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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - After Playing Nintendo Switch I think Microsoft should Make 2 consoles in 2021-2022

No they shouldn't



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As someone that plays mostly on handhelds and currently uses the Switch as my primary gaming platform, I would love for something similar to what the OP said to happen (I also wouldn't mind seeing a portable PS4, since there are so many PS4 games that I have but do not really have the time to dedicate to).

There are a few elaboration and changes I would make to the strategy proposed here. The critical elaboration I would like to make is that the Xbox One portable is going to be compatible with the existing and future Xbox One library (and the same would apply to a hypothetical PS4 portable). This is important, because as we have seen with both Nintendo and Sony, it is very difficult at this point to support two completely different platforms and have enough software output to satisfy both handheld and stationary system owners. This why Sony sort of left the Vita behind in order to focus on PS4, and Nintendo did similarly with the Wii U in favour of 3DS (and of course now with Switch they are mostly focusing on a single platform). The issue is that production values for both portables and stationary systems are increasing, and that demands increases in development resources in order to support two platforms. By Microsoft having the same architecture as Xbox One in a portable they will ensure that new cross-gen titles as well as less demanding games come and that players have access to a robust library of games that have already been released.

The first change I would make is to the proposed specifications. I don't believe we need something as powerful as an Xbox One X in a handheld. Looking at what technology is available right now and what the road maps look like, we will most likely not be getting a mobile chip that gets anywhere close to a One X in the next 10-15 years. On the other hand, a mobile system that is about as powerful as an Xbox One should come into fruition within the next 10 years and I think that will be enough. A 6"-7" screen at 720P-1080P should be more than sufficient at regular viewing angles, putting 4K on such a screen (provided that you do not want to do VR using the same screen) would be overkill for a portable. I have seen 4K screens on Sony smartphones and 1440P screens on most modern smartphones, and the difference at such small screen sizes to 720P-1080P displays is really negligible. Now you might say that the 4K would only be for a hypothetical TV mode, but I would ask would we really need a 4K TV mode for games so urgently for such a device, particularly when the OP wants to compliment the system with a stationary TV console that will likely do native 4K.



Pinkie_pie said:
Portable xbox one x in 2021 would be awesome. Nintendo will have to counter it by releasing switch 2 earlier

And then Microsoft would have to counter Switch 2 with exclusives. The Switch is doing great because of exclusives, and other things, but mainly exclusives. Its what sets it apart from the competition. 



I mean, Microsoft has been crushed by Apple in MP3 players (Zune anyone), annihilated by Apple/Samsung/HTC/etc in phones, has been crushed by Apple in tablets, so why not now get crushed by Nintendo with handhelds?

What Microsoft needs is to either exit the console sphere and focus on the PC platform and trying to take on Valve (or maybe just buy them out) or to work on getting games for their console that people actually want to play. A handheld would just be another massacre of Microsoft's lack of charisma/brand-power-advertising/etc.



This is the future my friend.  5 years from now no one will know what a physical game is.



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Pinkie_pie said:
Portable xbox one x in 2021 would be awesome. Nintendo will have to counter it by releasing switch 2 earlier

 

Pinkie_pie said:
The switch came out 4 years after the wii u so it's possible for a portable xbox one x to come out 4 years after the xbox one x

Lets put some things into perspective.

Wii U was a very weak console at launch, just slightly more powerful than the 6-7 year old PS3/360 so making a more powerful handheld 4 years later was possible.

Xbox One X in 2017 is significantly more powerful than Wii U in 2012, not even comparable. A handheld version is not possible in 2021-2022. At best they could make a portable version of the regular Xbox One by that time.

 

As for Nintendo needing to counter, when are you going to learn that power is not what makes a handheld sell?

Atari Lynx, Game Gear, Sega Nomad, Neo Geo Pocket, WonderSwan, N-Gage, Playstation Portable, Playstation Vita.......all more powerful than the Nintendo handheld at the time and with the exception of PSP they all sold like shit and even then PSP was only able to get ~35% marketshare.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Microsoft could make 2 consoles in 2020.
The first, handhelp 1.5 to 2 tflops and the seconde, a home console 8 to 10 tflops..
But Microsoft have to pass arm / nvidia (AMD don't have low power chips)
Creat an environnement portable and home consoles like it make with xboxone s / xboxone X

But i am not thinking Microsoft does that, Microsoft looking to cloud gaming / streaming, it would like to sell vidéo games like a service, not like a hardware.



2 separate consoles at once? This kind of gives me Sega 32x/Sega Saturn vibes, and that didn't turn out well at all.



Microsoft to copy? Nooooo never



Shadow1980 said:

Ignoring the fact that it's highly improbable if not impossible for a portable X1X to exist in just 3-4 years from now—realistically, it might be at most as powerful as a base XBO, and even that might be pushing it—, there's other issues that MS would face if they entered the portable market.

1) Games. An Xbox Portable will be at least a generation behind whatever their current home console is in terms of power. That means it will only have ports of older games made for previous generations, indie titles and other low-budget affairs that don't require a ton of horsepower to run, and original titles made specifically for the system. The latter would require third parties to invest in the system, and for MS themselves to invest more money in creating original titles for the system. Given other problems the system would face, I'm not sure the risks in investing in it would provide sufficient reward. Plus there's MS's track record of not investing as strongly in first-party efforts as Sony & Nintendo have. And without enough original content for the system, I doubt it would have much commercial viability. Simply saying, "Hey, you can play Xbox One games on the go now!" will be enough in and of itself to propel the system to success.

2) Xbox is not a global brand. While PlayStation and Nintendo sales are more equitably distributed across the major markets, a significant majority of Xbox sales are from Anglophone nations. The U.S. & UK alone represented at least 60% of all 360 sales, and at least two-thirds of all XBO sales. Xbox struggles mightily in continental Europe (the XBO has sold only about 5.4M in Europe sans the UK according to VGC), and it might as well not exist in Japan. This will most likely come into play with a portable system as well. The U.S. & UK will be the best potential markets for an Xbox handheld, but in other markets it would be a hard sell. Even handheld-friendly Japan is likely to simply ignore it.

3) Nintendomination. It's no big secret that Nintendo owns the handheld market. The only non-Nintendo handheld to have truly mainstream success was the PSP, and as the Vita has shown that was a fluke (well, in the West, anyway; the Vita did decent numbers in Japan, though still far short of both its predecessor and the 3DS). Nintendo has had the strategy, the brand power, and the games needed for their handhelds to be successes. If even the massive brand strength of PlayStation wasn't enough for Sony to win in this market, what chance does MS have?

Good post, this pretty much covers it but one other thing, the OP is suggesting a $500 price tag which would be waaaayyyyyy too expensive to reach a mainstream audience.

This device would be lucky to sell 10 million lifetime.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.