WC/Jez: Microsoft's ambitious new Xbox: Your entire Xbox console library, the full power of Windows PC gaming, and no multiplayer paywall
- Thread starter RetroGamingUK
- Start date
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Exactly. So how will MS handle these situations when it comes to Xbox Magnus users?
mayham2199
Member
My guess is that no one using Magnus will have to pay for it. They wont remove it from the Xbox consoles though. Since they don't expect many to move from Xone/Series S/X they don't expect to lose much revenue from subs dropping.
Most people will not double/triple-dip - if they own Series/X1 versions they'll play those, not buy again on Steam/MS store (for games that aren't play-anywhere).
Actually this whole licensing mess is the most interesting thing about this proposition. If MS are indeed able to untangle that, while keeping User Experience half-decent, that would be interesting to see. I have very-low confidence in them doing a good job at the latter in particular - but given that's basically the 'only' differentiation they have left, at least one hopes they will properly focus on it.
That and hw-pricing going up as 3DO business model certainly isn't conductive to console pricing.
Anyway - I'm more curious on another thing - I see on this forum we are early-adopters for either of these consoles, but I find it kind of baffling people are so sold on any of them so far. The leaks are incredibly underwhelming to-date, basically the entire value proposition is now 'we'll narrow down the gap to PC high-end down' - with absolutely no line of sight of what that does for software other than 'my BC games will run more better'.
I mean I get it - Switch 2 already sold incredibly well on basically the same value prop, and so did PS5 and even Series early on - but... I mean is that really all that's left of console gaming?
Tobimacoss
Member
The same way they handle Xbox PC vs Xbox Console SKUs now. Smart Delivery.
The prices you guys are bandying around for the next gen Xbox is around the price of just the GPU for a high end PC.
If 'console' mode is a sandbox the way some people imagine it here - it would literally be separate runtimes, so no 'smart delivery', console installs are just permanently separate from the 'PC land'.
If it's actually more like AllyX and BC games are just launched in same execution space but virtualized a bit, that would lend itself to your described use-case. That said - MS would actually need to implement that kind of delivery for PC, but with more complexities with number of different versions under each SKU.
It raises all kinds of questions too - is PC version always the 'smart' one to download - regardless of your hardware? Hell we could even have situations with 3 versions in library (PC, X1, Series) and on a handheld I'd sooner choose X1 for best performance but with no user control as they do it today - you're out of luck.
Tobimacoss
Member
PC has multiple game development environments. You do realize that Xbox PC and Xbox Console games are both created by the GDK right? In a Play Anywhere title, Smart Delivery detects if playing on console vs PC hardware. Both versions are distributed via the same MS Store backend.
You're just repeating what I said above - noone's arguing about what the backend does.
My point - to reiterate - is that the rumored device will 'potentially' have ability to play 3(or more) different versions of the same SKU - and the 'optimal' version for the hardware will not be dictated by which OS it runs, like it is today.
This partly exists today as an edge case (where sometimes X1 are preferable to Series versions due to performance), but we'll get a significant increase in combinatoric possibilities with the rumored hardware, especially if there's actually console-compatible handhelds as well.
Chan
Member
Comment of the week
Punished Miku
Gaslighter Pro: 16.7 Fireflops
So it's bad when they do it, and bad when they don't do it. MS bad.
Drell
Member
Of course it's good if they end this shit, but it's important to remind to MS fanboys who started it.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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LectureMaster
Has Man Musk
LMAO. My man, I am making a trend on this forum, ain't I."My man Ybarra"
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The difference is when you say My Man Adam, it's because you love me in all the ways a man can love another man.
For our friend
demigod
it's only transactional when his man Ybarra says something that tickles his pickle.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
What library?*
*This post was sponsored by Game Pass™
*This post was sponsored by Game Pass™
Fess
Member
Yeah. And "high end"… It's like 1/3 GPU at my location.
This won't interest enthusiast PC gamers. Could possibly be interesting as a secondary plug and play living room PC or for BC if someone have an Xbox account. But I'm thinking it'll mostly be interesting for the PC crowd for the possibility of something spilling over to improve gaming on regular Windows. You don't go from a 5090 to this. Or a 5070 to this. Maybe from some lousy laptop.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Fess
Member
Yeah I mean high end PC gaming is like 5% (?) of the PC market. That's why normalized high prices on high end graphics cards can't be used to downplay the cost of this device. It's a completely different market.
This device, on paper, sounds great for me and the dozens others like me.
This will be pitched as a living room console
Enthusiast PC gamers at the highest end of gaming are a fraction of the gaming population. Only around 1% of Steam gamers own the 5080 or 5090, more than half of Steam gamers are on 1080p or lower displays, and 60+% of Steam gamers have a GPU with under 8GB of VRAM.
This stereotype that the average PC gamer is rocking a very high end PC and cobbles together their own rig…meanwhile there's a significant percentage on laptop GPUs and iGPUs.
Many enthusiast PC gamers own Steamdecks and consoles, so they certainly don't always need to be playing at the highest possible soecs.
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RetroGamingUK
Member
ROG Ally X was pitched as a console too.
RetroGamingUK
Member
The Ally X was pitched as a living room console?
Handheld console obviously.
The next gen "Xbox" experience will be the same as Rog Ally X albeit under the TV.
Exponentially higher end specs
Ability to play Xbox series + Xbox One BC console games.
More optimized UX
yes, the same experience indeed.
YeulEmeralda
Linux User
So how is Microsoft going to make money from this if it can run Steam? Literally noone is interested in the Xbox store on PC.
RetroGamingUK
Member
Sell hardware at a profit like every other pre-built PC vendor.
Ar¢tos
Member
Small one time profit is irrelevant in the end.
RetroGamingUK
Member
Why do companies bother making and selling things like televisions then?
Ar¢tos
Member
RetroGamingUK
Member
Nor are pre-built PCs or the next "Xbox".
Console business is only really worth it if you're selling 100m+ consoles every generation and thus, a fuck load of games
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Ar¢tos
Member
Selling at a profit at launch shows no interest in growing an install base. Which then shows no expectation of games sales through their own storefronts, since they aren't counting on the 30% cut.
After the initial sales, specially if the price is really 1000 or more, you have nothing to show and increasingly negative numbers on hw YoY.
In the end they will end up killing the thing that is keeping Xbox alive, gamepass, because of the decrease in funding.
I guess if their intention is to become just a 3rd party publisher, it's fine.
RetroGamingUK
Member
You're right and that's exactly what they're doing.
They're becoming a third party publisher for the main part, that's the blue ocean for them, game sales everywhere.
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Team Andromeda
Member
Funny how PC's are sold at a profit and apparently are growing all the time, and growing the install base
I'll guess Xbox aren't looking to take a $50 to $100 dollar hit on each console sold like the old days and maybe just a small hit
Ar¢tos
Member
I don't even...
HeisenbergFX4
Member
IGN and Windows Central giving us the news the next Xbox could run Steam games, I mean GAF heard it here first for quite awhile 