Game Pass and cloud gaming reduces the cost for trying out a AAA game from €630 to €18.
Seems odd to assume that removing such an entry barrier has no potential for growth.
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AAA games should not be the norm in my personal opinion,its using too much resources with less profits coming in for a good portion of them.
While some succed others not quite so and last year proves that it hold abit of ground. I think investing in indie and AA games are the best options for growth without risking too much ona gamblewhile not having to speand too many years to make one singular game.
Not sure, he pretty much said the norm should be people buying their games and playing anywhere pretty much the idea is similar to how you buy your movies on VHS, DVD or Blu-ray and are able to play it on any hardware that supports the play format. The idea of brands is in the content not the box or hardware that plays it. Steam is a digital platform not defined by exclusives but more the experience. Xbox is trying to define their brand by their ecosystem and content. To me I think the Xbox OS that powers the next console is what’s important. I don’t think they could ever sell enough but with an OS they could pretty much have it in a myriad of devices just like windows or Android. The gaming industry is going through a reset that would likely determine the future of gaming just like the way changes came to the cell phones and resulted in Microsoft being kicked out. I fear those that don’t embrace the change would get kicked out as well.
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Cloud gaming doesn’t reduce the costs as much as people make out simply because you need a decent broadband or a decent data pack to use it and I don’t see any decent uptake in cloud gaming even with it being on cheap devices like Amazon stick.
I’ll always speak up about the value of GamePass It is the best deal in gaming ever no question, but it’s subscription based whereas so many apps on the phone are free or where people are more than happy with Candy Crush for games or the typical £2 fluff, compared to looking to buy Fable, Avowed, Wolverine or the your big AAA hitters. Don’t see how you’re going to win over those people no matter what screen you are on.
I think you’ve got a core market of 200 million gamers out there to aim for and that should be more than enough. Hopefully with AI we will start to get game development back on a more realistic track of 3 to 4 years of development time
I so wish Xbox could find a way to reduce the cost of consoles because every time there’s a deal online they sell out; So many high console sales in the past were always the result of consoles seeing big reductions to their RRP 3 years into their lifecycle
Can’t help but feel the high price of consoles today even 4 years in is a big barrier to far more sales and is holding back console sales compared to the past.
Your speculations are based on your opinions which isn’t shared by many. Cloud gaming reduces entry because it removes a 500-dollar barrier which is what was said and I tend to agree now whether it becomes big or not is unknown.
Apple started with aiming to sell a million phones in about 5 years, today they sell over 200 million phones a year so does Samsung. In 2001 the global sales were 399 million in 2021 it was 1.7billion last it was 1.24billion. Certainly, when Apple came in, they were able to expand the phone business.
The industry at present has peaked and isn’t growing. Microsoft has said they want to grow the industry maybe the can. So far, they have talked about 500millon engagement and aiming to reach 3 billion plus gamers. Whether they can or can’t is unknown, so I don’t see any reason to put some number limits that is nonfactual on it.
To me I think the idea is just gamers, not core or casual. Also, you can’t be certain triple A games won’t appeal to more after all there are games on Mobile that sell well that are like triple A in form. Lots of MMO like games doing well and even story-based ones. Fable, Wolverine and others can be adapted for mobile if need be.
Since multiplat is at the heart of the issue I would say consider movies they release first at the theater and then later on DVD or Blu-ray in higher and better quality. Yet they sell best during their theater run. They hardly sell when they release on home video so much that Blu-ray players are being discontinued even though they offer the quality and, in some cases, cheaper. Game Pass could easily be the theater here making it matter less if games go to other platforms.
Most of it is speculation. The trouble is Cloud gaming is not many gamers actually want it, and you have network issues and data issue’s which in the USA is a bit of the thing since unlike many UK ISP they don’t include unlimited data in their broadband deals
The big gaming corps face the issue of more and more people aren’t interested in gaming and are happy with TikTok and social media for their free time
I see many people make the comparison between gaming Netflix and movies. There’s a big difference with movies you’ll watch the film once or maybe a few times a year if it is good, but with games, people will play a brilliant game multiple times a day and you have added costs that unlike films staff have to around to fix and add content to a game even after its release
And with streaming a film or TV series it’s hardly life or death if there’s a drop in quality to the picture or no signal for a few seconds. In a videogame, it can be the difference between life or death in a big boss battle or the difference between winning a race and that is why most gamers won’t look to streaming or the cloud for their gaming
That said films/TV shows face the same sort of battle gaming corps do, with people not bothering with either and much rather spend their free time on Tik Tok, YouTube and Instagram
Think I must be the only one on the planet who doesn’t use TikTok or Instagram LOL
Where is the evidence that says gamers don’t want cloud? When they put Fortnite there they got over 4 million on Xcloud with over a million new gamers. Over 4 million people played Fortnite via Cloud Gaming (of which 1 million new customers) - Gaming - XboxEra Geforce now was able to get over 25million in 2 years. The issue isn’t that people don’t want cloud gaming but more an issue of server capacity. Xbox cloud infrastructure can’t hold 100 million right now. Even now you get queues. In the FTC document Xbox mentioned the idea of reaching 100 million by 2030 which I’m thinking they would by then be able to support that many.
In any case I don’t think the idea is to use Cloud to get to 3billion plus. The PC hybrid or OS is certainly another way where they let their partners make Xboxes in different regions supporting it with their OS similar to the way Android OS is used by many phones with Google’s app store being the DeFacto store. I’m guessing within the next 5 years TVs may be coming with built in gaming hardware. I wouldn’t be surprised if LG and Samsung TVs are able to play games natively within the next 5 to 10 years I don’t think film and TV shows face similar situations. The gaming industry, the console one in particular is shrinking and has basically only 3 companies competing while the movie industry is big enough for the content providers to participate and compete.
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I still feel like there is something going on that we are not really seeing nor anyone online is noticing and i cannot help but feel that’s either a very bad sign or a really good one. Also anyone noticed a trend where gamers and casuals are not buying new games much anyone because of the current princing situation, i feel like we might be getting new users on game pass in the coming months because of this. Heck Wuchang feels like it would have numbers on Xbox and Game Pass alone if things are played to perfection same thing for Expedition 33.
That’s just a clever use of data even MS used to try that trick when saying how many LIVE users it had a month but wouldn’t tell us how many people were actually paying LIVE users to those simply logging in … Even I tried Gefore Now for free when I bought my Shield years back and no doubt I’m included in the GeForee data even though I tried it just a few times out of interest with my months free trial.
If Cloud gaming was so brilliant why does hardly anyone on here use Xbox Cloud as their main way to play XBox games, even you no doubt? Why do many on here or XBox fans in general want an XBox Handheld, including the head of XBox himself?
There’s no need for an Xbox HH when you have XBox Cloud on most mobile devices already and play Xbox games on the move on any screen you want.
So why is XBox investing in an HH and Xbox fans want it when they can just play Xbox on the go with their their mobile devices with the power of X Cloud?
No, it’s not a clever use they clearly gave you the numbers. Also, the GeForce numbers are from 2020 not before but like I said Cloud capacity is the issue. They don’t need to prove it to you as you can sometimes see the queue yourself. There are clearly people using the cloud I tend to use it myself and Windows Central Jez writes about it all the time he recently just finished FF pixel game on it. Also I’m not saying or advocating for cloud simply saying you’re wrong on the assumption that it isn’t doing well or that people don’t want it. It plays a different part in the ecosystem than you’re assuming. The issue with Cloud as I have said is capacity. It can’t support 100 million subscribers right now if it could they would be marketing it more. The thing is if we’re to go with the Xbox OS rumors then it makes sense to invest in HH. The idea that they can have a Handheld just like they do with surface gives them a reference for partners to adopt. If the OS becomes big, they could have so many of their partners building hardware way more than they could ever cover with Cloud. Look at how Android is adopted by so many smartphone builders like Samsung and others. Google is able to use that android to have their app store on billions of phones and I would think Xbox is thinking in like manner.
I have been looking myself at moving away from desktop PC and just getting a macbook pro as my daily driver, and I’d definitely be happy with cloud gaming, but they need to fix a few things first to really make it a replacement as right now, and I think MS themselves have alluded as much, it’s more of an add-on than a replacement. It’s a nice to have on the side when you need it, although I’m sure it is the primary of a small amount of people.
But yeah, what they’d need to do for me to consider it is:
1- Offer a minimum of 1080p HDR stream at a higher bitrate than what they currently have.
2- Have a 4K option to match the competition.
3- Grow the games you own category to match close to 100% of the Xbox library. Unless almost all of my library is available, I can’t drop the console as I’d lose access to my games.
Also, you are asking what they are making a HH, and the reason is very simple: not everyone wants cloud gaming. A lot of people who have the means will always prefer local hardware as in all scenarios, it will always offer the best experience as it’s impossible to reproduce it remotely no matter what you try. However, having a low cost, affordable cloud option could definitely cover the needs of some of the gaming population. It’s not about one or the other, it’s about options!
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It definitely feels that Xbox’s cloud service has fallen behind the rest of the market now. Nvidia’s Geforce Now is far superior and even PS Now is in some cases.
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this post is sponsored by Geforce Now and PS Now
yea I’m throwing away xcloud with unlimited hour to an service that you pay basically for hours, if run of hours your experience is gonna be very downgraded
and I’m not lying, this thing exists https://www.pcmag.com/news/nvidias-geforce-now-to-cap-game-streaming-at-100-hours-per-month#:~:text=Subscribers%20who%20exceed%20the%20100,the%20free%20GeForce%20Now%20tier.
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Yea the time cap on geforce now makes it a deal breaker.
Ive been using xcloud more lately and it is better then it was but does need some premium upgrades like 4k hdr and using Series x as the base game profile and also get way more of our owned games on it.
It is getting better though and I hope it ecentually becomes a valid high rnd alternative to console hardware.
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If you like this site, please re-examine your attitude when it comes to posting here. You’re constantly negative, and you’re not debating, you just spit bad faith takes.
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GPU is cheaper than the higher end Geforce Now plan and you get hundreds of games included while with GFN you have to also buy your own games.
While xCloud is definitely subpar in video quality compared to others, what you get for the price you pay though is very good. At this point I wonder if it’s a hardware limitation in their datacenters on the blades themselves (don’t they have extra hardware that the normal consoles don’t have to help with video compression?) or it’s a price issue. If it’s a price issue, are they going to add a higher tier than GPU that brings in higher quality video? It can’t be that hard to bring up video resolution and bitrate if the competition is doing it.
Also, I believe Xbox streaming hasn’t moved to h265 (might be wrong here) yet like the competition. That would definitely help with video quality considering it’s a much more efficient codec.
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Industry expert suggests that Microsoft will bring all major titles to PS5 in 2025
This is due to a number of reasons, such as Microsoft wanting to increase its profitability.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the next major game to be released on PS5.
Yeah I agree the time limit does suck. I was mainly talking about visual quality and latency.
Both Geforce Now and PS Now (Plus) offer 4k which Xbox unfortunately still doesn’t. Geforce Now also has much better latency than both of them.
Previously it was identified that PlayStation’s video compression was perhaps better too as it was using less bandwidth than Xbox’s at 1080p.
For value, ease and convenience (especially with cross saves/progression) Xbox will still blow them both out the water.
That would make a significant difference, either with improved quality or less bandwidth.