I'm hoping Steam can make a play to compete with a Steam Box. Slim chance but I can dream...
A Xbox version of Logitech G-Cloud?
I mean, why bother? Not like the G cloud is flying off shelves and what would Xbox add to make it better?
They're surely not going to create bespoke architecture here and there are already a few Windows handhelds out there. I have little confidence in their ability to put together an attractive UI in the way Steam did. So I doubt anything will come from this.
Not going to happen
I think it's likely going to be an Xbox branded PC, but if you think about it, that essentially means game over for Xbox as well
Gamepass is the other shoe that has yet to drop.
Do you think they'll put the upcoming COD on GamePass without raising prices by at least $4/month?
Old ones sure, but old ones get given away on PS+ and such all the time already - that's not where the $ is at.
Cash rich companies have to do something with their cash, so acquisitions make sense.
Problem is MS tends to run them into the ground because they suck at managing companies.
I'm sure they care but unless they're willing to take increasingly large losses, they're out of options.
"MS has found a way to tap into the most popular brand..."
ummm.... by writing a check...
And if history serves as a lesson, these brands will will go in a direction that is not up. I hope MS surprises me but signs point to No
Irony with the ex-exclusives like Sea of Thieves is the better it does on PS the more likely Phil will bring more over, and therefore the less likely Xbox as a brand will survive.
Frosty for the win
Anyone with 4K that appreciates 60fps is gonna disagree about it not being needed.
DLSS is a god send for Nvidia, and there's been nothing like it for AMD...yet ...
I wouldn't be surprised if it just worked on steam Deck. The functionality is probably bundled into the game, and the whole point of Proton is to make the game think it's running on Windows.
The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point
Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.
If you believe they are trying to find a way to exit the bespoke hardware space, I think the messaging makes sense.
Most powerful hardware = any PC with any GPU (Nvidia included). They might partner or build their own with largely off-the-shelf parts. No more custom chips.New Xbox games are just PC games.
Some kind of emulation or something to run the old Xbox games on PC I guess. That way if you own XSX/X1/etc. games you can run them anywhere.
Slap an Xbox logo on...
Biggest leap ever and forward compatibility doesn't make it sound like a traditional console. Forward compatibility means they will do something that allows Xbox games to run on future hardware. If we think current Xbox games, I think that means abstracting all the bits and pieces that are Xbox hardware specific (like hardware decoders, sound chips, etc.) into software (like an emulator) so that it can run on non-Xbox hardware like a PC. Maybe even Nvidia, which is where the "leap&qu...
You're right, I thought he was more central to their ongoing hardware design team. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that
Leave while working on the biggest leap in next gen consoles ever that's going to be released as soon as 2026? Now why would he do that? Hmmm...
Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"
Revenue up due to acquisition... Spending 10s of billions for new companies of course revenue is up. They don't tell us profits but they wouldn't be shutting down these divisions if they were in the black. Pretty sure they're shifting so radically because their current state has been an abject failure