Tag: Xbox

Sony responds to Fortnite Complaints

Epic’s Fortnite is quickly becoming the biggest and most popular game in the world. Fortnite released in 2016 and is now on every major console, PC, and iOS. However, recent discoveries by users noticed that they couldn’t use their Epic accounts (Epic studio’s log-in) on other consoles. Sony and PlayStation have received massive complaints from Fortnite players regarding their accounts. If you connected your Epic Account, you were unable to use that account for the Nintendo Switch or any other platform and vice-versa. If you try to log in, you’ll see this image below.

The Nintendo Switch’s version of Fortnite allows you to play with Xbox One, PC, and iOS players while PlayStation players have no cross-console options. Sony didn’t inform players that they would be locked into one account. Essentially, all progress on PlayStation is non-transferable to other platforms including in-game items. Many players are frustrated, including fans of PlayStation such as Gameover Greggy and the PS4 subreddit.

 

Hey, Sony, it would be really cool to have my epic account unlocked for switch and be able to enjoy my money spent on the battle-pass from PS4

Unfortunately, Sony didn’t really respond to the feedback. On the BBC, Sony’s stated “”With… more than 80 million monthly active users on PlayStation Network, we’ve built a huge community of gamers who can play together on Fortnite and all online titles.” So not really a response but essentially they want to keep their players sticking to PlayStation.

Why did Sony do this?

The marketing answer is that Sony wants to focus on expanding their community. Fortnite recently reported that they have 125 million players. While the amount of each player per consoles remains to be seen, Fortnite is heavily promoted on the PlayStation Network and has been seen as the secondary platform to play it after PC.

Sony has a history of not allowing cross-platform for many of their games such as Rocket League and Minecraft. The business answer is Sony doesn’t want their player base to potentially switch to other platforms. By keeping their players to PlayStation consoles, they are less inclined to change over.

While Sony is stating this is for their community, it’s not good for consumers. Preventing players from playing with other consoles is harmful to their image especially if the Switch and Xbox One allow cross-platform play.

Sources:

BBC – Playstation statement

PSU – Fortnite Playercount

Reddit community backlashPolygon – Epic account locked due to PlayStation

E3 Final Schedule – Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox & what to expect

E3 is this weekend! Prepare for amazing trailers, gameplay videos and amazing merch you can’t buy and people you can’t meet. Please come back to see trailers, reviews for the conferences. Jairus and I will also be doing a podcast this month to talk more in details regarding E3 and what was showcased.

E3 2018 Press Conference Schedule and Games to look forward to

Saturday, June 9

  • Electronic Arts — 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST (4 AM AET on June 10)
    • Battlefield V, Anthem, Sports, Star Wars?

Sunday, June 10

  • Microsoft — 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 11)
    • Halo 6?
  • Bethesda — 6:30 PM PT / 9:30 PM ET (2:30 AM BST / 11:30 AM AET on June 11)
    • Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls Online expansion,
  • Devolver Digital — 8 PM PT / 11 PM ET (4 AM BST / 1 PM AET on June 11)
    • Their presentation was amazing and crazy last year

Monday, June 11

  • Square Enix — 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST (3 AM AET on June 12)
    • Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy Vii Remake, Octopath Traveler, The World Ends with You, Just Cause 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest 11,
  • Ubisoft — 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 12)
    • Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Fary Cry 5 DLC, The Crew 2, Beyond Good and Evil 2, The Divison 2
  • PC Gaming Show — 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET / 11 PM BST (8 AM AET on June 12)
    • Always boring
  • Sony — 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET (2 AM BST / 11 AM on June 12
    • Devil May Cry V, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, Spider-Man, Death Stranding, The Last of Us

Tuesday, June 12

  • Nintendo — 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST (2 AM AET on June 13)
    • Mario Aces, Dark Souls for the Switch, Pokemon Let’s Go, SUPER SMASH BROS!!!!!

Nintendo begins selling Switchs’ without Docks

The Nintendo Switch is a unique console that acts as a video game system that can seamlessly switch (pun intended) into a handheld. Some people treat it as a handheld system and rarely place it on the dock or play it on the TV. Out of 148 participants on a GameFaq forum, 17 people would play the Switch without the dock. In Japan, Nintendo has recently been selling the Switch as a standalone handheld.
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The Nintendo Switch Second Set is selling at 24,980 yen which is about $250. You can charge the system with a USB-C adapter. No word on whether it will be released in the West.

Would you buy a Nintendo Switch Second Set?

Sources:

Eurogamer

Nintendo Japan Announcement

GameFaqs Forum

Xbox One Sales numbers released by EA

In this current console war, Xbox has greatly fallen behind PlayStation. End of 2017, Xbox Ones have sold 30 million units worldwide compared to the 73.6 million PlayStation 4. In Electronic Arts‘ reports, they discuss the sales for Microsoft and Sony. In a statement by the CFO, Jake Jorgensen stated “Turning to our expectations for fiscal 2019, we expect sales of current-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony to continue to be strong, with the installed base growing to 130 million consoles by the end of calendar 2018 from 103 million at the end of calendar 2017,” he said. With Sony confirming their sales numbers earlier this year of $79 million, Microsoft makes up for the rest. Microsoft has not officially announced the sales numbers for the Xbox or their gaming division for 2017.

What’s next for Xbox?

Xbox has difficulties staying relevant in the competition. Many of their recent IP releases didn’t sell as many copies as they liked or player base dropped after a few months. Halo 5: Guardians sold 4.8 million units worldwide and Gears of War 4 sold 3.4 million but longtime fans disliked the overall changes. Despite the good sales, the game didn’t leave lasting impressions. Sea of Thieves and Sunset Overdrive are new IP’s that sold relatively well but had a drop off in player numbers after the initial month. Microsoft has been adopting a new strategy by selling some of their exclusive games with cross-play capabilities for Windows. Their backwards compatibility is much better than Nintendo’s and Sony‘s. Their games have better graphics for the Xbox One and if you kept your original copies, you didn’t have to pay any additional cost. Nintendo recently announced there are no plans to bring the Virtual Console store to the Switch and PlayStation 4’s have no backwards compatibility and some ports have performed poorly.  On May 8th, they also announced plans to develop a new studio who will work on new IP’s and are hiring people with “experience shipping high quality titles at AAAA standards.” Whether Microsoft will be able to stay ahead of Nintendo Switch remains to be seen. Microsoft will need to release a huge IP to compete with PlayStation considering their strong year in 2017 with Horizon Zero Dawn and Persona 5 and 2018’s God of War and upcoming Spider-Man game. There is one more month until E3…

Sources:

Variety – EA releases Xbox One’s sales numbers

Variety – Microsoft’s new studio

Halo 5’s sales numbers

Gears of War 4’s sales numbers

Kotaku – No Virtual Console for Switch