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Will there be an enhanced Xbox Series X^2 next year to compete with the Pro? Or will they just go straight for full next gen?

If people are willing to pay 800€ for a unimpressive midgen refresh, I'm sure there are people that will pay 1000€ for a NextBox. If some of the rumored stuff is true, i know I'd be interested.

As long as MS doesn't care about how many they sell. I do agree. I just think at that price vs whatever Sony has avaliable, Sony will win that competition. At that price point you are going for the hardcore loyalist and that's it. Everyone else will just stay with what they have and wait for a price cut or move to another ecosystem.
 
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jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Phil already said that the XSX is the "Pro" version, essentially confirming no mid-gen refresh.
I'm still shocked he said this with a straight face.

Imagine a console that was probably finalized in 2019 being considered a mid gen refresh between 2020-2028.

I'm starting to think Phil and Co were waaaaay too caught up in the teraflop wars.
 

Mortisfacio

Member
If there's no "Pro" alternative for Xbox, then what's honestly Microsoft's strategy to "win"? It honestly feels like the only time Xbox had any edge over Sony this gen was a short stint in holiday 2021 when Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and some other games came out. They increased hardware sales and Sony didn't really have anything at all to release in that timeframe. Since then their exclusives have flopped (like Redfall), been letdowns (Starfield) or are coming to PS5. It honestly feels like Microsoft's only strategy and incentive to even buy an Xbox is the "If you want to pay less money for these games, come to Xbox and get Game Pass".
 
The next-gen XSX will come out at the same time as GTA6. Mark this post!

GTA6 is just too good of an opportunity to miss.
 
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Stooky

Member
If Xbox goes next gen early there is no way they can price it competitively. It will cost more than Ps5 pro. Current gen hasn't had price cut yet. This just doesn't look good.
 

Stooky

Member
The next-gen XSX will come out at the same time as GTA6. Mark this post!

GTA6 is just too good of an opportunity to miss.
not going to happen. If it did sales will still be doubled on ps5 compared to xbox sales. All xbox sales would be split between 3 xbox consoles. uggggh Microsoft what have you done.....

Love And Hip Hop Reaction GIF by VH1
 

rnlval

Member
And yet some think the PS5 Pro's RDNA 3/4 gpu is unimpressive.....for a mid gen refresh.....
RDNA 2's RT cores are missing hardware features.

RDNA 3 RT includes the following

1. Hardware early BHV culling,

Mrz4vL9.jpeg

PS; BVH4 for both RDNA 2 and RDNA 3.

2. Dedicated traversal flags to reduce shader workloads. This is not the full dedicated traversal hardware as per NVIDIA's RT.

3. Improved BVH formats support.

PS5 Pro's RT has a deeper BVH8.

The second generation Ray Tracing cores found in Ampere architecture GPUs can effectively deliver twice the performance of the first generation Ray Tracing cores found in Turing architecture GPUs.


It is not yet clear whether the performance of ray tracing will also be improved when performing the analysis of intersection of the rays with the object’s triangles, which is a subsequent part of the process. For RDNA 2 and 3, the ray accelerator can do four boxes and one triangle per cycle, so for RDNA 4 it could either be 8 boxes and 1 triangle, or also be doubled to 8 boxes and two triangles. In this way, RDNA 4 could approach level of per Ray Accelerator/CU ray tracing performance that is similar to the per RT core/SM block performance of Nvidia GPUs.

For comparison, Nvidia GPUs should also be four boxes and one triangle per cycle for RT cores in the first generation Turing architecture (RTX 2000), and four boxes and two triangles in the second generation Ampere architecture (RTX 3000). Ada Lovelace should be able to do four boxes and four triangles per cycle (so the ratio between box and triangle performance will vary from Radeon’s ratio).


It's no no-brainer to why AMD's RT performance is inferior to NVIDIA's since AMD's committed less hardware for RT. Budget RT hardware = AMD.
 
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Crayon

Member
I could see it coming before PS6, but it's got to be some kind of transitional thing to PC.

Getting off the ps release cycle might have advantages on it's own. Nintendo did great when they had to release mid gen.
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
I think its sooner

I think Xbox changed course to prep next gen while Sony was doing this Pro

We could get a very interest release window of both next gen machines being a couple of years apart.

Xbox dumping this gen early doesn’t sound confident for people to invest again in Xbox. They will do the same if it doesn’t work.
 

midnightAI

Member
If people are willing to pay 800€ for a unimpressive midgen refresh, I'm sure there are people that will pay 1000€ for a NextBox. If some of the rumored stuff is true, i know I'd be interested.
The obvious difference is.... One is a mid gen refresh, it's not the main mass market console, the regular PS5 is the main console.

Or are you suggesting MS will have a $1000 XBox and a cheaper/weaker one also? That didn't turn out too well for them this gen.

The only way MS can sell a $1000 gaming machine is if it is a powerful gaming focussed PC, but who do you sell it to? At that price it's too expensive for the usual console buyers but also at that price how powerful can it really be that it attracts the PC crowd?

Even if it's a dockable handheld that is gaming handheld when portable and a PC when docked is a tough sell as there is already a fair bit of competition in that market between handheld PC's, Steam Deck and Switch.

So, basically, in my opinion, MS is fecked if they continue making hardware unless one of the other players really screws up.
 
Phil made a few terrible calls but not to invest in VR or waste their time with a Series Pro are 2 fabulous calls that were spot on.

Very glad Xbox is now just focus on a new cutting edge next-gen console in a couple of years time
 

MrJangles

Neo Member
Who on earth would buy an Xbox anyway? They quickly killed the OG to bring the 360 to the market, the Xbox One & X (or whatever it was called) was a nonexistent disaster whilst the S/X are as dead as a doornail.

I'll be amazed if they release another console.
 
Or are you suggesting MS will have a $1000 XBox and a cheaper/weaker one also? That didn't turn out too well for them this gen.

The only way MS can sell a $1000 gaming machine is if it is a powerful gaming focussed PC, but who do you sell it to? At that price it's too expensive for the usual console buyers but also at that price how powerful can it really be that it attracts the PC crowd?

Even if it's a dockable handheld that is gaming handheld when portable and a PC when docked is a tough sell as there is already a fair bit of competition in that market between handheld PC's, Steam Deck and Switch.

So, basically, in my opinion, MS is fecked if they continue making hardware unless one of the other players really screws up.
I know as much as anyone else here, except maybe HeisenbergFX4 HeisenbergFX4 . The rumors are a weaker, dockable handheld which I have no interest in and a powerful PC/console hybrid. I'm very interested in a nice looking box that I can put under my tv and with the rumored inclusion of Steam and other marketplaces even better.
 

midnightAI

Member
I know as much as anyone else here, except maybe HeisenbergFX4 HeisenbergFX4 . The rumors are a weaker, dockable handheld which I have no interest in and a powerful PC/console hybrid. I'm very interested in a nice looking box that I can put under my tv and with the rumored inclusion of Steam and other marketplaces even better.
Well I'm not even totally convinced MS is 100% certain of what to do (by that I mean streaming handheld, dedicated handheld, streaming device, dedicated console, hybrid console etc., I'm sure they are exploring all options and and have working prototypes of them all), a handheld has even more competition than it currently has fighting Sony (they would have to fight Nintendo, possibly Sony also if they make their own full handheld, as well as lots of different PC manufacturers and Steam with the Steam Deck). And a PC/console hybrid, again, is there a point to that? isn't that literally just a PC, which has loads of options from low end to very high end at a variety of price points.

I just think its going to be a very hard sell for MS to do anything in the hardware space at all, I actually think the current strategy of a dedicated console is actually probably their best bet, if, they just go out of sync with Sony. Can they bring out a next gen console at the end of next year/beginning of 2026 that's more powerful than the PS5 Pro and make it cheaper (or at the very least subsidise the heck out of it, but that's a major problem they have had this gen)? But then Sony is still in the driving seat, they can just monitor the market, if they see MS making any headway the very least they could then do is announce the PS6 even if its released 12-18 months after they announce it.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I'll say one thing. A true £999 next gen console within 2 years would be a serious consideration for many after that PS5 Pro unveil.

Give me 3D cache on the CPU and I'm all over it.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
Well I'm not even totally convinced MS is 100% certain of what to do (by that I mean streaming handheld, dedicated handheld, streaming device, dedicated console, hybrid console etc., I'm sure they are exploring all options and and have working prototypes of them all), a handheld has even more competition than it currently has fighting Sony (they would have to fight Nintendo, possibly Sony also if they make their own full handheld, as well as lots of different PC manufacturers and Steam with the Steam Deck). And a PC/console hybrid, again, is there a point to that? isn't that literally just a PC, which has loads of options from low end to very high end at a variety of price points.

I just think its going to be a very hard sell for MS to do anything in the hardware space at all, I actually think the current strategy of a dedicated console is actually probably their best bet, if, they just go out of sync with Sony. Can they bring out a next gen console at the end of next year/beginning of 2026 that's more powerful than the PS5 Pro and make it cheaper (or at the very least subsidise the heck out of it, but that's a major problem they have had this gen)? But then Sony is still in the driving seat, they can just monitor the market, if they see MS making any headway the very least they could then do is announce the PS6 even if its released 12-18 months after they announce it.
Price is the sticking point for whatever they bring whenever it may be.

I had always said $1000 but now may be much more than that seeing the price of that pro

They would for sure need a cheaper option as well.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I am just going to throw this curveball. Nvidia are releasing an ARM CPU next year, Microsoft are in bed with NVIDIA now.

Imagine a next gen xbox powered by Nvidia. That is enough of a disrupting factor to create some waves in the industry. Not saying its happening, just hypothetically.
 
If people are balking at the idea of a $699 Pro model from Sony, why would they have any interest in a similar priced( I would assume since MS is launching a 2TB $599 XSX soon) Pro Xbox when the current offerings are barely moving? They have even less leverage than Sony does.
 
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m14

Member
Who on earth would buy an Xbox anyway? They quickly killed the OG to bring the 360 to the market, the Xbox One & X (or whatever it was called) was a nonexistent disaster whilst the S/X are as dead as a doornail.

I'll be amazed if they release another console.
Microsoft have sold tens of millions of the Series consoles.
 

Orbital2060

Member
The potential of the X has hardly been reached, no need to make an update to it.

Sounds like they might have something planned for 2026 - so maybe 18 months from now - and they have all the IP they need to start a new hardware gen on their own with some of the titles in development now.
 
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