Basically all shit we already knew.
A multiplatorm(steam, EGS, Microsoft Store) PC with a windows install that opens steam in MS's version of big picture mode on launch, has a new Xbox control and a new Xbox portal as addons, and also emulates your current Xbox library.
It will not be "upgradable" as those things are not preferable from the designers point of view(I assume storage expansion would be possible and probably all range of USB input devices). Letting it use most off the shelf parts would be prohibitively expensive. This will be bespoke hardware is my guess. It will look less like a PC and more like a console. ARM architecture? Hopefully.
IMO, and this has nothing to do with this extas1s stuff (which may not even be accurate) but more so something I've thought since the Discord leak last year,....I think some of these will be modular. If there are handhelds, not those obviously. But ones with a more console-like form factor? I don't see why not.
I mean, if they're trying to offer something that acts as a bridge between traditional consoles and PCs but with benefits of both...how do you not have devices with modularity when that is one of the benefits of PC gaming? If they do that, it'll have to be in a way where the process is completely streamlined, but thankfully there are older consoles and some microcomputers (non-PC) they can look at to see how it's done.
Well, 32X had some compatibility issues with certain Genesis models and needed some things to make it work right, but that was also a rushed product. Other stuff like the N64 Expansion Pak, or Saturn's RAM cartridges, or some of the video card upgrades for Amiga systems were a lot more streamlined and "just worked". They offered modularity/upgradability that was simple to understand and didn't require messing around with drivers or crap like it.
That's basically what Microsoft (and if/when Valve look into more device types with modularity, them too) will have to achieve to make modularity work. Simplicity like those other systems/devices mentioned, but with a few more options like with PC.
If anything, it'll just be a PC with the Xbox branding. That won't stop them from keeping a dedicated Xbox console for gaming
They aren't making another Xbox console. These rumored PC/console hybrid devices
are the new Xbox "console". They aren't going to make all this effort with integrating Xbox features & emulation to Windows while also supporting Xbox OS, for example.
The point is to carry the torch of the brand forward while going third party. It's not some pillar of money pillaging.
Imagine if Sega desperately needed to show sales on games but also had infinite money to waste so they pretended Dreamcast hadn't died by making a PC called Dreamcast 2. Here we are.
It also leaves some small chance/hope that maybe someday in the future their fortunes will be reversed and they can rake it in as a platform holder again. They will keep life support on just in case the moment arrives to execute Order 66, because the alternative is to live in complete abandonment of all "career moments" and then Phil would look even more beaten during PR stunts.
Bolded makes me question why SIE have been so open to MS games on PlayStation. Between that possibility in the future, and the more immediate thing with MS competing more as a publisher (even publishing games of
OTHER publishers i.e Ninja Gaiden 4), and SIE knowing they can't net exclusivity deals or even marketing rights with MS-owned games the way they can (in theory) with other 3P, I feel sometimes they are making themselves too dependent on a single (growing) 3P publisher.
And long-term, that's not a good thing for a platform holder to do. So either SIE are doing a major boost in their 1P development (more consistent AAA releases, smarter approach to GAAS, more AA releases, potentially acquire another publisher and/or more studios to increase game output), or they don't care about becoming increasingly reliant on a single publisher (a mistake IMO, considering that publisher in particular has been a direct competitor for 2 decades).
Putting a platform as powerful as Steam into the Xbox ecosystem will only destroy the brand completely and forever. Steam will take all the money from third parties and 30% of everything first-party Xbox products as well.
Well, if it comes to that, MS would still probably consider the initiative successful if it retains PC gamers in the Windows ecosystem. That's probably the main reason they want to do it, alongside bring in more console gamers to Windows for PC gaming specifically. And, while it'd enrich Steam, that'd be Steam being enriched
as a product within the Windows ecosystem. Meaning, less people going to something like Steam OS for their Steam access.
Microsoft would certainly prefer that; Valve would tolerate it happening but would likely prefer unshackling PC gamers from Windows as much as possible. I guess over time we'll see which approach wins out.
That market is so small that it barely exists. The switch 2 is coming out and it's going to eat that market for breakfast and spit it out and if sony decide to release a handheld too then good luck. Pc handhelds r niche niche niche and that's a market that currently isn't profitable nor worth exploring unless you wanna lose alot of money.
TBF, the Steam Deck was not available in brick-and-mortar stores (AFAIK) until very recently. Valve also do like zero advertising for the thing outside of their own storefront from time to time, but it's nothing on the level of what we've seen from SIE marketing PlayStation hardware, or Nintendo, or even Microsoft for that matter.
I feel Steam Deck sales have been supply-constrained in a way; if they were in retail stores from the start and more traditional advertising existed, they'd probably be closer to 10 million right now. Consider things like the Oculus have sold 10 or so million and they have nowhere near the brand of a games platform as Steam, but they were backed by a massive company in Meta, with tons of advertising and sales in retail outlets.
Don't know what the cap for the "consolized PC" game device market is, but it'll likely only grow over time. Valve are in the best position to do it in practice, but Microsoft are arguably in the best position
in theory. If they half-ass this effort though, then we'll know they can't actually pull it off, and that'll suck for them.