On a more positive note, I'm enjoying Look Outside. I just wish it was sold somewhere less shit than Steam. I know GOG is pozzed and all, but at this point I'll take lesser evils because there is no pure option for most games worth buying.

>>234 >general for celebrating modern vidya's collapse. Why should i enjoy the destruction of art? Who do you think is gonna make the games once studios like Ubisoft go bankrupt? The Chinks? Nah once these studios die. The whole industry will be put in a halt.

>>237 >Old /v/ >Acting like triplegAAAy is all of vidya You just blow in from cuckchan? The industry has crashed before. It needs to crash. Studios and software are bloated as hell. Ubishit is making games with significant subsidies from taxpayer dollars. Most of what will burn in the collapse of the industry will be propaganda that can hardly be called vidya. Sure, propaganda is art too, but it's shit art 99% of time, and anyone who tries to argue art is purely subjective rather than quality playing an important role has just swallowed even more propaganda.

>>237 >Who do you think is gonna make the games once studios like Ubisoft go bankrupt? That's a statement that could be taken in multiple different ways. For example, I DON'T want studios to "make the games", as in I don't want them making pozzed games. If you're talking about people who "make the games" as a generality, then we don't need these studios as vidya is being made all of the time. Ubishit, Crapcom, and Snowy are not the only entities capable of making video games.

>>240 >The industry has crashed before. It needs to crash. <The economy has crashed before. Therefore We need a Great Depression 2.0. No thanks, I know what you mean but canceling and killing studios because "woke" feels like GG 2.0 and I am tired of this witch hunting. >>241 > Ubishit, Crapcom, and Snowy are not the only entities capable of making video games. < Nvidia, Incel and AMD are not the only entites capable of making chips. Go make your own chips. Yeah i know, the market is full of dead indie games that nobody plays. And the collapse will make it worse. What I meant is that once *important* companies die out. Not only games are going to die, but engines, assets, modding and even more related subcommunities. Remember: Dont kill the Golden Goose, cause once you kill it, theres nothing you can do. Also why hating the industry is so normal now?. Heck even GameDevs seem hate it. Why to bite the hand that gives you to eat?

i dunno man, the pink bitch looks like a girl to me, just one with not much titty. she also looks like a prostitute.

>>262 >What I meant is that once *important* companies die out. Not only games are going to die, but engines, assets, modding and even more related subcommunities. Why would it "kill" those? The game engines would still exist on Github, the assets you could still find across various stores and websites, and the mods would still be available on moddb. A video game crash wouldn't bring an end to the GZDoom modding scene. In fact, a crash would actually require people to rethink how they approaching games. For example, rather than tying every single game to the bloat that has become the Unreal Engine, people could fall back and use the previous versions of the idTech engine or one of the various other "Indie game engines", which would allow for them to make their game available across a wider variety of platforms. >Also why hating the industry is so normal now? GameDevs hate the industry because they cannot control it. The American and Japanese landscapes still very much operate on market principles, meaning supply and demand. In that, if you make a game people actually want, they will buy it, and the reverse is true. This is not true in gaming industries elsewhere. Particularly in Europe, their vidya sector is almost entirely subsidized by the government, meaning that developers do not make games on market principles and instead make them on the basis of appealing to whatever demands the government makes (Which are typically concepts that these Progressive creatives are all in favor for, so there's little argument). Now this is not "always" the case, but it's true often enough. Outside of subsidiaries of American companies, English developers, Ubisoft, Microids, Crytek, and GSC, how many other none American/Japanese developers can you really name as having an "impact" (Let alone a presence) in the general gaming landscape through actually delivering on making good games that people want? Instead of delivering games as a teaching method or out of obligation. And it's this landscape that developers are pushing for that us gamers hate because we want developers who will make games for the purposes of entertaining us (Even if it's something >we don't typically enjoy). NOT for the purposes of lecturing us.

>>262 >canceling and killing studios because "woke" The games are shit anon. It's not just about politics, the politics invariably make them shit given time. >Yeah i know, the market is full of dead indie games that nobody plays. Sounds like you're the one that hates vidya, and wants it's dead corpse to shamble on forever instead of killing the big cancerous studios so new ones can take their place. And the comparison to chip makers is retarded. Vidya companies don't have an oligopoly on the creation of vidya. >Muh golden goose I Vidya thrived on far less before. >Also why hating the industry is so normal now? Hating the industry has been normal for decades at this point. And the industry has gotten many degrees worse since then.

Oh fuck, ENA: Dream BBQ just came out. Kinda pissed it's releasing in parts though. Gonna wait and pirate it.

Assassin's Creed Shadows violates Japanese commercial law!!! So for those not in the know, in Japan, the Japanese Imperial Seal, also known as the Chrysanthemum Crest, cannot legally be used for commercial purposes. This has been a Japanese law since 1880, with an update to said law being issued in 1929 that allows for "some" commercial usage within certain restrictions: https://archive.ph/K7u7b Well, apparently Ubisoft's crack team of legal experts and professional localizers did not know about this circumstance and included a version of said Chrysanthemum Crest in the game and violates Japanese law as a result of this: https://archive.ph/1RgGC https://twiit.com/yamato_shigure7/status/1905310503205044409 https://invidio.us/watch?v=rk4tMCC5EC4 And the kicker is that people were pointing this out weeks before the game even launched: https://archive.ph/IvFOw Ubisoft has managed to fuck up to the point that they actually released illegal contraband.

>>271 Sasuga, Oda Nobunigger.

So this is why games cost so much: >About half of Capcom’s dev staff is in animation-related roles, and they’re still in need of more animators https://archive.ph/s7zr9 >Mario Kart World had a significantly larger dev team than past entries, with art-related positions increasing threefold https://archive.ph/GYTFw

Has FF7R crashed and burned yet? Are they still planning on finishing it?

MICROSOFT IS DESTROYING ITSELF Blizzard layoffs! Forza and Call of Duty layoffs! Perfect Dark cancelled! Everwild cancelled! ZeniMax MMORPG cancelled! https://archive.is/4nRKA https://archive.is/PtSww https://archive.is/eOtRw https://archive.is/CuX27 https://archive.is/75xsh https://archive.is/RmsYy

>>705 You love to see it!

>Retro Gaming Revival: Why 90s and 2000s Games Are Trending Again https://archive.ph/LZqwt <It’s very easy to argue that the “mindset” of most video gamers is to “keep looking forward toward the next big game release.” After all, there’s almost always something on console or PC that we’re looking forward to getting. The Nintendo Switch 2 is getting a new title in a few days, and many are pumped for that, while others are eagerly awaiting a certain PS5 exclusive that’ll arrive in a few months. And yet, there are just as many gamers, and sometimes even organizations, that seem obsessed with the games of old, and want to “experience them again” in one form or another. The games of the 90s and 2000, and even the 80s to some extent, are still beloved by most, and it makes you wonder…why is that the case? Why is there a “Retro Gaming Revival” going on right now? We’ll express it through three key points.

The game industry's stance on this entire incident, with the almost unanimous response: <We're fine with censorship effecting games, but you shouldn't be censoring OUR games." Per the IGDA: https://archive.ph/zxxcs >We are alarmed by the vague enforcement of policies delisting and deplatforming legal, consensual, and ethically-developed games, especially from LGBTQ+ and marginalized creators. Eurogamer: https://archive.ph/Nkhsd >No one will lament the removal of No Mercy from sale on Steam, but whenever a net like this is thrown over an entire area of perceived problematic content, there will be well-intentioned games caught in the net too. Specifically, LGBTQ+ games are under threat - games that don't align with the Christian values underpinning the pressure group Collective Shout.

>>748 >The game industry's stance As usual, those who claim to speak for an entire creative industry are just leftist clique fags.

Despite being a near $190 billion industry... With the leading territories in terms of spending being North America and Asia: https://archive.ph/3XaVd The video game industry is seeing a masive decline in people's spending habits on those very territories: https://archive.ph/Gpaxf <A Wall Street Journal report from last month brought attention to market research that indicates Zoomers in the US are spending a lot less on video games in 2025 than they did in 2024. Data from the research firm Circana indicated that spending on games from January to April 2025 fell by 13% year-on-year among Americans aged 18 to 24, while weekly spending on video games dropped by about 25% from 2024 levels. While it is not as dramatic as in the US, a similar downward trend in interest and spending can be seen among Gen Z in Japan in the past few years. And it doesn't have anything to do with economy... <In the case of the US, The Wall Street Journal cites factors like the cooling job market, the burden of student loans, and rising credit card delinquency rates as reasons why young people are spending less on games (and hobbies in general). By comparison, Japan’s employment situation is less severe. As of June 2025, the unemployment rate stood at 2.5%, compared to 4.1% in the US, and the jobs-to-applicants ratio remained steady at 1.24. This suggests that Gen Z in Japan are under less economic pressure than their American counterparts (Statistics Bureau of Japan). In fact, get this the PC gaming market is actually shrinking: https://archive.ph/Gpaxf >Japan’s PC gaming population has decreased by 3 million in the past decade, studies suggest And while people like to blame this on "prices" or "mobile gaming", it is admitted that the timing doesn't line up nor does it explain the "sudden" and drastic decline... <The reasons for this long-term shift are not clear-cut. While PC gaming’s visibility in Japan has undoubtedly grown through the rise of Steam, other factors, such as the popularity of mobile gaming, may be influencing player preferences. <Hardware pricing could also play a role, though the timing does not align perfectly with the decade-long decline. But I would like to point out to people that, unlike the console market, the entire PC gaming market has been almost exclusively digital in it's distribution since 2011. And as should be remember with the game markets in regions like Asia, customers there extremely prefer and almost entirely demand for games to be phyiscally released. And if I may go even further with that, we're going to see the entire console market collapsing rather soon because, well, look as where Sony and Microsoft are prioritizing their sales of games: https://archive.ph/J8hmz <Microsoft's Xbox platform meanwhile hit a 91% digital share, so if you're wondering why some retailers are no longer stocking Xbox discs, there's your answer. https://archive.ph/ttrsb >Sony Reports Record Profits as PlayStation 5 Ships 80.3 Million Units, Digital Sales Hit 83% And remember, this is the direction companies want to take video games, with the public kicking and screaming the entire way: https://archive.ph/TC95N <“But if we look at the past five years, five years ago live service games were almost non-existent for PlayStation Studios. We [now] have Helldivers 2, MLB The Show and Gran Turismo 7, and Bungie’s Destiny 2, so we have these four live services contributing to sales and profits in a stable manner.” <“For Q1 the live service ratio was about 40%, for the full year it’s a little less, probably between 20-30%,” she said. “So in terms of the transformation, it’s not entirely going smoothly, but from a longer-term perspective, if you look at the changes over five years you see that there’s definitely been a change. <“Of course, we recognise that there are still many issues, so we should learn the lessons from mistakes and make sure that we introduce live service content where there’s less waste and it’s more smooth.” But guess what games people are actually playing: https://archive.ph/U8yWJ <The data shows that from January 2024 to December 2024, 67% of player hours on PC were spent on a game that was six or more years old. A further 25% of player hours were spent on games that were two to five years old, and the remaining 8% of time was spent on games that are less than two years old. https://archive.ph/GXUaA >The year's Steam Replay reveals 85% of Steam users in 2024 spent time playing games released in 2023 or earlier https://archive.ph/KpdLr >Sixty Percent Of Video Games Played In 2023 Were Six Or More Years Old, Research Finds So here is my question, are you guys going to put up with companies who don't respect their players by continuing to buy and play new games and current gen systems; OR will you be join the masses in withdrawing from this industry, only playing games and consoles that already exist and that you actually own, and watch as these companies collapse in on themselves with no survivors as a result of their own hubris?

>>756 >you guys You talk as if there's more than one other person here. I'm already playing 90% old backlog games and shitty h-games, 99% of which I pirate. I can think of only a couple games I'm looking forward to coming out. One is a flash tier 2D puzzle game, UVSU, and the other is an Invader Zim styled WarioWare ripoff, Mindwave.

>>757 >You talk as if there's more than one other person here I was C&P the post

>>758 That makes it feel a little ingenuine, you know? Was it deleted on cake/v/ or something?

>>757 Oh, I'm also looking forward to the completion of the translation for MGQP Part 3.

>>759 >Was it deleted on cake/v/ or something? No, it's just easier to post the same message in multiple places. And I was sort of expecting it to be deleted on /v/. Though it hasn't, yet.

I'll believe that Rockstar is actually stupid enough to charge 100 dollars US for GTA6 the moment I see that as the listed price on the steam store page for the game and not a single minute before that.

>>770 I believe they're plenty stupid and greedy enough. I don't think that makes it certain, but it's fairly likely.

>>770 >>771 Isn't that a catch-22? If they announce the game's price at $100, is that going to be because Take2 thinks that can get away with that, or is it because we were EXPECTING it to be that price? Prior to the leak back in March, it seemed like everyone thought it would be your standard $70 game and Take2 believed that GTA6 originally was going to be $70. And the only reason for the "leak" was just to "test the waters" and prove that people wouldn't pay above that $70, but the fact that everyone seems so "accepting" of the idea that the GTA6 is going to be $100 says more about the tolerance the public has rather than any amount greed on the part of the game publishers. I mean, if they're discovering that a higher percentage of people would accept a $100 game than they initially theorized, why wouldn't they take advantage and follow through on increasing the price?

>>772 >Isn't that a catch-22 I don't think you're using that term right at all. It's more of a self-fulfilling prophecy, but even that isn't quite accurate.

>Games were expected to become more expensive with each console generation, according to the former head of PlayStation Studios https://archive.ph/G40gp <For the past 20 years, AAA game prices have stayed roughly at the same level, despite a significant increase in development costs, stated former PlayStation Studios head Shawn Layden in an interview with GamesIndustry. He believes that this has been a mistake for the gaming industry. <“I think it’s because everyone’s afraid. No one wants to be the first one to raise the price, because you’re afraid to lose traffic. So what you do is you just end up eating into your operating income, your profit margin,” said Layden. <In his view, the industry has now reached a critical point. Creating AAA games has become excessively expensive, and recouping the costs is now extremely difficult. For example, a game with a $200 million budget would ideally need to sell 25 million copies, but only a few can achieve this. Layden is confident: “Unless you’re Rockstar, [you] should not expect it.” <Layden believes that developers should have begun raising game prices long ago, doing so with each console generation. And announced at around the same time: https://archive.ph/mfOv0 >Sony announces price hikes on PlayStation 5 in US <Starting Aug. 21, the price of all PS5 consoles will go up by $50, an increase that Sony Interactive Entertainment VP of global marketing Isabelle Tomatis attributes to "a challenging economic environment." Keep in mind that the tariffs STILL haven't gone into effect. Meanwhile, back home in Japan: https://archive.ph/WWavn >Spike Chunsoft is in no rush to expand its overseas publishing. Long-term connections and a strong Japanese market are priorities, says executive <Instead of aggressively pursuing publishing deals, Iizuka says that Spike Chunsoft’s goal is to create connections with developers that can actually benefit from partnering with them. “Our goal as a publisher is to work with companies who view us as a business partner that can actually help them boost sales.” To this end, Iizuka openly turns away deals that won’t benefit developers. “I’ll say things like, Our company isnot good with this genre, so even if we work together, it won’t sell, or, If you sell 200,000 copies of this $5 title, here’s how much each of us would make. If your sales would be 200,000 copies with or without us, wouldn’t you be better off without us?” <Rather than short-term gains, Spike Chunsoft’s goal is to foster long-term connections within the industry. “We don’t want to exploit anyone. If one of our past business partners ends up making an even greater hit, and that leads to us getting another work opportunity with them – we’d only consider that a bonus. That’s our stance on the matter.” <... <“While we are actively working on our overseas expansion, the Japanese market is still the most important to us. Japanese games can only be made in Japan. Also, if the Japanese game industry wasn’t this strong, we wouldn’t have been able to enter the Steam market as steadily as we did, and our overseas businesses wouldn’t be going so smoothly.” <Iizuka also brings up how maintaining a strong Japanese game market is important for Western games too – if the Japanese market is stable, this creates more opportunities for overseas games to thrive in it. “I believe the strength of the Japanese market will also be of benefit to Western games. The costs that go into developing those games are huge, so we want to maintain a strong market in Japan in which such titles will also be able to succeed,” Iizuka said. >'Shenmue III Enhanced' announced for PC and consoles https://archive.ph/PI1qj <TL;DR, they made the game easier

>Modern Video Games More Broken Than Ever https://archive.ph/VrX7J <A surge of articles have reaffirmed that modern games are still releasing in broken, unplayable states, further contributing to the fact the video game scene is on the decline not just from politicized messaging, censorship, and narratives, but also due to incompetency on the technological level. <A Twitter user shared four recent articles disclosing recently launched titles that have failed to be optimized: <Those familiar with video games in the past decade or so are well aware of this phenomenon, as games have been having performance issues, crashing problems, and similar errors to the point that many have been frustrated with the industry. <This is despite the fact that a lot of games are also politicized to push some western narrative (much like other content), or in the case of remakes, old content being censored for the sake of “modern audiences”. >Yoshi-P Says Gamers Don’t Need A New Set Of Hardware Options Right Now https://archive.ph/LLhW8 <For those who don’t recall, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S both came out in 2020, and are both about to celebrate their 5-year anniversary. Typically, the console cycle would last between 6 and 8 years, depending on the system. However, there are some outside factors here that need to be considered, not the least of which for Microsoft is that the Xbox Series X/S has been tanking in sales, and “something fresh” may be what they feel is needed to get “back on track.” <However, in the mind of Yoshi-P, that’s not the way to go, especially when you think not about the developers making the console and its games, but the gamers who are buying it: <"But when I look at things from a gamer’s perspective, I feel that there's no real need to make new hardware, because I think right now people are happy with the Xbox Series X, the PS5 or the Switch 2. And honestly, from a gamer’s perspective as well, hardware is just expensive to buy." >Sony CEO discusses how PlayStation aims to avoid failures like Concord in the future https://archive.ph/MNWXP <Speaking with outlet Financial Times, Hulst discussed how PlayStation has put focus on identifying troubled development or problematic projects earlier on in development. "I don't want teams to always play it safe, but I would like for us, when we fail, to fail early and cheaply." PlayStation had already canned a planned live service game as a likely reaction to Concord's failure, cancelling an upcoming The Last of Us online game. Ten other "live-service" games were also ended early in development, according to industry rumors. <Further elaborating, Hulst added that live-service games are still a priority for PlayStation, but, "The number [of live-service releases] is not so important. What is important to me is having a diverse set of player experiences and a set of communities." >Future of PlayStation live service project, Fairgames, thrown into further doubt as director leaves studio https://archive.ph/v4nRh <Daniel Drapeau, recently the game director on Fairgames at Haven Studios, has announced his new role as a creative director over at Warner Bros Montreal. <The move adds further doubt to the status of Fairgames, the live-service shooter published by Sony, following the departure of studio founder Jade Raymond. >Japan’s gacha game industry in a “sinking Titanic-phase,” developer says. Switching to console game development not an easy solution for many https://archive.ph/s8dGo <Prompted by the recent announcements by Square Enix, mobile game developer Suemaru commented on X, “Dragon Quest of the Stars and FF Brave Exvius are shutting down. As someone active in the industry, I once again feel that gacha games are becoming like the Titanic. Staying in this industry means clinging to one of the limited spots on a sinking ship. I don’t think all of it will go under, but the number of seats that can stay afloat will keep shrinking.” <Japan’s mobile scene has long-running hits like Fate/Grand Order, Monster Strike and Puzzles and Dragons that have managed to stay profitable for over a decade (the “limited seats”), but even the companies behind them, like Puzzle and Dragons developer GungHo, have struggled to produce any new hits in the meantime (Related Article). Moreover, recent high-budget projects like Aniplex’s Tribe Nine have suffered shutdowns in mere months following launch. <Amidst such circumstances, Suemaru feels like his career has reached a limit. “Even if I continue as a gacha game director, I won’t see my income grow. I also don’t know how long I’ll even have my ‘seat’ for.” On the other hand, he doesn’t see an easy path towards changing fields. <Alwei, representative of Indie-Us Games, a Japanese company specializing in Unreal Engine development, adds that “It’s already so hard to get off [the sinking ship], and yet the industry is clearly in a decline. Moving from Japanese-style mobile game development into console game development is very difficult, even though the opposite is simple. People who’ve built their entire career in mobile games are facing an extremely troubling situation.” Suemaru confirms that this is precisely the problem he’s now struggling with, as 100% of his career has involved managing online mobile games. <This seems to be an issue that particularly affects Japanese devs working as mobile game planners (a position most similar to game designers in the West). JohnnyGameStudio comments, “The people in planning positions at mobile game companies have skills that aren’t easily transferable to console games or other fields, so they can’t switch jobs unlike artists and programmers.” <Part of the issue also stems from technological requirements, as Alwei explains, “The console sector values skills in complex, polished action gameplay and high-end graphics technology. These are skills you can apply as-is to mobile games. But for mobile games, server technology is indispensable, yet it’s not essential for console games, so demand is low. Console games also have strict TRCs (technical requirements checks) imposed by the platform holders, which makes prior experience a huge advantage.” >Square Enix’s 10-year-old mobile game grew so complex it became difficult to manage without serious bugs, producer reveals https://archive.ph/D9VNV <Addressing players in an August 25 Square Enix Bridge entry, Dragon Quest of the Stars producer Naoki Mutou says that keeping the game running for as long as possible has been his highest priority ever since he took over as producer in 2022. “However, due to the production and development environment growing increasingly complex, I realized that it would be difficult to keep the service running at a satisfactory level.” <Mutou-P goes on to explain what he means by things becoming complex. “Thanks to your support, Dragon Quest of the Stars has been able to accumulate an enormous amount of content throughout the years. The game has continued to expand through a variety of new equipment of skills too. While this is something to be happy about, it has also made it increasingly difficult to manage elements of the game, make balancing adjustments and keep developing the game without glitches.” <According to the producer, the sheer number of functions in Dragon Quest of the Stars’ game program has required tireless work from the development team to prevent unexpected behaviors and bugs from happening. But as of recent, “we have finally reached a point where it is no longer possible to keep the game running without impacting players.” As such, Square Enix decided it would be best to use the 10th anniversary as an opportunity to wrap up the story and end the game. <It’s not known whether similar issues prompted the imminent shutdown of FF Brave Exvius too, but this is no doubt a problem many long-running live-service games are beginning to face. Japanese gacha game programmer and technical blogger Eihigh notes (based on personal experience) that, “after 10 years of operation, a game’s code accumulates so much technical debt that it’s impossible to pay it back. Releasing new features always takes utmost priority, so there’s no testing, the tech stack is outdated, and it’s impossible to tell which code is safe to delete and which code must never be touched.” These issues grow in severity if personnel changes take place and developers who were present from day one leave the team. “Every day you’re working in fear that your changes will make the game implode because of some past specifications you don’t even know about.” <On a related note, Square Enix’s long-running MMORPG Final Fantasy XI faced the end of its server lifetime around 2024, and the company considered ending support for it as a living game (they were going to put it into a permanent maintenance mode). Thankfully, FFXI still had so many players logging in daily that Square Enix found it worth their time and resources to update the game’s infrastructure.

>>834 >the video game scene is on the decline not just from politicized messaging, censorship, and narratives, but also due to incompetency on the technological level. The two are not unrelated. >Japan’s gacha game industry in a “sinking Titanic-phase,” developer says. Switching to console game development not an easy solution for many <Switching to making real games instead of skinnerboxes that run on money isn't easy I'm sure it isn't.

>Nintendo Switch 2 Key Cards Draw Criticism as Cost-Saving Strategy Backfires https://archive.ph/zwUG6 <Developers had hoped the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 would provide fresh momentum. The system enjoyed record-breaking sales at launch, and Nintendo hardware owners traditionally buy more games than average. But according to a detailed report from Bloomberg, the boost has yet to reach third-party studios—and one major issue lies in Nintendo’s controversial new “key card” format. <On the original Switch, developers could choose from multiple cartridge sizes to manage costs. With Switch 2, however, sources say only two options exist: a costly 64GB cartridge, or a cheaper “key card” reviled by users. These key cards still require large downloads, leaving players juggling installs and storage instead of playing right away—undermining the long-held expectation that physical games “just work.” <Analysts describe the format as combining “the worst of both physical and digital,” and sales data appears to back this up. In the UK, Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion sold strongly on standard cartridges, with 72% of physical sales on Switch 2. In Japan, where it was sold only as a key card, the share collapsed to 40%. <Nintendo argues that key cards are a way to contain rising production costs as game sizes balloon and flash memory prices stay high. However, some shareholders have already warned that the policy risks driving third-party developers away from the platform. <As Bloomberg notes, industry voices stress that if Nintendo wants Switch 2 to expand its user base, it must make the system more attractive to outside developers. Otherwise, despite a strong launch, the system may fall short of being the catalyst the industry hoped for. >XBOX Consoles Are Getting Another Price Increase In The U.S. Beginning Next Month https://archive.ph/fQPhy <Microsoft is once again raising the price of its Xbox Series S and X consoles in the United States. In a post on the official Xbox support site, the company confirmed that the new prices will go into effect beginning on October 3rd. <This will be the second price increase Xbox consoles have received this year alone, although this time it is only the United States that's being affected. In May, Microsoft announced price hikes for Xbox consoles and accessories across the globe. We saw the cost of consoles increase anywhere from $80 to $130, depending on the model. The price of Xbox controllers and headsets were also raised by about $10. <The latest round of price hikes are due to what that the company says are "changes in the macroeconimic environment." <"We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration," Microsoft support wrote. "Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and providing value for Xbox players." >Costco stops selling Xbox consoles in UK and US https://archive.ph/JFR64 <As originally reported by TheGamer earlier this week, Resetera user kubev noticed that Costco's online store in the US had removed Xbox products, with searches for Xbox now resulting in a "We're sorry. We were not able to find a match" error. <Likewise, last month, a Reddit user noticed that the wholesaler's online US site no longer showed Xbox products. <GamesIndustry.biz has confirmed this. On the US Costco site, the previous landing page for Xbox consoles now shows: "We're sorry. We were not able to find a match" error. <In addition, the site's video games page no longer has an Xbox category, but still has categories for PlayStation and Nintendo, with consoles and games for both products on sale. <Using Wayback Machine, GamesIndustry.biz found that Costco had an Xbox category in May 2025. <Similarly, the UK online Costco store's Gaming PCs & Consoles section no longer shows Xbox consoles for sale, but still has PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2s on offer. When searching for "Xbox," the only result is a Thrustmaster racing wheel. <Using Wayback Machine, we found that on June 11, 2025, Costco's UK website listed the Xbox Series X for sale under its consoles section (as a members-only item). However, on August 6, 2025, it was no longer listed. <On September 24, 2025, GamesIndustry.biz visited a Costco physical store in the UK to see if Xbox consoles were on sale, but found the store only had PlayStation and Nintendo products. A PC World in the same area, however, had Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles on sale. <On the same day, we also called the customer service department of a separate UK store, enquiring about purchasing an Xbox Series X, and were told, "We don't actually have the Xbox anymore." <Costco hasn't acknowledged or confirmed the removal of Xbox products from its UK or US stores, but GamesIndustry.biz has contacted the company for comment.

>Xbox’s Hike on Game Pass Shows Cost of Lost ‘Call of Duty’ Sales https://archive.ph/wBCZ1 <Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division surprised many video game enthusiasts this week when the company announced a 50% price hike, to $30 a month, for the highest level tier in its Game Pass subscription service. <Online reaction was swift, with California Governor Gavin Newsom blaming the price increase on President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and video game retailer GameStop Corp. posting a cartoon suggesting customers would be better off just buying games in stores. <The price hike and other changes to the Game Pass plans are a sign that Xbox’s big streaming push is still not generating the revenue it would like eight years after launch, according to interviews with seven current and former Xbox employees. The company is putting some of its top titles on the streaming service, but that’s cutting into sales of higher-margin games like Call of Duty, which came with Microsoft’s 2023 acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing internal company matters. <Xbox gave up more than $300 million in sales of Call of Duty on console and PCs last year, according to one of the former employees, who asked not to be identified discussing internal estimates. <“Game Pass hasn’t delivered the explosive growth Microsoft anticipated post-Activision, and they’ve realized their infrastructure costs don’t align with their pricing model,” said Joost Van Dreunen, founder of the video-game analytics firm Aldora. <A spokesperson for Xbox declined to comment for this story.

Shigeru Miyamoto: “Games Eventually Stop Running, But Films Remain Forever” >Nintendo, Capcom stepping up efforts to bring game worlds to big screen https://archive.ph/8bdeZ <Shigeru Miyamoto, executive fellow at Nintendo and the creator of Super Mario, views such adaptations as a gateway for fans to reconnect with the company's games as part of a broader strategy to grow Nintendo into an enduring global brand. <"Games eventually stop running when newer versions come out, but films remain forever," he said. Next up, GDC >GDC says companies that don’t attend ‘send a message they don’t care about developers’ https://archive.ph/byEU4 <Speaking to The Game Business, GDC’s executive director of innovation and growth, Mark DeLoura, said the companies’ absence was “noticeable” and claimed they risked alienating developers. <“As an attendee, I was disappointed not to see Unity and Unreal on the show floor,” he said. “I worked for Sony and I started the Sony booth 25 years ago… not to see Sony on the show floor is just disappointing. I really feel like you’ve got so many developers there, you’ve got to have a front door. <“Of course, these companies are going to have their own events, they have their own communities they need to foster, and they can talk about things that are more NDAd at their own events that they may not want to do at a public show. But you’re not going to find the independent developer who doesn’t already know somebody at your shop, unless you’re there with your door open.” <He added: “Isn’t that the purpose of conferences? Meeting new people. You’ve decided you don’t want to meet new people, I guess. I can’t understand that. There’s more to it than that, of course. There are costs, etcetera. But developers get the vibe. If you’re not there, or appear not to be there, are they sure that you care about them? That’s what I don’t understand. <“I would say this, because that’s why I got Sony involved in GDC in 2001. We needed to be there. We needed to be there for the developers. It’s important.” >GDC Festival of Gaming: The industry reacts to the controversial rebrand https://archive.ph/o1XEN <But even though the Festival Pass makes attending that bit cheaper, the event is still not cheap: a Festival Pass will set attendees back $1,199, discounted to $649 until February 20, 2026. The Game Changer Pass, meanwhile, costs $2,499, discounted to $1,699. Digital access to the GDC Vault and online networking will set you back $799, and a limited number of sub-$650 options are available to start-ups and academics. And finishing it off is Xbox >Xbox’s $1200 Console Leak Just Made PS6 Look Like a Steal https://archive.ph/2XO9v <Xbox president Sarah Bond has confirmed that the next Xbox console will be a “very premium, very high-end” device. It would be the one that could reportedly cross the $1000 mark. The revelation sparked anxiety among PlayStation fans, worried that Sony might follow suit with an equally expensive PS6. But according to reliable insider KeplerL2, the opposite might be true. He predicts the PS6 could launch at $600, while the new Xbox might debut at nearly double the price, around $1200. >Exclusive Games Are "Antiquated," Xbox President Says https://archive.ph/uWM5R <The idea of exclusive games in 2025 is "antiquated," according to Xbox president Sarah Bond. She said in a new interview that people are beginning to "evolve way past" the idea that a game should be exclusive to one store or device. <"The biggest games in the world are available everywhere. You look at Call of Duty, you look at Minecraft, you look at Fortnite, you look at Roblox ... that's actually what's really driving community in gaming. That's where people gather. And the idea of locking it to one store or one device is antiquated for most people," she told Mashable. <"You want to be able to play with your friends anywhere, regardless of what they're on. And we're really leaning into that with this experience [Rog Ally X]. It just opens up another way for you to play, as does cloud, as does PC as do the consoles we all have in the living room," she added. >Xbox releases new marketing push “That was then, this is now” taking aim at “old ways” of gaming https://archive.ph/szn5L <Ads are attached and scary and angering as Hell >Microsoft Has Reportedly Pushed Xbox Studios to Deliver a 30% Profit Margin, Allegedly Leading to All Those Layoffs, Canceled Projects, Price Rises, and the End of Exclusives https://archive.ph/r6Lix <Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Microsoft’s 30% profit margin goal had led to the gaming division’s huge layoffs, canceled projects, controversial price rises, and multiplatform push. <... <Bloomberg said the average profit margin in the video game industry is 17-22%. Over the past six years, Xbox has hit 10-20%. To put that 30% target into more context, Sony's PlayStation division achieved a 16% profit margin in Q1 FY25. Bloomberg said Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood enforced the new target in fall 2023 — amid Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. <The upshot now is, according to Bloomberg, that games that are cheap to make or considered more likely to make lots of money may take priority over riskier projects. Xbox’s “floundering” hardware division, meanwhile, may face “a significant rethinking.” <IGN has reported on recent comments from Xbox president Sarah Bond, who said the next-gen Xbox console will be “a very premium, very high-end curated experience.” Bond has also called the idea of exclusive games “antiquated.” Nowadays, Xbox Game Studios is one of the most prolific and successful publishers on PlayStation. <Microsoft issued Bloomberg a statement that suggested its Xbox profit margin target isn’t the same across every project. <“We look at the business as a whole, balancing creativity, innovation, and sustainability across a diverse portfolio of offerings. As with any creative business, sometimes that means making hard decisions and stopping work on things that are no longer working for a variety of reasons, and shifting resources toward the projects that are more aligned with our direction and priorities.”

>>1034 >Shiggy He should die in a fire. >GDC Gay Dicks Cockference. >Xbox continuing to die You love to see it. Meanwhile, Microsoft Windows 10/11 is shitting itself so hard with AI and pajeet coding errors people are switfching to Linux and Windows 7 in record numbers.

>>1035 >Meanwhile, Microsoft Windows 10/11 is shitting itself so hard with AI and pajeet coding errors people are switfching to Linux and Windows 7 in record numbers. Source?

>>1036 >Source? My ass. Really just random shit I see on my phone when killing time at work, so essentially hearsay. >Windows 10 no longer supported for security updates unless you get LTSC >Eurofags and their consumer protection laws get an extra year of security updates because Microcock was legally forced to, but everyone else can suck it >Most PCs don't meet the minimum requirements to run 10 and can't upgrade. Wangblows 10 will still pesters these PCs to upgrade >The system requirements are bullshit and people tinkering have made Wangblows 11 run on much lighter hardware without issue. Microshit just wants people to buy more computer >Windows has always been spyware, but it's increasingly transparent even to normalfags, and increasingly unsecure >Copilot wants to constantly take pictues of everything you're doing to train it's AI to help you. Allegedly it won't take pictures of sensitive information. This actually just amounted a command to not take a screenshot if AI text recognition software didn't see a keyword like "password" on screen, which of course failed miserably. >Microsoft of course lies about Copilot not reporting home and thus violating your privacy >After much backlash, they roll back Copilot being on by default >Then they added Vision on by default, which fucking records what you do instead of taking screenshots, but allegedly only for videogames >Tellingly, it doesn't record certain cutscenes developers don't want people posting online, which again shows this shit is expected to not stay on your computer >Also, they broke the fucking installer for Windows 11 and it fails to install properly on a computer that is updating from Windows 10 instead of doing a fresh install >They fucking broke the ability to update from their last flagship OS to the next one they're trying to force you to update to!

>>1037 Oh, and they broke the recovery enviroment used to restore your computer when it shits itself trying to update to 11. And now apparently, you cannot close taskmanager, and taskmanager keeps opening more copies of itself when you try closing it.

Stop buying physical games, goy! >Manufacture and shipping of physical games is "100 times more carbon-intensive" than digital, new study finds https://archive.ph/QGk3z <A new study has found that buying physical copies of games is "100 times more carbon-intensive" than buying the digital version. <The report, 'The Carbon Footprint of Gaming', has been produced by French carbon accounting firm Greenly and examines the environmental impact of PC, consoles, mobile, and handhelds, as well as the production of games in different formats. <Greenly found that the manufacture and transportation of physical games has a significant impact on the environment, with the firm's Théo Nicolau-Guillaumet estimating that the manufacture and packaging of one million discs can emit 312 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). <In comparison, downloading the same number of digital copies of a game (worth 70GB) emits 3 tCO2e. <... <The report highlighted that the extraction of rare earth metals and plastic during the production of physical discs "requires high energy usage and can deplete already-finite water resources." FYI, data discs (Like CDs and DVDs) are made from plastic, aluminum, and lacquer. Japanese developers are leaving Steam >LoveR Kiss Endless Memories releasing on GOG, DLsite after Steam delisting https://archive.ph/jrEu0 <LoveR Kiss Endless Memories, a visual novel where you can freely take photographs of characters and scenes, will now be coming to GOG and DLsite after being removed from Steam ahead of launch. <Publisher Dragami Games mentions that the removal from Steam happened due to “various circumstances”, though this is likely just a way of saying it was denied due to a combination of younger characters and ecchi content. >Horror mockumentary game about a cancelled 90s bishojo title not coming to Steam. It would require “too many content revisions” https://archive.ph/hhSw8 <Japanese indie game publisher WorldMap announced on October 30 that their upcoming title H9 will forgo its planned Steam release, instead launching via PC platforms GOG, DLsite, DMM and Stove on November 30. The developers found that meeting Steam’s content requirements would have required extensive revisions to the game, which is what led to the change of plans. <... <H9 was first announced in April 2025 and immediately gained attention in Japan for its premise. Although initially slated for an October release, the launch was delayed to November. Around the same time, the developers revealed that the game’s Steam demo was still pending review. <According to publisher WorldMap’s announcement on X, H9’s development team discovered that major revisions to in-game assets and certain scenes would be required to comply with Steam’s policies. The title’s Steam store page warned about depictions of “violence, blood, psychological distress, sexual themes, and shocking scenes using live-action footage” which could be what caused issues. Since the creators wanted to preserve the game’s original concept as faithfully as possible, they decided to shift to other platforms instead. The demo, originally set for late October, is now expected to be released on GOG, DLsite, DMM and Stove in early November. And Nintendo is tracking your system usage >Nintendo Store App Now Available on iOS and Android with Playtime Tracker Feature https://archive.ph/uaZGi <Nintendo has stealth-launched the official Nintendo Store app on mobile devices, available for iOS and Android. When users sign into their Nintendo account here, they can effectively use it as an eShop replacement for software, hardware, and even reward point redemptions. <There is also a separate news tab, spread across several categories, featuring promotions, previous developer interviews, events, and upcoming games. Further, in your profile tab, you can view a comprehensive list of your playtime across consoles, with toggles for most recently played, date first played, and total time played.

>Pokémon Pokopia appears to be the first Nintendo-published Switch 2 game to be on a Game-Key Card https://archive.ph/hMuvD <Nintendo and The Pokémon Company confirmed today that Pokémon Pokopia, which is being developed by Koei Tecmo, will be released on March 5. <However, in a separate video also published today titled Using Game-Key Cards on Nintendo Switch 2, a sample box and card for Pokémon Pokopia was shown, which shows the game as an example of a Game-Key Card. <VGC has reached out to The Pokémon Company for confirmation that Pokémon Pokopia will indeed be released as a Game-Key Card. >Nintendo president admits Switch 2 has no games https://archive.ph/MVQ2O https://archive.ph/XFcd6 <“Software development costs are higher and development periods are longer, making it more challenging to continue introducing new titles at a good pace. <Nintendo Switch 2 can also play compatible Nintendo Switch software, so we would like to recommend Nintendo Switch software as well to consumers who are picking up a game console for the first time. With these considerations in mind, we believe we will be able to maintain the momentum of our Nintendo Switch 2 business by striking a good balance between introducing new titles and encouraging consumers to play evergreen titles over a long period of time.” Are they purposely trying to make people hate them?

>>1216 >Are they purposely trying to make people hate them? Maybe. But it is more likely that they feel invincible. They feel like they can make bold statements without much fluff and still get the sales numbers they desire. Despite the decisions Nintendo has made so far, the Switch 2 is selling. Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, games from these big series are selling despite their obvious shortcomings. So currently, they feel like they can be more straightforward even with more negative statements, since they feel it won't cut into their profits too much.

>>234 Leisel is a lesbian, not a tranny

>>1216 >>1218 Honestly, the market is so devoid of actual competition on the hardware side that they have a right to "feel invincible." Xbox is still a footnote at best, with its confusing naming schemes. And their software side is lol worthy. PS5 sold a good amount but it has like 3 exclusives and I'm pretty sure people just use it to play ps4 titles. Still, it's getting harder and harder to justify buying anything from nintendo. Their games have become more and more formulaic or they're pandering to the most base cretins out there. >>1447 >Lesbian <With a nigglet Really wanted to give their character the least amount of chances possible, huh. Don't hurt me I don't know if that's just fan shit or the actual relationship

So, now we know why the development of Ninja Gaiden 4 was outsourced to Platinum, and why DoA was turned into a dating sim Team Ninja was wasting all their time on Nioh 3. What a fucking disappointment. The one franchise that rebuilt the studio during it's rough years and the other that turned them into a global renowned name is given second fiddle status, developed by a washed-up studio, if not just existing as a fucking crash grab, meanwhile they're wasting their time on perhaps one of the most oversatured game genres in the past decade. And why shouldn't people be fucking angry?

>>1696 Isn't it eerie how Tomonobu Itagaki's last post before he died was <"We don't talk about Ninja Gaiden 4"

Shareholders are expecting the game industry to collapse in 2026 <Here's the vid, and the following link is it's source: https://odysee.com/@GothicTherapy:2/EXCLUSIVE-AAA-EXTINCTION!-Investors-Brace-for-THE-END-of-AAA-Gaming-in-2026!:e Here's the highlights: >New COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule) rules go into place in April that will effectively cut off all revenue (And research) related to data collecting These new rules require that companies cannot collect ANY data at all about the people using their software/hardware/services without first verifying that the person using said software/hardware/services is not a minor. This includes data collected on teenagers. If the person is revealed to be a minor, then parental conscent needs to be provided before data can allowed to be collected. Doesn't this open the door to people just changing their profile info to list them as "underage" so that companies cannot "legally" collect their data? >New state laws around biometric data collection States are implementing new laws that will fine companies PER SCAN of data collection, as in every time they collect a "new" piece of data is another fine they will have to pay. And there is no limit on just how many fines these companies will be required to pay. The example given in the video is that an "average VR game" scans your face 60 times per second, which compounds to 216k scans every hour. Meaning that companies would be required to pay 216,000 individual fines (Roughly etimated to be over a BILLION dollars) just for that one person playing one hour of a VR game. >Over 100 active court cases targeting game companies for "addiction mechanics" and "dark pattern monetization(?)" Personal take: Honestly, your average case never goes anywhere because the companies (Often) never actually did anything illegal or wrong. That being said, it's "the compound effect". One or two cases like these can be solved through agreeing to pay some undiclosed amount of money just to make it go away, and do have the ability to fight the case in court if it ever gets that far (Though practicallly unlikely). But dealing with DOZENS of these things going through the system all-at-once is not cheap. And that's where it hits the wallet of these companies. On top of this, the video points out that companies are expecting that they will have to change their entire business and financial structure if they lose even one of these cases, out of fear that it will set off a chain of dominos across the legal system. Remember, while I did say that it's "practically unlikely" that your average case will result in these companies losing, it is not impossible. The overwhelming majority of lawsuits almost never make it to trial for the simple reason that "anything" can happen in a trial, especially a jury trial, and so they want to resolve things before it ever gets to the point. But if they don't and it does come to trial, they're trusting a judge they don't know, and possibly a jury they have no control over, to rule in their favor. But we're not done. If a single company loses a single case and have to change their entire business model, it will be like trying to stop a runaway locomotive. Either making a change that will not actually take effect for some time (Which will result in even MORE lawsuit occuring, as you'll have some activist lawyers looking to make a quick buck), or derail the entire train. People forget just how huge these companies are. A lot of the game we just saw a few nights ago at the VGAs coming from these big companies have spent years in planning and approval. Even more so when it comes to live-service games as you see companies like SquarEnix having to cope with a decade-old spaghetti code in their Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest mobile games (That, despite how much money they bring in, they would rather shut down those games than take the time to fix it beause the problem is just that bad). And the result will be the companies being as aggressive as possible trying to find methods to either severly cut down on their financial expenses (Meaning more studio closures and layoffs ahead), if not making themselves juicy targets for acquisitions (I think we now know why EA allowed themselves to be bought out, they're making it someone else's problem).

>>1748 >New COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule) rules go into place in April that will effectively cut off all revenue (And research) related to data collecting >These new rules require that companies cannot collect ANY data at all about the people using their software/hardware/services without first verifying that the person using said software/hardware/services is not a minor. This includes data collected on teenagers. If the person is revealed to be a minor, then parental conscent needs to be provided before data can allowed to be collected. Doesn't this open the door to people just changing their profile info to list them as "underage" so that companies cannot "legally" collect their data? Total bullshit. The new COPPA rule doesn't mandate this. A bill Congress is considering would require this, but the new rule in April does not. "Actual knowledge" is still required, and anyone 13+ is not affected.

>>1755 So you're implying that the investors are getting into a fit over a law that amounts to nothing? Or is it something else related to it that they could be worrying over?

>>1761 I'm saying that anyone who thinks that the "actual knowledge" standard was changed or that this now applies to anyone 13-17 is an idiot who hasn't actually read the rule.

>Doesn't this open the door to people just changing their profile info to list them as "underage" so that companies cannot "legally" collect their data? No. This is where digital ID comes in to make that impossible.

>>1789 The moment that happens, I'm pretty much checking out of society as there is zero reason or excuse to demand that shit.

>>1791 You won't.

>>1807 Okay, why? What would I "need" with a digital ID for?

>>1808 food

>>1809 What would be taking place that would "require" things to even get to that point?

>>1811 Nothing. One day the state will just tell you that you need to have your digital ID tied to your bank account and then get rid of cash altogether for "national security". Just like how they're doing for the whole age verification bullshit. It's already getting like that in UK.

>>1812 >One day the state will just tell you that you need to have your digital ID tied to your bank account and then get rid of cash altogether for "national security" That isn't how it works. You have to piecemeal this shit. People are not suddenly going to stop accepting cash just because the government says it is "illegal". You're just asking for mass civil unrest that you cannot control in any capacity. And especially when we've seen this all before, and people are constantly coming up with new methods of monetary exchange for the expressed purpose of escaping that. From such a scenario being the exact reason why crypto-currency was even conceived to the rise of Goldbacks over the past few years. >It's already getting like that in UK. That's the U.K., a country that arrests people for making mean tweets and doesn't give a shit about it's own citizens. Especially after the citizens voted for Brexit and the government spent the next several years making that vote almost pointless.

>Hardware sales and physical game spending in the US just had the worst November in 30 years https://archive.ph/uRu7i <That’s according to the latest data from market research company Circana, which tracks hardware and physical / digital software sales in the US. <1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US in November 2025, which is the lowest total since 1.4 million back in 1995. <Monthly hardware spending last month was $695 million, which is a 27% drop compared to last year and the lowest hardware spend in a November in the US since 2005. The article tries to dismiss the game sales numbers as everything "mostly" being digital these days and hwo Circana doesn't account for those, but I don't buy it. So apparently there is a global chip shortage... >Nintendo’s shares slid as much as 4.7% to their lowest level since May, weighed down by concerns that rising component prices, including memory chips, will erode its profit. https://archive.ph/65Iwp >VIDIA is reportedly planning to cut GeForce GPU production by 30–40% in early 2026, citing memory shortages (including GDDR7). >Mid-range cards like RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and 5070 Ti may be hit first, potentially leading to shortages and higher prices for gamers. https://archive.ph/jBEEJ

>>1826 AI Datacenter Niggers are buying up all of the ram and . Put Sam Altman's head on a fucking pike. They're also the ones buying up all of the HDDs and SSDs too and the consumer ones have doubled in price since 2020. Cruical left the consumer market recently to just serve their business offerings.

>>1826 >>Hardware sales and physical game spending in the US just had the worst November in 30 years This is something that anons around here have figured, but it's nice to have some more numerical proof for it. Of course, various media sources and journos will have their reasons for pushing whatever answer they figure is true, either out of ignorance or because of outside influence. But the answer is simple: video games are too expensive of a hobby now. The prices to get into the hobby have gone up steadily over years and years and has evidently reached a breaking point. Theoretically, if one was to do a survey of potential customers, one would find that they are either scrounging up a little more cash to buy a mid level PC instead of a video game console, or they have just decided to try out another hobby. Some may also choose to stick to their old consoles that they feel nostalgia for and just replay old games. The average gamer used to pick up a console to play a few games a couple times a week, maybe to keep up with trends and to have something to talk about with their buddies. But when a certified refurbished PS5 costs $399, and a new one can cost between $500 and $750, the average consumer will hesitate to spend a significant portion of their paycheck just to play games. On top of that, there are no games to play. Nintendo only seems to be doing better because its competitors are doing a lot worse. Their staunch decades long quest to keep their IPs exclusive is the only thing keeping them going because their overall product quality is mediocre. Most likely, this trend will continue into next year and the years after. Even if the economy gets better and people find more money in their pockets than before, it is doubtful that they will see a $750 console in the shop window and buy it. If anything, normalfags will buy the latest smartphone, because even though most of the time the price is clearly a ripoff, at least an iPhone can make calls and fit in your pocket. The Switch 2 is an overpriced Pokemon and bing bing wahoo box, the PS5 is good for letting you play as a little robot jumping on blocks, and according to marketing your smart fridge and bidet are Xboxes now. <vidrel It's interesting how these vtubers all have the same way of speaking, the same cadences and patterns. It's probably a mix of copying each other because talking that way gets views, and the fact that all these girls are of similar personalities behind their avatar (introverted, people pleasers, uses the internet for 99% of their day, etc.). If someone told me an animated 2D png of an anime girl would be calling people cucks live on stream 10 years ago, I would have thought we were in some kind of bizzaro world.

>>1842 >If anything, normalfags will buy the latest smartphone, because even though most of the time the price is clearly a ripoff, at least an iPhone can make calls and fit in your pocket. Even that's questionable because there's been a rising trend of people looking for "dumdphones" for one reason or another: >The Dumbphone Boom Is Real https://archive.ph/repbJ >Is America headed for an age of dumb phones? https://archive.ph/4IBuL >Why Gen Z is ditching smartphones for dumbphones amid a retrotech renaissance https://archive.ph/vF6Es >Dumbphones in demand as parents fight social media access https://archive.ph/cmC3y And I can vouch for this as I've been using a Nokia 2780 (See pic) for the past couple years as my personal phone.

>>1842 >Some may also choose to stick to their old consoles that they feel nostalgia for and just replay old games. >there are no games to play This is me. My best friend has both a PS5 and Switch 2 and is buying games all the time, but they all suck. I simply see no reason to own a new console. Why would I spend a ton of money for games when they have just been getting worse for the past 5-10 years?

>>1842 Buying a used mid-range or even a low-range laptop has near-infinitely more value than a game console nowadays. You get access to an entire library that runs without hitches starting right from the Atari 2600 about up to the PS2 era. Not to mention the whole list of old PC games that you can buy or pirate, and a large selection of contemporary indie games that are lightweight enough to run. Did I mention it can do your taxes too?

>>1842 >vtubers It's basically women trying to be a "pickme" girl to get popularity and money all over again, but this time the theme is terminally online zoomers. Vid related.