Sony and Nintendo spend a ton on marketing as consoles are one of their largest business areas.
For Microsoft, Xbox is a rounding error - if it dies Microsoft would be sad to lose a consumer facing business but be completely unaffected, while if PlayStation died Sony would take a massive hit.
And even with all the marketing in the world, not many people will change their mind - I know as I’ve spent years trying to get a few close friends to give Xbox a try and the most I’ve achieved is getting them to give PC Game Pass a go, while many of us in uni who loved the 360 mostly have stuck with Xbox despite all of PlayStation’s marketing.
Microsoft is much more corporate focused so doesn’t spend huge on marketing, but they do go big on their game releases - and if Xbox spent as much as PlayStation on it (given the large amount PlayStation gets from third party sales etc) then it would make them unprofitable for little return, and at risk of being closed by Microsoft.
Stop thinking of Xbox as having access to unlimited Microsoft coffers - they will open the wallet like they did for ABK but Xbox must return profits for it, as that’s the CEO’s responsibility to shareholders (unfortunately often the only consideration).
They also did back Xbox hard on Game Pass, which is an absolute steal but shows the limitations as while you’d think all non-casual gamers would want it many listen to the gaming media telling them it’s bad for developers (proven wrong) and will ruin gaming, plus “gaming is an expensive hobby” at a time when being flash seems to be a big selling point for influencers and streamers despite their audiences struggling more than ever.
On the plus side, the pivot to a PC console is a clever move that may give Windows a sexy new “angle” for marketing - so it’s possible Xbox will find them helping to push advertising and putting devices in streamers’ hands.
The console wars are over, every major platform will be doing something different - PlayStation a classic console that’ll still be expensive with some timed exclusives and games have to be bought, Xbox with Game Pass day 1 games and access to PC games (so a much larger library) and a variety of entry points, and Nintendo with cheaper (ish - now less so!) underpowered consoles concentrating more on family and fun than graphics with expensive games and accessories
As you say, seeing a difference is difficult nowadays - even ray tracing which is the big new thing still makes things prettier but we’re never going to see a jump like Duke Nukem 3D to GTA3 or GTA3 to Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, or resolution differences like the One X vs the One.
It’s diminishing returns for ever more expense, which is why Unreal and other tech are focused on other wins (and hopefully trying to speed up game development again) and why even the new Nvidia cards aren’t a huge step up from the previous generation.
Unless you’re sitting there running an identical TV against both a PS5 and a Series X (or even S) you’re unlikely to be aware of any difference without DF or some other tryhard pointing it out - it’s why the PS5 Pro is a bit pointless unless you’re a pixel counter…
Even the Switch 2 is going to be playable on modern games, so it’s now just pick the platform you like and enjoy the games - for me Xbox is truly unbeatable on value while PlayStation and Nintendo are very expensive ways to game
I‘m quite excited about the new hardware strategy because I wasn’t sure they‘d really go so far to integrate Xbox and Windows, with full BC already promised now. That‘s great for respecting people‘s libraries and making them future-proof. Integrating other storefronts is interesting as well for a number of titles that skipped Xbox in the past. I assume there will be some sort of „Xbox verified“ status including all the functionality you‘d expect like achievements etc. Lots of details to be seen but I think devices with varying price configurations could work really well. Pre-built PCs have been on the rise. I expect higher prices compared to their past consoles but then again cheaper options will exist.
Someone on another forum claims to have knowledge about this since last June. Is this new news at all though? I’ll post it.
Xbox “consoles” will be Xbox designed APUs for both handhelds and consoles that can run Xbox BC due to silicon support. The OS itself, which is already mostly Windows, can run Windows games with the right packages / extensions loaded, or runs Xbox title VM in an enlightened hypervisor. I’m not sure which approach it is yet, but the main point is that Xbox One, and series games need to run natively without a translation/emulation layer for legal reasons.
These APUs, along from be used in 1st party HW, will be sold to OEMs, without a profit, for them to use in place of the discontinued AMD gaming APU roadmap. No profit for Xbox is important to avoid potential vertical anti-trust issues.
OEMs will add their own custom software, and also increase clocks, unlock disabled compute units, use more / faster memory, more and faster SSD, better cooling, and in the case of mobile devices, bigger battery, better displays (OLED). This so they can sell at a higher premium.
It was interesting to read some of the OEM takes and abandoning HW takes.
The video Sarah did is doing numbers, 512k views in 3 days, but Xbox pretty much just announced their next gen plans, so I guess it’s expected. I’m guessing once the Xbox Ally launches we should be seeing how well the rework of Windows 11 is going to do on handhelds. Because there are going to be so many comparisons with SteamDeck and SteamOS using Proton.
I get that but was hoping that with Xbox holding out for full RDNA 2 support and a much stronger GPU that we would have seen a difference like with Xbox One against the PS4
I’m guessing because Microsoft will make their own, but have the GPU/CPU or APU ready for other companies to do the same, with whatever configuration they may want to make?
I will be sticking with base version (Xbox version), because it’s likely the only one I will be able to afford. Even then with Xbox All Access or other pay as you go programs.
But if Microsoft is able to pull this off and become the default PC, for peoole looking for a prebuild. They could really get a massive jump in their own sales, compared even to the 360.
