I think the power of defaults can’t be underestimated, Google pays Apple $20b every year despite having 90% market share for search.
Xbox store will be the default interface for all future 1st party and 3rd party hardware (handhelds and maybe consoles). That should mean the vast majority of Xbox users will continue to buy from the Xbox store mostly because of the ease of use, a new user will also probably default to the Xbox store but PC users interested will probably stick to Steam with maybe the addition of game pass. Alot also depends on how robust and feature rich the Xbox app/store will be, the execution is in Microsoft’s hands.
Considering the production this was something they were planning on putting out, and it just so happens to answer all the ‘What will Xbox do?’ FUD going around.
So, basically Xbox had thought about ir had been aware of what leaked and just pre prepaired a video answer.
Since i am not american and don’t really follow tech much outside games, what does this mean exactly for those that are not tech savvy? Is it a good thing for the xbox hardware products or not?
Good thing. For starters, all of our games since original via backward compatibility list will continue to live on here. Perhaps getting some enhancements if we look at this gen. It’s just a beginning but it sounds like they are more ambitious.
I wouldn’t be so sure of that. The Ally X comes with the Z2 Extreme which has an onboard NPU (AI).
We will have to see how backwards compatibility is handled on the new Xbox hardware, but perhaps it’s possible to eventually bring some or all of it over.
Unfortunately, the regular Xbox Ally doesn’t have the NPU.
But being default doesn’t give Microsoft the amount of control over Windows and where people buy their games/digital goods as Android(at least on here people can install 3rd party stores at their own risk) or IOS.
Were also currently seeing Google and Apple getting all the kind of attention Microsoft got over Explorer. Where it was being considered if Microsoft should have been broken up as a company.
Microsoft knows the risk of opening up Xbox, they have probably done enough research to suggest what the user behavior will be. They will of course lose some control and sales to 3rd party stores but the upside is gaining a much bigger install base whilst also keeping the threat of SteamOS away (however small it maybe currently).
It’s still an open platform where you can choose what to install and where to buy. If anything, antitrust might start looking at PS and Nintendo first, before they come for Microsoft, because if Microsoft opens up Xbox whilst subsidizing it, the old arguments of game sales subsidizing the console aka console need to be locked to 1 store won’t hold strong anymore.
This would mean Steam and Epic stores on it? And thus the available PS games as well. I hope so, I’d really only need one next gen console, which well, is basically how I have it now, lol.
No decision is made without first analyzing it. you can be sure they’ve modeled scenarios as to user behaviour and how much revenue they’ll be losing from 3rd party stores. They most likely have something much bigger at play here or they wouldn’t risk losing their revenue stream for the heck of it; MS isn’t a charity after all.
At face value, it doesn’t make sense for a platform holder to give up exclusivity. Fast forward to today’s announcement and it’s clear why they did it - the next Xbox will play Xbox and PC games. You don’t need exclusives when your console can or will play everything, yes even Spider-Man .
I had this weird thought, like, there’s been such a flurry of discussion today about what this announcement means, what the next Xbox console will be or won’t be, people excited about the possibilities or pessimistic about big changes coming. Not all the discussion is positive (it’s Xbox after all) but everyone is speculating and guessing and expecting some kind of major shift.
Meanwhile the next PlayStation console is going to be announced at some point and it’s going to be “PS5 again, but the number went up by 1… again.”
I mean this same factor worked against Xbox One when people didn’t want something new and experimental, they just wanted to play video games in the traditional way. And maybe that same dynamic happens again. I don’t know. Just feels like all the innovation and attention and discussion is going in Xbox’s direction and that could be a big moment of opportunity.
I’ve seen a lot of comments in other places that make it seem like this is going to be more expensive than the PS6. However, I tend to think it’s going to be quite the opposite and will at least match what Sony is doing. Developing the chips in a mass market manner that will be used in more than 1 device considering 3rd party devices will also use the same chips means that this should be produced in a big enough quantity that it guarantees cost should stay down for MS in the long run.
The more I analyze this play here the more it all makes sense!
They are going to unify the “Windows Store” and the Xbox Store to one development platform. If you look at it from the other (PC) side, it means all Xbox games will be on PC or your PC will be an Xbox also if you want. This may be were all of the Steam + Xbox messaging is coming from because you’ll obviously be able to have Steam on your PC. It will also allow 3rd parties to “create a Xbox” no different than they can create a pre-built PC now, because it’ll actually just be a PC.
So this doesn’t necessarily mean MS will release a open PC as the next Xbox hardware. It could very well be a traditional console Xbox only with no Steam using a paid option to unlock “developer’s mode” just like now.
If you look at it this way the only thing really changing is the expansion and upgrade of Microsoft’s PC store (Xbox on PC).
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