This Game Changed My Mind

Summary

In a surprising twist, Asmongold TV discusses how the Oblivion remaster has completely changed his perspective on Elder Scrolls and gaming remakes. Initially skeptical about Bethesda's decision to shadow drop an Oblivion remaster, he found himself unexpectedly captivated by this near remake. The experience highlighted Xbox's strategic move to price the game competitively at $50, challenging industry standards and restoring Bethesda's reputation, especially after the lukewarm reception of Starfield.

Highlights

• Oblivion, once overlooked, reclaims its glory with a remaster that feels fresh yet familiar. 🤩
• Xbox's decision to price the remaster at $50 is strategic, countering the industry's recent trends of higher pricing. 🔥
• Despite Starfield's flop, Bethesda bounces back by green-lighting a project that speaks to its strengths. 🌟
• Oblivion's remaster is more than nostalgia; it's a chance for Bethesda to remind us of its gaming legacy. 🎸
• Virtuous handled the remaster, bringing it into the modern era with Unreal Engine 5 enhancements. 🚀

Key Takeaways

• Oblivion's remaster shows quality trumps marketing: A great game will always find its audience. 🎮
• Competitive pricing can reignite interest and goodwill, taking Xbox's approach to undercut high prices. 💰
• Oblivion proves that paying homage to past classics with modern updates can be a winning formula. 🏆
• While Starfield struggled, Oblivion's successful relaunch hints at a potential shift in Bethesda's fortunes. 💫
• Xbox's vision for the future involves focusing on value and accessibility, challenging competitors. 🚀

Overview

Asmongold TV starts by admitting his initial disdain for the Elder Scrolls series, only to have his mind changed by the unexpected quality of the Oblivion remaster. Released quietly by Bethesda, Oblivion defied expectations with its compelling gameplay and modern facelift, handled by Virtuous. This threw Asmongold for a loop, spurring an engaging discussion about how remakes can triumph when done right.

Amid the gaming industry's current trend towards bloated pricing, Xbox’s decision to release Oblivion at a modest $50 was a stroke of genius. It demonstrated an awareness of market demands and a commitment to value that competitors are currently lacking. This maneuver has reignited interest in the Elder Scrolls franchise and showcased Xbox's long-term strategy to appeal to both nostalgic gamers and new audiences alike.

The video also delves into the broader implications for Bethesda and Xbox. Starfield's failure had cast doubt on Bethesda's capabilities, but Oblivion’s success helps rebuild trust and excitement. With Xbox playing the long game by focusing on customer value, Asmongold suggests this might be the turning point where competition might actually begin to benefit gamers again.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction to Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Its Impact The chapter discusses the game 'Oblivion,' part of the Elder Scrolls series, and its impact. Initially, the speaker had misconceptions about the series, considering it to cater to modern audiences with little depth. However, playing 'Oblivion' altered this perspective, revealing the depth and quality he felt was missing in more recent titles such as 'Starfield.' The speaker expresses surprise and a newfound appreciation for 'Oblivion' that he hadn't anticipated.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Oblivion Remaster and Xbox's Strategy This chapter discusses the unexpected high quality of an Oblivion remaster game that Xbox unexpectedly released. Initially, the speaker expresses skepticism about Xbox's intentions to shadow drop such a high-caliber remastered version. The discourse delves into previous instances of rumors and leaks surrounding game releases that amounted to nothing, making this situation surprising and significant in the gaming community.
• 06:00 - 09:00: Bethesda's Reputation and Comparison with Starfield The chapter discusses Bethesda's reputation and how it compares to the game Starfield. It begins by highlighting Xbox's lackluster track record, noting that many of their games have not performed well commercially. Despite this, there was an expectation that Starfield would be heavily promoted to improve its prospects, but the chapter argues that such promotion was unnecessary. The underlying idea is that the quality of a game determines its success rather than extensive marketing efforts. In summary, a good game will naturally attract players, while a poorly made game will fail regardless of promotional spending.
• 09:00 - 12:00: Reactions to Oblivion's Gameplay and Cultural Impact The chapter discusses the widespread reaction to the remake of a game called 'Oblivion', which has become a major cultural phenomenon on the internet. The author mentions the impressive nature of the game, comparing it to a remake due to its quality and impact.
• 12:00 - 15:00: Oblivion's Remaster Details and Performance The chapter discusses the positive reception and strategic pricing of the remastered version of a popular game. It highlights how the release has generated goodwill among fans and overshadowed competitors, mainly due to its attractive price point of $50. The narrator shares their personal excitement about returning to 'Elder Scrolls Oblivion,' emphasizing the game's renewed popularity and speculating on its potential to influence future gaming trends.
• 15:00 - 18:00: Xbox's Market Position and Pricing Strategy This chapter delves into Xbox's strategic positioning and competitive dynamics in the gaming market, particularly highlighting a moment when Xbox made a significant move against its competitor, Nintendo. The narrative begins with discussions and speculations fueled by online platforms like Reddit and insights from industry insiders like Jeff Grub. Initial disbelief surrounding a rumored Oblivion remake (given Bethesda's history of repackaging rather than fully remaking games) was overturned by Bethesda's eventual confirmation of the remake, marking a noteworthy development in the console gaming landscape.
• 18:00 - 21:00: The Gaming Industry's Overproduction Issue The chapter discusses the overproduction issue within the gaming industry, specifically highlighting the constant release and remastering of games. It mentions a scenario where a remaster of a game was announced to be available for download immediately after a live stream announcement. This kind of strategy generates significant hype, exemplified by the potential excitement for a hypothetical Marowind remake. The remaster in question was handled by Virtuous, a company known for its involvement in various high-profile remaster projects, including Metal Gear Solid, Assassin's Creed Etsio Collection, Batman Arkham Collection, Bioshock Collection, Dark Souls Remastered, and Near Automata End of Yora Edition. The mention of Virtuous highlights the industry's reliance on companies to continually remaster existing games, contributing to the ongoing discussion about overproduction in the gaming sector.
• 21:00 - 24:00: The Future of Xbox and Competitive Pricing The chapter delves into the strategic importance of Microsoft's Xbox in the gaming industry, particularly focusing on its role in the landscape of competitive pricing. It discusses how experienced teams are essential for handling iconic games like Oblivion, emphasizing Oblivion's cultural impact as a pivotal RPG that influenced gaming preferences for a generation. Bethesda's involvement and the expectations surrounding their project, Starfield, as a major release, are also highlighted, showcasing the company's reliance on this new game to solidify their standing in the gaming industry.
• 24:00 - 27:00: Concluding Thoughts on Oblivion Remaster and Xbox's Decisions The chapter discusses the launch issues of a new IP by Bethesda, which, despite initial excitement, quickly lost engagement due to negative word of mouth and streamer disinterest. The chapter highlights the damage control efforts by the narrative lead, who mocked players’ reactions, and developers using copy-pasted replies to negative reviews, justifying design choices as intentional, such as having empty planets in Starfield.

This Game Changed My Mind Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 So, this game came out a little bit ago, Oblivion, and I was so wrong about Elder Scrolls. I thought Elder Scrolls was a millennial Funko Pop modern audience game because I played Starfield and I didn't realize how much we had lost until I played Oblivion. I didn't even know. I had no idea. I didn't think
• 00:30 - 01:00 like the funny thing is that within like two minutes of playing the game, I knew that it was like it was the [ __ ] game. Like that intro was insane. Real. I didn't think that there was any shot that Xbox would want to shadow drop an Oblivion remaster to this level of quality. It just didn't make any sense to me. And on top of that, we've seen this kind of thing happen. I don't even know how many times. The screenshots, the leaks, the rumors, the comparison videos, and all of it led to absolutely nothing. Yep. And even more so, just the idea of it being a shadow drop doesn't make any sense because
• 01:00 - 01:30 Xbox's track record is not that good. The vast majority of their games have not done well. Avowed was a thing. Starfield is not going to be remembered very fondly. So, you would expect that they'd want to give this game the red carpet treatment, but they didn't. To their credit, they didn't need to. You don't need You don't need to have a bunch of marketing. It's just all that's [ __ ] Make a good game, people gonna play the game. Make a bad game, they're not going to play it even if you spend a billion dollars. Don't tell the Don't
• 01:30 - 02:00 tell the companies this because if you do, they might stop sponsoring me though. Remake has taken over the entire internet at this point. I call it a remake because that's exactly what it looks like to be honest with you. Though I am haunted by people's character creations. Good lord people. JD Vance, I know that sometimes I can be overly critical of a lot of games and the industry as a whole, but I have no problem celebrating things that are worth celebrating, and there is a lot worth celebrating here. I don't think that we've seen an all-around home run
• 02:00 - 02:30 from a AAA publisher like this in a long time. This has swung positive sentiment in their direction. It's created a lot of goodwill and it has embarrassed their competition. They did it all for $50. Didn't I say something? Oblivion was only 50 bucks about competitive pricing. I didn't even know that. Today, what we're going to do is we're going to talk about my return to one of my favorite games of all time, Elder Scrolls Oblivion. We're going to talk about its internet takeover and why I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of this in
• 02:30 - 03:00 the future. Xbox just haymaker Nintendo in broad daylight and nobody's talking about it. You guys know it's really nice when they start fighting for our money. This all started the way these things normally do. A few breadcrumbs on Reddit. Jeff Grub dropping some hints. Leakers whispering about an Oblivion remake. Most people didn't buy it, myself included, because Bethesda doesn't do remakes. They repackage their games, remasters, ports, pre-releases. Sure. But a full-blown remake, that sounds like a fantasy. But then it happened. Bethesda confirmed it and set
• 03:00 - 03:30 a date for a live stream the following day. And then right after, the thing is also now that they did this, the amount of hype that would be for a Marowind remake would be just off the [ __ ] charts. that they had announced the game was available for download. The remaster was being handled by Virtuous. If you guys have heard the name, it's because they've been everywhere at this point. These are the same folks that are working on the upcoming Metal Gear Solid remake. They've worked on the Assassin's Creed Etsio collection, Batman Arkham Collection, the Bioshock Collection, Dark Souls Remastered, Near Automata End of Yora Edition, and more. This is far
• 03:30 - 04:00 from their first rodeo, and in fact, they might be the best possible team to be able to handle a game like Oblivion because this isn't just another classic. This is Oblivion, a cultural cornerstone, an RPG that shaped an entire generation's taste. For many of us, this was the blueprint. This was the genre. And Bethesda, they needed this. They needed Even I played Oblivion back in the day badly. Like, I I took time away from playing Halo and World of Warcraft to play Oblivion. Starfield was supposed to be their second coming, a
• 04:00 - 04:30 brand new IP, huge scale, that signature Bethesda Magic, but in space. It launched big, but it fizzled fast. Word of mouth tank. Streamers dropped it in days. Engagement plummeted. And then after that, they went into fullon damage control. Narrative lead Pagarulo was firing off tweets mocking players for not understanding the realities of game development. Devs then took to Steam with copypasted replies to combat negative reviews, saying things like, "Some of Starfield's planets are meant to be empty by design, but it's bad on
• 04:30 - 05:00 purpose. We wanted it to be bad." You can't say the game's bad. We wanted it to be bad. That means it's good. That's not boring. When the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. Certainly, they weren't bored. Guys, what the hell were you even doing? This is a complete mess. Starfield didn't flop because it was broken. It flopped because it was dull. It didn't live. It didn't breathe. It didn't matter more than anything
• 05:00 - 05:30 else. And that opened the door to the question whether or not Bethesda still has what it takes to even make games that people love. And I think that's what makes this remaster such a moment. It's not just a nostalgia bomb. It's a reputation reset. A chance for Bethesda to remind people what made them believe in them in the first place. Even if they I mean to me, like I'm going to just be honest. Bethesda didn't even make this [ __ ] game. Another company made this game and it's a game they made 19 years ago.
• 05:30 - 06:00 So, like I see this happen and I'm not like, "Oh, well, Bethesda's back." No, this is like the Blizzard re-releasing classic WoW and be like, "Oh, Blizzard's back." No, make this game themselves. They green lit it. They oversaw it. They let it exist without mangling it and it worked. Now, I want to be clear about something. This isn't the kind of game that we need to see reach 500,000 concurrent players on Steam. It is not here to compete with today's modern releases. It is here to regain goodwill. It did.
• 06:00 - 06:30 And rebuild Bethesda's brand. I find it hilarious when I go and I read the everwise ex Blizzard president turned sports betting CEO that's now marketing gambling to kids through Twitch, Mike Yabara, said that I'm skeptical about 20-year-old remasters. this guy really uh it's like a really good way to tell like what's a bad idea is you just listen to this guy and you'll know just
• 06:30 - 07:00 whatever he thinks probably a bad idea. It's kind of sad because I thought he was actually like the funny thing is that I think the reason why this guy is so off all the time is because he doesn't play enough video games. because when he took over Blizzard, World of Warcraft legitimately got a lot better. And it's because he was a nifer for WoW. This guy was an unironic WoW nolifer. And he played the game probably as much as I did. But the fact is like he probably didn't play Oblivion. He didn't know
• 07:00 - 07:30 enough about these games. And so his viewpoints are just simply wrong. Not because he's a bad person or like he's stupid. It's just that he doesn't know and he doesn't have the context for it. What was once fantastic now remaster hold up to modern masterpieces like Elden Ring has simply moved from a safe openw world RPG to what Elden Ring brought us all. I would love to be proven wrong but I'm not. Like every single game has to be Elden Ring and of also he's right. Like yeah you're
• 07:30 - 08:00 absolutely right. The combat and gameplay of old games will often times not be as good as new games. And I will even say something this might make some people mad. I think Aval's combat is better than Oblivion's combat. It is, but that doesn't make it a better game. Combat is not the entire game. But I guess if you're a Mythic Plus Andy from WoW, like he is, it is for you. He was proven wrong within hours.
• 08:00 - 08:30 The game exploded on Steam with over 182,000 concurrent players and probably sold millions of copies straight out of the gate. My feed has been wallto-wall oblivion lately. Screenshots, bugs, memes, goof. That's the president. That's number 48 right there, gentlemen. Goofy faces. Pure joy. I've never seen so many grown men misty eyed over a
• 08:30 - 09:00 Okay. Gamerop games like the Oblivion remaster are not here to define the modern era. They are here to remind us and developers of the past and let us revisit it with a new coat of paint. They are made cheap, sub $100 million. They don't need to sell 10 million copies to be viable. Nobody needs Oblivion to stand toe-to-toe with Elden Ring. We need Elder Scrolls 6 to do that. Yes. Why do you think that they released the game for $50, Mikey? Now,
• 09:00 - 09:30 I've been playing it myself and oh man, I'm just going to say it. This has to be one of the hardest. This goes so [ __ ] start screens in gaming history. It's so [ __ ] good, dude. It's so [ __ ] good. Once that theme kicked in, I just sat there staring for like 15 minutes. Total blackout. Is this actually happening? It's wild to think that it's been almost 20. Another thing is like there's no purple. There's no like bright purple and bright green. There's no millennial handwriting. There's none of this. It's
• 09:30 - 10:00 just very simply a [ __ ] badass game. Like, I'm sorry, but like this this is a game for guys. It is ears. Two decades. I usually credit Grandia 2 on Dreamcast for being the game that made me fall in love with RPGs, but Oblivion is the one that coded it into my DNA. People will tell you how revolutionary it was, how open it felt, how immersive it was. But that
• 10:00 - 10:30 undersells it for a lot of us. This isn't just our favorite game. This is the game. This is the one that defined an era. I still to this day struggle to explain what it felt like to play the game. It was a real adventure. Streamline from Marowind for sure was much more accessible, but that didn't really matter. Before Elden Ring was the game that was praised for just letting you go, Oblivion was already doing it. I put thousands of hours into the game without even I I feel stupid for saying this, but like I didn't realize that large scale openw world games were even
• 10:30 - 11:00 possible back then. Like I I didn't understand the scale of Oblivion at all because whenever I originally played it on Xbox, like I was like 15 or like 16 trying. You guys have to understand this is before YouTube guides, pre Twitch. You didn't even know what was coming. You couldn't plan that mystery, that sense of unpredictability. It was electric. I remember getting caught and tossed in jail, ended up invited into the thieves guild. Then I went and I botched a job where I killed a guy by
• 11:00 - 11:30 accident. Like, you just look at the visuals for this, and this is [ __ ] badass. I think that a lot of people really forget the fact that making something look really cool matters a lot. And this looks really cool. Kicked out. And suddenly I'm now being recruited into the Dark Brotherhood. I would spend hours just wandering the land, finding ruins, delving into dungeons, interacting with everything I could to build up my proficiencies. I forgot that the main quest even existed
• 11:30 - 12:00 until I stumbled over a hill and saw an Oblivion gate in the distance. This was the first time I had ever played a game that was reacting to me, not leading me. You didn't play Oblivion, you lived it. And somehow someway, we get to do that all over again. I don't think people recognize how special of an occasion this is. Well, it's also the voice acting even like it's like you compare the voice acting in this versus like Avoued or um really the main one is Assassin's Creed Shadows and it's just not even the same universe delivered
• 12:00 - 12:30 exactly what this game needed. It is still janky. It's still weird. It's still buggy, but it's sharper, cleaner, and more modern where it counts. They kept the creation engine as the system that is running the game's logic, but they layered Unreal Engine 5 over the top of it to graphically bring it into the modern era. They let it be what it was, but just with a bit more polish. I mean, they still even kept the goofy misreads from the voice actors in the original. I heard that thieves broke into the Arcane University, the Imperial Legion compound, and the temple all on
• 12:30 - 13:00 the same night. Wait a minute. Let me do that one again. Combat feels tighter. The UI Oops. See that? That's the kind of stuff that people love. I love they did that. Yeah, is cleaner. You can actually assign your stats manually instead of just getting locked into a starting class. Small, smart, meaningful changes. That is all this game needed. And man, booting this game up after so many years, it feels surreal. Sure, the
• 13:00 - 13:30 colors could pop more. Performance is a little bit iffy. It's Unreal Engine 5. I do think that a lot of games do have this like piss filter on them that takes the vibrancy of old video games and it makes it more dull and drab. And I think it needs to be fixed. But there's a spectrum between, you know, that and like the super saturated colors of things like Borderland the new Borderlands and like Avowed. But that middle ground is the way that games used to look. Like World of Warcraft used to
• 13:30 - 14:00 be like that too. My reeshade fixed it. Yeah, I didn't even I haven't tried that. Kind of a mess on PC and console. That's becoming a bit of a trend lately. Not a good one. Definitely makes me worried about the future of games with more studios wanting to adopt Unreal Engine 5. But in motion, it's beautiful. The Imperial City glowing on the horizon, stars above the forest, the scope of the game. This is This is it. Feels real. The models. Yeah, to be honest with you, a lot of them actually fall into the uncanny territory. It's definitely not how I imagined some of
• 14:00 - 14:30 these. Unreal just doesn't really do a very good job at making uh skin textures very well. Like I think they can if it's like fully invested into, but in a general sense, I just don't think it's very good. Would look using modern textures, but Bethesda has skipped an entire generation of hardware. It has been 20 years since Oblivion released. It's been over a decade now since Skyrim released. So, anything at this point is going to look otherworldly. This isn't just a remaster. It's a recalibration. This is
• 14:30 - 15:00 not a victory lap, but a course correction. It doesn't prove that Bethesda still has it, but it shows that they remember at least what it looked like. And maybe that's enough for now because Elder Scrolls again, again, again, another company made this still on the horizon. And this could be exactly what they needed to be able to reset the table. I do think that's true. is that my trepidation with Elder Scrolls 6 has gone down with the Oblivion remake because they did oversee this to some degree
• 15:00 - 15:30 obviously and it's pretty good. Didn't need to reinvent Oblivion. That wasn't necessary here. They just needed to remind everyone why we loved it and they did. I feel like this should be the point of making remasters or remakes. It's an opportunity to go back and touch the very games that made these companies who they are. remind them of what players want and then build upon. If Nintendo had any balls, they would um contract out from software to remake
• 15:30 - 16:00 Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past like Elden Ring. Yep. on that. After closing my first Oblivion Gate and watching the flames spew out all around me, my game crashed immediately afterwards. It's such an authentic experience. They really captured what it was like to play it back in the day. I mean, they layered Unreal Engine 5 over the Creation Engine. What did we think was going to be the result of that? But yeah, it's
• 16:00 - 16:30 buggy. There's tons of issues and things like that, but it's just so damn fun to play. It's so fun to explore and it's one of those games where you don't realize how much you missed it until you go back to play it and I've just been enjoying myself. With that said, I do think that this is a reminder that there's a difference between bugs and performance issues. And it's like I said earlier this week, so true. There are a lot of bugs and funny things that happen in video games that give the video games a quirkiness and soul. But you want to
• 16:30 - 17:00 know what one of those things isn't? It's uh when your computer blue screens and then you can't even boot to BIOS. That's not fun. Or your game crashes when it's compiling the shaders. Yeah, that that's not Oh, every game's going to have bugs. Bugs are goofy. Well, what's goofy about this one? Oh, it deletes your save file. Players are going to put up with a lot if the game is fun or enjoyable. Games will be judged by their merits if they
• 17:00 - 17:30 have them. If there is no merit, well then all they're going to see is the negative. Yeah, of course you're not having that with this game because people are just having fun playing. That's how that whole thing works. I know this is a Bethesda project and Virtuous is the one that actually developed it and those guys have been cooking by the way. Holy [ __ ] But Bethesda needed something after Starfield. That game I don't think people realize how much damage that did to their reputation. You have to keep in mind that before Starfield, it's been over a decade since Bethesda released a
• 17:30 - 18:00 new game, which means that in that time, an entire console generation, the gaming market, they released Skyrim 10 times. But yeah, it has tripled. There's triple the players, triple the money. And with that, Starfield ended up being people's first taste of Bethesda. That was me cuz I played Oblivion whenever I was so stupid that I didn't even know what I was doing. Like all I knew is that I bought a house and I put all the swords in the house and then I would go and kill people and put their swords in my
• 18:00 - 18:30 house. That was it. That's all I did. And it tasted like [ __ ] You have to do something about that. You can't let that sit out there like that. Putting out an Oblivion remaster at this level of quality, that's going to that's going to give you a much better reputation, especially for the price that they put it at. 50 bucks. Here's the thing. This isn't just a Bethesda decision. This was an Xbox decision. They were the ones that said, "Hey, we need to go." I'm telling you guys, Xbox is cooking. I know they did those price increases and [ __ ] them for that, but Xbox is going to
• 18:30 - 19:00 be where it's at. I'm telling you guys, make an Oblivion remaster. I talked to a couple people and they said it wasn't even Bethesda that actually pulled the trigger on it. It was Xbox. And it was a smart choice by them, but they've had a rough go of it for the last decade or more now. The Xbox One series didn't do very well with them. The now Xbox series is not doing very well for them. The competition is they don't care. I think that Xbox sees the future. The future is cloud gaming. And if they can
• 19:00 - 19:30 develop Game Pass and build a foundation and like a effective monopoly with Game Pass and video game digital distribution through Game Pass, then as soon as cloud gaming happens, everybody will transition over to Game Pass because it will be easier to do and they'll have a complete market control. I think Xbox is thinking about this in 20 years and 10 years right now. And I think they're making the right calls. Sounds like hell. No, it's not. It's going to be great. I'm telling you guys, it's what's going to happen. That's I I think
• 19:30 - 20:00 they're laying the They've been laying the foundation for this for like the last five or 10 years them like it's a damn tradition at this point. And you know, a funny thing happens when these companies get backed into a corner. They start looking for other options. they start trying to fight back and they start swinging like they should have swung a long time ago. And in the case of Xbox, it's pricing a game fairly. You know, Nintendo just announced a $90 Breath of the Wild plus DLC remaster.
• 20:00 - 20:30 And then here comes Xuck Xbox with one of the most renowned and one of the most well-known games in Bethesda's entire game catalog. and they put it out for 50 bucks. Yeah, that's not a coincidence. This isn't some bargain bin bundle half-hearted reskin. This is a nearly full remake of one of the most influential RPGs of all time. Not just with visual upgrades, but rebuilt on Unreal Engine 5, packed with
• 20:30 - 21:00 DLC, improved systems, better combat, and a UI overhaul. It is on the same level of fidelity and scope as the Demon Souls remake from Bluepoint. And that game, that's [ __ ] true. that remake because like every remake before that was garbage and the Demon Souls remake changed my entire perspective on remakes. It was so insanely [ __ ] good. I I was shocked by playing it. Launched at $70 and still cost $70
• 21:00 - 21:30 today. And yet here we are with Bethesda and Xbox just dropping Oblivion for $50. Not 60, not 70, not 90, 50. That alone makes it one of the most important releases of this year. Not because of what the game is, but because of what it price represents. Yep. In an industry that's currently feeding on its own customers, where publishers have spent the last four years normalizing $70 as the baseline and now pushing into the $80 to $90 range without even blinking. This isn't just a fair deal. It's a challenge, a correction. And I don't
• 21:30 - 22:00 think it's a coincidence. I think it's a deliberate, calculated decision that's signaling two things loud and clear. Xbox knows that the industry is overreaching and they plan to undercut it. At least that's what I think also another big reason is that you can make every argument like I have about the um complexities of uh let me sorry I'm like I'm drawing a blank for a second. Uh the complexities of like inflation, video game development and everything like that. But none of that is going to tell a person who is like basically uh
• 22:00 - 22:30 financially insecure that they should spend their last $70 on your game. That's the reality is that like you can make every argument for inflation and every single argument can be right and it will not matter. Nobody will care. Makes the most sense from my perspective because Xbox isn't doing great. They haven't been doing great. Why did they do that?
• 22:30 - 23:00 long time since the disastrous release of the Xbox One, the brand has struggled to find its identity. They lost ground to PlayStation during the last generation, and they never fully recovered. And now, here we are in the Xbox Series era, and things haven't gotten any better. If anything, they've regressed even further. Xbox console sales have completely tanked, while PlayStation is out selling them at twice the rate. The Nintendo Switch is likely to be the most sold console in gaming history, breaking over 150 million units sold. If we look at the last two years, oh god, Nintendo, it's crazy how good
• 23:00 - 23:30 Nintendo is. I I feel like the Switch 2 isn't going to be that big of a deal, but I always feel like they're on the edge. Years of their game releases. Hi Rush is arguably the only respected release. Redfall blew a hole in the ground. Starfield was me'd on for months. South of Midnight was an interesting game, but it's not really going to be pushing any units. and I'm sure some people played. Jesus, man. Do you remember whenever I said this that a vowed was going to get 40 or 50,000 players? Do you guys remember when I said
• 23:30 - 24:00 that? [ __ ] I thought you I I'd hope people had forgotten. I I really I thought for sure like after the early access more people would buy the game. There's like there's no way that like nobody else is even going to play it, right? And it was. Why not check it again? Why? What was it? It was a game. That's what people say at least on Game Pass. It's ironic really.
• 24:00 - 24:30 Xbox has essentially returned to the exact position that it was in before the Xbox 360, the forgotten platform. Well, here's the thing. The reason why Xbox fell off is actually because of the Xbox One. I believe the Xbox One was released or uh announced with a number of I would not even say consumer unfriendly. I would say consumer detrimental and insulting to consumers features. Uh you
• 24:30 - 25:00 could not resell games for the Xbox One. The Xbox One always had to have a camera uh attached to it and it always had to be connected to the internet. Sony went out and this is the beauty of the free market. Sony went out and they said, "Nope, that's dumb." And they released the PlayStation 4. Completely [ __ ] blew Xbox out of the water. I was an Xbox fanboy. After they made those decisions, I was a Sony fanboy. And I
• 25:00 - 25:30 have a PS4 right over there. I don't have an Xbox One. I got a PS5 right there next to me. I think that they don't I don't think Xbox realized how much damage that dealt to their brand by having a lot of people like me that just don't trust them anymore, right? In a lot of ways. Like and like I I I started to trust them again and like it's okay and I All right. All right. All right. But it took a long time. Worst generation to lose. Yeah. I still have my PS4. I watch my
• 25:30 - 26:00 PS4 every day. I watch Xbox on. We be getting a Switch, too. Yeah, I'm getting a day one. I'm getting a day one Switch. We're going to play Mario Kart. Play whatever the [ __ ] else. Yeah, for sure. 100%. Technically confident, but no killer identity. Much of that I blame on the loss of Halo fumbling your mascot and what your console is known for is going to have some pretty harsh consequences. After I heard those dick suckers over at Xbox didn't want to have a collab episode in the secret door or whatever those like different series where Master Chief teams up with the
• 26:00 - 26:30 Doom guy. That really worried me. That really stressed me out. Like I I was like how could you not do that secret level? Yeah, there was. If there's a season two, that had better [ __ ] be in it. But as the hardware battle is drug on, they have been put in a corner. They have to start fighting back. I don't think this $50 price is a peace offering. It's a pivot, or at
• 26:30 - 27:00 least it should be. This is the kind of move that you make when you realize that your platform has no dominance and your audience is not big enough for you to be able to justify absurd prices. So instead, what you do is you lean into something that you can control. Value. While Sony and Nintendo are too busy extracting maximum value out of their same recycled franchises at inflated prices, Xbox just handed players one of the most iconic RPGs ever made at a price that actually respects their wallet. Well, I think it's transformative enough for people to play it again.
• 27:00 - 27:30 Like, there have been a lot of remasters of games that I just didn't want to play again because it's like, this is basically the same thing, but it's slightly better. But I don't really care. Timing really matters here because you cannot tell me that it's a coincidence that we just saw Nintendo announce Mario Kart World for $80 and a Zelda Breath of the Wild, a 10-year-old game DLC remaster bundle for $90. Xbox undoubtedly is trying to make Nintendo look foolish. They're trying to take advantage of the situation. This is
• 27:30 - 28:00 exactly what we want to see. This is the energy that we need. This is exactly what I hope that we would start seeing. These companies need to be at each other's throats because when they are, players win. Competition. Again, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is the best example I can give of that. There's so competition breeds excellence. Means better games, better prices, and less arrogance. It breeds quality. It forces fairness. The problem is for years now, this industry hasn't had any real competition. Sony and Nintendo don't really compete with one another. They
• 28:00 - 28:30 operate in entirely different lanes. Nintendo dominates the handheld section and family oriented experiences, while Sony rules the high-end console space. And Xbox, well, they used to be the equalizer. They used to be that third pillar that kept the other two in check. But after a decade of missteps, they've lost their power. And with it, Xbox lost the main I think the main strength that Xbox had was Xbox Live. Like that was the one thing that Nintendo didn't have and PlayStation. I
• 28:30 - 29:00 mean, like, get the [ __ ] out of here, right? Um, Xbox Live was [ __ ] amazing. Lost relevance. Now, keep in mind, none of these platforms are trying to compete directly with PC. They don't think players are just going to wall off and go and build a gaming PC. Steam to them is treated like it's an alternate revenue stream, not a rival. And so, with Xbox being largely absent from the fight, Nintendo and Sony have gotten incredibly comfortable, too comfortable. And that's why we're seeing higher prices because without competition, they
• 29:00 - 29:30 don't really have to care what the players think. Nope. But even unchecked, there's a ceiling because eventually that arrogance is going to collide with an even bigger issue, saturation. And I think that Xbox and the pricing, there's just too many [ __ ] games, man. That's the other problem. There's so many things getting released that an average person with a job doesn't have time to consume all of the content. Like, I'll give you one example. I never finished or even played that Mandraora game. remember like that two Dimensional Souls game that I really wanted to play? It
• 29:30 - 30:00 was like kind of like Castlevania. I didn't even play it. I didn't have time and I didn't finish uh there was another one I didn't play. Um [ __ ] what was it? Yeah, I never finished AI Limit. I didn't do AI Limit. Uh I didn't do Kazan. I didn't finish Kazan. Like there's just always new games coming out more and more and more and more. And so it's really hard to even keep up with it unless you're playing games all the time. we just saw may be the first time in
• 30:00 - 30:30 years that they just took a step towards addressing that because the truth is nobody is safe from the looming threat that's been creeping beneath all of these price hikes, remasters, deluxe editions, and seasonal road maps of live service games. The games industry right now is making too much content and it's making it too fast at too high of a price for an audience that is already overwhelmed. I'm seriously wondering if Xbox's pricing of the Oblivion remaster may be a sign that some of these publishers are waking up to the idea that there is an over supply crisis unfolding across this entire industry.
• 30:30 - 31:00 Too many games, too little demand. Mid-tier and even some AAA games are being turned out at record speeds, but the audience simply isn't there to sustain all of it. I mean, it's the same thing with Assassin's Creed Shadows. Like two or three years ago, I probably would have beaten Assassin's Creed Shadows. I would have played all the way through the game. The reason why I didn't, it's just too not enough time. Like in what universe would I want to play Assassin's Creed Shadows when I could beat like a dragon pirate yakuza? Like this is a better game and
• 31:00 - 31:30 so I'm just going to play this instead and I beat it. So that's just what happens. There's just too many too many fish. Just in the last six months alone, we saw Monster Hunter Wilds, Path of Exile 2, Avowed, Marvel Rival, Split Fiction, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Schedule One, Expedition 33, and Oblivion Remastered. All of them dropping in an increasingly crowded marketplace. And that's only scratching the surface of some of the games that were released. I
• 31:30 - 32:00 mean, the whole reason that I was confused and frustrated about Nintendo, have you guys ever said like, I mean, I'm sure a lot of you guys probably like, you know, coming from the same place, right? Have any of you guys also said to your friends, I wish I had like a hyperbolic time chamber so I could play all the video games that I want to cuz I tell this to my friends all the time. I'm like I I actually don't have the amount of time to play the Yeah, exactly right. Like cuz Yeah, for sure. For [ __ ] sure. Yes. A time to increase prices to $80 or analyst thinking that it's somehow healthy for Grand Theft Auto 6 to go up to $100 was
• 32:00 - 32:30 there is simply just too many games in this industry. There's too many games that are out there. players have too much choice. And when supply is that high and demand is so low, prices have to come down to meet demand or you're just going to see more games fail and more studios close. And I think that's what Xbox might be betting on. Not nostalgia, not charity, market pressure. I want you guys to think about it like this. When a remaster hits the market with near remake level quality, full DLC, and a sub premium price, it suddenly looks like it's the best value
• 32:30 - 33:00 in the room because it is the best value in the room. This isn't goodwill. This is strategy. Because unlike Sony and Nintendo, Xbox doesn't have anything left to protect. Their first party titles haven't had any impact. Their platform isn't going to be winning the hardware race. They're dead. Xbox as a platform is dead. Game Pass is the platform. Xbox is simply a vehicle to deliver that platform. Their legacy titles, Halo, Gears, Fable, they've either gone cold or gone missing. Game Pass. No, no, no.
• 33:00 - 33:30 To be fair, to be fair, all they need is one good Halo. They do one good Halo. Fable is good. That's it. They're back. That's it. Just one. Yep. Just one good Halo. That's all they need. Smart in theory hasn't really become the Netflix of gaming like they would have hoped. So, the only way that these guys can compete is through value. And in my opinion, by the way, I think what they need to do is they need to
• 33:30 - 34:00 reexplore reach. I think the future of Halo is Reach because it creates a multiplayer foundation. That makes sense. Not Gears. Well, no. I I didn't say Gears because I think they're making the exact right call with Gears. Eay looks [ __ ] amazing. Like, I'm going to play the [ __ ] out of that game. It's going to be awesome. So, I don't have to worry about that because it's already happening. You still believe in a good Halo? I think they need to fire 343. How the [ __ ] can
• 34:00 - 34:30 you make bad products for 10 years and still not be removed? I mean, I know that they like renamed a studio to like the Halo studio, but like really, I mean, it's just the same thing. Why I think Xbox might actually be learning, not because they care more, not because they've suddenly wanted to become more consumer first, but because they're desperate. They've lost too much ground to be able to play by the old rules. So, now they're going to start trying to test out some new ones. out of the three major platform holders, they are the weakest, but they're also the
• 34:30 - 35:00 most dangerous, especially given the fact that they have done away with console exclusivity. So, if they start slashing prices, that's going to become a problem because they're not just going to be doing it on their platform, they're going to be doing it on their competitors platforms as well. I'm really hoping that this isn't just some one-off play because this could be the start of a winning strategy. Think about the games that Xbox has in their pipeline. Doom: Dark Ages, Gears of War, Eay, Fable. These aren't throwaway titles. These are high-profile IPs with built-in audiences. If Xbox sticks to this model, competitive pricing, multiplatform releases, they could
• 35:00 - 35:30 position themselves as the one major publisher that's actually in touch with reality. Now, to be clear, I don't What a [ __ ] shock. By the way, I would have never expected this from Microsoft. You remember when Witch came out and everyone was [ __ ] on it because it wasn't Halo 3? No. Like, I I I read I I read the Halo trilogy books when in ninth grade. So like for me like Reach was awesome. Like I was so excited for Reach. So I I didn't I don't remember
• 35:30 - 36:00 seeing that at all. They people didn't like ODST because it wasn't you know like the Spartans but uh other than that I remember reach was really positive. The one major publisher actually in touch with reality. Now to be clear I don't think that's actually going to happen. I don't have a lot of faith in this industry or these publishers to think that these guys are going to have the foresight to realize that if you slash your prices in response to your competition increasing theirs, you're going to be able to reach higher
• 36:00 - 36:30 revenues. You're going to be able to reach a much wider audience. But if anybody could do it, it would be Xbox. They're the ones that are the best positioned to be able to pull this off in the first place. Their games are largely subsidized through Game Pass to begin with. They already have done away with console exclusivity. So, you're going to be cutting prices on their platform. Imagine how much that would suck to be them. Imagine the impact of a game like Doom Dark Age is dropping for 60 instead of $70. I know it's already at 70 right now. Or 60 instead of 80. Because like
• 36:30 - 37:00 the more that they maintain the same prices and the more that everybody else increases their prices, that's a larger pricing difference every single year. But this is a hypothetical more than anything else. I wish these companies would wake up to realize this. The problem is these guys, for the most part, have banded against us. They've been working together. They've been following one another rather than actually competing with one another. And because of that, things have been
• 37:00 - 37:30 incredibly unfair for us. You know, I saw somebody that was very upset with the fact that I was talking about The Elder Scrolls Oblivion and its remaster and how much I've been enjoying it and I've been memeing on Twitter and stuff about it and what mad and they said that you cry for change but you keep handing them money. We only Why would somebody That is the change you What? What? But Oblivion is good. So what? What?
• 37:30 - 38:00 Like buy good games, don't buy bad games. Like what? What are they doing? Change if we vote with our wallets. Yeah. And voting with your wallet doesn't mean not buying anything because things really aren't going to change and that's not even realistic to begin with. People are just going to buy something instead. But supporting a near remake like Oblivion for $50 is the exact kind of message that you want to send. You want to reward good behavior. Don't buy the bad games. Buy the good games. You're not going to What?
• 38:00 - 38:30 Good behavior. Don't buy the bad games. Buy the good games. You're Oh, I've been doing it wrong this whole time. We're not going to We're not winning anything if you're not buying games that are actually good or worth. that you want to send a signal to these companies saying I got to get a refund on a few games right now and then they'll make more of it. Essentially, that's how it's supposed to work. Whether it actually
• 38:30 - 39:00 does, I guess we'll find out in the future. But yeah, I've been having a lot of fun playing Oblivion. It has been so great to return back to the game. Oh man, it's been so long since I've played in a a Bethesda title to begin with. I think I only played like 15 hours of Starfield before I gave it up, but I've just been having a lot of fun. I played 60. You didn't miss anything. fun. It's It's honestly one of my favorite games of all time. So, it's kind of surreal that they even made a remaster like this in the first place. It's been blowing my mind, though. I
• 39:00 - 39:30 still need to play Expedition 33. That's my next That's my next one. Marathon Alpha. Apparently, Bungie wants to talk to me. We'll see how that goes. Bro, like Marathon, like they had to extend the alpha. I really think they have to let it cook. I mean, like the fact that like isn't it sad that that What's that [ __ ] game that everybody's playing? You know who I talked to about this last night? Poke. I
• 39:30 - 40:00 talked to Poke about this. He's playing this new extraction game. What is it [ __ ] called? Arc Raiders. Yes, apparently everybody loves this [ __ ] Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the video. Hope you guys have been enjoying Oblivion. I'm going to be playing a little bit more of it tonight. Hopefully I'll play some Expedition 33 as well. But yeah, outside of that, stay cool, stay righteous, stay safe. I'll catch you guys in the next one. Man, family, it's really good to see Xbox making good decisions. I'm I'm happy. And I actually
• 40:00 - 40:30 think that, and I know this might sound crazy. I'll link you guys the video. Give it a like. Uh this is definitely a great [ __ ] video. Um I I I think that Xbox right now is the most consumerfriendly. Um, I think that they give you the most freedom. They don't force you to buy their consoles because they release on PC on day one. It's the most consumerfriendly publisher in the