WC/Jez: Microsoft's ambitious new Xbox: Your entire Xbox console library, the full power of Windows PC gaming, and no multiplayer paywall
- Thread starter RetroGamingUK
- Start date
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Exactly. So how will MS handle these situations when it comes to Xbox Magnus users?
mayham2199
Member
My guess is that no one using Magnus will have to pay for it. They wont remove it from the Xbox consoles though. Since they don't expect many to move from Xone/Series S/X they don't expect to lose much revenue from subs dropping.
Most people will not double/triple-dip - if they own Series/X1 versions they'll play those, not buy again on Steam/MS store (for games that aren't play-anywhere).
Actually this whole licensing mess is the most interesting thing about this proposition. If MS are indeed able to untangle that, while keeping User Experience half-decent, that would be interesting to see. I have very-low confidence in them doing a good job at the latter in particular - but given that's basically the 'only' differentiation they have left, at least one hopes they will properly focus on it.
That and hw-pricing going up as 3DO business model certainly isn't conductive to console pricing.
Anyway - I'm more curious on another thing - I see on this forum we are early-adopters for either of these consoles, but I find it kind of baffling people are so sold on any of them so far. The leaks are incredibly underwhelming to-date, basically the entire value proposition is now 'we'll narrow down the gap to PC high-end down' - with absolutely no line of sight of what that does for software other than 'my BC games will run more better'.
I mean I get it - Switch 2 already sold incredibly well on basically the same value prop, and so did PS5 and even Series early on - but... I mean is that really all that's left of console gaming?
Tobimacoss
Member
The same way they handle Xbox PC vs Xbox Console SKUs now. Smart Delivery.
The prices you guys are bandying around for the next gen Xbox is around the price of just the GPU for a high end PC.
If 'console' mode is a sandbox the way some people imagine it here - it would literally be separate runtimes, so no 'smart delivery', console installs are just permanently separate from the 'PC land'.
If it's actually more like AllyX and BC games are just launched in same execution space but virtualized a bit, that would lend itself to your described use-case. That said - MS would actually need to implement that kind of delivery for PC, but with more complexities with number of different versions under each SKU.
It raises all kinds of questions too - is PC version always the 'smart' one to download - regardless of your hardware? Hell we could even have situations with 3 versions in library (PC, X1, Series) and on a handheld I'd sooner choose X1 for best performance but with no user control as they do it today - you're out of luck.
Tobimacoss
Member
PC has multiple game development environments. You do realize that Xbox PC and Xbox Console games are both created by the GDK right? In a Play Anywhere title, Smart Delivery detects if playing on console vs PC hardware. Both versions are distributed via the same MS Store backend.
You're just repeating what I said above - noone's arguing about what the backend does.
My point - to reiterate - is that the rumored device will 'potentially' have ability to play 3(or more) different versions of the same SKU - and the 'optimal' version for the hardware will not be dictated by which OS it runs, like it is today.
This partly exists today as an edge case (where sometimes X1 are preferable to Series versions due to performance), but we'll get a significant increase in combinatoric possibilities with the rumored hardware, especially if there's actually console-compatible handhelds as well.