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Jez on the future of Xbox (rumour)

I think you're going to see the opposite. Had it not been for Rise of Ronin, Stellar Blade, and FF7:Rebirth, Helldivers 2 would have been the only exclusive the first half of this year.

Hopefully they're organizing their studios to better manage a release cadence, but they need 3rd party to fill in those gaps. If they can make it exclusive, even better from their perspective.

Some of those games probably don’t get made without Sony funding, too.

Stellar Blade and Rise of Ronin for instance
 

Bridges

Gold Member
At this point, I really only care about my games library carrying forward to future hardware. If that library exists and I'm still able to add new releases to it, why should I care? I'm already fully bought-in to the ecosystem, little can be done to change that at this point.

I suppose though that that mentality partly is exactly what is leading to this. For every person like me there are substantially more out there that feel exactly the same except about the PlayStation ecosystem
 
At this point, I really only care about my games library carrying forward to future hardware. If that library exists and I'm still able to add new releases to it, why should I care? I'm already fully bought-in to the ecosystem, little can be done to change that at this point.

I suppose though that that mentality partly is exactly what is leading to this. For every person like me there are substantially more out there that feel exactly the same except about the PlayStation ecosystem
And Steam. Xbox will need a lot of work to get to their level.
 

Ashamam

Member
And Steam. Xbox will need a lot of work to get to their level.
But at the end of the day it will probably be worth it. Essentially one box to rule them all provided Sony keep bringing their titles to PC. The main difference is you won't be making value calls against PS anymore, it will be against a PC instead. Hence they can lift the price significantly and the specs. (assuming it has a full blown windows mode)
 

kikkis

Member
But at the end of the day it will probably be worth it. Essentially one box to rule them all provided Sony keep bringing their titles to PC. The main difference is you won't be making value calls against PS anymore, it will be against a PC instead. Hence they can lift the price significantly and the specs. (assuming it has a full blown windows mode)
Windows on side would be nice, but they need to be able to boot seamlessly into xbox os to prevent rampant cheating in windows ecosystem
 

saintjules

Gold Member
Info based on a recent earnings call.

Believe it or not they're working on another Series X and S SKUs for later this year.
 
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StueyDuck

Member
While most these things will happen most likely.

It's always good to remember that jezzy doo doo doesn't have any inside knowledge, same with speshal nick and all those chops on that podcast.
 
But at the end of the day it will probably be worth it. Essentially one box to rule them all provided Sony keep bringing their titles to PC. The main difference is you won't be making value calls against PS anymore, it will be against a PC instead. Hence they can lift the price significantly and the specs. (assuming it has a full blown windows mode)
I am curious about the details. In theory I would agree with you, and maybe even make the move to this xbox/pc but I fear that Microsoft will find a way to fuck up again. How will they get Steam on board? Will Microsoft mandate to have parity between the Steam version and their next gen console? Will we have the Xbox console experience, or will that be discontinued and it will be a windows PC rebranded as Xbox? Will they accept a full desinstall of the Xbox parts to make it a PC, or will we have a PC with the level of control of a console(basically nothing?)
 

IDappa

Member
Is this supposed to make me feel bad?

Those points are all positive if you’re not a die hard xbox fan. Lower prices, frequent sales and access to Steam? Sony Monopoly all day.
I have always been one to get the Xbox first and then the other consoles when I can mainly out of controller preference and friends lists which eventually led into having a decent library on it. Don’t know if that makes me hardcore but this sounds right up my alley,

I have a decent pc but also like to pick up the controller on one of the consoles and kick back at times. Having access to steam would be a great bonus to play controller friendly games from that library. I’ve been thinking for the past few months this might be the way they go so it’s not too surprising albeit a bold move.
 

IDappa

Member
Curious what this will mean for GamePass since it is mostly only subbed to on Xbox.
I would assume they would still be pushing it hard on pc and their platform for those users who want it and if the rumours of a portable Xbox are true could be a big plus for people wanting gamepass and steam on the go.
 

IDappa

Member
That's what a console warrior would say. I believe the industry already gave Xbox plenty of chances just like they gave Sony and Nintendo chances.
I listen to a few xbox podcasts and to say the majority of them are anything but hardcore fanboys would be a lie. They’ve made that apart of their persona instead of just enjoying gaming as a whole. You can definitely have preferences without being a complete zealot but most like to double down.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I mean if they go this way, I suppose there might be reasons someone might buy an Xbox in addition to playstation or instead of:

- Backwards compatibility with games you have invested in
- Still gets new xbox games, not abandoned
- Potentially could be superior hardware
- If you enjoy the Xbox ecosystem - quick resume, achievements, etc
- might still be the only way to get gamepass on a console
- might appeal to some pc gamers with a steam catalog if it does that as a secondary boot (and ironically Sony games on xbox)
- Avoids all out backlash, those with xbox consoles are still supported with games
- might be portable hardware in addition to a new more powerfull console, something so far Sony hasn't gone for, might be the only console alternative to Nintendo
- Potentially could still give themselves timed exclusives even if they releaae on all platforms. 6 months or a year.

Lost revenue might be made up and more in sales of software on other platforms.

Saves face as they can say look, there is still xbox hardware and it's more versatile than before. Allows them to still sell gamepass to existing and some new customers. Fits in to the whole we want xbox everywhere motto.

Would be funny if the Steam side load was linux based, so they could just boot to steam os. Certain makes it more plug and play.
 
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Ashamam

Member
I am curious about the details. In theory I would agree with you, and maybe even make the move to this xbox/pc but I fear that Microsoft will find a way to fuck up again. How will they get Steam on board? Will Microsoft mandate to have parity between the Steam version and their next gen console? Will we have the Xbox console experience, or will that be discontinued and it will be a windows PC rebranded as Xbox? Will they accept a full desinstall of the Xbox parts to make it a PC, or will we have a PC with the level of control of a console(basically nothing?)
Quick thoughts, not a prediction just musings based on what little they've hinted at so far.

1. They don't need to get steam on board, it likely will be Windows, just with an app whitelist in a driver locked sandbox. They'll be shooting for low maintenance with maximum compatibility.
2. I don't think they will mandate anything. They might offer better optimisation on their hardware if devs choose. Play anywhere cross save etc will push the 'Xbox' version.
3. It will be a 'nexgen' console experience, essentially big picture mode with explicit access to whitelisted apps. At least whilst in game mode. You switch across to Steam and it literally is big picture mode.
4. If they ditch the subsidies and bump the price up I think it almost has to have a windows mode, which like the game mode will run in a performant VM. Memory overhead will be covered by better specs covered by higher price. Any handheld would not bundle a windows mode, and would spec to suit. But probably it would be hackable to do it. But the modes would be exclusive, as in switch to one the other is completely paused, allowing for a proper fixed dev SKU target with no rogue process killing performance.

I just don't see how a high spec Xbox with matching price tag can't offer the full windows functionality. The value proposition just doesn't make sense to me as its likely to be comparable to at least a mid spec PC. You can get away with cutting a lot of functionality from a console because the price is attractive. You raise the price, keep it exclusively a games machine (even with steam) and its going to be extremely niche. Like to point no one actually buys it and just gets a PC instead.
 
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Yonyx

Banned
The 100% of the following first-party Microsoft games are going to be released on PS5 as well (and some on Switch 2). That's a very clear truth that I don't understand why it takes so long to accept (in reddit, not here).
 

Klayzer

Member
I would put Nioh aside, that one is more of a FFXVI exclusivity deal, as you didn't have SIE producers working on it like with Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade. And I don't think they paid anything for Granblue, lol.
Helldivers 2, Death Stranding 2 and Lost Soul Aside are better examples.
I was speaking more of just games, Sony's internal devs wasn't involved in. That includes, 2nd party, third party releases.
 
Quick thoughts, not a prediction just musings based on what little they've hinted at so far.

1. They don't need to get steam on board, it likely will be Windows, just with an app whitelist in a driver locked sandbox. They'll be shooting for low maintenance with maximum compatibility.
2. I don't think they will mandate anything. They might offer better optimisation on their hardware if devs choose. Play anywhere cross save etc will push the 'Xbox' version.
3. It will be a 'nexgen' console experience, essentially big picture mode with explicit access to whitelisted apps. At least whilst in game mode. You switch across to Steam and it literally is big picture mode.
4. If they ditch the subsidies and bump the price up I think it almost has to have a windows mode, which like the game mode will run in a performant VM. Memory overhead will be covered by better specs covered by higher price. Any handheld would not bundle a windows mode, and would spec to suit. But probably it would be hackable to do it. But the modes would be exclusive, as in switch to one the other is completely paused, allowing for a proper fixed dev SKU target with no rogue process killing performance.

I just don't see how a high spec Xbox with matching price tag can't offer the full windows functionality. The value proposition just doesn't make sense to me as its likely to be comparable to at least a mid spec PC. You can get away with cutting a lot of functionality from a console because the price is attractive. You raise the price, keep it exclusively a games machine (even with steam) and its going to be extremely niche. Like to point no one actually buys it and just gets a PC instead.
There is a lot that Steam could do if they are on board that they would not do if this is just another windows PC. And if Xbox don't match any of those features we may be in a situation where the Xbox experience will be sometimes weaker than the Steam one, even on Xbox hardware. I agree with the rest, but still have doubts about Xbox not having subsidies or gamepass core anymore. If they don't make people pay for online they will loose IMHO many subscribers. I agree that a powerful PC without Windows would feel useless. Time will tell, but I hope that if they do this they don't fuck it up. A lighty subventionned great PC would be perfect for me.
 
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Xbox is doing right thing.

No need to make subsidised, cheap hardware. Then market it to oblivion to get mainstream interested enough to buy it. Only to have it collect dust in a few months once initial excitement of new purchase is over.

Make quality stuff at different price points and let people choose where they want to play, deploy a 4090 if you want. Even an ipad will do if you want.

All aboard. Will start saving up for BIG xbox instead of a pc now.
 

TheTony316

Member
"Nobody wanted to give Xbox a chance, so this is what they get with a Sony monopoly"

Am i supposed to feel bad? I gave them a chance with the 360. It was great early on and i actually prefered it over the PS3 for the fist 3 years. It all went to shit when Microsoft started to push Kinect. Remember those horrible E3 shows from 2010-2012? And then the Xbox One happened.

Xbox has only themselves to blame.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I'll never say it enough: If you're an MS fanboy, you simply shouldn't have the right to complain about any monopoly.

What we should all really want the most is the keep all of the "big three" in the console business. We dont want sony to win, we don't want nintendo to win, and we don't want ms to buy its way into a monopoly.
Your right in a way though with your point considering ms's goal.
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
GxYoN90.png
pnmGTCJ.png


I mean at this point Xbox-branded PC with a hypervisor is a given. But I wouldn't mind Forza Horizon 5 or Halo MCC with DualSense support, ngl.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Xbox is doing right thing.

No need to make subsidised, cheap hardware. Then market it to oblivion to get mainstream interested enough to buy it. Only to have it collect dust in a few months once initial excitement of new purchase is over.

Make quality stuff at different price points and let people choose where they want to play, deploy a 4090 if you want. Even an ipad will do if you want.

All aboard. Will start saving up for BIG xbox instead of a pc now.
Talk Talking To Myself GIF by Facepunch Studios
 

Drell

Member
What we should all really want the most is the keep all of the "big three" in the console business. We dont want sony to win, we don't want nintendo to win, and we don't want ms to buy its way into a monopoly.
Your right in a way though with your point considering ms's goal.
"To win" wouldn't be the term I'd choose. It's not bad if any of the big 3 win something, that would mean their business is in the right direction and so that they will continue create games and console for us also forcing the competition to do better and try to win the next gen. That's good competition.

"To crush the others" is probably what we shouldn't want. That's what Nintendo did with their anti-competitive practices in the 8 bit gen. Sony probably did a bit of it with some buyouts and Microsoft, even though they didn't "win" this way, is a huge culprit of this even more when internal documents are talking about hostile takeover of Nintendo.
 

Drell

Member
At the end of the day, most of the damage on the Xbox brand was self inflicted.

I mean after the Xbox one, they still designed the Xbox series with split ram pools! Why?! And that’s just one example of repeating the same mistakes generation after generation.
Ironic when you think the only time they beat Sony was when Xbox360 had unified RAM pool and PS3 had split RAM...
 
I know Valve isn't for sale, but if MS were to offer 30 billion, could Gabe resist? Just that this plan would make more sense if ms owned steam. That or some sort of joint venture.
Why?

Xbox could have a team that would optimise games to run on their fixed hardware.

Valve would be getting 30% cut, so they will benefit from it.
 

Sony

Nintendo
PlayStation deserves massive amounts of credit for this. It's one of those unicorn brands in the world that has is almost synonymous with its purpose (gaming) and is a verb in many countries to describe gaming.
Added to that, Microsoft's recent publisher purchases are so much castrated by regulators that they cannot levarage those in any meaningful way to sell hardware. They need to do parity in marketing and parity in content. Let that sink it: they can't exclusively market their own ActiBlizz games or develop exclusive content for their ActiBlizz games.

They've set themselves up perfectly to be a third party giant. And to be fair, the setup that they're going for isn't much different from the current one. Xbox is pretty much a niche as it is already.
So if that means that in the future Microsoft can release niche hardware and go full third party, that will be their lifeline because the current policy aint it.
 
I owned the original xbox, 360 and the xbone. The original xbox was worth owning. The 360 was hot for the first three years. But now? I feel like I gave them more than enough chances.

I'm in the same position. I have owned every Xbox console and been there right from the beginning.... I just sold up, everything, literally last week. Goodbye Series X. Its clear that the Xbox brass don't understand what people want. Almost every recent decision that has been taken has damaged the brand i.e. no more Xbox exclusives, same day release of titles on Xbox|PC, 1st party titles being ported over to PlayStation etc. Even the quality has evaporated. There is almost nothing compelling on the platform. No showstopper games. Every core IP has been ran into the ground. Halo is a shadow of its past self, Forza Motorsports has lost its edge, Fable barely even resembles the original games and has went all in with yet another insufferable, unattractive, overly masculine girl boss player character. The worst part is that Microsoft had it all there for the taking, had every conceivable advantage and has squandered it through sheer mediocrity. Its pathetic.
 

midnightAI

Member
he said "Nobody wanted to give Xbox a chance, so this is what they get with a Sony monopoly"

oh do fuck off, XBox has had plenty of chances of gaining ground on Sony (mainly due to Sony missteps admittedly) and they fucked it up (guess that was Sony's fault too though /s)

Is he going to complain about a Nintendo monopoly for handhelds? Sony had a good chance there and they fucked that up (proprietary memory cards, lack of first party support, you'd think MS would learn a lesson from Sony's mistakes also) but at least Sony admit their mistakes with Vita.

The problem with MS is they are stubborn, they dont learn from their mistakes and instead double down hoping things will be different next time.
 

ArcaneNLSC

Member
This quote here is perfect victim playing.

"Nobody wanted to give Xbox a chance, so this is what they get with a Sony monopoly"

Microsoft failed to capitalize on the success of the 360 :by shifting focus from games to kinect to then being a Tivo that played games on the side to then tried focusing on too many rivals not just Sony and Nintendo but Google Apple and Amazon all while piss poor management of games and trying to radicalise their extremist puppets
 
"Nobody wanted to give Xbox a chance, so this is what they get with a Sony monopoly"

You know what this slimeball phoney never acknowledges? The possibility that the management of Xbox could and should have done a better job with the console and the games.

Him and people like him have all played their part in creating this situation and that is what pisses me off the most. They have a platform in which at the very least they are listened to and look how they used it.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
Simon Cowell Wow GIF by America's Got Talent


It's time for proprietary consoles as we know them to die, it can't happen fast enough IMO. But at least the process is in motion for real now. Xbox going full multi is an important step in this, and so is Sony going PC. Good times.

If you agree and want to take part in this joyous moment in time, please respond with a laughing emoji below.
 
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