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[MMaRsu]

And another company isnt spinning up a console department either, so then you're stuck with Sony and Nintendo. A nightmare for price concerned consumers.

 

[bender]

If they sell 300% more consoles than they did this generation….

 

[DragonNCM]

Offering Steam or Epic on console will be another mindless thing MS is doing. How will they charge for online play ( lot of money they get from there on monthly bases) ?
They will lose that revenue also ?
No one with half brain will pay to play their Steam or Epic library on console when they have free PC online play.

 

[Darsxx82]

As streamlined as Steam is, it's still far more cumbersome than a console experience, especially as you try to boot older games that didn't have controller support or aren't designed for controllers. You can work around all of that, but it isn't exactly plug and play at that point. A hybrid console/pc sounds more like the worst of both worlds rather than the best of both worlds. /$0.02

Presumably Steam and other stores are a plus to the offer of the Xbox console part.

Presumably MS is going to offer in its store the best version and ad hoc optimization of the games for that new hardware at the same time as BC with previous generations Xbox, Gamepass, services, etcc.... MS should continue to make available to developers the means, tools, devKit. for that to happen.

In other words, most loyal users will have a great reason to stay in the ecosystem because it is where "it will be best played there". For the other potential users, games (Playstation games among them) then the option of Steam, Epic...


As HeisenbergFX4 says, repeating the same traditional console strategy while still releasing more first games on Playstation consoles is certainly not going to "motivate" many people. With the PC/console hybrid you at least already have a product that is not going to be in danger of becoming a paperweight and will have the support assured either via MS Store, Epic Store or Steam.

Clearly everything is speculation. Of course, there are many unknowns about how such a strategy would be executed, That said, I believe that only MS is in a position to carry out due to its specific circumstances.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

LOL, 300% more than a million is 3 million. And considering how badly Xbox has been getting slaughtered this generation, a multiple hundred percent increase isn't out of the realm of possibility.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I don't understand the Steam integration and how that would benefit Xbox. It would destroy their XBL revenue (which is basically all profit), unless they're are planning on needing XBL to access online on this device.

Another smaller reason is it may effect Game Pass subs, games on Steam are cheap and this includes some of the best games on Game Pass. For example....I bought Fallout 3, NV, FO4 and both older FO games for $10 on Steam for all of them. I bought Wasteland 3 for $9.

I love Steam, I use it more than I use the consoles I own, but I don't see the benefit for Xbox.

I agree somewhat. Maybe microsoft feel like if they side load steam and have some kind of windows/Xbox hybrid they in theory get all of sonys games by default. Win over the steam crowd and also have a platform to advertise and incentivise users to try gamepass?

Fuck knows with ms lol

 

[StereoVsn]

Define "many". Would Microsoft be happy with a new platform selling ~10 million units and only targeting a few specific regions? I know you've mentioned "side loading Steam" for a while now and that continues to make very little sense in my head (no offense to you of course).

I imagine it would be something like Xbox Surface with somewhat locked down hardware but that can run an Xbox container/VM and Windows Container/VM on top of their hypervisor. The latter could run Steam, Ubisoft, EA or whatever launchers.

 

[mckmas8808]

I know I am not supposed to talk about Xbox next move so I wont comment on anything I have heard recently and will leave it at that

I have said before but heard this last summer the big boy Xbox COULD be a non-upgradable PC that has the console experience

Now does that mean the 3rd parties like Asus builds this that I can't answer because I simply don't know

Do we have 5 different companies making the same specced machines with an Xbox logo on them? Maybe

When do we hear more about their approach?

I think quite soon

I know your info is solid, but I just can't for the life of me believe the bolded. Unless your definition of the word "soon" is within the next year.

 

[bender]

LOL, 300% more than a million is 3 million. And considering how badly Xbox has been getting slaughtered this generation, a multiple hundred percent increase isn't out of the realm of possibility.

They've sold roughly 28 million series consoles. 300% more would make this theoretical hybrid their most successful Xbox hardware ever.

 

[mayham2199]

would enjoy a more plug and play experience.

It's the only reason I'm on console. I prefer PC game performance overall (minus hacking in MP which is insane). I would have probably switched before but these days PS5 is so close to providing the experience I want on a consistent basis that by next gen they'll be there and my library is so huge plus friends that I don't have a reason to change.

 

[GoldenEye98]

As streamlined as Steam is, it's still far more cumbersome than a console experience, especially as you try to boot older games that didn't have controller support or aren't designed for controllers. You can work around all of that, but it isn't exactly plug and play at that point. A hybrid console/pc sounds more like the worst of both worlds rather than the best of both worlds. /$0.02

It's non-solution looking for a barely exists market.

Again the actual end product for a "streamlined gaming pc"...is a modern gaming console.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Next-gen Xbox hardware is going to be interesting, in how MS approach it in a way that makes any business sense.

IMO their best bet is to still make a blueprint spec that's good for 3-4 years, scalable up & down in some fashion (using upclocks, downclocks and disabled/enabled shader cores), preferably a chiplet in the GPU's case, and let OEMs build mini-PCs, laptops & portables based on that blueprint with Microsoft handling orders & early assembly in tandem with AMD or whoever (who handle wafer orders with TSMC).

Stick with Xbox OS but add some extended secured layer for additional Windows code & utilities to handle running Windows apps without devs needing to program specific Xbox OS versions. License out the Xbox OS frontend to OEMs so they can make changes suiting their product (within reason). Enable whitelisted Windows apps to download through the Windows Store.

If Microsoft make their own systems, they can probably get away with using Game Pass to soft-subsidize on some of the price, and lock in access of alternative storefronts like Steam to an active Game Pass subscription. Maybe that's how they get a box that's a PS5 Pro (or better) in performance in at the $699 range while still having good margins before factoring in what the locked-in Game Pass subscription would bring over time. Maybe something with those specs even lower than $699, just chances are heavy they'd have some 1-year (or more) locked-in Game Pass sub with the box. OEMs could eschew that approach, but they'd have to sell their equivalents higher upfront. Maybe offset by customized non-performance features you don't get with Microsoft's system(s) (maybe Thunderbolt ports, for example, or laptops with higher screen refresh rates).

And I read HeisenbergFX4 and a few others' posts wondering if they are gonna allow upgradability...I mean, with some models they kinda have to. I think it would be "controlled" upgradability though. Think back to older console gens; I can definitely see Microsoft "locking down" say GPU upgrades for mini-PC form factor Xboxes to just official Microsoft cards, that are actually AMD-based cards with some customizations. Same for things like the power supply or cooler. But for other upgradable parts like the SSD, you could just use any 3P market brand; it'd be a PR blunder to try making storage upgrades proprietary (again).

None of this is really the only option for MS; they could just slap together some sheet of recommended specs for OEMs and give them an Xbox sticker to slap on their boxes and call it day. But that'd feel like such a phoned-in effort that it seems almost guaranteed to fail. Whatever they do with hardware has to show there's still serious effort, even if they're taking on a different business model. Stuff like an Xbox UI layer natively built-in to Windows, that kind of thing feels a ways off in large part because it cuts Microsoft out of some money opportunities on the gaming side (plus it'd probably be more difficult to operate stable).

I don't understand the Steam integration and how that would benefit Xbox. It would destroy their XBL revenue (which is basically all profit), unless they're are planning on needing XBL to access online on this device.

Another smaller reason is it may effect Game Pass subs, games on Steam are cheap and this includes some of the best games on Game Pass. For example....I bought Fallout 3, NV, FO4 and both older FO games for $10 on Steam for all of them. I bought Wasteland 3 for $9.

I love Steam, I use it more than I use the consoles I own, but I don't see the benefit for Xbox.

Steam integration could work BUT:

1: MS can't rely on Valve to make an Xbox OS app for it. Basically, it'd have to be all work on MS's side, preferably through just running Windows code Steam needs through Xbox OS​

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2: They'd have to tie Steam access to some Game Pass tiers, and:​

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3: They'd have to lock-in Game Pass subs for at least a year (or two) via contract (which they already kinda do with that Access program)​

And for that to work, the next Xbox hardware would basically need to still be console-like in some major ways, like running Xbox OS, but then use Game Pass to soft-subsidize on upfront console cost to customers (in this case, meaning MS has a somewhat smaller profit margin on hardware upfront, but gets the rest of that margin & more profits through the Game Pass contract).

I think the ability to play Steam games from a console could be a very solid draw for historically console only crowds (would have my attention at least). I think it could be attractive to historically PC only crowds too if the price was below what a PC would cost relative to the bells and whistles. Not sure the Steam access will be very compelling if a GP sub is required to play multiplayer Steam games though, especially for traditionally only PC people.

If they were smart, they'd drop the online paywall for multiplayer altogether, especially if they leverage Game Pass instead as a way to get free/bonus perks in games, demos/trails, early access, B2P discounts, legacy games, certain non-essentially system features, mod support, and access to alternative storefronts (Steam, GOG, EGS etc.).

Could also pressure Sony/SIE to drop said paywall for MP on PS+, and find similar & other ways to innovate and add value to PS+ (Day 1 theater film VODs, more anime content, various things already mentioned with Game Pass, creative productivity software (PlayStation OS versions of their music & video editing software) etc.).

I wanted to bring over what @KeplerL2 just said in another thread a bit ago

They should prob aim for a console & handheld approach but have enough scalability in the spec so OEMs can make Series S-type non-portable boxes if they wish.