I remember Gabe Newell talking about this a decade ago that he’d like other store fronts on Steam but it never eventuated.
Didn’t he also say he’d be open to Game Pass?
He has a lot of consumer-friendly ideas. It would probably earn some goodwill from his community if another corporation took him up on some things.
I’m not sure why Microsoft hasn’t taken him up on his offer. Are they afraid that more people would stay in Steam? I wonder if Play Anywhere extending across stores starts to alleviate that concern. If more people are creating/maintaining Xbox Live accounts and subscribed to Game Pass, then that means they are one step away from going mobile via the cloud to play on the go. It seems like it could be right up Satya’s alley in terms of driving mass cloud adoption.
Win-win?
Probably because they don’t want to give up some percentage of Game Pass revenue to Valve.
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I don’t know what the terms would be, but would Steam even necessarily want a percentage of the Game Pass sub? Especially if Microsoft is trying to bring Steam to more people without taking a cut?
If what Xbox says about Game Pass subscribers buying more games (and MTX?) is true, then wouldn’t that just benefit Steam sales?
I’m so curious to see how this unfolds. I hope it’s disruptive AF.
I don’t think they’ll allow gamepass in it’s current form because it will take away sales from their store. They will be able to release a publisher version of gamepass for Steam, but there’s no way they can have indies and third party games on it. If they’re going that route. Then I am unsure they even want to have day one games for that version of gamepass
I wouldn’t mind it, but I think Xbox currently likes “having it’s cake and eating it too” by having the Xbox App be the place people go to to use Game Pass and Steam needing full sales to play their games. Similar to their situation with Playstation and Nintendo ports.
I’m hoping that part of opening the ecosystem and have 3rd party systems that run Xbox OS would also be for people to build their own PC to run Xbox OS so they can decide the level of graphical fidelity they want. I’d still need to have access to basic Windows stuff though to use it like a normal PC, but maybe have the option to launch into the optimized Xbox mode when you feel like gaming. Much better than a closed system and you keep the upgradability of PCs.
If I don’t need to buy consoles anymore (can’t live without a PC though!) but get the exact same library as my Series X, it’s even better!
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You guys think that MS will fracturate their userbase on Windows because of “Xbox OS” 
LMAO
Gaming devices like the ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go are sold as gaming devices, but they are PCs at their core. Running windows with a controller doesn’t work really well, which is why MS needs a solution similar to Steam OS which hides Linux and gives you a nice front end that works just like a console, but isn’t a console.
I do think though they need to leave the option for people to also use that device as a basic windows PC. Could all be through the Xbox app though and you set those devices to launch straight into it, I just don’t know how secure they can make it that way. Or it’s really a barebones windows that is optimized for gaming and closed down to stop people from hacking games and whatnot.
The more I hear of this the more it’s beginning to sound like an android phone. The idea that this is Xbox’s strategy to reach 3billion plus gamers. The whole thing sounds much bigger than we’re thinking. I’m thinking this is just going beyond consoles but maybe even beyond gaming.
I want to see customizable controls like this on the Xbox handheld!
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Neat! The swappable controls are not new but always nice to see in such a slick looking handheld.
I also don’t see Microsoft try to copy it as their handheld is likely to be their entry model next gen. I just hope they use halleffect sticks.
Could this lead to new companies making consoles for the very first time using Xbox as the base? Just kinda curious if that is a genuine possibility, if so we could see some stuff in that regard.
Still believing it ? We already know its another Legion with Windows nothing new.
We’re not necessarily saying the January announcement is going to be huge, but that the end game in a few years is definitely going to be Xbox OS in other devices. Like of course we won’t get a huge announcement at a Lenovo event, but it’s obvious where MS is trying to get at with those devices in the future.
Like you, I don’t expect the Xbox OS for quite some time. There is still plenty of headroom for Windows to improve for gaming in general, when using a controller, and fitting it to a PC handheld. And with gaming now making more money for MS than Windows it seems like it’s time for the Windows team to lean in more on the gaming side of the house.
For the January event, I’m hoping to hear or even see something about how Windows, the Xbox App, and/or the Game Bar are improving for desktop and handheld.
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I agree!
Yeah I expect Xbox OS to still be a while of, probably closer to actual next gen but there’s still a ton that can/should be done for windows gaming before that
For it to work all devices need to be on the same interface as you can’t have different menus and design languages all over the place. Looking at the cloud and PC interface I’m wondering if that means that the console interface is the one that’ll be getting an overhaul to match the other ones.
I think having the whole library available on all devices is going to be paramount as you can’t have an Asus ROG Ally be called an Xbox and not have backwards compatibility work on that device for example. I feel like it’s a huge overtaking but if MS can manage it, as well as supporting other PC storefronts, it’ll be a paradigm shift and it could help turn things around for them, especially in regions where they are weak like Asia and Europe.
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100%. I was getting at the difference in implementation but you’re bang on about the situation being completely different. Xbox is a household name with sought after products. 3DO had none of that.