cheap low-level option, with a push towards using xCloud / Game Pass Ultimate. Could be priced as low as $99, but we'll see.
- "Lockhart" - or "Series S" and will be the "mid-range" entry-level next-gen box. More powerful than Xbox One X, and the choice for most Xbox households, no doubt.
- Series X. King shit of fuck mountain.

This makes sense, at least for now.

Jay G.

I guess that answers the question of "won't consumers get confused between the XB1X and XB Series X?" Not if they're not being sold at the same time, they won't!

It seems like they're simplifying the model range to have one "high-end" and one "low-end" model. The XB1X was the high-end, but it's being superseded by the Series X, and it seems like MS didn't want a "mid-range" offering.

Or... according to this comments on this Verge article, there's a rumored "Xbox Series S" console in the works that will fill the mid-range. It will have the same CPU/RAM as the Series X, but less GPU ("only" 1440p), and may have both a disc and disc-less version.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/16/2...n-discontinued

More info on the rumored "Series S":
https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/bu...red-difference

The XB1S AD was a price-cutting measure to have a lower-priced Xbox on the market. Maybe this a sign that MS is going to drop the regular XB1S in price soon

fujishig

They don't have an all digital series X? Is that only Sony that's doing one? That would be weird considering they had an all digital version in the current gen. Also I'm not a fan of different skus coming out at the same time having differences in performance.

Dan

I don't know if Lockhart is discless or not. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that. But yeah... far as I know, there's no Series X equivalent with no disc drive. I genuinely haven't looked into it though, and I'm sure someone like Jay G knows the details. I'm only considering the main Series X anyway.

Deftones

This sucks. MS is no longer selling 12 month Gold subscriptions:
https://www.ign.com/articles/microso...eries-x-launch

Michael Corvin

So no more Games with Gold if there is no Gold, right?

Decker

No, nothing like that. They are just moving their subscription model to Game Pass Ultimate instead. I think they still plan on having free Games with Gold games. And they are still selling Gold subscriptions, just in 1 and 3 month increments.

milo bloom

Had to do a Target run earlier and we needed another controller. When I looked in the case for the systems, it was completely empty. I think this quarantine has run the inventory down more thank we think.

Sonny Corinthos

This really stinks. I don't want to have to pay for other stuff I may never get around playing. Some decisions will have to be made on my part once all the info is released.

Decker

They are still for sale at Amazon, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and probably dozens of other retailers.
You can even save a few bucks here at CD Keys
https://www.cdkeys.com/xbox-live/mem...p-xbox-one-360

Deftones

Rumors making the rounds that the reason Live is being phased out is that onlne multiplayer will be free in future. Basically only paying for Game Pass. I would appreciate not having to pay for live for my son who only uses online gaming and no other features. Hopefully that wouldn't affect chat stuff.


https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/microsoft-will-discontinue-xbox-live-gold-and-make-multiplayer-free-its-claimed/

Michael Corvin

I'm all for that. My friends wanted to dig out some Halo a few months back but I let my Gold lapse so I had to dig up a free trial since I'm mostly PS these days.

Decker

That’s based entirely on the fact that F2P Halo Infinite MP mode will not require Gold (along with the delisting of a 12 month Gold Subscription service). But that is an antiquated policy by MS anyway that Sony and Nintendo don’t enforce in their online pay services. To jump to the conclusion that ALL multiplayer content will no longer require a paid subscription is an enormous assumption to draw.

Adam Tyner

Yeah, I'd be more tempted to believe that Microsoft would just roll Gold and Game Pass into a single subscription service, and perhaps let free-to-play games bypass a subscription service requirement.

Deftones

If I am MS marketing, I pounce on that Sony news that PS4 dual shocks don't work with PS5 games. I know MS already said everything will work with new system except Kinect but keep pounding that drum.

Music

They already have, yesterday...