@Tiwill44: GTA 6 absolutely will run on the Series S. Any idea Rockstar wouldn't have known what compromises they were going to have to make for the Series S and started discussions with Microsoft about it months and months ago is nonsense. Microsoft does *not* require a game be 100% exactly the same on both consoles. Not only do they allow for spec differences (Cyberpunk was locked at 30 FPS on the S until a patch included Performance Mode), they finally decided to allow Balder's Gate 3 to release with split-screen multiplayer only on the X. Additionally Windows Central's article does not suggest that Bond meant next gen hardware is coming any time soon. Windows Central's article stated that sources told them Microsoft "may have more to say publicly" about the future-proofing of XBox games at the XBox Showcase, *not* next-gen hardware. The next console will be the Series X refresh, codename Brooklin. They were also working on a Series S refresh, codename Ellewood, (but may have cancelled it) and a redesigned controller codename Sabile too. Originally, Microsoft planned to release their next gen console in 2028. Even if they've accelerated that timeline to match Sony, the PS6 isn't expected until 2027. Unless GTA 6 is delayed over a year, it's not a launch title for either company's next console.
I never even thought it might have a season 2. They split material from the book up into 10 episodes. There's nothing left. The reason I'm pleased it's doing so well is that I hope the success will spur networks and streaming services to do more period dramas like Shogun, not in a hope there will be another season of this show.
Does Perrette not pay attention to the gaming industry as a whole? Or is he just pompous enough to believe Warner Bros. is going to suceed with live service despite so many companies like Rocksteady, EA, Epic Games, Creative Assembly and Ubisoft all but admitting they failed?
I'm sure he believes WB is going to be the *one* that suceeds despite everybody else, but I also think there's another more important reason why CEOs keep chasing a huge profit windfall instead of "merely" being happy with smaller profits. When a title like Crossfire X, Rumbleverse or Gundam Evolution fails to generate a windfall of $$, shutting it down, laying everybody off and walking away has become the norm in the gaming industry. The development teams and lower level employees take the hit.
@dussan2: The original plan and the start of development would have done just that. This game was originally supposed to be a single player pirate adventure set in the Caribbean, then the setting was changed to the Indian Ocean. Things started going sideways when Ubisoft management insisted it be a live service game. All downhill from there.
IMO, the biggest problem is they apparently couldn't figure out how to make a live service game that wasn't "The Division 2...but with pirate ships." That's basically what this game is. After I finished the obviously abandoned story/campaign, I quickly realized "I've played this game before. It's The Division 2 with pirates and less story!" IMO that's what's going to quickly kill it. Regardless of the different setting, after the story content ends gamers have played this game before. The grinding for new and better weapons isn't fresh anymore, it's just boring and irritating.
@CyrusDrake20: They couldn't cancel it. Ubisoft Singapore's subsidy deal with the country's government requires them to release two original IP. This game is one of them. Ubisoft's already privately admitted this game won't break even. Releasing it is just cheaper than the penalties they'd have to pay for violating the terms of the subsidy agreement.
I originally had a pretty good time playing this game, but as I put more time into it the flaws discussed in this review appeared. This is a very good review, and IMO an appropriate score. The repetitiveness of The Division and The Division 2 appears *much* faster in this game. It starts out with more of an actual story than I expected it to have, unfortunately it's clear (and rather jarring) that story was abandoned because it "just stops." There's no resolution to it at all, at least none that I've found, and I think I've completed all the story content.
As of a couple days ago at least, one of the flaws seemed to be getting worse, and that's the servers. They were occasionally glitchy the first day or so. After that, I stopped counting how many times the game crashed. At least a handful of times the game didn't "just" kick me back to the main menu, it crashed all the way back to the XBox dashboard.
Hopefully the Black Flag reboot rumors are true, they'll do it right, and not take a decade.
The servers have been glitchy at times, but given the development mess I am absolutely stunned at how good and how much fun this game is! IMO, right before launch Ubisoft did this game a disservice by severely downplaying the fact it *does * have a story that IMO is at least as much a part of the game as the stories in The Division and The Division II were the first season. With two NPC protagonists (so far), there's been lots of things to do for players who don't want to participate in the multiplayer/co-op events. The stuff that gamers can spend real world $ on are just cosmetics and don't impact gameplay, which is great.
Amazon lost approximately $10 billion on Alexa in 2022. It's not yet known how much that disaster cost the company in 2023, but given that the Alexa team reportedly comprised a large percentage of the layoffs in November, one can safely say Alexa is still unprofitable. The company needs to shut that product down instead of trying to eek out revenue elsewhere.
@j3diknightdave: That was basically what this game was originally intended to be when it was announced. It was going to be a single player pirate adventure set in the Caribbean, then the Indian Ocean. Things first went haywire when Ubisoft management decided this game needed to be a live service title. It's been downhill ever since.
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