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[Topher]

Microsoft provided the necessary platform for "PC" gaming to exist as you know it today so not sure how they can piggyback on something they help create

No, Microsoft created a monopoly which forced people to use Windows. Valve has done more to advance PC gaming than Microsoft since they have been around including these new OS advancements which Microsoft wouldn't have bothered with if not for Steam Deck.

 

[Holammer]

With SteamOS making inroads, this is MS way to secure Windows 11 dominance in the PC gaming space.
I expect the next proper Xbox machine to run the same software setup and these machines are the dry run.

The average consumer won't have a problem with the fact that there's Win11 down there, they just want to play NHL & COD. There's literally no difference to them.

 

[Kumomeme]

honestly, they gonna stray further and further especially if they expected immediate magic in a bottle moment.

on paper, it is a 'guarantee' strategy. but it is like their others 'guaranteed' approach. while at same time they has habit of hurt their own others venture than their competitor while they aggresively seeking the new one.

im not suprise they gonna chase another new trend sooner or later. coming after second late on whatever left than just leading it by themself.

 

[DevonExplorer]

Doubt it.
They'll probably transition even more to a pure third-party publisher, one without a hardware platform attached to it.

 

[Topher]

It's not like they created the DirectX API that nearly all PC games use. At some point they will drop the DirectX name and just call it Xbox API.

He's talking about piggybacking the name Xbox on top of PC gaming to make Xbox brand relevant again. Renaming DirectX to Xbox API isn't much different.

 

[tronied]

I see this as their strategy:
1) Work on their Windows variant to improve efficiency and performance. They'll want this to become a one-stop shop gaming OS* much like Windows did for general use.
2) Their new console which will use this new OS variant, moving away from the traditional console architecture in favour of a "play it all" approach. Hardware will be competitive but not cutting edge, made available at an appealing price point.
3) I imagine they are working on Xbox emulation as a side project. Due to hardware constraints the (likely) first iteration of this will be made available only on this next console. As handhelds grow in power then this feature could potentially be rolled out there. This will be appealing to existing users to move them from older generations.

I think Microsoft is hedging it's bets here. There are several advantages to their approach:
1) Compatibility - having multiple game stores and existing catalogues of games available means it will be appealing to the masses.
2) Income - Although this may initially look to be killing their profits, they are going to approach this two-fold. Firstly they'll put Xbox and its store front and centre. GamePass will no doubt be a prominent feature which could boost subscriber adoption. Secondly, they're using Playstation and potentially Switch as a financial fallback. Microsoft is wanting to show this as a unified game library moving away from the idea of Steam, GOG, Battle.net being separate libraries. This will make people more likely to buy games on their platform if they can buy games easily from their console but still access their existing libraries.
3) Helps Game Developers - For developers there would be the advantage of having to target less platforms. If it runs on a PC then it will run on their console. This also is a benefit for Microsoft as they will have to spend less time courting developers to port games to their platform.

This approach has a lot of risks though. By aiming their next console hardware to be effectively a PC in a box, it probably will put it at a disadvantage performance-wise to what Playstation is going to offer. Cost is another factor as PC hardware is expensive, so to make it competitive I imagine they'd have to subsidise it substantially to hit a competitive price point. Then there is risk that people might not be tempted away from their existing platforms. There is also the fact that game makers may not bother to optimise it for this console / pc hardware. As such, performance may vary wildly and in some circumstances make it look positively bad compared to the tailored Playstation approach. Then you've got legal issues with emulation and what they can and able make available.

It is an interesting approach but one which comes with many risks. At this stage though I think they felt this was their last chance by trying to broaden their appeal. They know they've lost in the console race and if they released another traditional console then it would likely fail in a similar vein. The next couple of years will be interesting to see how it pans out.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Microsoft is always on the verge of dominating the gaming world — either because of its seemingly infinite money or because they "created DirectX" at least 24 years ago with the launch of the first Xbox.

Since then, there haven't just been dozens but practically thousands of promises about how they were going to fix or revolutionize some aspect of gaming.

None of it ever really materialized — especially on PC. I've lost count of how many years it's been since Games for Windows failed (thank God). The Xbox app has improved, but it's still vastly inferior to the Steam client. Windows 11 updates cause so many issues that people are actually advised to roll back to a previous version.

Honestly, I have no idea where people find the hope to believe what Microsoft says.

I'll believe they've improved the OS when I have it installed right in front of me at home — and it actually works the way they promised.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Fighting for scraps at a seat at the table and slowly withering away in the process

If Xbox/Microsoft actually put forth the effort to make gaming version of Windows, that strips out ALL the bloat, allows native Windows drivers, but has a UI that can used from a controller, I would absolutely take back every negative thing I have said about Xbox. I would even pay a subscription for that version of the OS, as long as it has no ads and no telemetry.

Microsoft appears to be trying to do that, but I have no faith that they won't fuck it up.

 

[PlayStaytion]

It's pretty clear that MS wants all games to sell. Excluding MS studios, it's not a revenue problem from their perspective.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Microsoft is always on the verge of dominating the gaming world — either because of its seemingly infinite money or because they "created DirectX" at least 24 years ago with the launch of the first Xbox.

Since then, there haven't just been dozens but practically thousands of promises about how they were going to fix or revolutionize some aspect of gaming.

None of it ever really materialized — especially on PC. I've lost count of how many years it's been since Games for Windows failed (thank God). The Xbox app has improved, but it's still vastly inferior to the Steam client. Windows 11 updates cause so many issues that people are actually advised to roll back to a previous version.

Honestly, I have no idea where people find the hope to believe what Microsoft says.

I'll believe they've improved the OS when I have it installed right in front of me at home — and it actually works the way they promised.

Hope is a very powerful drug. I love hearing "THIS WILL BE THE THING" that forces people to ditch Sony and Nintendo.

However, Valve also has a lot of work to do. SteamOS is their trojan horse, but they absolutely MUST get nvidia and Intel on board. Right now AMD has excellent driver support for Linux, due to their open source nature but nvidia does not. It has improved drastically in the last year, but gaming on nvidia GPUs in Linux basically costs you a tier of performance. AMD also has this problem of the HDMI Forum not allowing 2.1 support in Linux due to their open source drivers. It's a non-issue if you are on a desktop, but those who want to game on a living room TV, it was a deal breaker for me and my living room PC has WIndows 11 LSTC installed and Steam Big Picture Mode, as that is the closest thing to a non-shitty windows.

 

[Doom85]

 

[Griffon]

MS vision of the future is ownership too expensive to afford and a 30$/month rent platform where they get to dictate what devs get and what you can play.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

MS vision of the future is ownership too expensive to afford and a 30$/month rent platform where they get to dictate what devs get and what you can play.

And people wonder why I want Gamepass to die. Its this reason right here. Microsoft is literally the LAST company I want in control of the PC Gaming market.

 

[DragonNCM]

MS at this point don't need next console at all.....they just need silk working gaming windows bootable mode that mimic console layout & functionality & gamepass subscription.
No need to spend billions of $ to RND of new hardware when you actually don't need it at all.
Even they can configure games for min/max spec depending on hardware & also developers will cut cost greatly diching out console ports.
Now is clear that spending 70B on ABK acquiring was not to boost console sales, they know it that Xbox was already dead.
Only problem that stand in their whey is handling emulation of 360, One & Series consoles.

 

[Humdinger]

It will probably be more limited than traditional Windows and will serve as bait to make it difficult to download the Steam application while bombard you with Xbox products and applications.

Sounds great, lol.

Also, from what I'm hearing, if you are an Xbox guy with a sizeable digital library, this "Xbox" PC will not be able to play a majority of your previously-purchased games - at least not natively. That seems rather confusing/misleading.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Sounds great, lol.

Also, from what I'm hearing, if you are an Xbox guy with a sizeable digital library, this "Xbox" PC will not be able to play a majority of your previously-purchased games - at least not natively. That seems rather confusing/misleading.

that's why the name of the platform is Xino xbox in name only.

 

[Ziglax]

I can't wait for the resurrection of Game for Windows Live !

 

[Hari Seldon]

It is amazing to me that a company with over 200,000 employees cannot make a digital store better than a company with less than 500.

Of course, they obviously can if they wanted to, but MS always is scheming for some future world domination plan rather than just making the customers happy. That is why they must fail.

 

[rkofan87]

i think x box on ps5 will work better.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

MS Store is even more irrelevant than the EGS.

let than sink in.

changing their name to Xbox PC ain't gonna change shit when Xbox = Game Pass

 

[Fess]

I hope not. I really hope they can find a way to bring a true console-like gaming experience to PC. Steam is so close and starting to finally come around to pushing Steam OS but having Microsoft in that realm could create interesting innovations (and better compatibility for non Steam games and hardware?).

Yeah I want that Windows full/big screen mode capable of juggling multiple launchers on my living room PC. Seems perfect. They need to release it for any PC.

 

[Jigsaah]

Unless they get this ROG Xbox Ally to reign in it's price...it's likely to be DOA.

They need to sell it at a loss. Either that or set up some form of a financing plan a la cell phones carriers.

 

[mayham2199]

Fighting for scraps at a seat at the table and slowly withering away in the process

Man it sounds so depressing but I just don't see how it can go any other way. Jez is constantly complaining about how current games on the Xbox PC app are outdated because the devs released the game and then abandoned it.

 

[Sooner]

When has anything Xbox ever truly worked out?

Late 2005 to around mid 2008. Assuming you can look past RROD.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Man it sounds so depressing but I just don't see how it can go any other way. Jez is constantly complaining about how current games on the Xbox PC app are outdated because the devs released the game and then abandoned it.

I bet we start seeing a big push from MS on the Xbox PC app

 

[mayham2199]

I bet we start seeing a big push from MS on the Xbox PC app

I would hope so. What concerns me is I expected to see it years ago. It's like every move they make is at the last second. At this point the PC community hates the app and that is not the kind of reputation you want to have on PC.

 

[yogaflame]

I think they will market this next gen XBox or xbox pc, or hybrid or what ever they call there next gen, like a gaming PC, just like Alienware, so it will be a high end and a bit pricey.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I would hope so. What concerns me is I expected to see it years ago. It's like every move they make is at the last second. At this point the PC community hates the app and that is not the kind of reputation you want to have on PC.

It was likely 10 years ago or so that Ybarra wanted MS dumping tons of resources into fixing the PC store mess but Phil had other ideas

 

[PaintTinJr]

When has anything Xbox ever truly worked out?

You say that, and at face value I whole heartedly agree....but the long game was always to poison PC de facto APIs so that they would be Microsoft Windows APIs - like DirectX - to defend Windows from credible competition like Mac, Enterprise Unix, or in this case, gaming class linux - SteamOS.

So to answer the question of the thread I think there is a 50:50 chance that this will defend Windows handhelds from SteamOS.

The strategy seems to be to potentially complicate the handheld market with too many offerings with the long term result of a fall back position of Windows + PC handheld hardware and Switch1/2.

Valve have done a great job so far, so it is advantage SteamOS currently IMO, needing a excellent SteamDeck 2 and PC SteamOS point of entry to keep the momentum of PCs without Windows, but this with the right amount of publishing subsidy to favour "Xbox PC" solutions I could see Xbox handheld PC being just as disruptive as DirectX was originally to PC game development, giving Windows the default win forcing steam back to being an app on a windows handheld.

 

[buenoblue]

No. Your average gamer don't give a fuck about pc. And it's gonna be expensive. Also,just buy/build a pc lol. Xbox future is third party publisher.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

No. Your average gamer don't give a fuck about pc. And it's gonna be expensive. Also,just buy/build a pc lol. Xbox future is third party publisher.

Your average gamer doesnt give a fuck about PC yet your advice is to buy/build one?

Plus your average Xbox gamer doesnt want to own a PC or they would have by now

 

[Brakum]

Its just a rebranded Microsoft Store specifically for games.


Their big push is with PlayAnywhere so they are trying to make devs feel like that store is worthwhile.
The PlayAnywhere incentives might make devs jump on the Microsoft Store otherwise I dont see too many publishers taking that store seriously.


The MS games store best sellers and most played is mostly like Casino games and shit that people can only use the MS store to download cuz they cant install Steam on their work computers and/or legit dont know about Steam.


The most played and best sellers list legit looks like a mobile store from like a decade ago.
No serious gamers use the MS Store except for Gamepass.

They need to somehow convince devs and gamers that the store is viable, basically if I publish on Xbox publishing to XboxPC should be as simple as a toggle during submission. (hyperbole but you get the point).

I feel like xbox's play anywhere isn't the big deal they hope it is. They need approval from all the devs. Now that steam deck exists, if play anywhere is what you really care about, you can just use that as your console and just have play anywhere by default. This includes your xbox games that have play anywhere.

 

[buenoblue]

I said in 2020 just put full windows 11 on the series x. A £450 12Tflop mini gaming pc that plays all xbox one games too would have sold multiple times the amount the series x as we know it sold.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Fighting for scraps at a seat at the table and slowly withering away in the process

That's definitely what this looks like.

Maybe 10 years ago it could've been a hit. Today it just looks like a desperate attempt to stem their losses and defend whatever is left of their market share.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

 

[PaintTinJr]

I said in 2020 just put full windows 11 on the series x. A £450 12Tflop mini gaming pc that plays all xbox one games too would have sold multiple times the amount the series x as we know it sold.

It would, but that was the exact opposite of the financial realities that Xbox faced with Series X.

The two pronged pincer movement was designed to have the low price win with the series S and the X to be the high end sparse quantity power house that everyone wanted and could be sold at cost of $650 or profit as demand and sparsity pushed its price higher.

A $200 subsidized $450 X Series undercutting all PC OEMs and undermining AMD GPU prices wouldn't have been strategically wise IMO for Microsoft, even if it would have been a great offer for gamers.

 

[Ebrietas]

MS trying to employ their classic EEE strategy to PC gaming via this "xbox-ified" windows handheld.

Thankfully, it won't work. Nobody will buy this thing and it will be quickly laid to rest along with the rest of their failed products.

 

[Parazels]

It might be the only choice for the current Xbox owners. After all, there are only three platforms on Earth:

• Xbox (whatever it means)
• PlayStation
• Switch

 

[Hideous Snake]

All roads leads to PC. There's no such thing called Xbox PC

 

[Baemono]

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

Does anyone know if any outlets has gotten the chance to check out the OS these devices will ship with? Outside of a MS controlled enviroment of course.

 

[{insert code here}]

No. Microsoft would make more money if they abandoned trying to be a platform and just made games. They had it with the 360 and they lost it when the marketing suits took over the division.

 

[Burger King]

There is no Xbox PC.

There is only PC.

 

[metareferential]

Microsoft doesn't understand pc gaming.

Or better: they do, they just hate it. They want to eat that market and impose their stupid, subscription-ridden, walled garden.

It's not going to happen.

 

[djjinx2]

Xbox seems to have given up, it's now going to use it's publisher power and software alone to generate revenue.

They see the need to keep gaming on Windows hence them keeping a hardware foothold and finally making a proper gaming mode (it's coming right?)

 

[Elfstar]

Xbox is over.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

There is no such thing as Xbox PC. Only PC.

Personally I hate MS for trying to piggyback on PC gaming. The new ROG Ally is just another PC handheld with fierce competition, it won't outsell the Steam Deck.

One thing is evident though: All roads lead to PC gaming.

Is MS piggybacking on PC gaming when they make the OS used by 99.9999999% of PC gamers?

 

[Topher]

Is MS piggybacking on PC gaming when they make the OS used by 99.9999999% of PC gamers?

The fact that Microsoft has a decades old monopoly in desktop operating systems doesn't change the fact that they have taken a backseat to Valve when it comes to moving PC gaming forward.

 

[kruis]

XboxPC is the MSStore but just for games.
You dont pay for online on the MSStore.

The idea is for devs to actually put games on the MSStore as some devs just never bother.

So when you boot the stripped Win11 whatever its gonna be called, the first store you see is the MSStore but its nothing but games, if those games are fucking Sudoku you are swapping out of there ASAP.

So they are trying to get more devs to put their games on the store so atleast the front page has titles that are currently popular.


If they can legit get Win11 stripped down enough with a good front end that handheld machines and maybe even pure gaming PCs start seeing it as an OS worth using, they might be able to "trick" people into using the MSStore purely out of convenience and being front facing.


Remember how many of your friends/family legit used Internet Explorer without pause?
It was there and it got them on the internet even if FireFox was leagues and leagues better already.
Imma guess MS is trying to get gamers to follow the same path, when you boot your PC/Handheld the games you see are from the MS Store, they sell you gamepass promising 100s of games so you just subscribe and say fuck it.

MS would love "Xbox PC" on Windows 11 to take off. If MS can make ALL PC games run substantially better in "Xbox PC" mode, that's going to be the default way to run games in Windows and that MS store will be completely unavoidable and people will be bombarded every day with messages about the benefits of Gamepass. "Play all these games for free with Gamepass!!*"
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"* $12 monthly subscription required

 

[Crayon]

I would be shocked if their front end can compete with steam's. I don't eve mean steamos, just the steam store, bpm, and utilities.