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Do you think that Microsoft will start next gen earlier than expected?
- Thread starter Sid
- Start date
The Incarnation
Member
Sony just don't have the infrastructure to go the same route as MS. MS make Windows, so its an easy shift for them.
diggmcbadass
Member
I'm in this boat. I would be very surprised if we saw another dedicated gaming console from MS.
Triggerhappytel
Member
John quite clearly favours the PS4 (as do I) but he doesn't tend to be outwardly dismissive or fanboyish. Maybe you should quote some posts which clarify what you mean.
RedSparrows
Member
Because hype, because speculation, because gaming is as infected as any other aspect of life with the insatiable need for drama, spectacular mundanity, of battles and WARS over sod all.
How would they? isn't STEAM too big to compete with now?
Regardless of infrastructure it also has a lot to do with Xbox games being made with direct x standard.
Additionally Sony isnt interested in pc. They are more interested in streaming to any device from central servers.
Xbox One sales are so far very front-loaded, the dynamic of the console is significantly behind its predecessors. Microsoft is -allegedly- trying to push gaming on Windows, bringing Xbox One first party games to that platform.
Depending on how the situation evolves in the next couple of years, the question is not about when the next Xbox will happen, but more whether it will ever exist or not.
Depending on how the situation evolves in the next couple of years, the question is not about when the next Xbox will happen, but more whether it will ever exist or not.
FunkyDealer
Banned
I expect this generation to be shorter than the last, six years maximum. But it's not unthinkable for Microsoft to release a next gen system in 2017. They can make it fully backwards compatible too if they want, which would stop it from being as bad as with the jump to 360. And porting to Xbone would still be easy with DirectX.
I think Nintendo will be first out of the gates though. Question is if it'll be just on par with Ps4 or significantly more powerful.
I think Nintendo will be first out of the gates though. Question is if it'll be just on par with Ps4 or significantly more powerful.
I can't see them release a new system before late 2018 at best. If they do, it would be interesting to see Sony's reaction: do they stay with the money-making PS4 and take the risk to let Microsoft take some advance for next gen or do they follow them and accept to "sacrifice" a few good years of PS4 benefits.
Steam is an extraordinary service. Probably the very best the gaming world has to offer. However, Ms devs are pretty crafty and willing to take chances especially costly ones. Ms could, with might and magic, create a similar experience. If they can accomplish that, then it basically comes down to the ms catalogue vs the valve catalogue.
of course, this will take a lot of effort. But, there is a chance they can find success...and it would cost a whole lot less.
MaximusPayne
Member
X1 is hardly a disaster. I'm laughing at the comments stating there won't be another xbox console.
It depends whether or not Nintendo intends to draw more third party support going forward.
Give War A Chance
Member
That would be terrible for the games on Xbox One and PS4. Also, those new consoles would launch with basically no games, for quite some time.
I expect this generation will last almost as long as the last. The internet has helped generations last longer than in the past, and the trend will continue.
Why not? You can't think of it as a console, as opposed to a media machine. We don't even know what the landscape of gaming will be like 5 years from now. It's foolish to think Microsoft won't have another 'dedicated' machine. It's a low cost, low barrier to entry in getting their digital goods and services to a wide variety of people. They'd rather you buy music, movies and shows on Xbox Live as opposed to Amazon or iTunes. Partnering with content providers like Twitch and getting other providers means you watch entertainment through their device. Why wouldn't they have another home console? It's just a low-end PC at this point anyway. Not having a console means giving up 100% of the market to competitors. Xbox may eventually just became their gaming brand, and dedicated consoles and PC all but become indistinguishable besides specs, but they'll still have it. Why? Because a $399 console every 5 years, makes better sense than nothing at all.
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
lol ya this. I love reading these threads.
Green Yoshi
Member
Could make sense. Every multiplatform game would look better on Xbox 10 (or however it will be called).
Wouldn't expect it before Christmas 2017.
Wouldn't expect it before Christmas 2017.
PodcastFips
Member
I don't think you can simply start a new generation, developers and customers need to be prepared for it.
Hans.Gruber
Banned
If you knew sth besides "refocus on PC" couldn't you sell that info to kotaku or polygon or sth? Would be really big news if MS is trying to secretly get out of console gaming (if that's what your "secret" is implying)
How so? Please elaborate.
I'm not saying you are wrong, but I think there are a number of scenarios that might work well and some that would not work, with regard to timing of the next console cycle. However it really does hinge on how the next couple of years go with this current gen.
Same. I think MS will keep it active at least till 2020 and then announce some kind of cloud sling box device or something.
Rising_Hei
Member
That'd be the beginning of their downfall 
That's exactly what this is for the forseeable future.
OT:
The original statement for both platforms was to have these consoles out for 8-10 years. For Sony I can possibly see them sticking to this. I don't think it would make sense for MS to reboot after just 4 years. There are still a lot of things they can do to prolong the life cycle of the Xbox. One thing is certain, Xbox Team will have revised their product pipeline completely since launch.
- Hardware refresh, slim model. Possibly another model with beefier specs ie Xbox 1.5. There is talk of quicker cycles with incremental upgrades, like mobile phones, though personally I think this could both 'fix' resolutiongate' and alienate consumers. Only with complete backward compatibility.
- Exclusive IP, make more, make them better. Worked for Nintendo, worked for Sony. Simple enough.
- Hardware innovations eg Hololens, Kinect, New controller?
Ultimately I think they will cut the cycle short by 2 years, or introduce a somewhat faster hardware refresh to keep the lifecycle going.
Same here, ditto.
Yeah gives a good chuckle, just like the Nintendo comments.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
...?? What?
Yeah, peace! "lol"
Children, stop fighting please.
Anyway, I think that it will be a five year gen minimum. I would love for it to be shorter but I don't realistically think it will be. Microsoft may launch first, but it will not be some 12-24 month grand head start. I do think that as much as they would love a first mover advantage, they will also be trying to get a tech lead next gen. They had an initial PR disaster because of the DRM stuff, but they've had an ongoing slow-motion PR disaster with all the resolution talk. Feature wise, the systems are so incredibly similar now and there are so few third party exclusives that they wound up being nearly identical twins, with the only major difference being that the PS4's GPU was ~50% more powerful.
Microsoft's best bet going forwards in terms of big exclusive features is to be able to leverage their broader ecosystem. Make Xbox tightly integrated with Windows. Take serious advantage of their infrastructure ("lol, the cloud"). Hook up with the Windows Phone platform in the same way that Sony does game streaming to Xperia stuff. They are already clearly going down this path and I think that is an intelligent move. The next Xbox won't be some brand new platform that needs to take 12 months to slowly assemble itself to feature-completion like the XBO or PS4, it should be just a new piece of X86 hardware that is capable of seamlessly transitioning from whatever the late-gen Xbox One experience is.
The other big thing is bolstering first party efforts. I think they are already trying to do this, but obviously it's not as easy as flicking a switch that says "make more games", building studios takes time. But it is necessary to compete head to head with Sony's output. Halo has been tarnished somewhat, and they will need their own stable of must have games that aren't sourced from third parties.
With all this said, the main issue that will face Sony and MS when transitioning generations is that technology progression in the CPU and GPU space has stagnated. Repeating myself from the other day:
Beerculies
Neo Member
I am constantly confused by these threads. The Xbox One isnt going anywhere anytime soon. The sales may not be as good as the PS4 but its selling better than the 360 did in the same time span and its making Microsoft money. To a company like Microsoft being in "2nd" is fine because they still have a large amount of the market, still have third party support, and a good amount of traction with there first party games. Sony needs to be in first place and have great sales or the company might have gone under and nobody wants that. Competition is good and if anything there isn't enough in the gaming console space.
As for the next generation of consoles... at least for me this will be the last one PC gaming is becoming more popular and ports are getting better from third party developers and if Microsoft decides to start letting some of their first party games on the PC i have no reason to own another box to do the same thing. But i know there will always be an Xbox because while some people say doom and gloom the brand still means something, same for PlayStation.
As for the next generation of consoles... at least for me this will be the last one PC gaming is becoming more popular and ports are getting better from third party developers and if Microsoft decides to start letting some of their first party games on the PC i have no reason to own another box to do the same thing. But i know there will always be an Xbox because while some people say doom and gloom the brand still means something, same for PlayStation.
They would have to do some sort of upgrade program so people would not get pissed. Honestly thought, they could just keep most of it the same, just change the APU to have a better GPU, and RAM to be GDDR5, but the APU would need a whole new motherboard. I think if they had a trade in program and you only needed to pay like 150-200 for the new one, the it would work way better than have a new console 5 years in at 399$.
GoonerTRON
Banned
If its cross compatible, so 900p 30fps on Xbox One = 1080p 60fps on Xbox One.5
Games have 2 graphics settings for XB1 and 1.5.
Games have 2 graphics settings for XB1 and 1.5.
RoyalLaFlame
Banned
It will be the same for Playstation (and I have a feeling that Sony will be the first to do it). It's not a future I look forward to but will eventually happen.
And to OP: no. You can't just start a new gen like that, requires years and lots of money and all developers need to be on board. MS spent something like what 3 billion on R&D for the Xbox One? Nah, I don't see it happening.
slavesnyder
Member
Depends on what you expected.
I expect this gen to run 6 or 7 years. And after that I do not know if Microsoft will even make a new console.
I expect this gen to run 6 or 7 years. And after that I do not know if Microsoft will even make a new console.
John Bender
Banned
I say six years max.
Anything above will be horrible :-/
The 360 was an early leap to HD, which was awesome, and an obvious improvement that sold consoles. What could the next Xbox do in comparison?
Unless it was heavily hololens / VR based or had strong 4k capabilities then I don't see what advantages going first would have. And I still think it's gonna be a while before people start adopting 4k TVs, too. The jump is nowhere near what it was between SD and HD.
Unless it was heavily hololens / VR based or had strong 4k capabilities then I don't see what advantages going first would have. And I still think it's gonna be a while before people start adopting 4k TVs, too. The jump is nowhere near what it was between SD and HD.
Various Artists
Banned
I think for Sony and MS that we are looking at about 2020 or 2019 at the earliest for a new system, for those saying it will be more like a streaming service, I sure hope not. PC from then on out. I expect Nintendos new console by Christmas 2017 though, It will probably be PS4 levels of power and include another new gimmick.
Would the 3x leap even provide a noticeable leap in visuals?
Zombie James
Banned
If by "worked" you mean it was rushed to fuck and cost them over $1B in RROD issues, sure. The 360 did a lot of things right but I hope MS never goes with that kind of rushed console design ever again.
Huggers
Member
Yeah I wasn't disagreeing at all. On the contrary. I absolutely agree, it's a bizarre way of thinking
LukasTaves
Member
I think, and hope that they move away from the Generational pace of releases.
Move to a unified platform with windows, every now and them release an updated hardware that has got great performance for its money, and if that cycle is too long for you you can build your own PC and play the games from the store.
Move to a unified platform with windows, every now and them release an updated hardware that has got great performance for its money, and if that cycle is too long for you you can build your own PC and play the games from the store.
gamechanger87
Member
I think some people around here miss the larger picture and get too caught up in the console war stuff and who is "winning" or "losing" the HW battle. Of course, Microsoft would love to be number one, but their primary reason for creating a console in the first place was to get Microsoft's ecosystem into your living room and make money on the entire ecosystem. With the W10 integration, they look to finally have a platform that enables them to have an interconnected set of products from PC, mobile and living room.
The Xbox One is just another product which enables you to consume games/media under their banner where they will make money. They make money on Live. They take a cut from all games, DLC and video streaming on their HW. Its just another means to enable you to consume products in their ecosystem.
They are not expecting to make money on the HW side, and they are positioning W10 in a similar manner. They are giving it away for free because they are streamlining the marketplace so you will easily be able to purchase games/other software via their marketplace rather than relying on the traditional means of purchasing software direct from the developers/publishers. W10 and XBO are essentially a F2P model.
Ignore the gloom and doom posts, its just people on the internet conjecturing for the sake of it.
The Xbox One is just another product which enables you to consume games/media under their banner where they will make money. They make money on Live. They take a cut from all games, DLC and video streaming on their HW. Its just another means to enable you to consume products in their ecosystem.
They are not expecting to make money on the HW side, and they are positioning W10 in a similar manner. They are giving it away for free because they are streamlining the marketplace so you will easily be able to purchase games/other software via their marketplace rather than relying on the traditional means of purchasing software direct from the developers/publishers. W10 and XBO are essentially a F2P model.
Ignore the gloom and doom posts, its just people on the internet conjecturing for the sake of it.
Nah, I wish Nintendo would make a respectfully powerful console with proper 3rd party support and online infrastructure. I would buy that console immediately.
Derpcrawler
Member
With whole thing being pretty much x86 I expect them to implement Xbox store on PC and release hardware refreshes for "console" each 2 or so years, with backwards compatibility and life span of at least 4-5 years, just like iPhone 4 was supported forever.
But then again, consoles are not fashion accessory or gadget you can show off, so people might not want to pay 400 bucks each 2 years if they want to get best graphics.
But then again, consoles are not fashion accessory or gadget you can show off, so people might not want to pay 400 bucks each 2 years if they want to get best graphics.
Who knows if there will even be a next-gen for any console maker. It's all lie in the sky talk until it's actually real.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
XBO is almost the exact antithesis of a F2P model
Give War A Chance
Member
If the Xbox "Two" is to come out in 2018, then they're going to have to start the reveal process at some time in 2016. Also, by the same token, game development for the new console will have to start either at or, ideally, before that time. If the developers are developing for a console that doesn't exist... we won't get their games until they come out for the new console... which also means we won't get games from them on the current machines we just paid $400+ for.
Same scenario for Sony, except delayed by a year. And considering Sony has come out and said that ALL studios they own are working on PS4 content, the PS5 would launch and have no games for quite some time.
Nintendo would be fine, I guess, because it really is a mystery what the hell they're doing, to me.
I'm a little confused. Do you think this current generation is going poorly for some reason? Because that's only true for Nintendo. It's for record-settingly great for the other two first parties.
TL;DR: For Microsoft to only FULLY focus support on the Xbox One for ~3 years would be a real shitty move. Same for Sony. The machines + XBL/Playstation Plus cost way too much to abandon ship that quickly. Especially when the machines are selling like crazy.