Microsoft’s gaming chief hints that Xbox could get PC stores like Epic Games one day

Old Gamer

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Paying a rent for the priviledge of using your internet to play multiplayer games is revolutionary

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Cool hand luke

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Sony fucked themselves and it's really hilarious to watch. Let's see, what are they're going to do about it. Twitter & media is going to be unbearable.
"Xbox gains access to Playstation games" lol

In reality 'Xbox' becomes a PC brand, which means there is no Xbox console. It's people salivating for the death of Xbox and they don't even know it.
 

Nhomnhom

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Sony fucked themselves and it's really hilarious to watch. Let's see, what are they're going to do about it. Twitter & media is going to be unbearable.
Knowing Sony they would instantly disable their games on Xbox or even pull them from Steam entirely. They would also become PC gamers number one enemy. I hope MS does it so Sony is forced into making that decision.

It's obvious that Xbox is dead and console-like PCs are the only path forward for MS if they want to sell any hardware.

Due to the nature of PC their released games will always be playable on PC-like hardware, including future Xbox if they are just PCs regardless of what they want, another lesson Sony will learn in the future. Once they release their games on PC they are not their games anymore.
 

TigerFang

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Could be a good idea.

But I wonder how this would be implemented, what would the split be between epic and Microsoft, competition in the console itself could drive up discounts.

Xbox could then catch up to the insane huge sales that go on, on PlayStation store perhaps..?
 
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Xbox LIVE with Halo 2 multiplayer was completely revolutionarity, what xbox LIVE did had never been done before, it's a reason people accapted to pay for online.

Dreamcast SEGA Net. Saturn NetLink. SNES & Genesis X-Band.

Online gaming has existed way before OG Xbox. They were good at centralizing it, but SEGA.Net was also on a path to centralizing its network before Dreamcast was sunsetted.

Pressure to devalue games has happened since the dawn of time. Nothing new. Sony is currently doing that themself with the different PS Plus game collection tiers.

How does having different tiers for old game releases devalue new game releases? The only risk there is if new games are added too soon to the service, but outside of HFW Sony haven't done that with their games. They've also eased on lowering the price of their games so they retain MSRP value for longer, similar to Nintendo and a few other publishers.
 

Cool hand luke

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Could be a good idea.

But I wonder how this would be implemented, what would the split be between epic and Microsoft, competition in the console itself could drive up discounts.

Xbox could then catch up to the insane huge sales that go on, on PlayStation store perhaps..?
It would be implemented through Xbox becoming a PC brand, so that PC games can run on it, and giving up any pretense of taking a 30% cut of everything. Basically they give up and lose all the benefits of platform ownership in order to make it look like they're not dead.
 
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It would be a PR disaster for Sony. The bean counters are getting what they deserve.


The way I'm interpreting these statements, like the ones about an Xbox handheld yesterday (and this is with taking them on good faith i.e not being slimy to use the Apple lawsuit as a piggyback against console platform holders), is this being Microsoft's way of pivoting the entire business model for Xbox.

And by that, I mean basically making their business model like that of PCs and PC gaming devices, so they're gonna be running Windows and have an Xbox gaming UI frontend. That's why Phil was talking about an "Xbox-like UI experience" when bringing up the handheld stuff yesterday, but they'd have to work with the Windows team to seamlessly integrate that (and probably have it deployable with some future Windows distro).

That way they just basically have console-like PC gaming devices running some form of Windows with an Xbox UI that can also boot into the normal desktop environment or whatnot, on some design spec scalable on their end and modular on the customer's end depending on the specific form factor type (i.e a mini-PC NUC Xbox would have more options for modularity & scaling than a tablet Xbox). And the devices are going to be priced to have sizable profit margins upfront (so cheaper ones might go for $199 - $299 and expensive ones might go for $999 - $1299 or whatever depending on certain specs).

As for the design spec they'll probably take a console-like approach but have separate CPU & GPU, different memory types for some device types (maybe CAMM memory for a tablet for example), and CPU/GPU scalability coming from upclocks/downclocks and physically smaller GPUs with less shaders (would require suitable chiplet GPU designs), modularity coming from swappable PSU, cooling, system RAM upgrades, installable low-profile GPUs etc. depending on device form factor.

Plus this way they could keep volume production more manageable and scalable along the pipeline, and update the design spec blueprint every 2-3 years or whatnot. Just for example, MS are tracking to sell maybe barely 4 million Xbox Series consoles this year, and lose money on every single one. For a traditional console, those are terrible and unsustainable numbers. But for a line of gaming-centric PC devices selling for good profit margins each unit? Those would be very satisfactory & sustainable numbers. And if the products are appealing enough, they'd probably be doing a lot more than 4 million in annual sales, given the growth PC gaming has been seeing over the years.

Theoretically Valve could be doing these same things and they kinda are with Steam Deck, but Linux has nowhere near the market share of Windows, Valve don't have a widely used SDK or API library for PC game development, and they don't have the scale of hardware production at volume Microsoft has had with Xbox. So there's an opportunity for Microsoft on that front but they have to (finally) give up the idea of trying to "beat" PlayStation and Nintendo.

And do so in a way that isn't them trying to slyly upend the traditional console business model for companies where it makes 100% sense just because Xbox has failed with that business model. Hence why I'm trying to look at these developments in good faith.

It would be implemented through Xbox becoming a PC brand, so that PC games can run on it, and giving up any pretense of taking a 30% cut of everything. Basically they give up and lose all the benefits of platform ownership in order to make it look like they're not dead.

I mean that is basically the direction they seem to be heading, but the good news for MS is they have enough vested interests in PC to make that transition actually work IMO.

They just have to avoid "phoning it in" with that shift and, well, there's always the non-zero chance they completely phone it in and fall on their faces while Valve, Asus, Lenovo etc. continue to make gains in the PC gaming market.
 
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Nhomnhom

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@Nhomnhom your dream of a Steam console is finally coming true 😂🤣

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Unless they buy Valve they'll just be another third party publisher.

Right now it looks like Xbox will partner with Epic (your favorite company) to try the same thing they did with iOS everywhere else.

How would they take 30% cut? I doubt valve will give up their share
Its just fanboy dream. Before this become reality, brand ll be probably dead.

Pc branded xbox? Like realy?
First thing anyone would do with an Xbox branded PC would be to uninstall the Xbox store and install Steam instead. MS is 20 years too late and wasted all this time getting nowhere with Xbox while allowing Steam to dominate.

There is no space for Xbox devices anywhere at this point, all they can do is chose if they are going to get beat by Sony, Nintendo, Valve or Apple.
 
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Infinity Gems

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I’m having a hard time trying to understand the thought process with some of the replies in this thread, or rather the lack of a thought process.

Let’s say Xbox opens up to other storefronts, those store fronts wouldn’t be able to magically sell games that aren’t on Xbox and have to again, magically run with ZERO development on them being ported to that hardware.

Then to the other side of this idiocracy, imagine buying an Xbox branded handheld that’s literally just a windows handheld E.G. ROG Ally, Letion Go, to then access the PC storefront of Steam/Epic to buy Spiderman or Helldivers then claim “Look I’m playing it on an Xbox!”…. Is quite possibly one of the dumbest things I’ve had the displeasure to type out in quite some time. Like, why are so many people so insufferably dumb.
 

xollowsob

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Just make a PC box. Dual boot between Windows and Xbox. Flog it for £400 a pop and bosh, you're laughing.
 

Yurinka

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Sure, once they abandon it they won't care about others getting some money from it. And will use that later in the court when suing PlayStation and Nintendo for not allowing them to open a MS store in PS or Nintendo.