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DF Direct Weekly #236 Is Now Available (Patreon)

Published:
2025-10-18 20:21:26
Edited:
2025-10-21 18:07:17
Imported:
2026-06

Content

UPDATE #2: Final video downloads attached!

UPDATE #1: Thanks for the reports on lower than expected (R)OG Ally results - we have rebenched with a fully fresh install and the corrected Direct will go public tomorrow, along with new downloads here.

ROG Xbox Ally X is "in the house" and Rich describes his first couple of days in the review process. Alex answers the big question as to whether new PC games stutter more than older ones, while Oliver gets to grips with Black Myth Wukong's latest patch on PlayStation, complete with Lumen-free performance mode. Finally, next-gen Xbox and PlayStation spec leaks are gathering pace - so what do we make of them?

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Files

DF Direct Weekly #236: Xbox Ally X Review-In-Progress, Next-Gen Spec Leak Comparisons, New PS5 Pro!

Digital Foundry is now fully independent! Join the DF Supporter Program and support the team: https://bit.ly/3jEGjvx ROG Xbox Ally X is "in the house" and Rich describes his first couple of days in the review process. Alex answers the big question as to whether new PC games stutter more than older ones, while Oliver gets to grips with Black Myth Wukong's latest patch on PlayStation, complete with Lumen-free performance mode. Finally, next-gen Xbox and PlayStation spec leaks are gathering pace - so what do we make of them? Go here to check out DF merch! https://store.digitalfoundry.net Subscribe for more Digital Foundry: http://bit.ly/DFSubscribe Gamers Nexus animation error video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDnXe6N8h_c 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:54 News 1: ROG Xbox Ally X first impressions and benchmarks! 0:31:28 News 2: Black Myth: Wukong patch brings Xbox updates to PS5 0:42:23 News 3: Did old PC games stutter less? 0:57:52 News 4: Latest Xbox Magnus rumours suggest large, expensive die 1:10:38 News 5: New PS5 Pro features subtle revisions 1:16:35 Supporter Q1: What does Alex think of Mark Cerny’s recent Project Amethyst announcements? 1:26:47 Supporter Q2: What does Microsoft’s collaboration with AMD look like? 1:33:59 Supporter Q3: Should Nintendo release a docked-only version of Switch 2? 1:36:43 Supporter Q4: Any thoughts on the recent Gamers Nexus animation error exposé?

Comments

BespokeEP

The problem I have with Xbox becoming more PC like with tweakable settings is; the main reason someone chooses console over a PC is because they don't want to be bothered with that stuff. I don't want to worry about seeing if I can gain 3fps by changing my shadow quality from medium to low. I just want to turn my game on and play it with the best possible settings at a stable frame rate. And Magnus will always be at a disadvantage to a PC, cause with a PC I can upgrade individual components, and Magnus will be at a disadvantage to PS6 because PS6 can use as much unique custom hardware as it wants, because games will be developed around that specific hardware, where Magnus needs to be mindful of things to maintain PC compatibility, using pretty much all off the shelf parts. Devs are not going to add something special to the PC code that only Magnus can take advantage of. It's sad but I predict that Magnus will have a lot of devs not bothering with "Xbox" versions of games, cause why would they bother if every Magnus owner has access to steam. I'm still concerned with how XB plans on making money next gen if GP only accounted for $5b of the $23.5 total revenue... I mean most of their revenue comes from 3rd party sales

Ian

Rich - something is going on with benchmarks. Be worth understanding because on the face of it yours look an outlier. For example the Phawx benchmarked cyberpunk 2077 on ally x and new Xbox ally x and saw a 20% difference at low TDPs but at 25W the difference was 5% at 1080p. I know you were using 35w v 30W but every other benchmark has shown declining advantages as the TDP is raised. Do you have some better drivers or something going on?

GovNerd

So not only do ASUS want us to believe there is such a place as the ‘Republic of Gamers’, we’re now told this purported nation has several ‘Allies’. DF need to come through with a full ROG geopolitical analysis video ASAP.

Ian

Are Xbox simply going to sell hardware at profit to avoid the billions of subsidy they normally receive from Microsoft and then forgo third party 30% cut to just be able to sell their games everywhere? Presumably sees lower revenue but higher margin. I suspect that’s exactly what they want to achieve. The issue for them is can the higher margins compensate for the drop in revenue to keep profits consistent. I don’t know. I’m not sure they know either.

Bulbous_Bow

I was thinking this while listening. Can’t say as a layman who is right and who is wrong, of course, but my first thought was if Rich’s OG Ally has some kind of issue

BespokeEP

3rd party sales have the best margins because you make 30% straight profit off of every sale. The problem with making a profit off hardware is, it's a one time thing, you make say $100 off of this person, and that's it where having them invest in your store gives you recurring revenue. I mean sure MS will sell 1st party games everywhere but the budgets/operating costs of running all those studios has to be insane. Remember Xbox has 2x the amount of employees as PS, plus 2x the amount of studios, so not only do they have to pay 2x the amount of people, they have to pay 2x the amount for utilities, equipment, studio leases. I also don't know who Magnus is for. If you have a steam library, you obviously game on PC and will continue to game on PC. If you are an Xbox console gamer and haven't switched to PS or PC by now, you likely never will, so having steam on your console doesn't interest you. But i imagine most devs won't bother with Xbox "console" versions of games because they have the ability to buy it on Steam, and if there is no Xbox console version, there is no play anywhere either. Its unfortunate how many people have to lose their jobs before MS realized that they should have never bought ABK or Bethesda and should have concentrated on being a good software company

Ian

The third party sales cut is not pure profit though because it relies on you subsidising a hardware platform - we know that cost Microsoft $1.5bn in hardware subsidy alone in the year of the series consoles releases and then there is all the platform stuff. Plus one assumes their cut is lower and lower these days as the Xbox user base dwindles. The margins of third party publishers are higher no doubt than those of the platform holders. It’s a question as to whether that can compensate for lost revenue or not. My assumption is they will be closing more studios and laying many more off - I mean they will have to scale their business to reality and they are despicable enough that they won’t care how horrendous it all looks and is. I kind of think MS have decided that they don’t care about having a console platform and that’s presumably completely down to a lack of margin in the business and obviously their failure to actually generate any growth. But for MS Sonys margins aren’t attractive. So even if they made a console platform more successfully they still are not meeting the expectations of the senior management in Microsoft.

Ian

I’ve seen the exact benchmark rich has done in cyberpunk - with the only difference being they used FSR quality rather than balanced showing a 26% advantage - which is much more in line with broader suggestions. I think rich has some secret drivers for the Xbox ally x that are unlocking some extra performance!