Power
Microsoft’s Xbox launch lineup shows how it wants to change the business of games
Let the lineup wars begin.

Borderlands 3 will be available on both the Xbox and PlayStation at launch.
Image: Gearbox Software
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Let the lineup wars begin.
Borderlands 3 will be available on both the Xbox and PlayStation at launch.
Microsoft on Thursday announced a strong roster of games scheduled to be available and optimized for its new Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles when they debut on Nov. 10. While the Xbox list lacks the sort of tentpole exclusive titles that Sony will rely upon to propel its competing PlayStation 5, the Microsoft lineup emphasizes the Xbox ecosystem's breadth and financial flexibility for gamers.
The dueling lineups make clear the differences in the two companies' strategies. Sony — which will release two versions of the PS5 on Nov. 12 — is following a traditional model: offering players big-budget exclusives like Demon's Souls and Spider-Man: Miles Morales while generally counting on gamers to buy new, upgraded versions of games they previously enjoyed on older hardware.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is attempting to change the business of games. The company is offering access to more than 100 high-quality games across Windows, Xbox and some Android devices for around $15 a month in a subscription package called Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. In addition, Microsoft is essentially subsidizing free upgrades to the latest, greatest version of many (though not all) older games in a program it calls Smart Delivery. Some third-party publishers (such as Gearbox Software, maker of Borderlands 3) will offer similar free upgrades for the PlayStation versions of their games as well.
Microsoft is also offering a bundle including both a new Xbox and access to the game subscription for $25 or $35 a month over two years. Sony is not offering a comparable installment plan.
The big name missing from the Xbox launch lineup is Halo Infinite. Halo is Microsoft's flagship game franchise (and features prominently in the new Xbox marketing), but the latest entry in the series has been delayed until next year.
Third-party publishers like Take-Two (NBA 2K21) and Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed Valhalla) generally release their big games for both PlayStation and Xbox systems simultaneously, as will Activision Blizzard with Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War on Nov. 13 and CD Projekt with Cyberpunk 2077 on Nov. 19.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Smart Delivery)
Borderlands 3 (Smart Delivery)
Bright Memory 1.0
Cuisine Royale (Smart Delivery)
Dead by Daylight (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
DIRT 5 (Smart Delivery)
Enlisted
Evergate
The Falconeer (Smart Delivery)
Fortnite
Forza Horizon 4 (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
Gears 5 (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
Gears Tactics (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
Grounded (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
King Oddball
Maneater (Smart Delivery)
Manifold Garden (Smart Delivery)
NBA 2K21
Observer: System Redux
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
Planet Coaster (Smart Delivery)
Sea of Thieves (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
Tetris Effect: Connected (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
The Touryst (Game Pass + Smart Delivery)
War Thunder (Smart Delivery)
Warhammer: Chaosbane Slayer Edition
Watch Dogs: Legion (Smart Delivery)
WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship (Smart Delivery)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Smart Delivery)
Yes, Your Grace (Smart Delivery)
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Astro's Playroom
Borderlands 3
Bugsnax
Demon's Souls
Destiny 2
Destruction AllStars
Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition
Fortnite
Godfall
NBA 2K21
Observer: System Redux
The Pathless
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Seth Schiesel ( @SethSchiesel) is a contributing editor for Protocol focused on the business of video games and adjacent industries. He is a former editorial writer for The Boston Globe, entrepreneur and business reporter, technology writer and video game critic for The New York Times.
Martin Cooper comes on the Source Code Podcast.
Martin Cooper with his original DynaTAC cell phone.
David Pierce ( @pierce) is Protocol's editor at large. Prior to joining Protocol, he was a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, a senior writer with Wired, and deputy editor at The Verge. He owns all the phones.
Martin Cooper helped invent one of the most consequential and successful products in history: the cell phone. And almost five decades after he made the first public cell phone call, on a 2-pound brick of a device called the DynaTAC, he's written a book about his career called "Cutting the Cord: The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity." In it he tells the story of the cell phone's invention, and looks at how it has changed the world and will continue to do so.
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David Pierce ( @pierce) is Protocol's editor at large. Prior to joining Protocol, he was a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, a senior writer with Wired, and deputy editor at The Verge. He owns all the phones.
The current state-of-the-art quantum computers are a tangle of wires. And that can't be the case in the future.
The iconic image of quantum computing is the "Google chandelier," with its hundreds of intricately arranged copper wires descending like the tendrils of a metallic jellyfish. It's a grand and impressive device, but in that tangle of wires lurks a big problem.
"If you're thinking about the long-term prospects of quantum computing, that image should be just terrifying," Jim Clarke, the director of quantum hardware at Intel, told Protocol.
Amid the chaos of major layoffs and top executive departures, Salesforce announced a key acquisition and managed to report blockbuster earnings.
Marc Benioff is the CEO of Salesforce.
Joe Williams is a senior reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software, including industry giants like Salesforce, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. He previously covered emerging technology for Business Insider. Joe can be reached at JWilliams@Protocol.com. To share information confidentially, he can also be contacted on a non-work device via Signal (+1-309-265-6120) or JPW53189@protonmail.com.
On Aug. 27, Salesforce announced it would lay off around 1,000 employees.
The news came as a shock to many. At the beginning of the pandemic, CEO Marc Benioff committed to making no "significant" layoffs for 90 days. (The 1,000 job losses occurred 155 days after that pledge was made.) But any blowback to the announcement appears to have been brushed aside by some of the company's top leaders.
Joe Williams is a senior reporter at Protocol covering enterprise software, including industry giants like Salesforce, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle. He previously covered emerging technology for Business Insider. Joe can be reached at JWilliams@Protocol.com. To share information confidentially, he can also be contacted on a non-work device via Signal (+1-309-265-6120) or JPW53189@protonmail.com.
Apple autonomous cars, AI coffee orders, emailing help and other patents from Big Tech.
See what isn't there.
Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
It's beyond dark out at 5:30 p.m. these days, so perhaps, as you're stuck at home with nowhere to go, you're tempted to log off your bad screen and onto your good screen a little earlier than you should. Perhaps that's what happened over at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as this was a bit of a fallow week for patents from Big Tech.
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Mike Murphy ( @mcwm) is the director of special projects at Protocol, focusing on the industries being rapidly upended by technology and the companies disrupting incumbents. Previously, Mike was the technology editor at Quartz, where he frequently wrote on robotics, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics.
He doesn't make games or invest in them, but he founded one of gaming's biggest events.
Geoff Keighley created, produced and hosts The Game Awards.
Seth Schiesel ( @SethSchiesel) is a contributing editor for Protocol focused on the business of video games and adjacent industries. He is a former editorial writer for The Boston Globe, entrepreneur and business reporter, technology writer and video game critic for The New York Times.
A few weeks ago, a somewhat-serious Twitter thread considered, "Who is the face of video games?"
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Seth Schiesel ( @SethSchiesel) is a contributing editor for Protocol focused on the business of video games and adjacent industries. He is a former editorial writer for The Boston Globe, entrepreneur and business reporter, technology writer and video game critic for The New York Times.