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[IbizaPocholo]

Despite xCloud game streaming, Microsoft thinks there will always be a need for consoles

Some things never change.

www.windowscentral.com

Our very own Jez Corden managed to interview Microsoft's Gaming Corporate Vice President Mike Ybarra and Partner Director of Program Management Jason Ronald to find out more about the company's vision for the future of gaming across Xbox, Project xCloud, and PC. The following excerpt discusses the conversation about dedicated hardware.

'I believe there will always be a need for local hardware,' Ybarra said, referring to home consoles. 'There'll be a need for cloud computing too. We need to give gamers the choice to play local, to play via the cloud, to mix it. I'm going to do everything. It's about giving them the freedom, and the choice to game the way they want. If that means local hardware, right? We're there.' Ronald impressed that the whole point of streaming is to appeal to gamers who might not want a console at all, not to simply replace consoles. 'At the same time, we're trying to appeal to two billion gamers across the world. And everybody plays different kinds of games, some people prefer console, some people prefer PC, there will be customers that will not want to have either device and xCloud streaming is a great solution for them.

Discussing the future, the power of Project Scarlett, xCloud, and more with team Xbox

At E3 2019, we caught up with Microsoft Gaming team leads CVP Mike Ybarra and Partner Director of Program Management Jason Ronald to talk all things Xbox, PC gaming, and the future of Microsoft's efforts in the space.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[CeeJay]

They are right.

 

[Potato Chip PRO]

Well, there you go... That doom and gloom article from some gaf user made it irrelevant.

 

[Whitecrow]

The first thing I hear from MS I really appreciate.

 

[Stuart360]

Spencer has said the same himself. Microsoft know the internet infrustructure just isnt there yet for a streaming ONLY future, and imo probably wont be ready for 10-20 years, not unless they are happy to have a lower potential customer userbase.
Streaming will only be an added option for people that want it, for the forseeable future, and thank god for that lol.

 

[Bernkastel]

Hope, the put Windows Core OS in their next Xbox (seems very likely with how they talked about their upcoming modular Windows and Xbox gamecore) so people have more need to stay on Xbox. I wish those news about modularity of Surface Studio 3 also apply to Scarlet(probably unlikely).

 

[DanielsM]

The questioning is flawed, local hardware is always needed. They are getting out of the phone business and now provide their services on the other companies hardware. The goal is to eventually have people pay for subscriptions for the software, os, and hardware that is located in the cloud - obviously that is going to take a while as all the windows/xbox services are not completed even. Either way, local hardware is always required, its just a matter of how much the local hardware does.

I expect Xbox as a Hardware to continue to go down in sales, matter of fact I would say under 5m units this year is pretty much a given and I'm almost willing to go to sub-4m units. Microsoft needs to rapidly expand to other devices/platforms like they did on mobile or Phil is going to be flipping burgers.

 

[Stuart360]

The questioning is flawed, local hardware is always needed. They are getting out of the phone business and now provide their services on the other companies hardware. The goal is to eventually have people pay for subscriptions for the software, os, and hardware that is located in the cloud - obviously that is going to take a while as all the windows/xbox services are not completed even. Either way, local hardware is always required, its just a matter of how much the local hardware does.

I expect Xbox as a Hardware to continue to go down in sales, matter of fact I would say under 5m units this year is pretty much a given and I'm almost willing to go to sub-4m units.

You're probably right, but thats not 'proof' of anyhting. It always happens at the end of a generation, especially after they have now officially announced their next gen console.

 

[DanielsM]

You're probably right, but thats not 'proof' of anyhting. It always happens at the end of a generation, especially after they have now officially announced their next gen console.

They announced a new Lumia back in the day, heck, they pulled the Band v3.0 out of manufacturing days before release. Xbox as a hardware is basically dead. They either expand rapidly like they did with mobile or Phil will be flipping burgers at Burger King. They're trying to walk down the middle of the road, imo, that gets you squashed like grape. With mobile they hit the ground running.

 

[NickFire]

I liked reading this quote from Phil Spencer: "Different people will say different things on this, but the truth of the matter is that the best way for you to play a high-fidelity video game for years is going to be with a local device. "

Microsoft's Xbox chief: Project Scarlett likely isn't the last console

Streaming services are all the rage, but don't go thinking that means we'll see fewer devices, says Phil Spencer, head of Xbox.

www.cnet.com

I don't know why, but I really enjoy MS being candid about local consoles being the best way to play the top notch games. I know he's trying to sell consoles, but it's still refreshing to get that confirmation bias with my morning coffee since I know he's right.

 

[DanielsM]

I liked reading this quote from Phil Spencer: "Different people will say different things on this, but the truth of the matter is that the best way for you to play a high-fidelity video game for years is going to be with a local device. "

Microsoft's Xbox chief: Project Scarlett likely isn't the last console

Streaming services are all the rage, but don't go thinking that means we'll see fewer devices, says Phil Spencer, head of Xbox.

www.cnet.com

I don't know why, but I really enjoy MS being candid about local consoles being the best way to play the top notch games. I know he's trying to sell consoles, but it's still refreshing to get that confirmation bias with my morning coffee since I know he's right.

Microsoft would gladly manufacturer the Windows Phone, Microsoft Band, Xbox Kinect, Cortana enabled speakers, etc.... the issue isn't whether they are willing to manufacturer hardware, its that they don't have customers needed to support it.

Literally Phil said the Kinect wouldn't go away, than a year later... gone.

 

[Mista]

That’s correct. Streaming isn’t the future and anyone that really believes in this should pull their head out of their arse

 

[NickFire]

Microsoft would gladly manufacturer the Windows Phone, Microsoft Band, Xbox Kinect, Cortana enabled speakers, etc.... the issue isn't whether they are willing to manufacturer hardware, its that they don't have customers needed to support it.

Literally Phil said the Kinect wouldn't go away, than a year later... gone.

Don't worry. The internet never forgets. The moment they stop selling consoles and say streaming is the best will be followed within 5 minutes by a moment of angry gamers posting these old quotes.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Despite?

Come on brah.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Yeah I think it will be like music and movies. Dedicated hardware and physical media will stick around, but over time the market will shift to those being for enthusiasts while average users are fine with streams even if the quality is lower. I'm guilty of this myself as I was a pretty big buyer of CDs, DVDs and Blurays up to my mid 30s or so. I eventually regretted it and tossed/recycled cases and put all that shit in binders a couple years ago. Now I just have 20 or so Blurays on the top shelf of my 3-shelf book case in my office/game room--just favorites like Star Wars, LOTR, Matrix trilogy etc--and the only thing I still buy/collect are Star Wars movies. I could honestly ditch those binders of CDs/DVDs/Blurays etc. and not miss it as I've not even unzipped them once in the 2+ years of putting stuff in there and most anything I'd want to watch/listen to is probably on one of the streaming services we have (Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu). I just can't bring myself to as it's a few thousand dollars and doesn't take up much space in the closet.

Gaming I never got the collecting bug as I've always seldom replayed games and thus always sold games off, sold (or traded in with good programs to avoid buyer scams/hassle) consoles when I was done with a generation. I still do that, but have shifted more to just buying in digital sales and will embrace things like Gamepass more going forward as it makes so much more sense financially for someone that rarely touches games after the credits roll. Same with music and movies--so much money wasted on CDs I listenened to for a month or two movies I bought and watched once (or never if I already saw it in theaters).

Physical hardware and media makes sense for the diehards who want the best quality and revisit things regularly, much less so for those of us who are more disposable and casual consumers of content.

 

[logicslayer]

I know he's trying to sell consoles, but it's still refreshing to get that confirmation bias with my morning coffee since I know he's right.

Xbox is not trying to sell consoles. That is quite clear. They are moving to software and services. Though I don't think they'll move away from hardware any time soon.

That’s correct. Streaming isn’t the future and anyone that really believes in this should pull their head out of their arse

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. That's along the lines of "640K ought to be enough for anybody", very shortsighted. It's obviously not this generation's future, and maybe not even the next. But it's certainly a possibility that we'll move away from local boxes at some point.

 

[mckmas8808]

Good job MS for not being stupid like many video game podcasters have been.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. That's along the lines of "640K ought to be enough for anybody", very shortsighted. It's obviously not this generation's future, and maybe not even the next. But it's certainly a possibility that we'll move away from local boxes at some point.

Why though? Corporations have to do a perfect job explaining to me and 100+ million gamers why we shouldn't want to own our own games. And why data caps will never be a thing ANY ISP has for the rest of eternity.

 

[Bernkastel]

Looks like DanielsM fired up his template answer again.