Businesses consider things all the time. Why is this any special or different, other than clickbait doomposting?
Valve has become everything Xbox should have been.
What’s the point now?
Just another publisher?
3rd tier storefront?
Commoditized hardware?
They almost got a viable game subscription model but with pricing that was incompatible with expensive studio acquisitions.
I’m glad their subscription service failed. It is Microsoft’s attempt to capture the market and become the sole gatekeeper by undermining stores like Valve. If it succeeds MS will have all the leverage to decide how much a developer gets paid and which games will get released instead of letting the market decide.
Basically the Silicon Valley playbook, lure in creators with bags of money and entice customers with low subscription rates. Once competition is dead and customers are used to the service increase the subscription rates and lower the fees and royalties the creators gets. It’s what Uber and Netflix have done. And look how much they damaged their industries.
I feel like operating XBOX independent from Microsoft could give them more control and focus on gaming, without permission from Microsoft CEO. On the flipside XBOX would be very fragile without the financial backing of Microsoft.
Could XBOX become third party publisher only and then Microsoft does the hardware and operating system?
Microsoft doesn’t seem to be interested in making the hardware though. Microsoft wants further integration of Game Pass and Xbox cloud streaming into the Windows Microsoft Store.
That’s what got them where they are now. Dilution of the Xbox brand and an aimless hardware strategy.
Microsoft does not need to build the hardware themselves, it could be something like the a cooperation with ASUS or the likes. Microsoft handles the operating system and the hardware stuff, and XBOX does the games only. Even if its for streaming only. And for the moment Microsoft seems to continue with hardware and next console / pc hybrid.
If ASUS is building the hardware, why couldn’t Xbox as a company handle everything then?
Xbox is already a brand. Xbox is already a publisher. The move to make it independent would mean it has to promote Xbox instead of everything Microsoft.
I feel like the issue with doing it is that XBox development is subsidized by Windows gaming development. I don’t know how you cut what parts of development go into Windows and XBox.
They are only considering it now as they have driven the XBOX brand to an all-time low. Would have been best if they did this before all the weird PC branding and Series X stuff. Made the entire thing a confusing mess.
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Why does the ROG XBOX ALLY X not play XBOX games?
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Why does Windows have XBOX plastered all over it when it doesn’t play XBOX games?
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Since the XBOX consoles are literally just PCs under the hood, why not unify XBOX games to work everywhere?
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Which console is faster, the XBOX One X (the fast one of the generation) or XBOX Series S (the slow one of the generation)? Can you explain it to grandma?
And this is on top of the fact that Windows is no longer the only PC OS people game on, primarily due to how spyware and ad riddled Microsoft made Windows. Microsoft fucked their entire gaming segment from just about every angle.
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Why is anyone treating this as shocking news ? It’s been a consideration since 2017
And I hope they do …
