Microsoft planning to kill the Xbox? Maybe, and that is a good thing.

Microsoft’s Xbox spring event was something of a stepping stone. We might have just witnessed the end of an era, an era where consoles reigned supreme.

The event was hosted by Xbox head, Phil Spencer, who said that, “At Xbox we believe gamers should be able to play the games they want, with the people they want, on the devices they want. Making more of our popular games available for gamers to play on either Xbox One or Windows 10, each powered by Xbox Live, is another important step towards this vision. We are committed to delivering amazing gaming experiences for gamers who play on consoles, PCs or both.”

Reading between the lines, we finally see the Windows platform getting some love. Quantum Break is all set for a simultaneous release on PC and console, Gears of War Ultimate is already out on the Windows Store and Forza Motorsport 6: Apex is going to be free-to-play on PC. You can read about the highlights from the conference here.

These are just pointers of course, but the biggest hint was dropped by Phil himself in a twitter conversation with @The_CrapGamer. The conversation itself revolved around around Quantum Break not being an Xbox exclusive. Deep within that conversation however, was mention of a future, as described by Phil himself, of a future where the Xbox might end up as a service rather than a hardware line. He also spoke of a future where the Xbox hardware could be upgraded, similar to a PC.

This is exciting news, and something I’ve been hoping for since long before the Xbox One was announced. There was a time when consoles made a lot of sense, when a gaming PC meant investing a ridiculous amount of time and money into the platform. Over the years however, this need has come down drastically. For gamers, the need of the hour is pixels and horsepower and consoles like the Xbox One and PS4 just can’t keep up. Upgrade options might help, but then you might as well be on PC.

Both console platforms effectively use low-end PC hardware and struggle to push out 30fps at 1080p, let alone 2K which is the bare minimum for VR. 4K is quite literally impossible. At the same time, the 8-year upgrade cycle for a console platform is just not going to cut it anymore. Think about it, in 8 years we’ve gone from the Pentium Dual-Core to the 6th generation Skylakes.

I am a PC gamer at heart and there are very good reasons for me wanting a game console. Those reasons are Bloodborne, Gears of War, Halo, Zelda and Mario. The platform has nothing to do with the experience and I’d rather play those games on a device of my choosing than restrict all my future gaming to that platform for cost considerations.

The whole point of the Windows platform is freedom of choice. I don’t need to pay for multiplayer ($60 on Xbox Live for example), I don’t need to suffer games at 30fps and 900p and I can get a lot more done with a PC. If Microsoft is really looking at Xbox as a service, they’re finally doing the right thing.

http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/microsoft-planning-to-kill-the-xbox-maybe-and-that-is-a-good-thing-302278.html

Thoughts ?  

If MS ends the Xbox as a console and brings all it's games to the PC (and paid multiplayer from the end paragraphs) wouldn't that be a great thing because PCs are great and console hardware is incapable of running VR (the rift) at it's minimum PC requirements (because ya know, those aren't bloated at all and VR was possible on the Virtual boy)

I think that is what the OP boils down to, you could have been right too though but I think this is more of a "PC gamer happy for ports coming, even if the port is Xbox live gold paid multiplayer"

edit - on looking at my post it appears that this is my opinion whereas I think it is the tl:dr version of the OP!! This isn't my opinion, when I see a console like the 10 year old X360 playing GTAV I don't doubt that the PS4/X1 could easily be running streamlined optimized versions of PC hits for years while the PC versions of them have absolutely idiotic min requirements on their box's far beyond the spec of either X1 or PS4

and flat out lied and inaccuracis in the artile, yes.

You need competition, in order for capitalism to work. No platform should have a monopoly, including Windows. That said, all games should come to PC but consoles should still be an option for the "less fortunate" (jk).

My main fear of Windows focusing more on PC gaming than home console is that they might bring things like paid online multiplayer to the PC platform and make it popular and accepted. Also, that closed platform really worries me, Microsoft trying to push their control over the whole PC market is going to be harmful in the long run.

How much of this post is a Joke?

Console will exist alongside the PC. Bringing Xbox console exclusives to Xbox PC wont kill consoles. People like me wont rush out and buy a Gaming PC instead. Because I prefer Console gaming. That's it. Sales of Steam and retail PC games also shows that the majority prefer console gaming.

wait for services like psNow

retail PC games are pretty much a novelty item now, I wouldn't gauge game sales by them in the slightest.

It won't kill console gaming, but it will certainly the choice of an XBox console redundant. Sony and Nintendo offer enough exlusives to justify their existence as both an alternative or a complement to PC gaming (mostly because japanese companies don't really like PC as a platform that much), but if XBox, without the japanese support avalible, starts to port their exclusives to PC, there would be very few reasons to pick them over the alternatives.

And besides, almost anyone has a decent computer nowadays, even if it's not cutting edge, so PC gaming is not that prohibitive anymore.