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The next Xbox has a heavy Windows slant and will be a reference device for manufacturers making devices like the ASUS ROG Ally most likely.
MasterCornholio
Member
Gamepass
Endless growth isn't real.
GHG
Gold Member
And what corporations mean by "growth" is just revenue growth.
You don't necessarily need more customers for that, you just need to get better at extracting more money from the same number of customers you already have.
Mobilemofo
Member
I am one of those people. I left pc gaming decades ago, and fully intend never to go back. I'll stick with consoles until I can't. Then go mobile.
Buggy Loop
Member
But consoles are now PCs. OS is making the hard work of hiding it.
I could make years ago my SFF PC boot immediately into Steam big screen mode after windows load. You basically need QOL OS and hardware such USB wake up feature to turn it on with a controller and it’s a console. SteamOS for hardware is outdated but the steam deck version kinda showcases this. OS that hides everything to user except the game interface, but still can boot to windows? Easy peasy for Microsoft.
Most likely yes. Or picking another supplier than AMD
BlackTron
Gold Member
Yes, any day now Valve will discontinue their game console, the Steam Deck, making them more like Nintendo, who dominated ever since they stopped making consoles, and started making devices like Steam Deck.
What an exhausting word salad
ManaByte
Rage Bait Youtuber
Steam Deck is a handheld.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
So no more Xbox.
Skifi28
Gold Member
Yes, but no.
Buggy Loop
Member
Oh yeah, valve and Microsoft totally have the same pull, hardware manufacturing capabilities and experience. I see the parallels.
You got it Sherlock
Stafford
Member
Consoles clearly isn't working for them. So while I am a big Xbox fan this sadly makes sense. Them trying something else. I hope it works out.
I just wonder what I should expect. I don't want to go back to pc gaming because I am not a fan of the whole tinkering with tons of setting thing. So will this be a plug and play thing, still? Also, Idgaf about handhelds, it's about gaming on my big ass TV and I want my gaming devices to be powerful. Hopefully it is that.
I just wonder what I should expect. I don't want to go back to pc gaming because I am not a fan of the whole tinkering with tons of setting thing. So will this be a plug and play thing, still? Also, Idgaf about handhelds, it's about gaming on my big ass TV and I want my gaming devices to be powerful. Hopefully it is that.
BlackTron
Gold Member
I think we have finally isolated your take: consoles are on the way out, but handhelds are here to stay. If that's the reason, why didn't Microsoft just make their own instead of license it out? Valve makes their own handheld. Also, someone at Sony must have forgot to send MS the memo not to stop selling consoles until after they stop raking in cash.
My friend, MS is not pivoting as some brilliant preemptive strike move to get out of consoles "before it's too late". They just stopped making money on it already, like yesterday. Sony has been selling more PS5s than 4s. At no point are they going to say "Oh no. If only we had known the console market was going to crater in 8 years, we wouldn't have made all that money on PS5. Whoops! Should have stopped sooner, like Microsoft!" Literally in your dreams buddy.
ManaByte
Rage Bait Youtuber
They are making their own handheld.
BlackTron
Gold Member
ManaByte
Rage Bait Youtuber
A handheld Xbox? Microsoft’s gaming chief can’t stop thinking about it
A handheld Xbox could be hardware, an app, or both Phil Spencer has tried all of the new PC gaming handhelds: the Asus ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go, and the Steam Deck. He’s impressed. But he can’t shake one question. How would he make them more Xbox? “I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel...
Rumor - Jez Corden: Xbox is working on a Xbox handheld, multiple prototypes in the works
According to Jez Corden, Xbox is working on a handheld device, rather than an Xbbox Series X Pro, He specifies that these prototypes are fully native handhelds, not cloud based. Video:
News - Microsoft teases ultrapowerful next-gen Xbox — and maybe a handheld
Microsoft is teasing the potential for unique Xbox hardware in the future and a powerful next-gen console. Four previously exclusive Xbox games are officially coming to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch soon, and Microsoft wants to reassure Xbox fans that it’s still very much invested in the future of...
Microsoft sending people surveys about handheld consoles
BlackTron
Gold Member
Sir, I would highly advise you to read the title of this very thread
ManaByte
Rage Bait Youtuber
Which was just speculation clickbait sites picked up:
And everything that has come out has said the handheld is in ADDITION to the next Xbox.
Buggy Loop
Member
I suggest you read again
Nothing Jez Corden said alludes to that. Being a reference is not 3rd party licensing. The guy in the tweet asked the question because he’s not understanding. That guy asking questions is not the source that spawned this thread, Corden is.
Of course if it’s windows OS, nothing stops 3rd parties from competing, just like Surface has alternatives. But nothing about this says that Microsoft relegates everything to 3rd parties like Steam tried to do with Steam box.
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Gamezone
Gold Member
It isn't much tinkering to be honest. And with physical media basically dead, I would rather do that than settle for a 30/60 FPS low quality experience.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
who has blinders now?
twilo99
Member
Depends on pricing and what OEMs can offer you..
Stafford
Member
I have been good with consoles for many years now. I actually appreciate the ease of use. Just a box next to the TV and done. When I was younger I was fine with buying parts and installing them myself, but I also had a lot of headaches when it comes to games crashing for any kind of reasons or despite having the best parts available games still running badly. No idea how that is nowadays, but I don't want to go back to that.
Topher
Gold Member
Hilarious how this guy makes matter of fact statements and then says it was just "speculation" after someone quotes him on it.
Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
Agreed
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RoboFu
One of the green rats
Oh yeah and expensive nobody and a Linux only at the time pc box. Those are clearly the same...Worked for 3DO/Steam Machines so why not
mayham2199
Member
This. I can’t stand pc gaming. It was great as a kid but I’m done with it.
Astray
Member
Razer would sell it for $3k at least.
They are the company with the most overpriced products ever.
djjinx2
Member
You misspelt Apple there
Astray
Member
Apple products at least have genuinely good hardware and engineering there.
Razer sells their laptops for apple prices without Apple quality.
GHG
Gold Member
Woopah
Member
Nintendo does well in Japan because Switch is the place where you can play most of the country's most popular games. Some of those games cannot be played in handheld mode and some of them put a lot of focus on local, same screen multiplayer
Does the Switch benefit in Japan from being a portable console? Absolutely. But it also benefits from being a home console.
havoc00
Member
Gamepass is great but I’m not paying a grand for a ms pc to use it
Cross play gaming is already causing the switch to pc. Let's face it, pc has the performance, the games, the options, the mods. It's just the superior platform. And the community.
I play with a lot of friends that are on PC thanks to discord and cross play, it's pretty easy now. More and more of us switch to pc. It's only money that holds people back at this point.
MasterCornholio
Member
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
Cyborg
Member
What was this leak? Do you have the original?
Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
twilo99
Member
Besides the reference design from MS, which is likely to be the highest quality if the xsx is anything go by, who else can put together something like that which isn't made out of cheap plastic? Maybe Asus but they are hit/miss
This thing here can easily be transformed into an "xbox experience" box, getting rid of the screen and Win11 license should shave off ~$300 and since this hypothetical "xbox" won't be out for a year the price should dip under $1000.
but anyway I think looking at gaming laptops will give you an idea of what might be possible from the OEMs
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twilo99
Member
Imagine if they could time that system to launch with GTA VI
If the management over there had any sort of managerial skills at all one would imagine that being the target for this whole ordeal lol
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Like D DeltaPolarBear was saying, server maintenance costs are going to negate any of the cost savings in making native hardware to sell to customers directly. For starters, MS would need an instance of hardware targeting native computation in their server for each buyer of a client device who is streaming it. Then they would need the networking backend to facilitate the stream in addition to the processing...for every single client device.
So yes maybe hypothetically some future where the hardware is cheap enough to only be streaming sticks gets them 100+ million clients, but then they're going to need 100+ million Series X+ levels of native hardware installed in their servers to ensure those clients can get the best possible stream quality they are paying a subscription to access. And that is on top of the maintenance costs not just to run the servers, but to repair whenever things break down due to wear & tear.
The only possible way it works out financially for a company like MS is if the customer subscription costs more than cover what they'd have to spend in server equipment, maintenance, and facilitation of streaming the content. But that would mean additional changes to the current Game Pass setup, such as going with fixed locked-in annual/2-year contracts to prevent drop in/out churn (which would negatively impact dependable revenue rates). It'd also assume those clients have some really good internet in their area, and high-quality stable, low-latency internet isn't too common in places like America.
And I don't necessarily mean high bandwidth; i.e a 50 Mbps down internet service would do just fine for 4K cloud streaming if the the network has excellent reliability in packet transmission and low latency, and the game streaming service has great compression at low latency with little to no artifacting or image quality loss. But how many people do you really think have that type of internet and how often or good do you really think something like xCloud is at delivering that type of streaming?
I mean, isn't this what Xbox consoles have been doing since the get-go? They were gonna be called Direct X-box for a reason :/
Oh yeah, that's 100% happening. Won't be surprised if Valve re-introduce Steam Machines a couple years after the Steam Deck 2 launches. They seem to have learned their lessons from last time so the product should be a lot more successful next go-around.
That could really pose a challenge for this future Xbox hardware Microsoft want to do. Good news for Microsoft is they can theoretically release probably a couple years early. Bad news is, I don't think they can integrate Xbox OS features, usability, UI and stability (let alone emulator support for OG Xbox, 360, and XBO games) into Windows by 2026. I think they would need longer.
And the longer they'd take, the less time they'd have to get ahead of Valve likely re-launching Steam Machines to complement the Steam Deck. An easier option for MS, IMO, would be to "bring Windows to Xbox", but that'd require doing things I don't know are actually being considered right now. For example, designing a custom SoC & embedded spec, still manufacturing some of the hardware themselves, and adding some Windows functions to Xbox OS (like an Extended Mode) to natively run whitelisted Windows apps on Xbox OS.
Also that type of approach would entail something closer business model-wise to the current consoles, at least more so than what it sounds like they would be planning otherwise. For example, access to alt storefronts would need to be tied to a subscription (likely Game Pass), and maybe the hardware is priced for profit margins of 10% instead of 30% or 40%. They could still keep production of volume low, just not AS low as if they were making literal gaming-focused PC NUCs or other devices priced at much higher MSRPs.
That's the big question and it's gonna depend on how exactly MS go about this.
It sounds like they're going for a very decentralized approach. Maybe not even making the hardware themselves, but defining some spec (not even through a custom console SoC with purpose-made ASICs etc.) that OEMs build around. And that's in addition to possibly ditching Xbox OS as the primary OS and using some version of Windows instead with Xbox features integrated to it. In that scenario, I don't necessarily know what OEMs would be paying for outside of the Windows license (which they already pay for to include on their other devices) and an Xbox branded sticker.
Which I guess would satisfy things on the lowest possible end, though IMO might not be the most optimal way. And by "optimal" I mean encompassing everything. While I did think the idea of "bringing Xbox to Windows" would be the way MS went going forward, is it possibly too far away to realize that in a way that'd feel 1:1 to a current console experience, in time for the next 2-4 years?
So I'm really a bit at odds to which direction they go with hardware moving forward.
Astray
Member
Why are you assuming that Microsoft is going to make a reference version at volume?Besides the reference design from MS, which is likely to be the highest quality if the xsx is anything go by, who else can put together something like that which isn't made out of cheap plastic? Maybe Asus but they are hit/miss
This thing here can easily be transformed into an "xbox experience" box, getting rid of the screen and Win11 license should shave off ~$300 and since this hypothetical "xbox" won't be out for a year the price should dip under $1000.
but anyway I think looking at gaming laptops will give you an idea of what might be possible from the OEMs
Also that $1800 laptop is exactly what won't sell units at all. I think even 20m total across all OEMs will be tough to get to.
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
Honestly now I think that was the plan all along
demigod
Member
Oh yeah, valve and Microsoft totally have the same pull, hardware manufacturing capabilities and experience. I see the parallels.
You got it Sherlock
Re-read the OP, Holmes. 3rd parties are also making these devices, just like steam machines and the recently overpriced handhelds. These will be priced with high margins. Goodluck if you think these will be priced under $500.
Stafford
Member
Yeah. No competition for Sony is great, right?