WC/Jez: Microsoft's ambitious new Xbox: Your entire Xbox console library, the full power of Windows PC gaming, and no multiplayer paywall

Will you buy the next Xbox hardware?


  • Total voters
    502
If MS miraculously does not fuck up and next Xbox has very convenient, streamlined and PLEASANT to use Frontend (Interface, store etc), most of its buyers will stay in that ecosystem and only dip out outside of it for exclusives (League of Legends, Robloxes and such). So they would still collect money from most games sold on it. However, it is a big if, since MS has a knack for fucking homeruns up.
I wouldn't bet on it. Many tried to beat Steam.
 
"will not want to" therefore they "will be forced to"

That's one way to spin a potential choice someone can make.

I mean usually people don't buy new hardware to do emulation of a much weaker product

Because guess what? If you want to play Series console games, you can just play them on the Series consoles you already have
 
"Living room PC" I hope…
If they're going with console then the PR will be polluted by people saying "That's no console. That's a PC."

Yes, that was the claim folks keep repeating about the Xbox Ally, chiefly because it doesn't play Xbox console games.

This one will.

So what's the excuse now?


I think they might miss both target audiences. By being not enough console-like, if they're going with Windows and fullscreen Xbox App, and not powerful enough as a PC, if they're going with a console-like APU built to be cheap to fit a console and with no upgrade possibility.

Jack of all trades. King of none.

How in the world did you type 'not powerful enough as a PC' with a straight face, given the rumored target specs, as well as what you know from Steam hardware surveys?

Am I being trolled here?
 
Yes, that was the claim folks keep repeating about the Xbox Ally, chiefly because it doesn't play Xbox console games.

This one will.

So what's the excuse now?




How in the world did you type 'not powerful enough as a PC' with a straight face, given the rumored target specs, as well as what you know from Steam hardware surveys?

Am I being trolled here?
What's the target specs? Compare to PC parts.
 
I mean usually people don't buy new hardware to do emulation of a much weaker product

Because guess what? If you want to play Series console games, you can just play them on the Series consoles you already have
I really don't understand what point you are trying to make. Your assertion only makes sense in the context of someone buying a Magnus to only ever play games they purchased for their Series console. I agree that in such a manufactured scenario, it would be foolish to purchase a Magnus device.
 
I really don't understand what point you are trying to make. Your assertion only makes sense in the context of someone buying a Magnus to only ever play games they purchased for their Series console. I agree that in such a manufactured scenario, it would be foolish to purchase a Magnus device.

I mean this device is a PC with Xbox retrogaming....

That's why it's absolutely pointless in the first place
 
I really don't understand what point you are trying to make. Your assertion only makes sense in the context of someone buying a Magnus to only ever play games they purchased for their Series console. I agree that in such a manufactured scenario, it would be foolish to purchase a Magnus device.
In every facet of life you will meet people that have their minds made up and have agendas and are not worth trying to understand or reason with

The purely casual console gamer likely will not be interested in Magnus but maybe anyone upgrading their PCs might be especially if it comes with BC for your Xbox library

Its not hard for some to understand, they simply don't want to
 
The purely casual console gamer likely will not be interested in Magnus but maybe anyone upgrading their PCs might be especially if it comes with BC for your Xbox library

Most PC Gamers have PC libraries, not an Xbox library.

Lets be honest about this, it's a device for Xbox console gamers who want their library to carry over to PC.
 
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So a console/PC hybrid that will allow people full access to their console library, access to PC stores like Steam and GOG and ditch the required payment for online gaming?

How is this going to make money? A majority of people will just buy their games from Steam and GOG, so Microsoft aren't taking a cut from any game sales.
 
Most PC Gamers have PC libraries, not an Xbox library.

Lets be honest about this, it's a device for Xbox console gamers who want their library to carry over to PC.
And it should play your entire PC library, its on others if they turn their noses up at a 5080ish level PC just because it plays older Xbox games (depending on cost)
 
So a console/PC hybrid that will allow people full access to their console library, access to PC stores like Steam and GOG and ditch the required payment for online gaming?

How is this going to make money? A majority of people will just buy their games from Steam and GOG, so Microsoft aren't taking a cut from any game sales.

High up front price for the hardware
 
And it should play your entire PC library, its on others if they turn their noses up at a 5080ish level PC just because it plays older Xbox games (depending on cost)

Well if it costs more than what it would cost to build an equivalently specced PC at the time of release and it's not upgradable then it's going to do very little to appeal to most PC gamers.
 
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Well if it costs more than what it would cost to build an equivalently specced PC at the time of release and it's not upgradable then it's going to do very little to appeal to most PC gamers.
Just curious do you think the vast majority of casual PC gamers build and or upgrade their own PCs?

I know the people I game with only a handful take the time to upgrade their systems, most play on shit until its dead

Still have a buddy rocking a 1070
 
In every facet of life you will meet people that have their minds made up and have agendas and are not worth trying to understand or reason with

The purely casual console gamer likely will not be interested in Magnus but maybe anyone upgrading their PCs might be especially if it comes with BC for your Xbox library

Its not hard for some to understand, they simply don't want to

I agree the casual gamer might not be interested, but I don't think the PC gamers will be interested either.

You said that it might appeal to someone who is upgrading their PC, but upgrading the PC would be more appealing for a majority of PC gamers. Why would you buy the Microsoft box that cannot be upgraded with future parts, vs upgrading your PC which you can then upgrade again in the future.

Even somebody getting into PC gaming would be better off with a custom PC. Free to choose your own parts to keep within your budget, and you can always upgraded the parts when need be. You can't do that with Magnus, right? (Serious question as well).

The only people I can see this appealing to are the Xbox console owners who want to carry forward their existing libraries.
 
In every facet of life you will meet people that have their minds made up and have agendas and are not worth trying to understand or reason with

The purely casual console gamer likely will not be interested in Magnus but maybe anyone upgrading their PCs might be especially if it comes with BC for your Xbox library

Its not hard for some to understand, they simply don't want to

Now instead of keeping two older devices around they can replace both with something more powerful that can do both their jobs.
 
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Jez can't change the reality that because all of Xbox is available everywhere else, no one has to enter their ecosystem to get the Xbox games they want, i can basically keep on being a PS and Nintendo player and get games from Microsoft when i want on those platforms instead. I'm not going into cloud gaming or buying an Xbox branded PC instead of console gaming just because Phil Spencer and Nadella is busy abandoning consoles for those alternatives.
 
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I agree the casual gamer might not be interested, but I don't think the PC gamers will be interested either.

You said that it might appeal to someone who is upgrading their PC, but upgrading the PC would be more appealing for a majority of PC gamers. Why would you buy the Microsoft box that cannot be upgraded with future parts, vs upgrading your PC which you can then upgrade again in the future.

Even somebody getting into PC gaming would be better off with a custom PC. Free to choose your own parts to keep within your budget, and you can always upgraded the parts when need be. You can't do that with Magnus, right? (Serious question as well).

The only people I can see this appealing to are the Xbox console owners who want to carry forward their existing libraries.
Maybe the market will be small but much like the guy I mentioned I game with having a 1070 level PC he also has a Series X or S I dont recall which but he is pretty excited about upgrading his old ass PC and having a much nicer system to play his Xbox library on

If affordable I could see pure casuals walking into a Best Buy and considering this machine as an option if they were coming in to just upgrade their aging PC

Now instead of keeping two older devices around they can replace both with something more powerful that can do both their jobs.
I agree with this
 
Just curious do you think the vast majority of casual PC gamers build and or upgrade their own PCs?

I know the people I game with only a handful take the time to upgrade their systems, most play on shit until its dead

Still have a buddy rocking a 1070

Most of the people in my circle have built their own PC and it's pretty common here in the UAE.

If you go to the dubaigaming subreddit it's reflected there. People are getting increasingly savvy in terms of what represents value for money in the PC space. What's also of note is that because of the rise in popularity of streaming people now want customisation/flexibility.

I don't know where this idea that people aren't willing to upgrade their own hardware would come from unless you were to approach this from the perspective of someone who is primarily a console gamer (or someone who isn't tech-savvy, which would tend to be older guys).

Edit:

Maybe the market will be small but much like the guy I mentioned I game with having a 1070 level PC he also has a Series X or S I dont recall which but he is pretty excited about upgrading his old ass PC and having a much nicer system to play his Xbox library on

That's the exact type of customer that I said this would appeal to before - someone who has been gaming on Xbox consoles and has a xbox library.
 
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HA. We are still arguing details that we do not know about yet. Sure, it will "do it all" but we have no idea how well. Is it really going to be a console experience?

What I do know is I cannot tell other people how to spend their money. If it takes off and does well, yay for those that bought it. If it doesn't, who cares? I don't even think Microsoft does at this point. I do believe there are some extreme fans that will buy it, or skip it, based on the Xbox name attached to it.

Personally, I am trying to wait for more information. I want a new mini/SFF build for under my TV but this could fit the bill a little better if it turns out to be very close to a console experience. If not, oh well, I can stick with another build. Of course, price will be a factor too.
 
Most of the people in my circle have built their own PC and it's pretty common here in the UAE.

If you go to the dubaigaming subreddit it's reflected there. People are getting increasingly savvy in terms of what represents value for money in the PC space. What's also of note is that because of the rise in popularity of streaming people now want customisation/flexibility.

I don't know where this idea that people aren't willing to upgrade their own hardware would come from unless you were to approach this from the perspective of someone who is primarily a console gamer (or someone who isn't tech-savvy, which would tend to be older guys).

Edit:



That's the exact type of customer that I said this would appeal to before - someone who has been gaming on Xbox consoles and has a xbox library.
A quick look shows the prebuilt gaming PC market was a 1.2 billion dollar industry last year alone, and growing
 
A quick look shows the prebuilt gaming PC market was a 1.2 billion dollar industry last year alone, and growing

Pretty much all of which provide you with the option of upgrading the hardware.

Magnus is a completely different proposition to anything else that's currently on the market. The pros will appeal to current Xbox users while the cons are likely to put off people who game on PC and have no digital Xbox library to speak of (based on the information we have now).
 
Pretty much all of which provide you with the option of upgrading the hardware.

Magnus is a completely different proposition to anything else that's currently on the market. The pros will appeal to current Xbox users while the cons are likely to put off people who game on PC and have no digital Xbox library to speak of (based on the information we have now).
If that market is that big and growing that's a lot of people not upgrading parts
 
That's not what I said. But buying a PC already gives them the platform of that versatility which is a 100% fact.
Its also a fact, 100% as well, thats quite a few people who bought prebuilt gaming PCs that didn't want to build their own or upgrade a current one and that market is growing which means thats another group of people doing the same thing next year and the year after that

Thats a lot of people (myself including, been there done that) that never want to build another PC or shop for GPUs

So when people say something like the PC crowd wont be interested in product A or product B what they are actually saying is they aren't interested in said product

If they knew what the industry wanted they could make multiple millions of dollars in forecasting that
 
You guys win, 90% of people buying prebuilt are doing so with the intentions of upgrading

The 5080 and 5090 makes up around 1.1% of total GPUs in the Steam hardware surveys. Under 3% If you throw in the 4080 and 4090.

A lot of folks upgrading are going for the xx60 or xx70 series GPUs.

People buy prebuilts with 4060 GPUs and swap in for mid range GPUs down the line, if they ever bother to upgrade.
Most likely the majority leave the hardware as is.

Of course this also excludes laptops. There are more Steam gamers with RTX4060 laptops than gamers with the 5090, 5080, 4080 and 4090 desktop GPUs combined.
 
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Its also a fact, 100% as well, thats quite a few people who bought prebuilt gaming PCs that didn't want to build their own or upgrade a current one and that market is growing which means thats another group of people doing the same thing next year and the year after that

Thats a lot of people (myself including, been there done that) that never want to build another PC or shop for GPUs

So when people say something like the PC crowd wont be interested in product A or product B what they are actually saying is they aren't interested in said product

If they knew what the industry wanted they could make multiple millions of dollars in forecasting that
I'm right there with you on buying pre-builds now after building myself for over 25 years. Prices aren't that much different vs doing it yourself (sometimes cheaper with deals and free upgrades) and they do impeccable cable management for you. Then just buy new graphics cards if needed every so often.
 
I agree the casual gamer might not be interested, but I don't think the PC gamers will be interested either.

You said that it might appeal to someone who is upgrading their PC, but upgrading the PC would be more appealing for a majority of PC gamers. Why would you buy the Microsoft box that cannot be upgraded with future parts, vs upgrading your PC which you can then upgrade again in the future.

Even somebody getting into PC gaming would be better off with a custom PC. Free to choose your own parts to keep within your budget, and you can always upgraded the parts when need be. You can't do that with Magnus, right? (Serious question as well).

The only people I can see this appealing to are the Xbox console owners who want to carry forward their existing libraries.

That's obvious

It doesn't make sense for console gamers neither for PC gamers

It's just for people that don't want to accept that Xbox is dead, so the "Jez Corden type" of guy

In any other case, there are way better alternatives
 
Maybe the market will be small but much like the guy I mentioned I game with having a 1070 level PC he also has a Series X or S I dont recall which but he is pretty excited about upgrading his old ass PC and having a much nicer system to play his Xbox library on

If affordable I could see pure casuals walking into a Best Buy and considering this machine as an option if they were coming in to just upgrade their aging PC


I agree with this

1200$ won't be considered affordable if it's an Xbox.
A PC is expensive, but it's not just for gaming.

So I'm not sure that casual gamers are the target audience.
 
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1200$ won't be considered affordable if it's an Xbox.
A PC is expensive, but it's not just for gaming.

So I'm not sure that casual gamers are the target audience.

This is another point that some could be missing. How many people will buy an Xbox Magnus and then use it for "PC" purposes?
 
1200$ won't be considered affordable if it's an Xbox.
A PC is expensive, but it's not just for gaming.

So I'm not sure that casual gamers are the target audience.
I am for sure not saying this plan will succeed but I do applaud MS for trying something different as their current strategy is failing miserably
 
If you had to pick a number for lifetime sales for the first party Magnus device at each potential price point, what would it be?

$799 - ? million
$999 - ? million
$1199 - ? million
$1499 - ? million
$1999 - ? million
> $1999 - ? million
 
This is another point that some could be missing. How many people will buy an Xbox Magnus and then use it for "PC" purposes?
Depends on the value proposition. If your question is "how many will buy a Magnus specifically for normal PC tasks?", then I would imagine not many. I can't imagine it would be marketed towards this type of user. If the question is "how many will buy a Magnus and end up using it for "PC" purposes?", then I imagine a large percentage of those Magnus owners.

In saying that, there is a lot of assuming going on here. We don't have a full spec, a price, nor confirmation that it will be running a full fledge version of Windows.
 
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Small one time profit is irrelevant in the end.

I wonder if it's more about giving a next gen hardware option to existing Xbox players. It will be a place for people to play their libraries and continue subscribing to Game Pass. So, it's a combination of the one-time profit on the hardware and providing an option for players to continue within the Xbox ecosystem.
 
I wonder if it's more about giving a next gen hardware option to existing Xbox players. It will be a place for people to play their libraries and continue subscribing to Game Pass. So, it's a combination of the one-time profit on the hardware and providing an option for players to continue within the Xbox ecosystem.

According to HeisenbergFX4 HeisenbergFX4 this is exactly what it is. And it makes sense.
 
I wonder if it's more about giving a next gen hardware option to existing Xbox players. It will be a place for people to play their libraries and continue subscribing to Game Pass. So, it's a combination of the one-time profit on the hardware and providing an option for players to continue within the Xbox ecosystem.
Yea that's what this is IMO. I don't think they expect it to do anything in the market and in fact I think they know their userbase will drop even more.
 
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