thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
I feel like I am part of the target audience if a couple assumptions are acccurate. Specifically, people who would jump at Steam in a true console form that is reasonably priced (default to controllers, simplicity of console compared to pc on hardware and settings). As long as it's easy to navigate between them I don't care about two or more storefronts.
But I also have a tough time believing my assumptions will pan out to be true. And even if somehow this all happens I'd still expect some sort of Achilles heel like needing to pay for a high tier gp plan just to have access to Steam and that could be a deal breaker itself depending on cost and trust that the costs stays relatively static.
Still an interesting concept. I won't be surprised if it's just a concept though.
That's something else I was thinking they would do: offer a SKU line that's soft-subsidized (as in, lower profit margin on hardware and they make up the difference later) through a locked Game Pass subscription, which they could probably do with All-Access. But they'd also have (much more expensive) SKU options for those who want access to the other storefronts out of the box.
When I was thinking about that, it was under the assumption they'd still be using Xbox OS as it currently exists, but reading around I just remembered that Windows S Mode exists, which is a way they could have a "locked down" Windows for these devices optimized for gaming. I just hope it's better than the trash that was on those HP Stream laptops I used years ago; those things were basically e-waste out of the box with little RAM and low storage, and no upgrade options. And I also remember the nightmare of always having basic installs blocked because they were set to S Mode.