It's been more than two years since Microsoft announced that their Xbox exclusives would be coming to Windows 10, and since then a consistent question has been brought up every time a new Microsoft project has been announced: "Why should I buy an Xbox One when I can play a game on a PC" . This "question", which has been used more often as a point of argumentation against Xbox rather than a genuine inquiry, is tiresome - and it's honestly a little embarrassing that more than two years after the announcement people still don't understand that these kind of comments aren't a good point of discussion.
For better or worse, Microsoft has figured out that being successful in the selling of software and subscription services is more profitable and a more reliable business model than selling hardware. So when people say something like "Why would I buy an Xbox One when I can just play Microsoft exclusives on the PC", you're missing the point. If you want to play a Microsoft game, you still have to have the most recent Microsoft operating system, and you're still purchasing an expensive piece of software from Microsoft. They're still gaining a lot of money, and the distribution cost of the product(s) is significantly lower than that of a console. So how is that a loss for Microsoft?
It's particularly telling that a lot of people who really like to hammer this point in as an argument against the Xbox brand - are usually people who are not known for playing on the PC, at all. A lot of the people who keep reiterating this, usually come off as the same kind of people that buy consoles because they like "sitting on the couch" and "using a controller" and still believe that kind of thing can't be done or is incredibly complex on the PC. In other words, if an Xbox game came out that they cared about, they wouldn't go build a PC, or use the most likely crappy PC they have lying around their house. They would go buy an Xbox, plug it in, and play on the TV. That is an assumption, and there are probably a few people that genuinely would just buy the product on the PC, but it just feels like that assumption seems to be the case the majority of the time.
I have to wonder if people are just missing the point entirely because we are so inclined as consumers to care about the piece of plastic we play on. And that's understandable, but it isn't an argument for the failure of the Xbox brand or Microsoft, especially when most of the people Microsoft is selling consoles to (Middle aged dads, young teenagers, children) aren't going to buy a PC any time soon. I'm not an apologist for Microsoft, I'm not really interested in most of their projects at this moment. But I am offended by bad arguments, and this one seems to pop up quite a bit. So, the question is, if Microsoft's measure of success has changed, why hasn't ours?
Edit: I can't believe I even have to add this, but because I've had to reiterate this so many times:
1 ) No, I'm not saying this statement is entirely invalid. Used in specific ways, it's fine. However, I think I listed many transgressions that just make the argument worthless.
2 ) I'm not saying that purchasing software from the Windows store makes Xbox successful. My entire point is literally that you are missing the point of Microsoft's Gaming Division if you say "but I can just buy it on PC instead of on Xbox!" Yeah, that is the point...
(I'm putting this in Gaming Discussion because I want a varied response as to just the Microsoft following)
Last edited by AngryLittleAlchemist - on 21 July 2018
