Better Games. There you go, answer is simple.

@ContrastCopy

4 ай бұрын

Sony just laid off 900 people because their games were too expensive

@विचित्रलड़का

4 ай бұрын

Consoles are dying. Xbox has 1 gen left. PS has 1 1/2.

@garyr5866

4 ай бұрын

​@ContrastCopy And ms layed off 1900 employees a couple of months ago.

@adds-kz3oc

4 ай бұрын

@@ContrastCopy And how many expensive Triple A games are trash compared to the many great AA and indie games that cost a fraction to make?

@ContrastCopy

4 ай бұрын

@@garyr5866that number is just because Xbox had a big acquisition and they needed to cut some fat.

Better games despite what Phill says.

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

Better games don't sell without marketing. Sony can release turd after turd and have them sell like hot cakes because of viral marketing and buying if game "journalists" like ign and kotaku. MS simply doesn't market their games nor their services. Lots of People online still don't know there's a Windows 11 nor the fact that MS owns Chat GPT. That's how bad their marketing is.

@chalpua8802

4 ай бұрын

@@Sand_1995 Marketing definitely hurts but I mean, good games are still good games. Most of Sony's games are very good to excellent. Might not be everyone's type of game but they are very cinematic at least. Starfield was pretty average and felt a bit soulless at times, though I quite like it. However, they just are not willing to take risks and create something great at this point. Theyd rather buy up existing 3rd party studios and make them exlcuisve to where Gamepass is.

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

@@chalpua8802 On the contrary they are taking too many risks instead of being formulaic like Sony, Ubisoft or EA. They are spending too much money on experimental games like Redfall, Starfield, Indiana, Awoved, Hellblade 2 when they need to be releasing sequels and remasters to Halo, Gears and Fallout. Gamers are suckers to remasters and sequels.

@G360LIVE

4 ай бұрын

@@Sand_1995 "They are spending too much money on experimental games like Redfall, Starfield, Indiana, Awoved, Hellblade 2..." You haven't played many games if you think those games are experimental.🤣 Also, Microsoft released Halo Infinite, and no one really cares about that one. But gamers are suckers to sequels, right?🤣

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

@@G360LIVE that was sarcasm.

a competitive base console…a strong first party showing …unique games

@Jaxv3r

4 ай бұрын

They just need an identity at this point first person shooters probably, as much I meme on Sony making games that feel like movies they have an identity, same with Nintendo they make fun single player games and co-op games. Xbox or Microsoft on the other hand just throw shit on the wall and see what sticks.

@iamthegamepro

4 ай бұрын

Microsoft has to use their wallet and do whay sony does. Moneyhat

@gene081976

4 ай бұрын

MS Hardware is decent. They need to give reasons for consumers to buy their console or join their gaming ecosystem. They can have the most powerful console and no games and no one will be interested to join their platform. So, it all comes down to compelling value, and in the gaming industry, means great games that players can only play on XBOX. Going 3rd party makes no sense, since no one is really interested in their studio’s games enough to make sense. If their studios makes compelling games that Sony and Nintendo gamers like, they would have bought an XBOX to play it. Since they don’t even have enough great games, I don’t see how going 3rd party will save them. This is in contrast to Nintendo who has great 1st party games and weakest hardware spec-wise. Gamers would love Nintendo to go third party because they want Nintendo games. XBOX doesn’t have these caliber games. - hence that is MS XBOX biggest issues. Lack of great games that no one has played before it was released and couldn’t be experienced anywhere else but on XBOX. Have a few games like this, and they will get gamers into their platform. To entice 3rd party preference of XBOX, they should port Office 365 to XBOX, and include it to XBOX Live/GamePass without increasing the price further. Imagine games + Office 365 + 5TB one drive and optimize for XBOX consoles (they can use on Windows Desktop too). Now XBOx because a gaming and home education console. Instead of having just one console per family, this could be 1 console per child. Even XBOX Series S would sell a lot as an educational system.

@DraftLogic

4 ай бұрын

​@@gene081976Heavily agreed. MS is focused on synchronization which is cool and all, but without exclusives, I'd rather stick with Steam between my PC and Steam deck. Gamepass is another selling point , but personally it's not a good enough pull to take me away from Steam for most of my library. As long Sony and Nintendo make good first part exclusives, I'll probably purchase their system and games.

@De1usionsofGrandeur

4 ай бұрын

They been doing that all gen

The solution is simple: make good exclusive games again. The 360 did well for that sole reason. The Halo 3 hype was gargantuan, Gears of War was a new concept that everyone loved, Forza was getting popular. We need massive innovative Microsoft games again.

@destinsather9757

4 ай бұрын

According to their CEO “making great games isn’t enough”

@EvilMammal

4 ай бұрын

wouldn't say the sole reason - the ps3 launch was a total mess, and the marketing from Sony was horrific... and considering the base xbox was $200 cheaper than the base ps3...yeah.

@ismo9529

4 ай бұрын

​@@destinsather9757 it's true, at best people would buy a pc to play xbox games. As a console the series x is amazing, one of the best consoles they made, personally I prefer it over the ps5, but I didn't see the narrative change or people considering an Xbox more, unlike in the past, you have a whole digital library you want to take with you to the next generation. And let's not talk about journalists spreading doubt about every game wether its going to come to Ps instead of the narrative they push when Sony releases an exclusive, just buy the console if you want to play the game.

@joshjmilli

4 ай бұрын

@@EvilMammal and yet it eventually caught up to the 360 in sales, because it eventually got great games. It’s proof of concept. Although I will agree that the price of the 360 and things like Xbox Live really did give them an advantage. But I’d still say if they didn’t have any good exclusives they wouldn’t had done nearly as well. I bought a Xbox for Halo, so I guess I’m a living testimony to that.

@DP12321

4 ай бұрын

​@@joshjmilliPS3 just didn't get great games, but 360 went all in on Kinect and abandoned their core audience.

The Nintendo switch is a 720p console yet it's the third most sold console of all time, games matter, specs dont

@AzaiaMonota

4 ай бұрын

That and Nintendo has their release schedule down perfectly there is a new Nintendo published game almost every single month where as with Xbox all we have seen in the last 5 months is ports and DLC

@balaam_7087

4 ай бұрын

@@AzaiaMonotadon’t forget to mention Nintendo’s 1st party stuff is almost always *quality*

@izaac7777

4 ай бұрын

For a handheld is pretty sad. If anything it should have eclipsed the PS2 lifetime sales a long time ago by now. The market is saturated. There’s no growth in the console business. PC is the future growth of gaming.

@rewpertcone8243

4 ай бұрын

​@izaac7777 how is being the 3rd most sold video game device sad, it sold way more than the Gameboy, a staple of 90's culture

@izaac7777

4 ай бұрын

@@rewpertcone8243 it’s sad because there are more than 155 mil gamers on this planet. I’d say there’s more than a billion gamers and yet none have even come close to reaching let alone breaking 200 mil consoles. The writing is the wall. Traditional consoles is done. The only platforms to potentially reach the widest audience is mobile and PC. If you want to grow your market then those 2 are the end game for that venture.

Sony and Nintendo to quit

@TheeSpringwoodSlasher

4 ай бұрын

Well...shit. Straight shooter ain't you? 😂

@DarkStryder360

4 ай бұрын

Xbox 360 beat PS3 though

@tomohawkcloud

4 ай бұрын

@@DarkStryder360that was 2 generations ago

@MurphyOCP-001

4 ай бұрын

@@DarkStryder360 PS3 ended up selling more than the 360

@Radek494

4 ай бұрын

PS3 outsold Xbox 360 in January of 2013 and Wii outsold them both by +15 millions@@DarkStryder360

100% agree with the Series X/S feeling like “More Xbox One” because of the same OS. Need that new console OS flair, or it feels like a scaled up last gen machine.

@Buttface1981

4 ай бұрын

PS OS is still basically the same cross bar as it has been since PS3 yet it's not holding the PS back. I think the general public just need to stop being blind PS fanboys

"Xbox is not suddenly going to be successful just because we make great games." Phil Spencer

@Noliving

4 ай бұрын

He is not wrong, Gamecube and the Dreamcast had a lot of great first party games but they were not successful consoles.

@TheFirstRealChewy

4 ай бұрын

He's right. Even if Hellblade 2 is awesome and gets a 10/10 rating there will be haters. Plus one game won't appeal to everyone. It also doesn't make Playstation games bad. They would both have great games. So it will take consistent releases and even then enough of them to bring people in. It doesn't mean these gamers will then leave the Playstation or Nintendo. They will aim to own all of them. I own both the Series X and PS5. Will have to see what Nintendo brings with their new console.

@Alien_isolationist

4 ай бұрын

​The difference is Xbox, 3 & a half years in, has 2 space games, 2 racing games, & Redfall....& that's it....

@leoni7649

4 ай бұрын

Such a loser

@jimmyv3170

4 ай бұрын

Phil is like the worst salesman I have ever seen. At least with Don Matrick he was just going along with Microsoft's vision of having a multi media device that does everything in the living room that they were already trying to do since putting Windows on the OG Xbox prototype. Phil has spent 10 years of gaslighting people into believing he is "one of them" and slinging shet across the room and seeing what sticks. ReCore, Quantum Break, Crackdown 3, Halo 5 and that all fails try to find the next thing. Gamepass, Cloud Gaming while ignoring leading and managing the trainwreck Xbox's future upcoming games will become.

MS cant just rely on hardware - It needs amazing exclusive games - simple...

@vonbleak101

4 ай бұрын

@@XAV-117Fingers crossed :)

@blackmask494

4 ай бұрын

​@@XAV-117😂

@gkey06

4 ай бұрын

@@XAV-117 "best exclusives we've seen in a while" is laughable. I'm sure you mean "best exclusives xbox has seen in a while" because none of those exclusives releasing from xbox this year are in the ballpark of Last of us, spiderman, God of war, uncharted type of quality and gameplay. Dont count your cards so early like you did with Starfield, Forza Motorsport and Redfall. you seen how those played out

@Alien_isolationist

4 ай бұрын

T​hey don't though. 2 space games, 2 racing games, & Redfall is the extent of the Xbox library. I always hear people tout last gen games from 2019 lol

@jamesplitter14

4 ай бұрын

yeah the exclusives on xbox are complete ass and the gamepass has a bunch of lame indie and old games, i regret buying a series X.

If suddenly everyone who works for PlayStation and Nintendo have a heart attack, I think it's possible for Xbox to win.

The success of a console is directly linked to how good the exclusives are. Microsoft is finding out the hard way with this "play everywhere" experiment.

A miracle at this point

@De1usionsofGrandeur

4 ай бұрын

Xbox already beatsplaystation easily in multiple ways

@spinksy173

4 ай бұрын

@@De1usionsofGrandeur is that why playstation is outselling Xbox 3 to 1 👀🙃

@De1usionsofGrandeur

4 ай бұрын

@@spinksy173 it was confirmed not to be 3 to 1... sales never proved somthing was better just that people bought it.... like the original xbox kinect actually broke Guinness world sales records... and it didnt magically become this fantastic product due to selling

@Andre-yy3en

4 ай бұрын

​@@De1usionsofGrandeur in what ways?

@De1usionsofGrandeur

4 ай бұрын

@@Andre-yy3en hardware, services, backwards compatibility, consumer friendliness, customer service, features, etc

Imo its to late for Xbox to come back..They let Halo Die, They are horrible at communicating now all we get is a big corporation statements that says alot without saying anything important, Phil lost alot of credibility when he said "Great games dont matter anymore"

@maniac4658

4 ай бұрын

And to top it all off there is the online only DRM

@dusermiginte4647

4 ай бұрын

They let Halo die? Halo infinite have more players than all gows together...

@BlueBARv5

4 ай бұрын

@@dusermiginte4647 ....🤣 yea if you grew up when Halo was Great you would understand more.. 343 already pulled the plug on infinite even tho they said it would be supported for 10yrs last month they said no more BP or major updates moving fwd..

@f2o.f2o

4 ай бұрын

People thought Nintendo died before Switch release too

@nickxcore74

4 ай бұрын

@@f2o.f2oThing is, Xbox has been poor over the past two generations Nintendo hasn’t.

One of the problems is the better backwards compatibility is, the less likely to jump ship to a different vendor.

@defeqel6537

4 ай бұрын

Yup. XBox had their opportunity with 8th gen when PS4 broke compatibility, but they just had to mess with the always-online nonsense, and excessive TV focus in marketing. Now the hill is a much steeper climb, and XBox doesn't really even have anything unique to them. Then again, Sony is somewhat diluting their appeal with the PC support too.

Release good games like in the Xbox 360 era.

@xBonafidexProdigy

4 ай бұрын

360 was alright but tbh the original Xbox had the best exclusive titles

@G360LIVE

4 ай бұрын

@@xBonafidexProdigy I loved my OG Xbox, but Xbox 360 got Gears of War, Halo 3, and Mass Effect within the span of one year.

@balaam_7087

4 ай бұрын

@@xBonafidexProdigyI was going to post something similar. 360 wasn’t bad, but something got lost between that unique og Xbox flavor and the more mass market 360 content.

@KillingSpree193

4 ай бұрын

Nothing comes close to the GOAT, Halo 2 on OG Xbox.@@G360LIVE

@realmrpger4432

2 ай бұрын

@@G360LIVE Kinda crazy that those were all shooters. No wonder that became Xbox's reputation!

Losers focus on winners. Winners focus on winning.

@G360LIVE

4 ай бұрын

A winner is just a loser who wins.😉

@SICK_O

4 ай бұрын

A loser is just a winner who loses? 🤔

@Mcnooblet

4 ай бұрын

@@SICK_O Everyone wins, everyone loses. But like with sales, sometimes the difference between 6% success and 10% success is the difference between a poor salesman vs a great one. While in reality, success with only 1 out of 10 seems pretty awful anyways. Same thing with winning, a 10% rate could equal a winner in public perception vs the 6%.

Games. Buying studios does not give you great games. Encouraging your studios to make new IPs is risky, but it’s what the gamers wants. And that’s why Sony is dominating. Great single player games.

@TheBadElf

4 ай бұрын

Sony don't have that many popular exclusives. And their games are underperforming which is why they tried to turn TLOU into an online game and why they're now porting their exclusives to PC. Nintendo is the only company doing it right from a business stand point

@gerardopellegrini2698

4 ай бұрын

​@@TheBadElfalmost of ps exclusives are popular, even days gone who didn't do well on release, is now popular, what are u talking about? Oh wait, sure, let's make popular ips into shitty live service games like halo infinity, that's a better idea

@TheBadElf

4 ай бұрын

@@gerardopellegrini2698 My point is very clear. Read it again and try to understand it better

@gerardopellegrini2698

4 ай бұрын

@@TheBadElf what point, u don't even have an argument to defend, u think saying " ps exclusives are not popular" is an argument?, ffvii rebirth is doing well, helldivers 2 is doing great, rise of the ronin is doing good a far as I know ( haven't play the game yet so can't tell), Spiderman 2 did extremely well, even ffxvi who "barely meet expectations" did well enough to sell 3m units in 4 days, and im talking about this and last year releases, so yeah, sony make great (mostly single player) games, then again, what are u talking about

@TheBadElf

4 ай бұрын

@@gerardopellegrini2698 Playstation's profits have recently hit a decade low LOL. You don't know what you're talking about.

Two simple things: great exclusives and a lot of marketing. Apparently they’re going in the opposite direction.

@fcukugimmeausername

4 ай бұрын

Games are too expensive to keep on one platform though.

@VaultBoy69

4 ай бұрын

@@fcukugimmeausernameXbox, PC and Cloud are more than enough. Not having exclusives is much more expensive because it kills the console.

@fcukugimmeausername

4 ай бұрын

​@@VaultBoy69Even PlayStation can't sustain the exclusives model now.

@VaultBoy69

4 ай бұрын

@@fcukugimmeausername PlayStation games are still console exclusives, they’ll never come to other consoles.

@ContrastCopy

4 ай бұрын

@@VaultBoy69well, who actually plays on cloud

The same thing they always needed going into this generation. Excellent, high quality, exclusive (no PC version for 6 months/ 1 year) games.

@defeqel6537

4 ай бұрын

This. Even if the consumer never intends to buy a PC, exclusivity is a strong incentive

@Electro096

4 ай бұрын

That's the problem with Xbox, if everything is available on PC day one what's the point of owning a Xbox. Ideally what u said should of been what they should of done from the start of this generation.

@danfry909

4 ай бұрын

@@Electro096 Exactly. That 6 month/1 year exclusivity is essential.

@gerardopellegrini2698

4 ай бұрын

​@@Electro096that's the weird thing, they sell their console at a loss, to promote their games and games pass, but if they release their game on pc and make a game pass pc version, they are just killing their console for no reason

@southsidetherealest2860

4 ай бұрын

The console is only for people who dont want the hassel of pc,Microsoft wants you to get a windows pc over an xbox truthfully speaking

Since Xbox is allergic to modernizing their controllers, (and now can't with Game Pass). They need to focus on good games. Halo Infinite came out in a state it just shouldn't have for their flagship series. All these acquisitions mean nothing if the games coming out are Starfield and Redfall. You can say what you want about Nintendo and Sony, but their output of games and controller innovation is just not comparable.

@OneLastScholar

4 ай бұрын

Starfield was a roaring success though. 86 Metascore + most played Bethesda game ever + best-selling Bethesda PC game ever, lifetimes considered. Microsoft doesn't much care about Steam User Reviews or angry Sony fans bashing the game in web forums.

@lirfrank

4 ай бұрын

@@OneLastScholar Starfield is the "fastest selling" at launch, but player numbers dropped right after. 86 doesn't make it a critical darling either.

@gerardopellegrini2698

4 ай бұрын

​@@OneLastScholardiscrediting user reviews as "ps fanboys bashing" is desilusionaly dumb, the performance was trash, it was full of bugs that sometimes made the game unplayable, the exploration was shallow and the story was just ok, they paid 70$ for the game, they have the right to complain about the game issues

Thank god someone admits gamepass is not doing wat certain fans are claiming

@Shadowman820

3 ай бұрын

Gamepass does have it's appeal for some no doubt but not something I'm interested in .

It's games, games, games and games. They need to get the most out of what they have.

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

They don't have that many AAA studios. Even less than EA or Ubisoft. Activision is stuck making COD so they don't have any studios that can make good AAA games.

@tomadon

4 ай бұрын

@@Sand_1995 They have enough studios to put out quality products. Two of the biggest games this year aren't AAA. Palworld and Helldivers 2 are doing quite well.

@h.i.mcdunnough9421

4 ай бұрын

So much that they have is multiplat and more exclusives will certainly go multiplat, so they're just starting to feel like a 3rd party publisher. They've given up on xbox as a unique ecosystem.

Rumours of Microsoft releasing their next gen XBOX console a little earlier tells me they don't actually have a plan. This feels like a desperate attempt to get a jump on the console sales.

@Shadowman820

3 ай бұрын

Could be smart if they make the thing powerful enough to last for some time .

a miracle?

@that_colin_guy

4 ай бұрын

Even as much as a Xbox fan as I am, I fear that at this point you're right - a miracle is needed.

@OneLastScholar

4 ай бұрын

They just to find their own Switch. In 2017 Nintendo released a weaker, pricey console with ZERO backward compatibility that still outsold everyone else, despite a weak antecessor.

@OneLastScholar

4 ай бұрын

If Xbox finds its own thing - say, an Xbox which runs both XboxOS and Windows 11, or a Deck-like handheld Xbox, or a Switch-like hybrid Xbox - then they can not only match but surpass its competitors. Form factor entices people as much as games.

@rebeccagibson7428

4 ай бұрын

Pretty much, yeah

@ArielCleirigh

4 ай бұрын

Ouch, straight to xbots balls.

Turn it into a "Steam Machine"

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

You already have that in PC and steam deck

@huawafabe

4 ай бұрын

i would buy that. I have a PC but i want to game on the sofa on the TV. Barely anyone takes their PC from the desk to the living room.

@lirfrank

4 ай бұрын

You mean the failed predecessor of the SteamDeck?

@gtylerbrown2

4 ай бұрын

​@dreadlord2704san xbox has the resources to sell them at a lower cost and make it run windows from jump

@gerardopellegrini2698

4 ай бұрын

​@@huawafabesteamdeck or Asus rog ally

I dont think a super powerful console would be that good of a move. The people with that sort of money are likely just to build a PC.

I do agree that the migration from Xbox One to Xbox Series was all too familiar. In many ways it was convenient that the controllers were the same and that the interface and console aesthetics were similar but altogether the similarities reduced the 'event' of purchasing and exploring a new console. It all honestly just felt like buying a new computer for work.

A fucking miracle

Es würde schon reichen, wenn ihr Sony nicht immer in den A... kriechen würdet ! Nintendo setzt auch nur auf Mario und Konsorten ! Mario hier, Mario da, Mario hier, Mario da !

@martinbraun1211

4 ай бұрын

Du hast recht.

Better games, better dev support (software tool, dev kits, and such), and for God's sake... a less confusing naming scheme.

@rangokfunkazuul8344

4 ай бұрын

You're not ready for Series X box 720 One

They lost all hope , when Phil said they don't need to make good games because good games don't matter, or something like that it's over all that matters is the games seriously

@Shadowman820

3 ай бұрын

When did he say that ? I really doubt he ever said anything like that .

Lol, they have no chance. They just sent notice to devs that they, devs, should avoid sexy female characters. So when they are concerned about stuff like that I doubt they have capacity to focus on actually important part... making good, not DEI or other BS games.

So when Xbox supposedly had the most powerful console they were creaming their jeans. Now It's Sony and "Power just doesn't matter anymore". You can't make this up.

@bugzbunny109

4 ай бұрын

Yup

When I play my PS5 it feels like a New Experience (User Interface, Controller, PS VR 2, PS Portal.) When I play my Xbox Series X, NOTHING feels New (Same User Interface, Same Controller, ect.) as the last Generation had.

@Shadowman820

3 ай бұрын

Don't think that's a big issue for most people , just have more games .

Full backwards compatibility with previous consoles. Not make every thing related to internet downloads and cloud data

@CaptainVideoBlaster

4 ай бұрын

It would help if they made Xbox One games run better on Series X/S - new batch of resolution and framerate boosts and more backward compatible games.

@leatherhidegaming

4 ай бұрын

As much as I hope they'll change, they won't. The whole cloud stuff is their business. Same with Windows.

@Shadowman820

3 ай бұрын

Microsoft has been much better with backward comp. than Sony from the start .

I always liked the idea of a Windows big picture mode with every pc game including Steam account libraries but with the minimalism of a console, that would be the ideal Xbox

I had the OG and the 360, I then moved to the PS4 due to the Xbox One pre-launch debacle and I am on PS5 now due to the lack of direction from Microsoft. You know what I liked during the OG and 360 era? A good lineup of games, most of them exclusives (even temporary) but more than that, real hard hitters. OG XBox: Halo 1 and 2, Jet Set Radio Future, Crimson Skies, Otogi 1 and 2, Riddick, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Fable 1, Steel Battalion, Splinter Cell, Top Spin, Ninja Gaiden, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Dead or Alive 3, Conker's Bad Fur Day. Xbox 360: Halo 3 and Reach, Gears of War, Ace Combat 6: Liberation of Gracemeria but also a lot of Japanese RPGs that were exclusive (at least temporary)! Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, Bayonetta really superior version etc... Do you realize the power of those lineups compared to the current Xbox Series lineup. Sure the market has evolved and since new engines like Unreal, most of games are going multi-platform. But still, the reason I also got happy with the PS4? FF7 Remake, Persona 5, Yakuza 0, Nier Automata, God of War, Horizon, Uncharted for example were true exclusives unavailable on Xbox and even PC at that time. For the PS5 it's less appealing again due to how the market evolves, but still, the Spiderman series, Horizon and God of War again, FF7 Rebirth, FF16, Stellar Blade, Gran Turismo 7 are still titles that make it worth getting the console. On Xbox Series, except maybe Halo Infinite, I don't have reasons to buy the console or games are also immediately on PC (like HiFi Rush)

Have real GOOD exclusives

They need to make compelling unique games. And offer something you can only experience on the platform. Basically what Sony and Nintendo have been doing for decades and what they themselves did with the 360 generation.

It’s not possible Microsoft is going to leave the gaming industry halfway through next generation (The writing is on the wall anybody could see it)

@michaeldietz2648

4 ай бұрын

@@XAV-117 lol sure it is. Obviously you don’t know much about the gaming industry and you don’t know nothing about how Microsoft as a company works.

@blues05

4 ай бұрын

Microsoft's too dumb! What were they thinking? Trying to beat Sony and Nintendo at their own game? LoL! Xbox should be a publisher first and turn their console into a full fledge pc, that's the only way they could beat Sony and Nintendo!

@michaeldietz2648

4 ай бұрын

@@blues05 Realistically I don’t think Microsoft is not smart enough to beat Sony, it’s that corporate greed will not allow them to. I’m sure somebody at Microsoft said something along the lines of do not buy Activision, invest into your own first party studios grow them, start making deals like Sony does to bring popular games to the consuls (for example go to square and say make us Crono trigger like you did With FF7 for Sony) put the Xbox consul first stop putting exclusives on PC (sorry but any game that goes to PC is not exclusive anymore and that goes for any of the big publishers) The problem is the higher-ups think that they can outspend Sony when art is something that cannot be bought. Microsoft does not know what they’re doing in the gaming industry and honestly they don’t belong in it they should get out.

Replace Phil Spencer

@marklarz4399

4 ай бұрын

Bobby Kotick in

@lirfrank

4 ай бұрын

Literally the only person Xbox is still alive. The people surrounding him don't seem to know what they're doing, though.

@ARH0101

4 ай бұрын

I mean, he’s the only one who theoretically pulled the Xbox brand out of the mud when Don Matterick fucked the Xbox image up for good in 2013. He’s not great, but are there other options?

@lilpain1997

4 ай бұрын

@@lirfrank He doesn't know what he is doing... He literally didn't understand that games sell consoles. Which is funny as that is why Nintendo sells so damn well, they have amazing games which people are willing to pick up their consoles for. What games does Xbox actually have that is worth picking one up for??? None...

@lirfrank

4 ай бұрын

@@lilpain1997 I don't disagree that games are Xbox's biggest issue right now. But considering all of the course correct Phil has done, I don't actually think he doesn't understand that. I think that a lot of the studios are still carrying the poor management that they were given before Phil's time.

Honestly I have no issues with Xbox and had one for a long time as my main platform to play on but I really and truthfully doubt that Xbox will ever “beat” Sony in anything anymore. Sony just has such a massive lead and so many loyal customers that they’ll always have it. Xbox could be the superior console in every way and still probably under sell compared to Sony.

Make a good AAA game, HI FI Rush doesn't count. Halo used to respected and liked and Starfield was hyped to be the game of all time and they messed both up

@dusermiginte4647

4 ай бұрын

Over 35M people played Halo Infinite..

@Andre-yy3en

4 ай бұрын

​@@dusermiginte4647 4 500 players on average the last 30 days (halo) vs 13 000 (battlefailed 2042)

@Andre-yy3en

4 ай бұрын

​@@dusermiginte4647 yeah but after 1-2 months everybody quit because of a severe lack of content

Solid exclusives that's it, they're literally too rich to lose why the heck aren't they investing massively in a vision of exclusivity where they make games that everyone wants to play? This works like magic for sony and nintendo, the fact that the one party with unlimited money incredible power can't make this happen is insane.

With the recent no curvy female character in video games policy development, Microsoft is going to win nothing but gamer's middle fingers.

"SteamDeck has been a success" It's sold about 4M units. Nothing compared to major players. If MSFT did that their console market share would be godawful. Your advice for them to 'just make a PC' is the end of their console run. They'd be out of the console market. Congrats MSFT.

Nothing. It's impossible. The Halo franchise is pretty much forgotten by casual players, Gears is in good hands but one good exclusive is not enough to be a system seller. What other exclusive does the Xbox brand has? Some fucking racing game? It's ogre and Microsoft already knows this, which is why they're planning on releasing a bunch of former exclusive games on PS5.

Make good games and mint them on these cool, shiny little plastic circles I saw once

I think fsr 3.1 really needs to be standard for console gaming so that performance is there

As others have said, better games. Xbox has not had an industry stopping 10/10 for well over a decade.

@G360LIVE

4 ай бұрын

Exactly. For as long as Phil Spencer has been in charge, Xbox has not had a single industry-stopping 10/10 game. What does that tell you? Is Phil Spencer a gamer? Does he really know how to run the Xbox business? What's he really doing if he's not making great games or selling consoles?

Games, need a lot of (good) games. They own so many studios but the output has not been great. Had high expectations of Starfield but that was not fully met.

@gkey06

4 ай бұрын

at least youre honest.

@dusermiginte4647

4 ай бұрын

They are releasing 10+ first party games this year though..

@gkey06

4 ай бұрын

@dusermiginte4647 yaaay 10+ first party games. after how many years of releasing nothing but halo and forza? You guys are apologetic to xbox. The abysmal Xbox one generation should have made you guys not even buy a Series X

@Shadowman820

3 ай бұрын

Yeah but what can they do when the studios they own produce shit ?

@dusermiginte4647

3 ай бұрын

@@gkey06 uhm.. one first party game last year and zero first party games this year.. You were saying?

Why did Alex get frustrated and say "whatever" when rich was talking about ps5 outperforming series x. Why would he care lol

i think its clear as pointed out here, one is xbox need to move away from AMD. Xboxs next console moving to nvidia would likely have a tangable performance improvement over the next sony console, and dlss tech would be awsome. and two, a dedicated handheld, powerful with nvidia tech released alongside a new console would definetly get people excited again in xbox hardware.

@ZratP

4 ай бұрын

Nvidia has been known to be an awful partner for both Sony and MS. Even Nintendo was just a good opportunity for Nvidia to get rid of all those vanilla X1 and not invest much in RnD. Switch 2 may prove that Nvidia has changed but there is a reason why MS and Sony (and even Apple) dropped Nvidia in the past.

@samhawkes6597

4 ай бұрын

@@ZratP theyd be more expensive no doubt. but. its all about generating excitment for there next console. and xbox coming out strong with an nvidia based machine, especially if ps5 go amd again, well that would generate alot of buzz around the console, it would no doubt be more powerful than the playstations amd solution, but having dlss instead of fsr would be very exciting as fsr is crap and way better ray tracing. them going nvidia would generate alot of buzz around there product within the industry, which is exactly what they need. i believe that, plus bringing out a handheld aswell, that would get people talking about xbox again.

@originalbadboy32

4 ай бұрын

Nope

There’s not been a single game exclusive on Series X after 5 years that’s made me glad to have bought one. They have entirely admitted defeat by slowly trickling their first party games on their biggest competitors platform as well. Will people just buy a PS6 knowing Xbox games will launch eventually on it too and just skip the next revision?

1) Games more than just Halo Forza and Gears. 2) Exclusivity. They just can't sell any Xbox to any PC gamer at this point. Guys, make some games exclusive for your console... At least for a limited time.

Probably more virtue signaling and awesome policies like diversity, equity and inclusion will get them there in no time I'm sure.

The solution is to advertise disney does it, netflix does it, and so does hulu. If MS put out ads saying what's new on gamepass people would subscribe. Right now all people that don't follow Xbox know is that MS has another subscription service and not what's in it. I would go as far as some people not knowing there's a subscription service. Plus MS needs to change the naming some people right now think it is still the Xbox one series X and S. The interface being the same doesn't help either.

If Microsoft releases an "Xbox OS" that conso-ifies PC's for people who want that. They'll win. Then all they have to do is maintain the Xbox hardware as lower spec entry point, the console war will be effectively over. The steam deck showed that there's a market that wants a console experience with PC capabilities and Microsoft is poised to do that better than valve ever could.

@GeneralS1mba

4 ай бұрын

This! Pcs are seen as complicated and unnecessary.

The Xbox 360 had better games than the Xbox Series X lmao. That says everything.

They need to just be a 3rd party developer.

@dusermiginte4647

4 ай бұрын

So poonies can buy their exclusives foe $200 a piece and new consoles for $1200.. yeah, competition is so bad.. Poonies are sooooo fking clueless.. 😂

They need to do more than just say our box has best graphics. Ever since the kinect they havent innovated because they are scared to.

@Rocksteady72a

4 ай бұрын

The fact that their main marketing gimmick this gen was "most powerful box" & yet became the console with more inconsistency & texture issues, and occasionally whole PC-like stutters (likely from having half the I/O than what PS5 ended up going with) really makes it hard to see what the appeal is for them this gen, especially now that Game Catalog is a thing. I'd be very interested in buying an Xbox handheld if those rumors are true, but as for at-home consoles, it's hard to see what their point is atm.

@ContrastCopy

4 ай бұрын

How has Sony innovated? Psvr2, that bombed.

@deathtrooper2048

4 ай бұрын

They need to stop putting games on other platform and start going after devs who purposely downgrade games on Xbox to make PS look better like Capcom

@Rocksteady72a

4 ай бұрын

@@ContrastCopy how is selling more than the previous generation "bombed"? Are you okay? Is Xbox not able to be propped up without trying to swing at something else?

@JuanitoMedz

4 ай бұрын

😂 the most powerful console bs indeed. Looks at halo infinite that looked like a wii game. Inconsistent brick. Terrible situation xbox Is in.

The need to tell their game devs to stop putting curvy women in games and to make main characters more globally representative, or some shit

@G360LIVE

4 ай бұрын

Put a chick in it and make her gay!🤣

It's difficult if not impossible for series X to jump ahead while tethered to series S. Series S was a stupid idea.

Microsoft have fluffed it up majorly, losing the Xbox one gen by such a margin has sullied any type of revival. Awful marketing and a generation of uninspiring titles lead to a poor console player base leading to further poor sales on exclusives. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft pull a ‘Steam machine’ in the future. Microsoft are simply their own worst enemy.

Microsoft needs to get rid of us, the ones who still remember E3 2013. Forcing things on your loyal customers that way, it's not an easy pill to swallow. Sony PSN increased the price which made it hard for people to connect with friends and stay engaged.

It's been, it is, and it'll always be about the games. Microsoft has no identity, Halo is dead, Gears is dead... what happened to the Fable and Perfect Dark games they announced? It's unbelievable that they spent billions in acquiring that many studios and the only good games we got from MS after almost 4 years into the generation are Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Forza Horizon and Flight simulator.

The Xbox hand held should have a seagate SDD port to put in your SDD drive into. You could the. Transfer your installed games on the console to the handheld with minimal effort

I believe they can shift their position in the market if they put time on making a handheld that are as powerful as Series S. Series S Portable with a docking system.

@theghost4040

4 ай бұрын

I agree but they just need to put the Xbox series S in a handheld form factor

@soraaoixxthebluesky

4 ай бұрын

@@theghost4040 I mean that’s obvious. Release a handful list of timed exclusive titles that only available on Xbox then release them on PC 6-8 moths later. People bought the machine because of the game available on them not because of how powerful they are. If all the titles available on Xbox also available on PC on day one, then chances of people downloading a crack going to be very high. They will ignore how cheap Xbox is compared to PC because you can literally play all exclusive AAA titles for free. Nintendo and Sony tight game release policy is the testament to that. Back then people bought so PS4 or Switch just so they can play plenty of titles that aren’t available on PC. With the rise of mobile gaming on smartphones, portable device makes much more sense now. They can use a slightly weaker GPU while handheld for 1080p gaming and add both AI chip (for AI upscaling) and secondary GPU to their docking system so that you can get a sharp and crips 4K presentation on your 55inch 4K TV. I believe people would still buy if it cost $150 more than a standard Series X cause the price increase is pretty much justifiable.

Idk if this year MS has better exclusives than Sony is right. Just like a quarter into the year Sony already has 2 exclusives that are GOTY contenders in FF7Rebirth and Helldivers 2 and still has Rise of Ronin and Stellblade coming out in the near future while Xbox has Palworld and nothing else until like May or June when Hellblade 2 comes out

@ARH0101

4 ай бұрын

Sony has confirmed they having absolutely nothing launching from their first party studios for the rest of 2024. They’re not much better off.

@funkDr1

4 ай бұрын

That’s not what they said. They said no major franchise till 2025. Misinterpreted as no games. The doors still open for smaller franchises or any new ip like Concord that releases this year.

Buy Sony... lol. Seriously though that war is over. I think they should keep making consoles for the people invested in that ecosystem.

The least Microsoft needs right now is a next-generation console outdated by launch in comparison to the PlayStation 6. However, I agree that the problem is not hardware, but their gaming catalog and, frankly, the uncertainty that Xbox radiates. It feels like Microsoft could shut down the hardware division at any moment, and as a Series X owner, that does not feel good and does not give me the desire to invest in a next-generation console by Microsoft.

You guys got it all wrong. Nintendo didn’t prove specs don’t matter. It proved that software is king. Even with limited hardware. Microsoft has never been a gaming brand, never will be. It has no “soul” it has very few classic games under its umbrella. Every single time I hear about a new box coming, the only guys that get excited about it are the Halo guys and guess what - it can be played on a PC. Fable isn’t here anymore. MS bought a shit ton of studios just to press them to release average games that will be on PC anyways. There’s no reason to buy a box. Game pass alone won’t do it.

It's about the games.

Sorry, Pc Xbox sounds horrible, and the uncertainty that PC players have "will it work with my config", "is it steam deck compatible" issue all over again. Keep it as a console and improve the software output.

I don't pay $1000 for a mobile phone every year or two, I have a 7y old android mobile that lets me watch KZread and msg people. It's perfectly fine. I remember seeing a guy dressed like a homeless guy on the bus but he had an iPhone 15? Priorities people.

Actual exclusives. And interesting ones at that.

@nihilityjoey

4 ай бұрын

I want to then to stop putting exclusives on pc day one. If they are to get an Xbox game, they should get it when the console game is finished and they can concentrate on the port properly. Take Forza for instance, the majority of complaints about performance are from pc players. Yet it's Xbox's name that gets dragged through the mud.

Did the investment in the better silicon on the SX that Rich mentioned not pay off because devs either couldn't/wouldn't develop/optimize for it?

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

You can put a 4090 in an xbox and it would still only maintain parity with ps5 because of parity clauses and PS5 being the console devs first develop for

@NightWanderer31415

4 ай бұрын

It's not that big of a difference against PS5 for devs to design games that specifically take advantage of it. Perhaps slightly better resolution and RT, but not much more.

@Mcnooblet

4 ай бұрын

I don't think so, when you look at the majority of gamers in the PC space, they too aren't using RDNA2 feature sets and above for the majority. How viable and good were these RDNA2 features that Microsoft invested in them, while Sony didn't because they spent time with developers and found these features weren't going to be the targets. Newer mesh shading for instance was an RDNA2 feature, but how many games are even using RDNA2 mesh shading? As far as raw performance goes, 12 tflops of RDNA2 vs 10.2 tflops of RDNA2 isn't even enough to justify or create a gap between 2 different Radeon GPUs of the same RDNA2 class. They did it to shoot for the excitement of "the worlds most powerful console" and it just didn't pan out as they were hoping. Sony made software solutions to some of the hardware missing features of RDNA2, and it simply worked out for them in the end. RDNA2 is also not known for strong RT either so there was never going to be a difference there. Sony really weighed it out and talked with developers to get an idea of how the next generation was going to go, Microsoft wanted to try to shoot for the hardcore crowd of "the worlds most powerful console" and now know they are actually the minority of gamers.

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

@@Mcnooblet Alan Wake 2 doesn't run on gtx class gpus simply for their lack of mesh shaders. Sony uses primitive shaders which Alan wake 2 and Cyberpunk use. Sony was forced to come up with solutions since they lack dx12 technologies. Their faster ssd is literally to make up for their lack direct storage tech. The truth is if series X were the higher selling console devs would have squeezed the hell out of rdna 2 feature set.

The 360 is looking like a one off fluke, much like how SEGA fumbled the ball after the mega drive, I don't think that version of MS is ever coming back.

I think working from home has been the biggest hangover from COVID. It's a poison to overall productivity.

Very simple, more good games.

Unique and different exclusives. Halo and Gears are great but we need more variety like Hi Fi Rush, besides I never seem a company spend so much money and delivery almost nothing in 4 years of a generation :(

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

There hasn't been a new gears of war in over half a decade.

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

Most of the money was spent in buying mobile game studios like King

NOTHING! There's nothing Microsoft can do to win the next generation. There is a simple reason for this: We will never play on Xbox! If Spencer wants us to play Xbox games, there's only one thing he can do. He has to bring the games to where we play and we will never play on Xbox!

Pivot to snapdragon ARM and make handheld which you can dock into a bigger box, which has discrete gpu, extra storage and controllers. Maybe have a couple of different skus of gpus. Base dock with no gpu for the cheapest config and then a couple of higher skus.

Just like Steve Jobs said - “Microsoft has absolutely no taste. They don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their product.” Bill Gates revealed the first Xbox with The Rock just so they can get some of that console money. They saw the cultural impact Nintendo, Sony and Sega had with their consoles and they wanted to replicate that. Nintendo’s evolution from a playing card company to making video game consoles makes sense, don’t forget they have a part in Pokémon TCG. Sony’s experience with Sony Music, Sony Pictures, Walkman, Trinitron, etc. helped shape the PlayStation. They came from a hardware background with expertise in the entertainment industry. It was the perfect “home entertainment” machine. Microsoft is a software services company, what the f**k do they know about good hardware? The “Windows” Phone got destroyed by the iPhone AND Android, the Surface laptops don’t stand a chance with MacBooks or Razer Blades, how can the Xbox even compete? All of their hardware efforts have consistently flopped, at this point they’re just burning money.

@dusermiginte4647

4 ай бұрын

Aaah, yeah, maybe thats why Microsoft is the biggest company on the planet.

@arunabhmahanta

4 ай бұрын

@@dusermiginte4647 Having money does not equate to having good taste. Adidas has a bigger market cap than Maison Margiela, that doesn’t mean they make better quality products than Maison Margiela. McDonalds doesn’t serve better food than Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. I can go on and on.

@JuanitoMedz

4 ай бұрын

Finally someone sees It! MS Is pure mediocrity. Xbox Is worse lol. Need to gtfo of console market ASAP.

The thing that made me buy a Series X wasn't Microsoft games it was it's backwards compatibility all the way back to some OG xbox games and upscaling some of them to 4K and even adding HDR and 60fps. I use it to mostly as a retro game machine to play tings like Sonic Generations, FEAR, Ninja Gaiden etc. If MS were to focus more on that, because they seem to have given up, I would continue to buy their consoles as they were the only ones really doing anything about back compat.

@seth4321

4 ай бұрын

That’s a huge reason for me buying an Xbox, too. Jim Ryan made it clear that Sony didn’t really care about older games. That sealed the deal for me.

@Mcnooblet

4 ай бұрын

@@seth4321 Didn't seal the deal for the majority though, so he made the right call. Not everything is about each person individually, as it is impossible to make everyone happy as they all want everything, including opposite of each other. Sony made the right calls, they won this one, this time. Microsoft is changing their approach and going after different goals now.

@CMONCMON007

4 ай бұрын

Same here dude. To play my 360 library

Fun games, that's it.

Become the biggest third party publisher. That's how they win. They aren't going to win the console war, ever. Besides, winning the console war is like winning an ass kicking contest against a one legged man. They don't want to lose money on consoles, and that's what they do. There is nothing that could make them competitive at being competitive with Sony in selling consoles, barring making a far more powerful console and selling it at half the price of the PS6.

I don't think it really matters at this point because they have lost the trust and faith in their entire fan base. Everything Phil says seems to come back and bite everyone in the ass

Could Xbox make a modular console that could use a hybrid of specific console but also some PC parts? Then the handheld could have some of that to a way lesser extent but would also be the more budget friendly console.

@Sand_1995

4 ай бұрын

Microsoft wants out of the hardware business. Let's be honest, if they wanted to they could outspend Sony and get every third party deal on the planet and make Xbox dominant . They simply don't have the hunger to compete in a dying console space. Mobile and cloud are where the future is at and Apple holds the keys to the golden gates. That's why the lawsuit against Apple to open up their ecosystem.

@whiteowl87

4 ай бұрын

@@Sand_1995 not very cost effective to spend that much money. A lot of money doesn't mean infinite money and the FTC has always been willing to target them. The Surface is hardware, they seem to be sticking to that and they have shown regret not staying in the mobile phone market.

I feel like Xbox missed a huge marketing point by not tripling down on backwards compatibility. One of the main reasons i got a Series X first was that I could play a bunch of my fave games across gens on it by just opening up my disc collection and still play most current gen mainstream games that i want on it. Xbox wants this play anything, anywhere mentality in their products which is great imo, but being so hands off on their current software and also basically just cutting off backwards compatibility has left them in a state where their most hyped titles disappear from the public eye for years and people essentially have nothing but current games that devs openly (and rightfully) deprioritise for the more surefire platforms. And we know the attitude of some Xbox leads needs to change. Lets not forget how much Baldurs Gate 3 was shit talked in those leaked emails before it was a hit, and even then Larian had to fight to remove the feature parity clause to release on both the S and X. 343 leads like Frank O'Connor were known to be toxic for years and still led that studio into the ground for a decade before Xbox even looked at fully changing that studios leadership. And he only left last year! I do think Xbox in the long term has a much better plan than Sony when it comes to Xbox as a whole, but god is it frustrating watching them fumble really easy ways to win back people actually interested in their platforms.

@ProfessorJohnny69

4 ай бұрын

The backwards compatibility is a bit worse than I was expecting too. The Gears of War games aren't consistent with FPS or resolution improvements.

@Timmy1979

4 ай бұрын

Ditch customers like you. LOL I bought my "Next Gen" System to play my old games. ^^^^ It is EXACTLY why Xbox has been failing the console wars.

@DP12321

4 ай бұрын

Xbox has always had weird anti-developer restrictions since the 360 days. The optional hard drive and requiring XBLA games to be under 50MB are just a couple examples. Now they have a weaker SKU holding things back, again, just like the 360 Core pack.

The simple answer is to drop Gamepass and go back to direct sales. Gamepass has literally choked the life out of Xbox. By now Xbox gamers should realise that Microsoft are not funding games development for Xbox, that funding comes from subscription and that’s the problem, invest 150 million into a game, if subscription does not grow by 150 million that money is gone and all you have done is provide a free game. That’s why MS are not pumping billions into that black hole. They now have dozens of studios with wages to pay, all those games on Gamepass to pay for and whatever is left ( which can’t be much ) is what they have left for games investment, you can see why games have been slow in coming on Xbox. To insinuate that a super powerful super expensive console is the answer is crazy, how many times will they do this before they realise it doesn’t work, look at the Xbox One X ? They need great games and direct sales, it’s not rocket science

It is just *NOT* about Raw Specs anymore... It is about HOW MUCH are You/Developers willing to Invest(Time&Money) to squeeze as much out of the Hardware as Possible! And with rising Development Costs true Triple A Games will be lesser and lesser... Also the UI of the Next Xbox REALLY has to be really Different.... I am getting SICK of the more than 10! Years old X1 UI essentially

Get Outrun Coast to Coast sorted to play on back compat…

ACTUAL exclusives. Games not on PC until later. Keeping people from leaving your platform should not be a science...

@TioRata

4 ай бұрын

Console and PC are separated markets. Helldivers II launched day one on PC and PS5 and it made a shit ton of cash for Sony.

@originalbadboy32

4 ай бұрын

Xbox has actual exclusives, can we please stop that false narrative.

@thelazyworkersandwich4169

4 ай бұрын

You're not wrong ,but at this point its a non option since the company that owns Xbox has always been known for having the most popular operating system in the world which they have to support.

They need to start making games, get some good Japanese ones too... The XBOX 360 library literally shows them how

XBox has had no identity since the XBox 360 was the console for online gaming, first person shooters and sports games. They allowed Playstation to catch up and match them at what they did best... and now they have nothing. They should've just continued to cater to the Dudebro market instead of trying to diversify.

They're not going to. The Playstation brand is just too culturally entrenched outside the US. The only way they could really win is if Sony or Nintendo make some major, irreversible misstep.

Unfortunately, the wonderful weirdness of the console market that existed in the 1990s is gone and that wild west feel will never come back. What I really want is more companies entering the console market (Samsung? Apple?) but that’s an absurdity at this point. We are stuck with two uncreative mega-corporations literally getting parts from the same source and Nintendo playing in its own sandbox making them look foolish.

@mikemahoneygaming5754

4 ай бұрын

Nintendos sold so many because parents buy them to shut the kids up on journeys lol. I know I’ve brought two!! Me and the Mrs both play ps5 because… games

Two things: When the original Xbox was in the market, I felt Microsoft made a huge mistake not leveraging the PC world then. For the era, that OG Xbox was a high-end gaming PC (including GPU features that wouldn't be in the PC until the GeForce 4 launched. Still got my Nvidia jacket from that event.) Sony tried to allow PC gaming to cross over on the PS1, with an official Ps1 mouse and support from games like Diablo. (Then there was 'Typing of the Dead' on the Sega Dreamcast.) There was a ripe market for those who wanted to play games that were considered preferable with mouse and keyboard, like the FPS genre, in an era when the PC could be a very frustrating platform to get everything working right from game to game. A console that also serve PC gamers might have been the edge Microsoft needed to push past Sony's then market strength. Back in the 90s, I interviewed an SNK executive about how the Neo-Geo console came to be. Apparently, it was never expected to be a big money maker. It just had to not lose too much money or break even. SNK regarded themselves as an arcade machine maker first and foremost. They knew they could reduce their silicon cost a LOT if they could much higher volume orders. Ideally, this meant selling far more arcade machines in a contracting market. So that wasn't going to happen. Then they (specifically Takashi Nishiyama, creator of the original 'Street Fighter') had the idea of putting out a console that was nearly the same board and cartridges, which behaved differently based on whether a coin receiver was present. This gave them a lot more flexibility on pricing than if they solely produced for arcades. The console was initially only sold to store in Japan as a rental, treating it as a premium experience akin to the arcade. But the popularity grew to make it clear they could move far more units than the rental market would ever absorb. So, there is precedent for a very high end premium console but the motivation for producing it wasn't purely to sell a console and games but to change the cost structure for the company's perceived primary business. Without a strong LBE market to draw on, such a machine today would need to compatible with an existing lower priced platform. How many bells and whistles can be piled on without requiring added work by developers. The original Xbox was designed to support 128MB of RAM but shipped with 64MB due to cost at the time production was due to begin. It's interesting to consider what devs might have done with a 128MB Xbox back in the day. Today, what might be done with the added elbow room of 32GB on a super high end PS5 or Series X? Would it be a simple thing for the devs to exploit in a way that really mattered to the players or would it require too much added investment to usefully exploit?

I was thinking about the latest interview with Phil Spencer and his quote about, basically, mutating the Xbox consoles into gaming-focused PCs, and at first I thought "well, Phil wants to let other stores be on Xbox so they then can go to regulators and demand Sony and Nintendo do the same as there'd be precedent". However, later I got into a certain realisation: If Xbox has PC games playable just by itself, then all the former PlayStation exclusives that Sony is now putting onto PC would be playable on Xbox as well, even if Sony doesn't want to. I still believe the way to make Xbox playable would be (would have been) if they made different levels of certification for games, in a way that makes the games certified linear. If Rockstar needs it, they can certify GTA 6 for Series X, but maybe EA certifies EAFC for Series S (and by virtue of that, immediately for Series X). And do it in a way where newer consoles would either have a new certification process that would autopass with former certifications (say, the next Xbox console "X") or set that console to have the same certification as others (say, a Xbox Portable with the same certification as Series S). Such a way, even though it would've needed a good deal of sweetening the deal for consumers, for example with stuff like allowing games to play on Cloud for lower end consoles, it would have streamlined the Xbox development pipeline for developers big time and effectively eliminated generations in a seamless way, as well as help Xbox themselves set up hardware without needing to train everyone for everything. Only downside would be not perfectly optimising for the console, but that's not something devs do due to extreme lack of time and proficiency on the platform.