Broadly speaking, what are Xbox looking to do here?
They optimise Windows for gaming and open up the console for other storefronts, then is it just a Steam device? They won’t make money from Steam sales.
Is this a cloud streaming device? Can you cloud stream games from other storefronts? It’s all incredibly vague to me.
So imagine an Xbox Series X that’s also as open as a Steam Deck. Or, to put it simply, imagine a gaming PC with a comfortable couch layout, sold at a much cheaper price point than it’d be as a laptop/desktop because Microsoft can afford to sell it at (or below) cost of parts to push Gamepass subs and adherence to the Windows ecosystem. Mods, your existing Steam / Epic / GOG / pirated libraries. Assuming it’s not locked down, it’s the first time I’ve considered owning an Xbox product since the 360.
Don’t forget, an Xbox that’s just a PC is an Xbox that gets all of Sony’s cutscene hallways too. And all of Nintendo’s games through emulation. And the entire Steam library, and hell since it’s Windows (and thus plays nice with rootkit DRM) it’s a console that runs League of Legends. A console that runs world of warcraft if you want. A console that gets day zero access to those cool indie games on Itch. A console that’s immune to port beggars every time something like Balatro drops PC-first. That’s a console someone’s gonna buy, unlike the XSX which is a console with no exclusives (vs PC) and also doesn’t have the PC’s multiple storefronts and compatibility with your existing libraries and mods.
“why do you have a playstation instead of just a gaming pc in your living room?” Has very legitimate answers other than “i like sony exclusives”. More technical setup. Worse controller UI. More expensive. Bigger. Bulkier. Needs research to determine best parts. Doesn’t have the seamless ability to boot the system from the couch with a controller. All of these could be handled by an MS-backed PC-in-Xbox-Clothing. Yes, they could also (except price point) be handled by a well-researched custom build, but bringing PC to the living room for the kind of person that doesn’t know what an OS is would be a pretty big deal.
That could be compelling. I think they would want to design the OS in a way that strongly incentivises you to buy games through the Microsoft store, like SteamOS with the steam store. If they make it too flexible, they’ve just sold hardware at a loss to be someone’s steam machine as well as making the OS potentially too complicated for a normal person to figure out.
If they can make a windows machine that can play all of the old Xbox games, run other storefronts, and do quick resume/hibernate properly, I’m interested. I was kind of waiting out for SteamOS on desktop to get a console like experience on a PC.
Yeah, all they need to rake in direct profits from the MS store and especially gamepass lock-in is to make it easier to do that than install software through other means. Don’t forget though, even if it’s possible to buy this WinXbox and completely remove Windows from it for SteamOS or Bazzite (unlikely), MS still gets to sell controllers and accessories for the thing. And also, just like installing Linux on a laptop or ad-ridden Smart TV homepages, most users are going to use it out of the box. Anything that’ll require plugging in a keyboard will immediately gate out any chance of a majority of users not using xbox storefront/gamepass/etc on this thing.
It’s also Microsoft. Their video games division is tiny compared to their business sector and other arms. Taking losses in video games just to push the concept of “windows is good and open!” harder to normies (you and i on fucking lemmy know that “more open than a nintendo switch” is a low bar to clear and Windows is far from “freedom”) might be worth it to the shareholders. After all, they spend how many billions on advertising every year and that’s a direct loss in exchange for more consumer awareness of their products. It could also be a targeted tactic to just obliterate Sony as a competitor in the console space. Sell something cheaper and stronger, with more games including your already-paid-for Steam games on it and compare that to vendor lock-in for the PS6? Where the PS6 only has timed exclusivity on most first-party games and the occasional Astro Bot style exclusive? Can’t even be open to anti-trust if they do nuke Sony, because they can just point at Nintendo selling a donkey kongillion Switch 2s in the same exact market space.
My guess is that this device will upsell you on GamePass constantly by making everything else possible but slightly annoying. MS might be the biggest video game publisher these days so there’s still plenty of leverage they have (buying ActiBlizz was huge and EA could be in trouble because FC 25 is not selling as well as FIFA). MS „lost” console war but this allows them to keep foot in the door and still exert some power over the platform.
Yeah, maybe. The OS will be built around Game Pass like how SteamOS heavily incentivises you to use Steam. I think they’ll have a unified game launcher like Armory Crate on the ROG Ally devices.
That way, it’s a PC that you can use steam on, but the choice architecture and UX will be pushing you to the MS store.
Broadly speaking, what are Xbox looking to do here?
They optimise Windows for gaming and open up the console for other storefronts, then is it just a Steam device? They won’t make money from Steam sales.
Is this a cloud streaming device? Can you cloud stream games from other storefronts? It’s all incredibly vague to me.
So imagine an Xbox Series X that’s also as open as a Steam Deck. Or, to put it simply, imagine a gaming PC with a comfortable couch layout, sold at a much cheaper price point than it’d be as a laptop/desktop because Microsoft can afford to sell it at (or below) cost of parts to push Gamepass subs and adherence to the Windows ecosystem. Mods, your existing Steam / Epic / GOG / pirated libraries. Assuming it’s not locked down, it’s the first time I’ve considered owning an Xbox product since the 360.
Don’t forget, an Xbox that’s just a PC is an Xbox that gets all of Sony’s cutscene hallways too. And all of Nintendo’s games through emulation. And the entire Steam library, and hell since it’s Windows (and thus plays nice with rootkit DRM) it’s a console that runs League of Legends. A console that runs world of warcraft if you want. A console that gets day zero access to those cool indie games on Itch. A console that’s immune to port beggars every time something like Balatro drops PC-first. That’s a console someone’s gonna buy, unlike the XSX which is a console with no exclusives (vs PC) and also doesn’t have the PC’s multiple storefronts and compatibility with your existing libraries and mods.
“why do you have a playstation instead of just a gaming pc in your living room?” Has very legitimate answers other than “i like sony exclusives”. More technical setup. Worse controller UI. More expensive. Bigger. Bulkier. Needs research to determine best parts. Doesn’t have the seamless ability to boot the system from the couch with a controller. All of these could be handled by an MS-backed PC-in-Xbox-Clothing. Yes, they could also (except price point) be handled by a well-researched custom build, but bringing PC to the living room for the kind of person that doesn’t know what an OS is would be a pretty big deal.
That could be compelling. I think they would want to design the OS in a way that strongly incentivises you to buy games through the Microsoft store, like SteamOS with the steam store. If they make it too flexible, they’ve just sold hardware at a loss to be someone’s steam machine as well as making the OS potentially too complicated for a normal person to figure out.
If they can make a windows machine that can play all of the old Xbox games, run other storefronts, and do quick resume/hibernate properly, I’m interested. I was kind of waiting out for SteamOS on desktop to get a console like experience on a PC.
Yeah, all they need to rake in direct profits from the MS store and especially gamepass lock-in is to make it easier to do that than install software through other means. Don’t forget though, even if it’s possible to buy this WinXbox and completely remove Windows from it for SteamOS or Bazzite (unlikely), MS still gets to sell controllers and accessories for the thing. And also, just like installing Linux on a laptop or ad-ridden Smart TV homepages, most users are going to use it out of the box. Anything that’ll require plugging in a keyboard will immediately gate out any chance of a majority of users not using xbox storefront/gamepass/etc on this thing.
It’s also Microsoft. Their video games division is tiny compared to their business sector and other arms. Taking losses in video games just to push the concept of “windows is good and open!” harder to normies (you and i on fucking lemmy know that “more open than a nintendo switch” is a low bar to clear and Windows is far from “freedom”) might be worth it to the shareholders. After all, they spend how many billions on advertising every year and that’s a direct loss in exchange for more consumer awareness of their products. It could also be a targeted tactic to just obliterate Sony as a competitor in the console space. Sell something cheaper and stronger, with more games including your already-paid-for Steam games on it and compare that to vendor lock-in for the PS6? Where the PS6 only has timed exclusivity on most first-party games and the occasional Astro Bot style exclusive? Can’t even be open to anti-trust if they do nuke Sony, because they can just point at Nintendo selling a donkey kongillion Switch 2s in the same exact market space.
They have no idea what they’re doing.
My guess is that this device will upsell you on GamePass constantly by making everything else possible but slightly annoying. MS might be the biggest video game publisher these days so there’s still plenty of leverage they have (buying ActiBlizz was huge and EA could be in trouble because FC 25 is not selling as well as FIFA). MS „lost” console war but this allows them to keep foot in the door and still exert some power over the platform.
Yeah, maybe. The OS will be built around Game Pass like how SteamOS heavily incentivises you to use Steam. I think they’ll have a unified game launcher like Armory Crate on the ROG Ally devices.
That way, it’s a PC that you can use steam on, but the choice architecture and UX will be pushing you to the MS store.