Good to See Xbox Trying Some New Things - Delayed Input

Welcome to Prankers.

Today I'm gonna prank my dad into funding
a God of War Game-as-a-Service.

KYLE: This week, we were
graced and inconvenienced

by a brand-new Xbox Developer Direct.

Last year I thought it was funny

that they used the exact same
opening song 2 years in a row.

[bright music]

Now, this year it would be silly
to assume they'd try anything new.

It's copy and paste at this point.

[same bright music]

Why that's weird is that Xbox's whole business
has changed dramatically since January of 2023

and so has its marketing.

But for some reason,
the Developer Direct remains unchanged.

Someone at Microsoft likes these
exactly the way they are.

But you know what?

That makes the small ways in which they
are different stand out even more.

Here are:

Firstly:

For some reason,
there was a brand-new warning

at the beginning of
this year's presentation.

I'm not sure that would
stand out to anyone, right?

That doesn't seem unusual.
But Xbox has never done that before.

Even looking at their
most recent game showcase,

all they had was this
Mature Content warning.

But the Developer Direct warning
doesn't stop there.

Turns out,
it's not really a warning.

It says:

Oh, got it!
So this is just commercial time.

Back when Xbox deleted day-one benefits
from the regular Game Pass tier,

I was making light of the fact they
couldn't say their favorite phrase anymore,

"Day 1 with Game Pass."

Look, Game Pass Ultimate
is the one that has Day 1 games.

Core and Standard do not.

How silly of you to think
Standard Game Pass would have Day 1.

But they just keep saying it.
Nothing's actually changed.

You gotta read between the lines.
PC and Ultimate is implied here.

[HONK]
You know what,

you'll figure it out
when you get to the website.

The good news warning continues:

It sits in the same portion
of a presentation

where you would typically have
some sort of disclaimer.

However, at this point,
it is purely commercial speech.

And this, to me, IS Xbox right now.

This is the current mission statement
of the Xbox brand.

Finally:

appears
and then a silly little animation for it.

And that's really what they give you.
They give you a little show.

Less than ever, this feels like
developers directly talking to you

and more like they're just
putting on a little play for us

that was written by their PR managers
who are grinding their teeth backstage.

Consider this moment here.

MARTY STRATTON: --at our
most ambitious game yet.

This is Doom: The Dark Ages.

HUGO MARTIN: That was so stupid
I mouthed the words.

[everyone laughs]

KYLE: I think that's a fun,
honest, humorous moment.

However, it is only funny,
it can only exist,

'cause everything up to that point
WAS rehearsed, WAS scripted.

It's funny because of how weird
everything else feels.

This could be filled with developers

genuinely talking off-the-cuff about
what they've been working on,

but for the most part, it's fluffy,
meaningless mission statements.

JASMIN ROY: At Compulsion Games,
we love to craft around central themes.

Another big difference between
Developer Directs in previous years is:

The very indignity of seeing PS5 advertised
in an Xbox showcase.

Now, one might think,
"Obviously in previous years

they were all Xbox exclusives.
There was no opportunity to put PS5 in here."

But no, look at Visions of Mana
and Minecraft Legends here,

free from the blight
of PlayStation references.

By the way, they only did
these funny doodles Year 1.

They stopped that immediately.

But yeah, even as recently
as last year's Xbox Showcase,

they didn't mention the PS5.

But why would you?
You don't do that kind of thing.

Nintendo doesn't do that.
Sony doesn't do that.

You don't talk about-- You don't
advertise other people's consoles.

That's ridiculous.

[drawl] Well, lookee here.

While this may not seem like
a big deal at first glance,

it is the indubitable flag
representing the pivot.

"From this day forth," says Xbox,
"We do not fear the PS5.

'Cause remember:

So really, if you buy this on PS5,
you're only hurting yourself.

Really, it's kinda stupid
if you don't give us $20 a month.

Kinda just wasting your income.

Kinda think you're bad at economics."

Last big change,
for the first time in one of these:

Remember,
the beauty of a Developer Direct

is that there are no
manipulative, hotshot trailers,

no fancy editing.
Give me sloppy editing.

HAZEL'S MOM: As long as you
didn't forget the--

HAZEL: --flashlights and batteries.

HAZEL'S MOM: Oh shoot,
we've got 5 minutes.

KYLE: Yeah, that hits the spot.
And you know what else?

I like it when developers are talking,

not reading off of some
teleprompter somewhere.

STRATTON: A lot has changed since then
but our team is as passionate as ever.

KYLE: That's what I'm talkin' about.
Trailers are for other shows.

Developer Directs,
50 minutes of authenticity.

But really, the most exciting portion
of this Developer Direct

was not just the revelation
that a pretty nice Ninja Gaiden 4

is in development
from Team Ninja and Platinum Games,

but also that Ninja Gaiden 2 Black exists
and it looks better than this new game.

And you can:

Kind of confusing sentence.
I see now why they're typing out PS5.

But what I mean to say is,
after all this, I do wonder if

the tried and true Nintendo Direct method
of trailer, explanation, information

is still the best way
to do this kind of thing.

Look at how they introduced Expedition 33.

[somber piano plays]

[French singing]

GUILLAUME BROCHE: Bonjour, everyone.

KYLE: Yeah, they were in no rush
to show you that video game.

First things first,
look at these tall ceilings.

To be clear, though,
I do think Expedition 33

brought the best presentation
of the entire direct,

demonstrating clearly how it's both
similar and different to your expectations,

unafraid to expose its pointlessly
complicated passive effect system,

and a true enthusiasm
to introduce the world map.

Okay, almost true enthusiasm.

Try to tell me when this developer
reiterates that there's a world map,

that it comes off as unscripted.

TOM GUILLERMAN: --a completely 3D
and navigatable world map.

Yes, we've got a world map.

KYLE: To me, it's just incredibly off-putting
how seemingly afraid they are

to just let developers speak freely
in a potentially sub-optimal manner.

"What if it's not entertaining enough?
We could lose viewers."

But, in fairness,
they never promised a documentary.

In fact, I wonder if that WAS a warning.

MENACING VOICE: Enjoy the show.

KYLE: Despite that,
despite the abundant artifice,

I do think Developer Directs are one of the
most interesting ways to present a showcase.

That they really-- They spend a lot of
time on the games themselves.

50 minutes for 4 games
is actually pretty crazy.

And I really, really like that someone
at Xbox recognizes

that some of these mid-budget games
are truly interesting

and deserve the full spotlight.

I don't think it was a better
presentation than last year's

but I'm going to give it a better grade

because my expectations are just
generally sinking across the board.

Therefore:

And that's Delayed Input.
I'll be back next week.

Thanks for watching.

Alright, so one of the things that
actually stands out to me the most

from the entire presentation

is how soft and silly the new Doom looks.

That's right, I'm officially putting
Doom: The Dark Ages

on Dum-Dum Watch.

Doom is dangerously close
to transitioning from

this absolutely unassailable,
cool guy franchise to

an absolute dorkfest,
at least how it's presented.

Doom somehow became some sort of
Do What the Circle Tells You To Do game.

Hit an enemy until a purple circle appears
and then walk over and kill it.

It's made clear, just looking at it,
that the Doom team

is trying to take this franchise in a more
wide market direction.

And they'll even tell you that.

STRATTON: