I think it works great for Sony. Most games come to PlayStation a lot more games come to ps than switch and Xbox. Obviously more games come to pc but ps running just the ps ecosystem is great. The big reason people like the Xbox. Version of a handheld is if it can play steam games u can play all the games that just skip Xbox for no reason like astral accent for example
I wonder how Windows-y it will be. I think there is a chance that we get actual Epic/Steam/Itch.IO stores as actual Xbox apps that will handle purchasing, downloading and updating of games. Installed games would be visible in the OS the same regardless of store they came from.
The negative here would be that it would require explicit support from the store providers, but it would be by far a better user experience than a more open approach. It might also mean that someone (like Steam) may not play ball while others (like Epic) would.
I actually think the PS will struggle in the handheld market. Their games are already pretty much on every windows handheld and their are more games released on PC and released faster as well. There is nothing for them to offer over the competitors, Xbox can atleast offer Game Pass. Also I will say the notion of a closed or walled garden will not work in this day except for maybe Nintendo but then even Nintendo has gone out and made versions of some of their IPs on Mobile.
Surprised I’m only seeing this now, haven’t seen anyone talk about it at all, I know them going a more PC route is what people were assuming but this is basically a soft confirm
I think PS will do alright with a handheld, there will be plenty of PS folk who only play on PS and have built up a library there for over a decade so transitioning a bunch of them from the traditional consoles shouldn’t be too hard
That being said with Nintendo having all their exclusives, PC handhelds offering all of PS games and an Xbox handheld potentially offering the ease of use of the console, GP front and center as well as playing any PC game they want including PS games, they seem like the least equipped
Unless you’re Nintendo, a closed ecosystem feels like a terrible move going forward
Not to mention them talking about a PS5 handheld, like when are they planning on releasing this thing 2030+? Because they aren’t getting a PS5 handheld within the next 5 years, a ps4 handheld that can play select ps5 games and all the others though the cloud seems far more feasible than trying to make a ps5 handheld because by the time a ps5 handheld comes they will have lost the market to everyone else
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Great news, considering Tom knows things. And should solve all the people worrying about consoles going away and losing third party support. So the dooming can stop.
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Good that will add some real value to it and make it very adaptable.
I hope eventually the Xbox console itself becomes hybrid. Even today it is difficult to build a pc to sit under your TV and do all the things an Xbox does as far as couch comfort goes.
A hybrid that play all consoles games and is also a mid upper tier PC in specs would be pretty awesome to have under the TV with console like ease of use.
I’d even like Xbox to allow the Xbox OS to be installed on any PC and turn it into an Xbox. PC gaming really needs an easy use console like layer like Steam has but geared towards un der the TV couch use.
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They will always find something, people can’t help themselves
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Agreed with all the takes here. I’d love a Living Room PC that took all the best ideas from consoles (8-10 ft UI, easy & intuitive control scheme, friends lists, achievos, etc) and all the best parts of PC gaming (open ecosystem, hardware customization, backwards compatibility, forward compatibility, M&KB input as default) but ALSO with the benefits of the Xbox ecosystem (digital library, Game Pass, etc).
This is my expectation. Hopefully I won’t be disappointed.
I know Steam has the Steamdeck, and so might be harder to convince to jump on board, but I think they’ll play ball. The Steamdeck is very much a niche product, while an Xbox handheld, with the full backing of Microsoft, has the potential to be a juggernaut. I think they’ll want to ride those coattails. They’d still get their usual cut from any game sold in their store, and an Xbox handheld with them and other stores on board has all the potential in the world to expand their reach into households that currently don’t do PC gaming and who would never buy a Steamdeck. A Trojan horse of sorts.
All other stores I’m sure would jump on it.
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I feel like it’ll still be pretty locked down so people don’t really run emulators and stuff, unless of course available through the Xbox store like it is right now with emulation on Xbox.
I also feel like they might just have a thing where you can link your GOG or your Steam account to your Xbox account for game access, but they also could not make it available for purchase directly through the console. Would make it so that it pushed people towards the Xbox store instead, and you’d have to go through a web browser for example to buy from the other store. Implementation could also be easier this way than having access to tons of different stores within the interface, unless Valve and Epic make an Xbox Store specific app, I mean the Epic Games Store is already available that way I guess.
Sony though I havea hard time understanding how they’ll make it happen at a level above PS4, it just won’t be possible for a very long time, and their games just don’t magically downscale. Thank god for Series S!
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Playing PS5 games natively is not happening.
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It appears to be their (unrealistic) goal unless we want to completely ignore the sources.
Lol it could happen, just the handheld will be about the size of a PS5 with a DualSense welded to it and a huge briefcase battery to give you half hour’s play.
I’m thinking the sources are wishful thinking, the usual “anything Xbox can do, PlayStation can do better” - as if they could make a PS5 the size of a handheld they’d already have shrunk the PS5 to save on shipping costs…
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Well the source did suggest it might never even see the light of day. I’d guess they’ll do some studies, look at the timeline where such a thing would be possible, and decide whether to move forward.
Imagine if they did something crazy like supporting PS5 games if plugged in but streaming only on battery lol.
Lol I’m still thinking you’d need a backpack to carry it around - the PS5 is that fat and ugly for a reason…
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I saw an interesting conversation on whether the PC games available could be select based on whether they’re on Xbox or not, so if the game is available on Xbox already you won’t be able to play the PC version, and only games that aren’t on Xbox can be accessed.
Also would be interesting to see if they try to bridge the gap between Steam and GDK development, to make porting to Xbox easy and cheap enough so that making Xbox ports is still worth it even if PC/Steam versions are already playable.
My sources (physics) are better than Bloomberg’s.
Monday’s DF episode will also agree.
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Congrats, my post even suggested it was unrealistic.
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Obligatory Simpsons reference:
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IMO the plan is to make all future Xbox consoles basically PCs so that only 1 version of the game needs to be developed , except of course for the cross gen duration for those that still support Xbox One and Series generations.
Like you say, I think that would guarantee that pretty much all games make it to Xbox as no extra work would be needed and PC is the platform that gets the most games anyway, which would be to MS’s advantage and something Sony can’t match.
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