Pretty much this.

But there are counter-examples to that as well.  Speaking as a Halo fan, I think critics were quite nice to Infinite.  I loved my time with it at launch too, but not having Forge nor co-op was a fair sticking point when weighing someone's overall score.  Having it hover in the high 80's doesn't suggest a tax.  

Plus, The Coalition's Gears titles are given a fair shake.

Rightly or wrongly and I would say wrongly, Starfield is going to be massively scrutinised now, due to Redfall and it being "Xbox's last big AAA since Halo Infinite" or some other silly measure of why a game completely unrelated needs to be absolutely perfect with no flaws. There is a higher pressure, higher level of expectation on 1st party developers as well.

We've seen with Redfall how many people lost their damn minds, nowhere near the same amount of backlash that Wolfenstein Youngblood received and I don't even think Fallout 76 had this level of backlash, sure it scored around the same mark but I feel like most people moved on way quicker from it and didn't suddenly go "Bethesda doomed, Doom Eternal now has to be perfect because of Fallout 76, I'm worried for Doom Eternal"

We've already seen it in the media, Redfall was bad and now a bunch of folk in the media are saying that Starfield needs to be absolutely perfect, even some at IGN were saying a 9/10 won't be good enough, some were saying a 10/10 won't matter because the game now has to be transformative. There's Youtubers saying about how Starfield now has to be perfect, etc.

People are going to have their glasses out for Starfield and laser focused on every single issue that pops up unless they chill out before now and then and stop expecting Starfield to be Gods Gift to Gaming. Imho Halo is scored fairly, Infinite definitely doesn't deserve to be anywhere near Halo 5. Since we're on the topic, Prey was hugely underscored by reviewers and that's a very popular opinion.

Anyway, I actually feel sorry for Todd's team now, when he set out making Starfield he probably didn't imagine he would have the weight of Xbox on his shoulders and all fanboys now laser focused on him and his team. His team must be under immense pressure right now and seeing the media say stuff like "Your game must be perfect! a 9/10 and even a 10/10 isn't good enough if it isn't transformative!" must be a bit daunting, Lol.

Ah well, they'll hopefully chill after the showcase, until Starfield is announced at 30fps

GameRant is a low quality clickbait website though and always have been, it isn't Xbox specific, the site is just plain bad.

Well coallition is great , they made Gears 5 in 3 years, co op from the start,  has still one of the most impressive graphics, Got excellent Dlc, even in 2 years after launch did excellent updates even when the first months were rough during covid and they had to resort to do some dripfeeding.

Their is no tax, thats a typical fanboy thing to say even expecting great reviews for new bethesda rpg's is based on fanboy talk.  Sure MW/Oblivion/Skyrim/F3 did well but their last game Fallout 4 had issues , similar issues like a Far Cry 6 or AC valhalla have,  feeling repetitive + adding stuff that doesn't really add much to the game or were for most gamers barely fun and then we are not even talking about the DLC , if Far Harbor did not come out the game would have had one of the worst DLC's in the RPG industry especially compared to games like the Witcher 3...    Well in a month we know more I just hope the MTX rumours are not true.

This is another nice example, I saw those Youtube videos popping up the moment that was seen, as soon as the speculation began, we have garbage like "BIG XBOX FAIL" in the titles. Some of these guys are absolutely desperate for negative news.

Anyway, ESRB uses the "In-Game Purchase" tag for DLC Expansions and if it isn't that it's very likely Creation Club.

Horizon: Forbidden West - ESRB

• In-Game Purchases (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5)

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart - ESRB

• In-Game Purchases (PlayStation 5)

But of course, people ran with the most negative without doing a bit of research (not directed at you but the Youtubers, Articles).

Big missed opportunity by not making an Xbox handheld and opting for Asus instead. This is what would make Microsoft increase their console marketshare contrary to Phil's position that they can't grow marketshare in console. They just need to be bold and make such device. The chip in ROG Ally from what I understand is already more powerful than Series S. It would be great if MS launches handheld Series S let's say next year.

Don't worry. I did the same. Not participating in "Square Enix boycott".

Too bad Itagaki hasn't made a good game since who knows how long.

Sorry for late response, but no I didn't

And here comes late bingo card

Are people expecting Starfield to run smoothly beyond 30fps?

Given how massive and ambitious the game is, with the amount of interactive assets Bethesda RPGs are known for, it seems unrealistic to expect a console build to run near a stable 60fps without massive hits to graphic settings and resolution.

While it'd definitely be good to at least have some kind of performance mode ready for launch, I honestly hope the showcase uses a Series X build at a locked 30fps, that way people don't get wrong expectations.

Gears (of War) 5 did have more immediate & varied content at launch, but it had some rough bugs & technical issues.  I remember having to restart the campaign a few times & connecting for competitive MP was spotty.  The rollout of updates to mitigate these issues was pretty good, but it's another mid-80s score that doesn't suggest unfair treatment.