The Xbox 12 will run on Windows 12 and is basically a locked down PC that runs another Xbox DRM layer on top of Windows 12 that makes it so you cant actually use it as a PC.
Ooh how about this, you can subscribe to Windows as a service on your Xbox for only $9.99 /month? Also, if you want access to the games store you need the full Windows experience on your Xbox.
But now Xbox games just need to target windows and that minimum hardware of the “console” that Microsoft sells. Then if a game is released on Xbox it’s already on PC.
Of course, it’ll be in the Microsoft Store and not on Steam. M$ coming for Valve’s lunch; thinking they can push them off Windows and onto Linux, which will then not be supported because every AAA game will have a Windows-kernel anticheat and not run on Proton/SteamDeck.
That’s basically what xboxes have been for the past two generations already, despite the snark that kind of makes them more open than other consoles just because the games are basically already PC games
Except that you cant actually use it as a computer without DRM without a ton of fucking work, nor as a gaming device without DRM without a ton of work.
MSFTs development notes and such for the Pluton CPU architecture heavily draws from wanting to be able to stop people hard-modding existing Xboxes.
A separate, physical security co processor doesnt work because people figure out how do basically flash an Xbox, or do some kind of software stun lock, then physically remove the anti piracy doohickey, then finish flashing the thing into a hackDbox.
Thankfully the linux community appears to have neutralized that threat for PCs running Linux, at least.
People spent lots of effort on Xbox 360 hacking just because microsoft spent so much effort making it as unhackable as possible. Fortunately, console gaming is so much less relevant today that it’s not even worth remembering what the latest consoles are. Sure, there are some shitty AAA titles that lock things down or are so demanding they need a $100k pc but between the few ethical worthwhile ones and the expansive library of actually good indie games on steam, consoles just aren’t worth fucking with anymore.
I know that from an actual standpoint of generally speaking most bang for your buck, pc’s have made more sense for over a decade.
But, console gaming is still a huge part of marketshare. Yes, it doesnt really make sense. But literally millions of people still haven’t got the memo.
Only people I know who still use consoles basically just have them for that /one/ exclusive they can’t wait to play.
The wider gaming landscape is not like us though.
Basically, there are still a ton of kids and/or casuals. We are likely inundated and affected by literally decades of following industry news and learning at least a decent amount of the technical hardware and software capabilities and principles… a huge amount of people still basically just view games with very little of that background knowledge.
I would be happy if they were only nerds on forums, remember twitter and YouTube drama when sony started port exclusives to pc, some pretty large YouTubers sucking on to these corporations with unimaginable vacuum
With populations large enough you’ll always find idiots. None of that crap ever gains any real traction. The vast majority don’t give two fucks and are blissfully unaware.
Pretty sure if Nintendo allowed their games to go to other consoles it would cripple their console market. Their consoles are notorious for being underpowered, so their big selling point is the exclusive games. Why would I get a Switch 2 when the cheapest Steam Deck is (probably) around the same price?
Ah, you’re thinking about this too pragmatically. All they need to do is release it two weeks earlier on switch and add a Luigi donkey skin(he doesn’t even need to be playable). Do that, and people will pre-order everything, apparently. Gaming consumers are dumb.
We need to push to end console exclusivity. It’s bad for the consumer because it pushes more sales of a console you may not want, rather than the consoles competing on their own merit.
This is what I expect as well, with maybe some reassurance that they have no intention of pulling Xbox Series S/X off the market. Then, when Sony announces the PS6, people will be waiting for an announcement on the next-gen xbox. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting…
They will continue selling it this generation, and quietly drop out after that.
I’m not so sure. They don’t have to give Sony or Nintendo a 30% cut on anything sold on Xbox. They may be in third but I’d imagine losing that cut would be painful. I suppose the question is does losing that 30% to save the cost of designing and selling another console as a loss leader make it worth it?
They don’t have to give Sony or Nintendo a 30% cut on anything sold on Xbox.
The question is if it’s worth it for them. They have to design, manufacture and support that hardware, which is sold at low or maybe even negative margin. They get a percentage from 3rd party sales but with their low sales numbers it may not be worth the effort.
There is also the fact that Microsoft’s core business is software, not hardware. Even if the hardware business makes a small profit there is also a cost associated with a lack of focus in a company.
For example, AWS is super popular even though it would be a lot cheaper for a lot of companies to run their services on their own hardware. They simply don’t want to have to deal with all that because it’s not their core business. At heart, Microsoft is still a software company, it makes sense for them to focus on the software side of the game business.
Oh my god please be Yboy and include an absurd marketing campaign designed by boomers, aimed at zoomers, looking to re popularize 2000s era skinny jeans emo-lite sort of fashion with unimaginable pretention, but with absurd zoomer/gen alpha lingo.
Be a Yboy. Play a Yboy.
Get you a man that plays on Yboy.
Girls be like: Nah, he don’t play Yboy?
Only one thing to say: Y, boy?
(as the mixed race female instagram influencer manically switches from sultry disappointment to extreme anger, then to giggling, while leaning down exposing her cleavage as she wags her finger)
You misspelled “they’re gonna require all games sold on Windows to be explicitly licensed by Microsoft in an effort to capitalize on Playstation exclusives”
I’ve been saying this to my friends for a good while. I would take it even further than that too.
My prediction has long been that since they were thinking about getting rid of it anyway, and they are shifting focus, that what you predict will happen and that eventually either Xbox will not exist or the Xbox of the future will just be a streaming dongle like the firestick. Just a little app store with controller and you stream all of your games over wifi.
They sell it for dirt cheap and no legit console can compete for basic gaming. Sony will still have a hardcore market, especially with vr and their first party titles, but most of the casual crowd would buy a 50-100 dollar “Xbox” so fast and just pay for game pass. It is a no brainer for Xbox, consoles are always a major loss of money and they don’t want physical media anyway.
Edit: “We have a different vision for the future of gaming. A future where players have a unified experience across devices. A future where players can easily discover a vast array of games with a diverse spectrum of business models. A future where more creators are empowered to realize their creative vision, reach a global audience, unite their communities, and succeed commercially. A future where every screen is an Xbox.”
While they announced new hardware they were real hush on it, just that it would shake up the industry. While I’m sure they would say that regardless and a lot of people say a handheld, either way I don’t think it’s just a console. A handheld would allow exactly my prediction to be possible but it wouldn’t be as cheap.
That quote feels like it nails exactly what I expected though. It might be some time but I do think it will happen and their whole narrative seems to be moving away from Xbox being a console.
Recent news that they would be releasing games that would have previously been exclusive to X-Box on other platforms such as Playstation has led to many a rumour that MS may be planning to stop developing the console at all.