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[NickFire]

I could be wrong but I think GTA6 would move the needle console sales wise if one camp has a clear cut this is the best place to play advantage

Edit - And makes me slightly wonder if Xbox targeted 2025 because the very higher ups knew GTAs release timing

Would MS let Phil spend another couple billion or five to secure marketing rights for GTA6 though?

Short of something obscene like that, would Rockstar even consider making a future Xbox their lead platform at launch? GTA is an overlocked ATM machine for them. Tying that to a brand that can't move a million units in Europe during year 3 sounds like dancing in a minefield. Sure, it might work, but . . . . .

 

[Thirty7ven]

Three years ago, if you told people that Activision would become a subsidiary of Microsoft, people would call you crazy. Strange things happen, especially in this industry.

And how exactly could MS make the product you are imagining with the power of money?

Because buying a company is straight forward, pulling hardware from the future involves time travel.

 

[thismeinteil]

They did it with 360 and it ended up going well, I think that would be the better choice for Xbox right now, and for gamers too, release a next gen console, and back it up with new games/ip

People need to realize that it DID NOT work well for 360. In fact, them just dumping the first Xbox, like it seems they want to do Series, left a lot of gamers wary of the 360. You also had the promise of the PS3 in the future.

The 360's first year of sales were not good. Even the PS3, which was $200 more expensive and had few exclusives, while also having worse looking multiplats, had a better 1st year on the market. It was after the PS3 launch that the 360 really took off. MS was able to capitalize on the PS3's mistakes to win over gamers.

What mistakes are MS going to capitalize on this time? PS6 is going to still be using AMD HW, not expensive custom architecture that devs have to learn how to use. It's also going to be B/C with the hundreds of games people will have in their libraries for the incredibly popular PS4 and PS5.

PS6 is also going to have the better performing multiplats by a country mile since they will be launching nearly 2 years later and have the newest tech, as well as a newer version of Zen (5 vs 6) and RDNA (4 vs 5), as well as whatever advances in RAM and SSD tech.

And the best thing for Sony to do, which I think they will, is kick it old school and announce the PS6 over a year before it launches. Oh, I don't know, say a week before the NeXbox launches.

 

[Fabieter]

I would be shocked if a console released in 2025 is not using TSMC N3P.

Also, I expect the Series Z to cost at least $599, most likely $699.



32GB LOL.

Expect no more than 20GB on the new Xbox.

The ps5 pro is rumored to cost 599 so yes that would be the absolut minimum. Alright even a smaller jump tho.

 

[killatopak]

Next gen means they need to refresh their cloud servers for xCloud right? I predict another price increase then.

Especially concerning since their leaked slides actually point out to a hybrid cloud console for their next design.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

And how exactly could MS make the product you are imagining with the power of money?

Because buying a company is straight forward, pulling hardware from the future involves time travel.

PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X were released one year apart and there was a pretty significant power gulf between the two. They both had the same GPU architecture, yet Xbox One x had an approximate 2TF GPU advantage which showed significant advantage across a wide variety of multiplatform games.

Now if we take this and apply it to the rumored new consoles from Sony (PS5 Pro - 2024) and Microsoft (Xbox Next - 2025/26) then I can definitely see a big power gap favoring Xbox, especially if PS5 Pro goes with upclocked Zen2 and Xbox goes for whatever new architecture comes next.

 

[Thirty7ven]

PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X were released one year apart and there was a pretty significant power gulf between the two. They both had the same GPU architecture, yet Xbox One x had an approximate 2TF GPU advantage which showed significant advantage across a wide variety of multiplatform games.

Now if we take this and apply it to the rumored new consoles from Sony (PS5 Pro - 2024) and Microsoft (Xbox Next - 2025/26) then I can definitely see a big power gap favoring Xbox, especially if PS5 Pro goes with upclocked Zen2 and Xbox goes for whatever new architecture comes next.

Actually it really wasn’t that significant considering it launched a year later and cost 100$ more. Yeah that last part people like to forget. And aside from DF circlejerk the thing was almost a non entity in real terms, what was even the size of the userbase? Must have been so huge it convinced MS to not do a midgen upgrade again.

Also quick trivia question, did GTA V run at 60 fps on PS4 or Xbox One? And how’s that RDR2 60 fps going? And that shit ran on a piece of crap Jaguar.

 

[Sethbacca]

We got a Sega situation incoming. They dumped Saturn early, barely delivered anything for it that justified it, moved quickly onto the Dreamcast which did poorly because people lost faith because of the short Saturn gen that they had just blown a pile of cash on and gotten jack shit for. You'll have a handful of hardcore gamers that buy the neXtBox simply because it's the most powerful current console, and the rest of the S/SX gen owners left with a bad taste in their mouth that the gen ended early who end up moving to PSX, Switch2, or PC. Not to mention an upgrade that is a justifiable leap over the SX/PS5 gen is going to be prohibitively expensive.

On top of this they've delivered barely fuck all of anything they've promised, plus the shit they have delivered has been overwhelmingly underwhelming. It's always "NEXT YEAR". How anybody could have any faith in this brand anymore is just mind boggling to me.

Man, I don't imagine this thing doing anything but floundering and fucking off. The exception would be if they make a full fledge PC a la the SteamDeck but for XBox and move full bore into PC territory, but even then that opens up their system to sales cannibalization by other services selling games cheaper. I just don't see this ending with a win for them, but what do I know, I'm not making tens of millions a year.

 

[DavidGzz]

Series T to compete with the Pro. Series Y to compete with PS6.

 

[R3TRODYCE]

They can keep the console but I’d be down for a new controller with an interesting gimmick that I could use on pc.

 

[DavidGzz]

Can someone make it make sense for me?

We keep on getting told by the X Bots (including officials) that Microsoft doesn't care about console sales and that they're doing better than ever.

So why would they pull a Wii U => Switch?

Phil just wants to troll the Sony Ponies by being the stronger console for a couple of years. Damage their fragile egos.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

They can keep the console but I’d be down for a new controller with an interesting gimmick that I could use on pc.

They have a new controller coming, look for it Spring 2024

 

[DenchDeckard]

They have a new controller coming, look for it Spring 2024

I hope they do an elite 3 based on this.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I hope they do an elite 3 based on this.

Me too

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

MS didn’t get the memo that they are going third party.

 

[Calverz]

I hope they do an elite 3 based on this.

Yep I have the elite 2 but it feels so big compared to series controllers.

 

[SegaSnatcher]

This all comes down to personal opinion. People keep saying this about hardware leaps but are then surprised by what the next generation spits out. I've never seen anything last gen on this level, let alone seen it this generation(so far):




I don't know how someone can look at the above and think 'this leap isn't that big from PS4/XBO'. No, it's more that the cross-gen stuff we've been seeing for the past 3ish years has not been a big leap. I have to try and bury my memories of things like the above two videos, because that's how good they look. Otherwise, I would be just as upset about this generation's lack of teeth, much like @SlimySnake is upset about it.

With all due respect, tech demos like the one you linked don't mean much in terms of real world graphics in actual games.

 

[Darsxx82]

MS didn’t get the memo that they are going third party.

Imagine:

1-That MS has put the acquisition of ABK at maximum risk all the time (a week ago in the allegations before the 9th circuit included) for not wanting to accept the obligation of having to release its games on PS and Switch beyond COD in the next 10 years.

2- Declare its intention to make Bethesda games exclusive, even those for which they do not have licensing rights (Indiana Jones)

3-Declare the existence of a roadmap for console hardware with a view to 2028.

4-Appoint Sarah Bond as XBOX president and with the basic task of being in charge of XBOX Hardware (Botty Is for software)

5 -P. Spencer stating last week that there is a roadmap for the console hardware already in place.

Imagine all that while they tell you that everything is a smokescreen, that MS is going to stop making console hardware and that every adquisitions was made and planned to become a 3rd party like EA

PS.Poor Sarah Bond when they tell her her new position is a farse empty of content while Matt Botty took the jackpot...

 

[March Climber]

With all due respect, tech demos like the one you linked don't mean much in terms of real world graphics in actual games.

I think they do. And to prove it, let's compare tech demo to tech demo. Here's UE4 by comparison, which I'd argue some games(near the end of the PS4/XBO generation and beginning of PS5/XBSX generation) matched and surpassed in quality:





Even if I were to compare tech demos at the beginning of PS4/XBO gen to this gen's tech demos, you can clearly see how there's a big leap from one to the other here. One still looks like high end realtime graphics/CGI, and the other looks so good that it is almost tricking me into believing that it is real life at first glance. Just first glance mind you, but that is a huge deal.

 

[Duchess]

MS will probably release their own Pro consoles first.

They'll be pushed out the Xbox Series S X and the Xbox Series X S, just like how they had the Xbox One S and the Xbox One X.

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

I just wanted to get the next Xbox talk into one place and out of the PS5 Pro discussions but here are his thoughts on the next Xbox

Plus this

Wanted to add my comments here as well with the dates so people don't think I got this exact same info from him

Actual links to Tweets for those who want to read through them

No that would be dumb going from Zen 2 to Zen 5 and RDNA2 to RDNA4 would be a small jump in power and they would have to cross gen games anyway for Series owners so it wouldn't be like the Xbox 360 which hit the ground running with current gen exclusive games by the buttload in 2005-2006.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

No that would be dumb going from Zen 2 to Zen 5 and RDNA2 to RDNA4 would be a small jump in power and they would have to cross gen games anyway for Series owners so it wouldn't be like the Xbox 360 which hit the ground running with current gen exclusive games by the buttload in 2005-2006.

It may very well be dumb but I have heard this talk plus Kepler is an AMD chip data miner so he has found something to support his claims

It may never happen this way but its for sure being looked into

 

[twilo99]

But what if the sun is made of melting cheese?

So in this universe where the sun is made of cheese, the next gen Xbox could be that much more powerful than the PS5 pro.

In the real world, there probably won’t even be a next gen version GTA for Xbox. But we will see, maybe MS employed Houdini and a wild next gen Xbox will appear in 2025 and it will have the same power profile as if it launched in 2028 because Xbox energy is just that strong.

I think a simple zen3 CPU bump will bring you to 60 frames but yeah maybe they don't have access to that kind of cutting edge tech

 

[Thirty7ven]

I think a simple zen3 CPU bump will bring you to 60 frames but yeah maybe they don't have access to that kind of cutting edge tech

You think moving to zen 3 would instantly provide a 100% boost? That doesn’t seem realistic at all.

And it’s simple really, can you play GTAV at 60 fps on PS4? Can you play RDR2 at 60fps on PS5?

Maybe the reasons will differ for each title but you’re making a lot of assumptions based on very little info it seems.

 

[Bernoulli]

It may very well be dumb but I have heard this talk plus Kepler is an AMD chip data miner so he has found something to support his claims

It may never happen this way but its for sure being looked into

3 years after launch the Xbox Series X isn't profitable at 499
And moving to Zen 5 and RDNA 4 or 5 will make things only worse
Zen 5 and RDNA 4 Aren't magic, specially in the mobile APU used in consoles we are going to see a small jump for huge price, the only big difference is efficiency

 

[DForce]

I think launching a new Xbox in 2025/2026 would be a terrible idea.

 

[Bernoulli]

I think launching a new Xbox in 2025/2026 would be a terrible idea.

Launching a portable Xbox with Zen 5 and RDNA 4 is great idea
Time for them to try the high end portable market

 

[TheBomb]

That’s fine, but needs the games.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Isn't it crazy how this year was supposed to be Xbox's year, positioning them super strong going forward?

Now CoD is not enough and the goal post has moved yet again: Xbox-Next is coming early.

the question is if the discourse and situation around xbox can get any worse?

If there is not an absolute disaster inside PlayStation, the answer is a definite yes. But where there is smoke, there is fire....I was expecting PS to be unprecedentedly aggressive next year, almost relentless in their messaging, marketing, and reveals.

but who knows?. Right now dosen't seems likely.

And this is important when it comes to these kind of "leaks" that shape the narrative for the future...The next three years should be years in which we see the actual capabilities of these consoles. it almost feel they haven't justify their own existence yet (technologically speaking)...and this is an issue for any future "Next-Gen Console".

 

[Moriarty1889]

Why do this? More powerful hardware isn't their problem lol.
Where are the exclusive GAMES microsoft?

MS now has more studios than actual games.

 

[thismeinteil]

MS didn’t get the memo that they are going third party.

Don't worry. They'll finally get it when they have 3 failed gens in a row.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Don't worry. They'll finally get it when they have 3 failed gens in a row.

Oh man yeah I’m sure you’ll finally probably maybe eventually be totally right this time

 

[SegaSnatcher]

You think moving to zen 3 would instantly provide a 100% boost? That doesn’t seem realistic at all.

And it’s simple really, can you play GTAV at 60 fps on PS4? Can you play RDR2 at 60fps on PS5?

Maybe the reasons will differ for each title but you’re making a lot of assumptions based on very little info it seems.

I mean if they patched the damn game it could, at least at 1440p.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I think this move genuinely makes sense if xbox do something drastic, for them, and have awesome first party exclusive content available for launch.

Crazy thought, I know.....

 

[UltimaKilo]

I think launching a new Xbox in 2025/2026 would be a terrible idea.

I'm not certain I agree. If margins are bigger and it pushes upgrades, shortening generations to 6-7 years is a good idea.

Particularly with how quickly tech is improving now and the incoming competition in the next few years from Apple and others.

The new report of Apple's semi-conductor road map is a shot across the bow for the industry.

 

[Fabieter]

I'm not certain I agree. If margins are bigger and it pushes upgrades, shortening generations to 6-7 years is a good idea.

Particularly with how quickly tech is improving now and the incoming competition in the next few years from Apple and others.

The new report of Apple's semi-conductor road map is a shot across the bow for the industry.

Tech isn't improving as it used to. It was like double the performance in 18 month thats long gone. And margins will be even worse than this gen unless they are charging like 800 bucks.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

I think this move genuinely makes sense if xbox do something drastic, for them, and have awesome first party exclusive content available for launch.

Crazy thought, I know.....

How can they do this when we know from this gen that they will have cross gen games for 2 years? We have decades of history looking at consoles launchs. Dreamcast is what is closest to what seems to be happening now. Remember, we got in 2020 the vision that both consoles makers had for the future of gaming. Now we are in the end of 2023. 3 years of gaming, and some people feel that next have yet to begin. Sony should give us a PS5 Pro next year. It should be a good move that will please us enthusiasts, and we can hope for a price cut for the PS5 to go with it. Nintendo have a Switch 2 that should be out next year, and it will make it easier for third party to port games for it, because it will not be a 10 year old hardware hopefully. Also a good place to be.

Xbox vision, their proposition to us gamers, seems to not resonate outside of the US. Gamepass is not having the growth that Microsoft wanted. So what? Continue the 2020 plan that was leaked to us? Adorably digial refresh and wait to 2028? They abandonned that plan. Make a Pro version of their own to fight with the PS5 Pro? Spencer said publicly that they are not planning to do it.

This lead us to this rumor of early next gen. We got hundreds of messages in this forum about why this is a bad idea. I will not say that again, because I have warmed up to the idea.IF, as was said by someone in another thread, this next gen is a PC like made for enthusiasts, like a 1000 €/$/£ console for hardcore, I would be interested in it. It would not help them really, but like the One X be a good "I am sorry" gift for the hardcore fans of the brand and give them maybe some relief in the US until the real next gen is there and they will need a mass market console for it of course. Bur we are looking at a Dreamcast scenario if the games are not there, and maybe even then. They need to fic the brand image NOW, and market it worldwide with locally appropriate ads. When I see PS5 ads everywhere, and Nintendo can hire Denis Brognard( french survivor tv show host) why can't Xbox do the same?

 

[Negotiator101]

I'm not certain I agree. If margins are bigger and it pushes upgrades, shortening generations to 6-7 years is a good idea.

Particularly with how quickly tech is improving now and the incoming competition in the next few years from Apple and others.

The new report of Apple's semi-conductor road map is a shot across the bow for the industry.

Wasn't there a leak with the possibility of Microsoft switching from AMD for the next Xbox?

 

[X-Wing]

I doubt this. Surely someone at Microsoft will see the writing on the wall and pull the plug on their hardware.

 

[Calverz]

I’ll buy this day one as long as it’s called Xbox 720 and brings the blades back.

 

[Fredrik]

Why not focus on making better games instead?

Relying on hardware options and subscriptions to save the brand isn't working. People are switching to Playstation and the Switch for the games, not for the hardware or service offering.

Basically relying totally on throwing money at their problems now.

How about making better hardware AND better games?

This generation is a failure. Pulling the plug and starting over surprisingly early is the only way to get back some lost marketshare.

2024 would be optimal.
2025 would also be good, hype it up when people consider PS5 Pro.
2026 would be too late, means they have to compete with PS6 rumours.
2027 would mean another failure, competing with PS6 hype, Xbox 1.5 etc.
2028 would be a repeat of this gen but worse since it would mean 4 years of Xbox is dead talk.

And push PC gaming more, that’s where all their games will always be the best and have the bigger userbase. No bad ports, get save syncing working on Steam and Xbox, get everything Steam Deck verified, get the Xbox emulation team to do a virtual hardware emulator of all Xboxes. PC is Xbox now, show it.

 

[Panajev2001a]

How about making better hardware AND better games?

This generation is a failure. Pulling the plug and starting over surprisingly early is the only way to get back some lost marketshare.

2024 would be optimal.
2025 would also be good, hype it up when people consider PS5 Pro.
2026 would be too late, means they have to compete with PS6 rumours.
2027 would mean another failure, competing with PS6 hype, Xbox 1.5 etc.
2028 would be a repeat of this gen but worse since it would mean 4 years of Xbox is dead talk.

And push PC gaming more, that’s where all their games will always be the best and have the bigger userbase. No bad ports, get save syncing working on Steam and Xbox, get everything Steam Deck verified, get the Xbox emulation team to do a virtual hardware emulator of all Xboxes. PC is Xbox now, show it.

Releasing it sooner than PS6 is potentially also troublesome not optimal as you will have developers that face a brand new console following up a low market share console while the PS5 is still the active and dominant console platform.
In 2025 it would already compete with PS6 expectations as well as customers flocking still to PS5 (Sony has a good good amount of price manoeuvrability for PS5 and likely they will not price themselves in a corner with PS5 Pro either… which means they have hot products in demand that can reasonably receive price cuts, offers, etc…).
An early XSX|S2 would have to compete with cross generation games where PS5 is the lead platform and also the PS5 Pro optimised games. Technology is moving slower and slower… they can try the same paper specs and keywords tactics, they may go Zen 4/5, etc… but a.) it did not do as much as they hoped with the XSX and b.) in practice it might not be that big of a jump compared to PS5 Pro… (needing larger and large HW performance deltas to produce significant game performance improvements).

Switch 2 hype cycle is due to start early next year and still be roaring in 2025 too.

So you have Xbox ecosystem customers you are training to pivot to PC more and more and PS5 customers that are quite attached to their ecosystem and casuals that will likely lap the Switch 2 up…

 

[Panajev2001a]

Particularly with how quickly tech is improving now

… I am not seeing technology speeding up but the pace of improvements keeping on slowing down each year…

 

[DForce]

I'm not certain I agree. If margins are bigger and it pushes upgrades, shortening generations to 6-7 years is a good idea.

Particularly with how quickly tech is improving now and the incoming competition in the next few years from Apple and others.

The new report of Apple's semi-conductor road map is a shot across the bow for the industry.

The issue is how Xbox as a brand is performing in the console market. The interest in the brand is low and launching a new console this early might not generate a lot of interest. Plus you have Sony who is going to launch a new console 1-2 years later.

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Telling the people that just spent $500 on your current console to “fuck off” a few years later while having an absolute disaster of a gen isn’t a sound business strategy. There are still people just now getting an Xbox or got one last year that MS will be telling in 2025 or 2026 to start over from scratch. Only the most diehard Xbox fans would do this, everyone else would keep gaming on the PS5 and Switch 2 while waiting for the PS6.

It’s a terrible idea, and in fact will just ensure the next console gets eaten alive by the PS6 which will most likely launch a year later. Anyone thinking MS can repeat their success with the 360 gen by scrapping and launching early before Sony is delusional.

In fact, I would say that the fact that this rumor is even a thing is damaging to the brand already. This isn’t a “Pro” console but an entire abandonment of the current gen and a push to start a new gen early. Xbox brand right now is in the toilet, this isn’t the kind of messaging that should be coming out right now. The new console for them would just end up getting wrecked even worse than the Dreamcast was by the PS2 (and I say this as someone who was a diehard SEGA fan during the Dreamcast generation)..

 

[Fredrik]

Releasing it sooner than PS6 is potentially also troublesome not optimal as you will have developers that face a brand new console following up a low market share console while the PS5 is still the active and dominant console platform.

Their PC side will always keep the userbase good enough, if done right. They just need to properly show that a PC is a Xbox. Rip down all walls. Get the save sync working. Make sure all past Xbox games get officially emulated. When you log in to the Xbox launcher you need to see your complete Xbox family devices library of games. I always play new Xbox games on PC now - unless I for some reason want the living room experience for the kids or the home theater setup etc, which I could get through a living room PC but I’m thinking the Xbox is that device, or it should be. Functionally a docked Steam Deck is currently a better living room PC than Xbox. That’s a complete failure.

 

[DenchDeckard]

How can they do this when we know from this gen that they will have cross gen games for 2 years? We have decades of history looking at consoles launchs. Dreamcast is what is closest to what seems to be happening now. Remember, we got in 2020 the vision that both consoles makers had for the future of gaming. Now we are in the end of 2023. 3 years of gaming, and some people feel that next have yet to begin. Sony should give us a PS5 Pro next year. It should be a good move that will please us enthusiasts, and we can hope for a price cut for the PS5 to go with it. Nintendo have a Switch 2 that should be out next year, and it will make it easier for third party to port games for it, because it will not be a 10 year old hardware hopefully. Also a good place to be.

Xbox vision, their proposition to us gamers, seems to not resonate outside of the US. Gamepass is not having the growth that Microsoft wanted. So what? Continue the 2020 plan that was leaked to us? Adorably digial refresh and wait to 2028? They abandonned that plan. Make a Pro version of their own to fight with the PS5 Pro? Spencer said publicly that they are not planning to do it.

This lead us to this rumor of early next gen. We got hundreds of messages in this forum about why this is a bad idea. I will not day that again, because I have warmed up to the idea.IF, as was said by someone in another thread, this next gen is a PC like made for enthusiasts, like a 1000 €/$/£ console for hardcore, I would be interested in it. It would not help them really, but like the One X be a good "I am sorry" gift for the hardcore fans of the brand and give them maybe some relief in the US until the real next gen is there and they will need a mass market console for it of course. Bur we are looking at a Dreamcast scenario if the games are not there, and maybe even then. They need to fic the brand image NOW, and market it worldwide with locally appropriate ads. When I see PS5 ads everywhere, and Nintendo can hire Denis Brognard( french survivor tv show host) why can't Xbox do the same?

I think they go with an S console that's close to ps5 Pro in gpu performance and then a higher end option that's truly a leap ok gpu.

I actually welcome everyone launching in their own time frames and have their first party games that incentivise sales of that platform. If enthusiasts go ahead and buy a hard-core pc. I more than welcome that but there's millions who don't want to and we know that.

I want Microsoft and Sony to treat their consoles like Nintendo and to release games like Nintendo do. That's my dream for each manufacturer.

Microsoft used to offer excellent games that you couldn't get on PlayStation. Playstation provide their games you couldn't get anywhere else.

Nintendo are just something else.

That's what I hope for anyway.

Then, just play third party where you want.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Tech isn't improving as it used to. It was like double the performance in 18 month thats long gone. And margins will be even worse than this gen unless they are charging like 800 bucks.

Go take a look at what TSMC is doing for Apple using ARM and the roadmap ARM just laid out earlier this week. It’s insane.

Wasn't there a leak with the possibility of Microsoft switching from AMD for the next Xbox?

I read somewhere that some major player was looking to design their own SoC ala Apple. Only Microsoft would have the resources, META just signed a 10 year contract with Qualcomm after pulling the plug on their project and very few others have the $ to do this.

… I am not seeing technology speeding up but the pace of improvements keeping on slowing down each year…

As I mentioned above, go look at what Apple and ARM have been doing along with the released roadmap this week.

The issue is how Xbox as a brand is performing in the console market. The interest in the brand is low and launching a new console this early might not generate a lot of interest. Plus you have Sony who is going to launch a new console 1-2 years later.

It seems they have abandoned the console race and made the Xbox consoles more into a Windows “Steam Box” for GamePass, which is likely due to seeing that Apple is (slowly and cheaply) headed to get gamers into their ecosystem, and that’s what this battle really is about. Not Sony, since they really are no threat to MS, but Apple, who has a full ecosystem.

Get gamers on GamePass before Apple silicon gets good enough (already is) and gives consumers one less reason to stay on Windows.

Selling Xbox hardware is just a bonus, long-term.

Maybe Apple should consider throwing money at SNY to make their future PC games exclusive to MACOS and iOS?

 

[Panajev2001a]

As I mentioned above, go look at what Apple and ARM have been doing along with the released roadmap this week.

I have and I am also seeing what TSMC are publishing and tech / silicon manufacturing is slowing down. Look at Apple on desktops, they are definitely slowing down despite spending billions investing in their suppliers and buying capacity way ahead of time. Even on iPhone… sure they are evolving sideways with RT capabilities on the GPU and AI acceleration, but CPU cores and GPU cores advancing in performance rapidly without increasing power consumption exponentially is not quite the case anymore. They are all hitting a wall.

They are shrinking chips still, but now they are hitting problems with die size (3nm+ makes it harder to make 400+ mm2 dies so people need to look at chiplets, stacking, and advanced packaging solutions… all also expensive).

If you want to argue that silicon technology has not slowed down and the cost of jumping (design and manufacture) at each new node has not gone up, be my guest, but I think it is incorrect.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Their PC side will always keep the userbase good enough, if done right. They just need to properly show that a PC is a Xbox. Rip down all walls. Get the save sync working. Make sure all past Xbox games get officially emulated. When you log in to the Xbox launcher you need to see your complete Xbox family devices library of games. I always play new Xbox games on PC now - unless I for some reason want the living room experience for the kids or the home theater setup etc, which I could get through a living room PC but I’m thinking the Xbox is that device, or it should be. Functionally a docked Steam Deck is currently a better living room PC than Xbox. That’s a complete failure.

I am not sure how spending billions designing and selling the Xbox makes any sense then. Sure a niche Surface X like console maybe, but your scenario is them giving up on traditional consoles.