Been thinking, who are the best horror creators right now? Who would you like to see Kojima work with on Overdose? I consider Mike Flanagan in the top 10 but I now think his type of horror wouldn't fit well with Kojima. Obviously Del Toro is one, Ari Aster? Robert Eggers is top 10 but I found The Witch to be very overrated, Lol. Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead were rising stars but their recent films look like they bombed critically, a shame.

Looks fine to me, an improved version of Hellblade I's combat, it looks "raw" and "gritty" not some fantasy sword fight, I like it.

Just improve Hellblade I's combat but keep the "rawness" of it, less puzzles (or at least, smart puzzles) and more combat scenarios.

Thanks to every reponses about Series performance in sales.

To be honest, it's a bit of a morale killer to see this (it's pretty extreme I admit :P).
It hurts my heart to know that the brand that rocked my childhood could potentially disappear, even if there's nothing to indicate that at the moment, especially with Microsoft's massive investment. (ABK & Zenimax)

I sincerely believe that the Xbox Series is Microsoft's second-best console, behind the 360 and well ahead of the One.
What "pisses me off" is how bad Microsoft is at marketing, especially in Europe.

The days of the 360 are long gone in this aspect.

The problem for me with HellBlade combat is that it was very basic and from the new game nothing has changed that feeling.  It looked like the same basic moves with the enemy doing the same basic attacks.  I am just they type of gamer who is use to games with way more combat options and abilities that make it fun to play.  So far from the first gameplay reveal to the second one, there is nothing about the combat that is giving me that feeling of want to experience it.  Of course I will hold judgement until I get to play it because I have enjoyed many of NT games and their combat before so I am holding out hope.

You can feel good that MS isn't going anywhere anytime soon as far as the Xbox is concerned.  While the hardware may not be MS main focus, its still a very important part of their grand scheme.  Just understand, you do not need to win all the battles to win the war.

I wouldn't be so quick to jump onto the "Xbox is doomed talk".  It's not even at the half-way mark yet in the generation and with the pandemic and stock issues it never had the opportunity to even take off yet.  It is still quite early in the generation.  Games move consoles.  A shit-load of games (heavy hitters) are on the way.  

Personally I believe the Xbox Series consoles have not even had their peak years.  

...and welcome to the site, it's nice to see new faces.

The thing is, the Xbox Series has no real point of comparison with others as they differ in a crucial factor: they don't force consumers to purchase their plastic box to be a consumer in their ecosystem.

You touch a little on this in your first post but I feel many have a hard time realizing what it means and what should be expected as a result.

For me it is simple, you cannot support PC with 100% of your content and expect no impact on the sales of consoles. Therefore,  lower sales of Xbox Series are not alarming, it is exactly what should be expected.

More important is the overall consumer base and on that front Xbox is growing.

Also, to me thinking this will someday prompt MS to stop making Console is still extreme. It is way more realistic, IMO, to expect MS to still make console but change strategy not to sell at a loss from the start. The same strategy that is used by Vavle with the steam deck, Asus with Rog Ally, Lenovo with the Legion Go etc... which enables them to be healthy with much lower volume.

Well, to give you a miniscule bit of hope: I am one of these elusive europeans and even more, I am not even from the UK, I am a german. And yet Xbox Series is my first XBox-console and I am playing it (besides my Switch and recently also a bit more PC).

So why did I join the Xbox camp? Well, two words really describe it: Obsidian and Gamepass. I was really pissed when MS bought Obsidian. But all the wailing was pointless and I had to come to terms with the fact, that there is a place I still can play new Obsidian games. And Gamepass is undoubtely great value. I am too much of an intermittent gamer, so I probably lose money actually, but it makes picking up a new game on a whim also pretty easy. And the paradox is: as a teenager I had a lot of time to play games, but not much money to buy them. Now I have enough money, but not enough time. So I don't really mind "losing" money on Gamepass, but gaining the freedom to decide for a game *now* is worth it.

I am also invested in Nintendo, because they are making unique games. And I use my PC mostly as an indie machine, to experience all the cool stuff. I am not much for one tinkering on my PC setup and thinking about graphic cards, so I prefer the convenience of consoles. For most indies my machine for programming is good enough without thinking too much about power. I had a PS3, but Sony never had enough to get me invested in a PS4, PS5 or Vita. I am not much for the big games like God of War, The Last of Us or Uncharted. I might like Spiderman for the swinging mechanic, that looks fun. But not enough to get me into that ecosystem. Playstation used to have interesting smaller games like Journey, Flower, Patapon, Loco Roco and so on. But Jim Ryan ended that. On the other hand Xbox has Grounded, Pentiment, Psychonauts, HiFi-Rush. I like that a lot and hope MS keeps allowing these smaller projects alongside the big ones. Xbox got a lot better for japanese games (RPGs), but still I have the Switch for that.

So overall: I think Xbox Series is fine and a good console that offers me enough entertainment. It allowed me to play Elden Ring, which I couldn't have with Switch or my weak PC. It gave me Grounded and other smaller games. So yeah, I am content with getting into the Xbox camp. Looking forward to Fable and Avowed.

For the future? I can't really predict what MS wants. But it seems at least at the moment they are invested enough into Xbox, to see that go on at least to another console generation.