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That's because GAF has nothing to do with the real worldYup and everyone will say they want one and no one will buy it.
That's because GAF has nothing to do with the real worldYup and everyone will say they want one and no one will buy it.
They already have a pretty decent hardware solution in Series X, which people aren't buying into.There's people in this very thread that can seem Anti Xbox who are interested in the thought of this, that alone means alot
MS needs a way to gain mind share back and have some good hardware news. This will be it if they get the specs and price right
No, it doesn't make sense because:
1. Xbox can't expand into a market just because they aren't in there. The handheld market is even more cornered than under-the-shelf traditional consoles.
2. And Xbox has no USP they can offer that hasn't already been offered in this market.
3. Most importantly, no multiplatform publisher has dedicated hardware because it literally contradicts itself (e.g., EA, Ubisoft, T2, etc.). It's stupid to become a multiplatform publisher and then introduce a new hardware, hoping to shake up a pretty cornered and settled market.
The reality is that this is just another stupid decision by Xbox in a long line of stupid decisions: Xbox One launch, hiring Phil Spencer as head of Xbox, Game Pass, Series S, day one PC releases, launching Gen 9 with no exclusives, no next-gen exclusives for 2 years, etc.
I can guarantee that this will be another failure. And then a few years later, people will be wondering what went wrong.
The few exclusives they have are getting ported to Playstation and Nintendo, because they literally sell more on those platforms, and in the case of Playstation play better than the Xbox versions too. There's pretty much nothing they can do can salvage the home consoles at this point.Their problem is high-quality exclusive software.
I agree 100%.The few exclusives they have are getting ported to Playstation and Nintendo, because they literally sell more on those platforms, and in the case of Playstation play better than the Xbox versions too. There's pretty much nothing they can do can salvage the home consoles at this point.
Sure, but my point is ... do they have a realistic chance of becoming the definitive place to play games on the go?If they can't be the definitive place to play their games at home, they can at least try to be the definitive place to play games on the go.
Steam Deck is not a portable console, but will the Xbox handheld be? That doesn't make sense. They'll both be the same things. Other alternatives are Rog Ally, Legion Go, Nintendo Switch, etc. Those are all handheld gaming devices.It's not cornered, there is only one player. If you want a portable console, what are you options in the past 7 years? Hmm, I can pick a switch, or a switch. Steam deck is not realy a portable console, it's a portable pc, is more expensive, has issues, and no exclusives.
They can offer games that are not currently on switch, and future exclusives.
This I can't dispell as I also beleive in exclusives driving hardware, so it would be tougher if they went this road. Xbox one launch was messed, day pc releases too, but I don't see game pass as a bad idea. You just need critical mass to make it succeed, and they really were not far off from break even already. I think the gaming business has shows us over and over that nobody is out until they are out, comebacks are very possible. Pretty unlikely that a portable would not sell at least ok as long as it had day and date games with series games.
Handhelds seem really cool, but i worry they will limit the scope of future games having to cater for it. I want a pathtraced future.
Steam Deck is not a portable console, but will the Xbox handheld be? That doesn't make sense. They'll both be the same things. Other alternatives are Rog Ally, Legion Go, Nintendo Switch, etc. Those are all handheld gaming devices.
And Steam Deck definitely has exclusives. The exclusive games on Steam that aren't available anywhere else.
A very recent example of that is Deep Rock Galactic Survivor. Soon Hades 2 will also join early access exclusively on Steam. There are hundreds of other PC only games that aren't available on any other platform, and Steam Deck can play those games.
That’s a disingenuous way to put it - it’s a PC, it can run PC games, almost all of which much better than Nintendo Switch. Where’s Fallout on Switch? On Steam Deck you can play the whole franchise. The fact they are available on PC and consoles doesn’t change anything, exclusives are not Steam Deck value preposition, portable gaming is.Steam deck has basically zero big name AAA exclusives vs a Nintendo or a sony or xbox.
That’s a disingenuous way to put it - it’s a PC, it can run PC games, almost all of which much better than Nintendo Switch. Where’s Fallout on Switch? On Steam Deck you can play the whole franchise. The fact they are available on PC and consoles doesn’t change anything, exclusives are not Steam Deck value preposition, portable gaming is.
This thing is gonna bomb. I love my steamdeck, but it's not a product for the mass casuals out there.
So if this is windows based and open, instead of a locked down console type environment, I see it failing hard.
Too many windows handhelds release now.
Yes. I expect them to do that, with a Xbox UI game mode. However PC games, especially on handhelds need some tinkering. I think any tinkering is asking too much from the mass market console base.Maybe MS will finally care enough to make Windows more viable for a handheld now that it's them making it and not another manufacturer just tossing the OS on there.
Phil was talking about how to solve the pain of using Windows on a small screen not long ago.
Yes. I expect them to do that, with a Xbox UI game mode. However PC games, especially on handhelds need some tinkering. I think any tinkering is asking too much from the mass market console base.
It's gotta be download, stream, or insert cartridge and play. Nothing more than that. I don't see that happening with an open windows handheld no matter how much they streamline the OS for a handheld.
Steam Deck stills runs the OS in the background the game need tinkering. Like to get Returnal to run well you gotta do resolution scaling to 70% and lock the frames at like 27fps.Maybe we aren't on the same page, when you say Xbox UI game mode I'm getting the impression you mean a PC with a Steam Big-Picture mode like Xbox presentation. While I am talking about a device that is both Xbox and PC, as in to get one you shut down the other, a la Steam Deck. So Xbox mode will even play a BC 360 title while the PC mode can't
Steam Deck stills runs the OS in the background the game need tinkering. Like to get Returnal to run well you gotta do resolution scaling to 70% and lock the frames at like 27fps.
Just because they're thinking about it doesn't mean it will result in a product you can buy. Remember they spent a bunch of time and effort on their little cloud streaming device. They got up to the prototype stage and then decided it wasn't a viable product, so they canceled it. Something similar could happen with this handheld.
Well the problem is exclusive software when PS5 exists as direct competition to the X.They already have a pretty decent hardware solution in Series X, which people aren't buying into.
Their problem is high-quality exclusive software.
I don't see them doing basically a closed environment and open environment on one device, which is basically your dual boot idea. If they're going to offer an open windows with other stores, then they're just going to develop PC versions of games. I'd still bet on either a closed system or an open one with xbox big picture mode.You don't understand what I mean, I'm talking about Proton and Windows booting independently on Steam Deck. By putting Windows on Steam Deck, you expand the library beyond the OS it came with.
Which in this case would be having a device that plays Xbox games natively like a Series S AND ALSO boots into Windows, where you can run whatever you damn well please but might need to set resolution scaling on a PS5 port
I don't see them doing basically a closed environment and open environment on one device, which is basically your dual boot idea. If they're going to offer an open windows with other stores, then they're just going to develop PC versions of games. I'd still bet on either a closed system or an open one with xbox big picture mode.
Well they did talk about “forward compatibility”. I think they’ll bring forward games, just not all of them. But maybe they’ll be streamable . . .The problem with a Xbox Big Picture mode is that it means they need to update every single game on the Xbox platform to PC first for it to work, which is both nigh impossible and a bad plan to "save Xbox". For example, Nintendo did not port 5-700 games to carry the Game Boy library to GBA, they just included a copy of GBC hardware inside and it booted different depending on what type of game you inserted. I don't see them saying "it still plays Xbox games, but only new ones. All that effort we took to retain the ecosystem back to the first console is gone. Your purchases are unavailable here". If that is what they are saying, they may as well give up entirely and go full third party the same day instead.
Downsides of Windows -not ideal for a mainstream portable and you lose the existing Xbox library, which does not seem ideal for a device called Xbox
Downsides of Xbox - You are limited to this library and it's a dying platform, which is exactly why they are thinking about Windows (and Switch and PS5)
Just combine both (like Steam Deck) to cancel the downsides. Otherwise I don't see it working.
I said they can try. Not that they're going to succeed.I agree 100%.
Sure, but my point is ... do they have a realistic chance of becoming the definitive place to play games on the go?
Not even a little bit, in my opinion.
What's typically the difference between the ps5 and a windows PC? The PS5 is a closed system with pre-configured games, selection of games, control schemes, and OS. The windows PC is more open from the choice of OS to the hardware in the system.Steam Deck is not a portable console, but will the Xbox handheld be? That doesn't make sense. They'll both be the same things. Other alternatives are Rog Ally, Legion Go, Nintendo Switch, etc. Those are all handheld gaming devices.
That would be fine yeah but i don't think it is viable to divide your dev teams like this in the current state of the industry with such long dev times.If they do as SONY did with the Vita we will be fine. Make the handheld its separate platform, doing its own thing. However the powerhouse leve for consoles.
Yeah, if even Nintendo, king of 1st party games, couldn't afford to make exclusives to support two platforms, no one else could.That would be fine yeah but i don't think it is viable to divide your dev teams like this in the current state of the industry with such long dev times.
They already have a pretty decent hardware solution in Series X, which people aren't buying into.
Their problem is high-quality exclusive software.