Defining Duke, Episode 42: Xbox's 20th Anniversary Event + Game Pass Growth Struggles (Video)

#DD Good show guys, I'm new and back every week now.

TheGeneral

Just wanted to say I love you guys, and to shout out from Australia! :D Matty and Cog.. keep up the great work fellas. Your chemistry and energy is fantastic and infectious. Am I the only one that wants to see Brute Force, Blinx and Voodoo Vince return?? Awesome podcast. Dukes Up!!

Ryan H

I'm in agreement with Cog again. Xbox should not devote 1st party resources to VR and by extension should not put out a VR headset of their own without software. But they definitely should allow 3rd party headsets and software. Give the consumer choice and rake in that 30% while you're at it. There is NO reason that VR should be on every major platform besides Xbox and Nintendo. (yeah I know about the weird LABO VR thing.)

Ealia Staroverov

About the Xbox Gamepass growth. You guys are absolutely right. You need to feed the beast. I'm primarily a PC gamer, which is how I am connected to the Xbox ecosystem, and why I appreciate your podcast. However, while I have bought Gamepass for a month here and there several times, I haven't subscribed for the long haul. Ultimately I'm trying to say that when the AAA games start rolling in every quarter, I'm going to have no choice but to get a year just to save money. (And yes I understand Gamepass is a great value and not everything is about AAA games. I do play some indie games. It's just that at the end of the day I have limited time and my tastes just so happen to be in the big budget realm. Although I do really enjoy the occasional game like Journey, Inside, 12 Minutes, Cuphead, etc.)

Ealia Staroverov

I play Xbox titles on PC, but if a Kojima title required the console, I would buy a series X for it. So you are correct, Matty. The Kojima fanboys will come.

Julian Zhu

That's what I thought, and frankly they need to have more normal games out first before they start thinking of VR. But if they ever do, maybe hololens can be a consumer thing by then

David P

Isn't VR antithetical to Xbox's Game Pass strategy? Two core pillars of Game Pass is Play Anywhere and xCloud. VR games require specialized hardware which stops VR software from being inclusive (like say Office products that can be put on Macs, phones, the cloud, tablets, etc.). You can't put VR games on that holy-grail for MS: that TV app that comes pre-installed on that $100 Element TV you picked up at Target. You can't convert a VR game's control scheme to work with touch controls on that cheap Fire tablet parents bought for their kid. (I have both of those things so I'm calling myself out...)

Sorry but I have to defend my boy Kojima real quick. People keep talking about Death Stranding like it didn't do well but the game is mostly loved by critics and fans and is a new niche IP that has sold over 5 million copies, and that's before the Directors Cut released. Love you guys ever since Cog has joined I've watched every episode ❤

Walker Simmons