Microsoft is pumping up the hype… and the prices
While the hand has been present on Sony and Nintendo for quite some time (on the one hand thanks to its mythical exclusives like God of War Ragnarok or The Last of Us, on the other hand thanks to its games as timeless as they are extraordinary like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Metroid Prime Remastered), Microsoft doesn’t seem to have said the last word yet. After a never-ending battle to buy Activision Blizzard, The American manufacturer has decided to establish itself in the hearts of gamers by showing itself at its best during the Summer Game Fest conferences.
In fact, it was precisely during the latter that we were able to learn news about Fable (the fantasy game with iconic British humor) and Starfield in particular. Presented as true Skyrim set in space, Bethesda’s new game promises to be an epic as long as it’s memorable, and early looks at the game in no way call that aspect into question. However, as player opinion of Microsoft skyrocketed, The company recently announced some price increases, including Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Series X. Information that might deter their new hype a bit is so hard to find, even though we suspect the arrival of Starfield might heat them up slightly.
Are video games more popular among young people than ever?
It’s difficult to find advocates for video games in the traditional media. They are often praised for their violence, for the addictions they can induce, or for the perceived brutality they are responsible for, but we rarely try to give them real credit. When then Sarah Bondone of Microsoft’s executives questioned by our colleagues from CNNit is normal to hope for a slightly different sound.
Following the conferences dedicated to Microsoft organized as part of the Summer Game Fest, the latter had the opportunity to present its point of view on Microsoft’s strategy for the future of video games on Xbox, as well as reviewing its past problems. When asked about player reactions to the fiasco that may have sparked the release of Redfall, Sarah Bond did a very good job of turning the tide in players’ favor:
Our fans are deeply passionate. So when things don’t go the way we expected, the passion, the reaction that you see in that moment, what I see is love. They believe in us, they really want it to work. But I think it’s important to understand that it takes years and years to create great games and build the portfolio we’re sharing with you today.
Later in the same interview, Sarah Bond also returned to the issue of accessibility and the representation of diversity in Microsoft-branded games. It must be said that one of the chief responsibilities of the leader is to support the program.”ID@Xbox Developer Accelerator Program‘ designed to highlight the least represented developers. In her opinion, representation is an important issue in today’s games, especially for young players:
People under 25 spend more time gaming than anything else, even using social media, which is hard to believe. Yet the creators of these stories are not currently representative of the planet’s diversity. And the best way to get representation, I think, is to have different creators.
In addition to the desire to make games more inclusive and diverse, With this speech, Sarah Bond therefore attacks some prejudices that are still stubborn. In her opinion, video games occupy a particularly important place in the lives of young people – and it even goes so far Under-25s spend more time gaming than using social media. Judging by their own words and the numbers, it’s hard to believe. After checking, we could not confirm his wordsalthough it is worth noting that play time is actually greater among young people than other age groups and far exceeds the time spent watching television.
Source: Frameplay
According to data from our colleagues from Frameplay (which are from 2020), 18-25 year olds spend an average of 7.48 hours a week watching a video game, versus just 6.2 watching TV. However, it’s time spent watching online video (and therefore, we imagine, ahead of social media) that tops the list at 9.2 hours per week. We leave you the graph above so that you can observe the rest of the numbers according to the different age groups.
So, while Sarah Bond’s statement doesn’t seem entirely accurate, it does show that video games are indeed an activity that is particularly popular among the under-25s and that this activity doesn’t appear to be decreasing. A positive discourse that changes allegations that we are used to reading here and there.
