Squilliam said:
If you buy a game on the Windows app store you should be able to download that same game on the Xbox and vice versa because in both instances you're paying Microsoft directly and using their application store. There is no conflict of interest with paying licensing fees because they removed the 3rd parties from this relationship, I.E you pay Microsoft directly and they pay the content provider. Sony is doing something similar with their application stores with compatibility with Steam and Android as well as their purchase of Gaikai. The only real question are the retail vs download space conflict and the pricing structure in comparison to Steam where there is much greater pricing flexibility as well as how flexible the application store will be compared to say iOS and Steam. Microsoft can substitute retail margins on the physical content for Live subscriptions but the other two cannot so hence the forward thinking idea of charging for access gives them flexibility to serve multiple masters. The winner of the next generation will probably be decided by the network of people playing and using a particular service as they are not cross compatible. The networks are Steam, iOS, Playstation, Live/Windows and Nintendo etc. The PS2 generation was decided by content because the PS2 simply got almost all of it and much of that exclusive, the next generation is about networks and the most compelling exclusive is the ability to play with your friends and play your content on your devices. |
That sort of answered the question, but yes you're right, network will be the deciding factor.
