ZehDon
Gold Member
I tend to agree, but for different reasons. I suspect we're seeing transition pains as Xbox evolves due to the nature of the transition. Microsoft is clearly going PC-hybrid next gen - the idea of a closed "Xbox Console" platform is dead. The issue is that they've had to start transitioning the software side today to get it ready, which is long before the open hardware platform is in place. So, instead of seeing a new "open Xbox platform" message with software and hardware that lines up, we're seeing a closed hardware platform with basically no exclusives. Instead of "a new vision for Xbox", we're left with "Microsoft's release strategy makes no fucking sense" until the hardware arrives that makes it make sense.I feel like Microsoft jumped the multiplat gun too soon. A lot of their gaming revenue is now Activision and most of that is multiplat either way. Might as well keep the Xbox Studios and Bethesda games as exclusives to keep Xbox alive instead of killing their Game Pass subs and their GaaS cut.
I'm actually super keen to see their handheld and the kind of Xbox PC they can deliver. An Xbox PC that can run Steam, Epic, and Xbox games? Potent. Microsoft's all in on AI, and that technology has the potential to turbo charge games if a platform was built with it in mind from the ground up. But we're about 18 months away from seeing that stuff. So, until then, Microsoft's Xbox strategy is a negative cycle: their hardware doesn't sell, so they release more games on competitors platforms, so there's less reason to buy their hardware.