I think they’ll still make their own box, they just won’t subsidize it. I think they will also allow the Xbox software to run on any PC (a custom build, an OEM desktop, gaming laptop, or gaming handheld). I’m just imagining an updated Xbox app with support for third party stores and special big screen/handheld modes.
Everything just kinda works out IMO. They could even launch with a lower end device to keep prices in check as long as there are higher end compatible options out there as well.
I suppose we are off topic haha. Maybe a thread for future Xbox hardware discussion makes sense.
It’s going to be full Windows. It will have compatibility with everything Windows does. The trick will be making a user interface that console gamers feel comfortable with. I have faith the tech wizards could make a great UI that looks like Xbox, but is in reality the full version of Windows. Think of how things work on PC… most casual PC gamers prefer to launch the game from the desktop icon… on the new Xbox your desktop icon will look like launching a game from your library. The install will require you to launch steam but ultimately you can have a game library that has Halo right next to Spider-Man, right next to Your favorite Emulator. There will be no permission needed, it’s a PC with an interface that gives it a console look.
Well yes everyone prioritizes differently, but the main point is if you can’t afford to buy two+ consoles, you shouldn’t be close to exhausting the games available on one console. So the fact that there are games on other consoles you can’t play is pretty irrelevant in reality. Where the discourse comes from is the need to feed the exclusives → console sales/user base → exclusives cycle in the hopes of preventing a game they want to play from not being on their console, despite there being tons of other games to play or them maybe not even being able to afford to play said game. They may not even care about a particular exclusive but still get bent out of shape over it, just that the loss of any game may turn into the loss of some other game in the future.
I mean look at a lot of the discussion here now, everyone is worried about losing future games. I get it, I’m worried about that too but honestly I don’t even have enough time to play the games I already own right now.
Xbox could go 100% third party, lose games etc… and I guarantee there will still be more than enough games to play if you can’t buy another console.
It’s a matter of principle as well, i.e. when someone drops $500 on a game console, it’s not exactly reassuring to read comments which are basically saying “MS doesn’t care about consoles and neither should you!”.
Console players are the people who’ve invested most into the Xbox ecosystem. Lower console sales have never worked out well for the owners of that particular console either, i.e. not in the history of this industry in any case. I can think of a few examples out there of consoles which have cratered in the market & lost the support of third party publishers.
Now Xbox of course is a big brand with an even bigger brand backing it, but I wouldn’t like to see the Series sales tank any further. Especially this coming Christmas.
I’ll assume you’re referring to some sort of miracle PC/Xbox hybrid coming next-gen which I can dual boot Steam & Xbox… i.e. which raises so many questions (like are we seriously going to believe we’ll be allowed to play Sony’s first party PC releases on our Xbox via Steam?), it shouldn’t be used as a key talking point (or defense of MS’s strategy) either.
Notwithstanding the fact PC is PC. I could already pretty much do that already with a… PC plugged into my TV.
It’s definitely not new (either dual booting or plugging a PC into the TV). But what definitely would be miraculous is Sony being A-Okay with MS releasing a machine which has Xbox & its own PS6/PC exclusives available via other storefronts on the same ‘console’.
The only way any of this would begin to make any sense is if it’s not an MS console but some sort of third party PC steam box which boots an Xbox OS on top of the usual PC stuff, at which point let’s call a spade a spade: it’ll be nothing more than another Steam machine with new branding.
Are you only looking at Piscatellas numbers for Sea of Thieves? If so, those dont include MTX nor the massive player bump Sea of Thieves got on Steam and Xbox because more people were playing.
Nor is their content update pace lower, if anything, they have more content thats longlived given the focus on sandbox.
" We have to anticipate there’s going to be more change in some of the traditional ways that games are built and distributed. That’s going to change for all of us. But the end result has to be better games that more people can play."
And if he really believes what he is saying and expects us to as well then that quote perfectly applies to allowing other stores on Xbox and giving people the choice of where they buy their games from.
It should be obvious to anyone involved that Microsoft is aware that going more multiplatform is going to negatively impact console sales and negatively impacting console sales will negatively impact third party support. This is not some amazing deduction that only folks on the internet figured out.
Going by the rumors (handheld experience on exxistind devices, third party stores on console, no more subsidy) it sounds to me that they have prepared for a potential future where the console is a lower (compared to typical console) volume device.
Continuing to come up with the same talking points without even acknowledging how they could do things different next gen is beginning to approach bad faith arguing IMO. If you want to discuss the impact of this on their next gen console you can’t simply assume that the next gen console is going to another standard console.
That actually says a lot more to me. Saying the way games are built and distributed is going to change. I’m guessing they’re going to attempt a uniformity in format for games like with movies where we had VHS and finally now at Blu-ray. One ring to rule them all.
I was actually going from Jez’s reporting. I just haven’t been seeing SOT expansions like before. Also I’m not saying it isn’t making money I was just looking at a full year of dev cost working with another studio. According to MVG SOT would have cost a pretty penny to work on to the playstation. To me I get the idea they are experimenting on ways to build or integrate different platforms into their NextGen idea. When they can just make a game, and it would be playable anywhere.
I quoted that part because your entire post wouldn’t fit in the quote box and I wanted to address those specific points you made. You can pretend I quoted the whole thing if you want, none of the points I made change.
Also if you’re going to be sensitive about the fact that I didn’t quote your entire post, it probably would have been better not to “selectively quote” one part of mine too.
Xbox’s Phil Spencer explained the decision in a roundabout way, that basically boils down to those games that they brought to Nintendo Switch and PS5 did really well, and Indiana Jones has a much better chance of selling well if the PS5 gets it, too.