Next-Gen Xbox Hardware, Additional Stores On Xbox

[Rozalia1]

Keep in mind, this stuff is all coming from either Xbox management directly or their PR sock puppets. They love to do this when negative narratives surround them, as such it could all be bunkum. 

 

Xbox Hardware

https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-next-gen-console-confirmed-business-update

Summing it up: Microsoft supposedly has two new pieces of hardware in the works. A handheld and a console. The timeframe seems like the much talked about 2026 date is likely to be the handheld and 2028 the console. This would essentially mean they'd compete with Nintendo and Sony at the same time. In terms of what is supposed to be good about these devices; the handheld it is implied will have an improved version of Windows instead of the awful versions other companies have had to use on their handhelds, while the console naturally will be 'the biggest technical leap forward ever'.

 

My View: What do you do when you've been utterly crushed by PlayStation? Easy, you throw Nintendo into the mix so you get crushed even harder. Only at Xbox can you find such genius business sense. That however, is only on the face of it. Having thought on this matter and on how Microsoft has operated (and Microsoft doesn't change their ways)… I don't think Nintendo is actually the target. Microsoft has always bowed their heads to Nintendo, something they do to those they know they can't hurt and would be useful to have on side against others (not that Nintendo is, but being friendly helps that possibly becoming the case). Xbox management also does have some level of awareness, as documents we saw due to the FTC court case showed. They know they can't compete with Nintendo and so they aren't even going to try.

 

Instead, the fact that this handheld will operate on Windows, leads me to believe that Valve/other PC handheld makers are the real target. Valve's Steam Deck, for all the acclaim online by enthusiasts, isn't at the level where it quite threatens Microsoft. However, potentially a large market for PC handhelds could grow and Valve would be best suited to take advantage of it. If Valve does, then it would lead to increased adoption of... not Windows. Microsoft will then get locked out of another market they had all the tools to dominate and it'll damage Windows heavily. Imagine if every game on PC starts getting Linux versions, the need to have the bloatware that is Windows on PC starts decreasing. Microsoft entered the console market out of a perceived threat from Sony on Windows (jumping at shadows is what corrupt monopolists like Microsoft tend to do), so this would not be the first time.

 

More Stores On Xbox

https://www.polygon.com/24108670/xbox-epic-games-store-phil-spencer-interview

Summing it up: Exclusivity bad, unsustainable, and games need to be on everything. Stores should all also be on everything. Shout out to the Epic Game Store.

 

My View: You've likely heard that on Mobile, Epic is heavily going after Apple and trying to open them up, something which Apple has been able to ruin, much to the public chagrin of Microsoft. It has been quite apparent that while Epic is the front man involved, Microsoft is right behind them lending support. If Microsoft can't win directly with a closed platform, then the move is to try to open up other closed platforms and try to vampire off them.

 

I mention the Mobile situation for a reason. Microsoft's consoles are falling apart hard, as they were doing terribly and now even more so. Even hardcore Xbox fans have come round to the idea that the Xbox Series S|X will not outsell the Xbox One, which in its day was considered a disaster. This new powerful hardware they speak of, with no exclusives and likely a heavy price tag, will very likely do even worse. Below the original Xbox bad. More stores on Xbox means less of the 30% fee of software sales going to Microsoft, but software sales on Xbox are so bad already that it isn't the great loss it would be for others. So what is the gain here? Simple, a court case. Make your own console open and then take it to the courts that other consoles need to be opened up.

 

Closing

As I mentioned at the start, this could all be bunk. That Xbox is going to scrap their platform, but they're going to lie otherwise until that day comes. However, the threat I mentioned from Valve to Windows, makes me think that all of this might actually be real. All very tiresome to me and others, but I'm sure there are some who are liking the news.

[Rebourne07]

27 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

So what is the gain here? Simple, a court case. Make your own console open and then take it to the courts that other consoles need to be opened up.

This is an interesting and realistic take. Sounds like it’d work out for the consumer overall in the end though if there was more digital competition in the console games space. 

[Helyx]

35 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

Make your own console open and then take it to the courts that other consoles need to be opened up.

 

Sounds like something a console with no good games would do.

[Slava]

WTF happened to Keystone? Did they abandon the project?

[MonaSaxPayne]

56 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

What do you do when you've been utterly crushed by PlayStation? Easy, you throw Nintendo into the mix so you get crushed even harder.

lmao

[Rozalia1]

35 minutes ago, Rebourne07 said:

This is an interesting and realistic take. Sounds like it’d work out for the consumer overall in the end though if there was more digital competition in the console games space. 

 

You could see it that way if you wish. To me it is just the usual dark arts from Microsoft and no good can come from it. The handheld is there to try and snuff out a threat to Windows, while the console is there to hurt Sony/Nintendo and leach off them.

 

Consoles getting more stores on them doesn't matter for Microsoft due to how bad their console business is, but it could really harm Nintendo and especially PlayStation. Unless they can pull an Apple and render other stores useless, they have to make up the loss of money somehow. Ways to do that would be to decrease the investment on games and to raise the price of the console. So you could see new consoles be 100-200 bucks more expensive for the same hardware that it would have had if the extra stores thing hadn't happened, as they'll have to make more of a profit on the console hardware itself.

 

8 minutes ago, Slava said:

WTF happened to Keystone? Did they abandon the project?

 

That was essentially cancelled last I heard. Somehow while developing it, a streaming stick, they made it too expensive. On a related note, the console we heard about that was going to be 'half-Cloud' is also apparently scrapped. The console that is apparently coming will run stuff natively.

[Rozalia1]

https://exputer.com/news/xbox/white-digital-xbox-series-x-photos/

 

Not Next-Gen, but here is their digital Series X. Looks horrible. It appears that they took people talking about their 'Refresh' looking like a dustbin, had Spencer say their plans had 'changed', and then just changed the casing to a recoloured Series X. If this is the final product then there is no size change and you don't get the option of attaching a disc drive to it.

 

Also, with the fall of many Xbox influencers, some of the most wretched ones out there have been getting more attention. One in particular, the guy who did those obviously staged (via coaching the people) interviews on the street where common people were all into Xbox and against PlayStation, has been posting some real muck. An image of Gabe Newell and Phil Spencer on the same call and about how it was new stuff, and that Steam was going to get ported to Xbox. Then he makes out that Phil Spencer and Xbox, ever the geniuses who are always winning, have devised a way to get PlayStation's exclusives on Xbox. Such a thing naturally will defeat PlayStation.

 

These lies were so massive that some notable people came out and called it out for the massive lies that it was. Gabe Newell and Phil Spencer were on the same call in 2020 for an event where people in the industry answered questions that people had. As for the whole PlayStation exclusives on Xbox? No. From what I recall there was a brief period where through Nvidia's service you could play God of War on Xbox, and it was stopped the moment it was found out. Wasn't just PlayStation either. Xbox was also stopping their games on Nvidia's service until due to the court case they allowed it to try and sway things. So no, them turning Xbox into PCs doesn't mean they are going to get PlayStation's exclusives just like that. PlayStation has the power to stop their games being played on Xbox if they wish. Of course, them doing that will give Microsoft more ammo for the court case they'd naturally have planned if they actually do all of this, but it is what it is.

[majob]

Microsoft forcing other store fronts to be open benefits them probably the most. Part of Apple's success is that it's a closed ecosystem. You want in you have to buy in so I'm not surprised helping behind the scenes of the Apple lawsuit is one of their biggest competitors after all. Not that Apple is a good company, they're not but that doesn't take away from the underhanded measures Microsoft is using to increase their dominance of the tech market.

 

Also the handheld one is hilarious to me, they're probably salty over the Portal outselling the Series S  in some regions.

Edited March 29 by majob

[Sunny]

"Exclusivity bad, unsustainable, and games need to be on everything. Stores should all also be on everything. Shout out to the Epic Game Store"

 

Lmao

Exactly what you would expect Xbox to do, screams desperation.

Edited March 29 by Sunny

[RadiantFlamberge]

Xbox's best days are behind them, having peaked with the 360. Their blue-skying is good for a laugh.

 

While it could happen, I don't think a next gen Xbox is guaranteed at this point. Where could Xbox be in the next four years? NGL, in 2028 they could be in the same spot Sega was after the Dreamcast... down the john as a console maker, but doing OK making games software for Sony, Nintendo, and PC. PS6 could probably end up with Special Edition versions of Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 alongside their sequels.

 

A Microsoft handheld should be another gaming PC rather than a Xbox Portable. I'm thinking a special gaming version of the Surface with Steam Deck style controls.

As for God of War's PC port being playable on Xbox via GeForce Now... there's a loophole that needed shut.