Has Microsoft made a Mistake By not making XboxOS instead of a Game console?

[joeorc]

Chazore said:

Ruler said:

I dont see how steam machines will succeed, i think it will be one of the biggest flops in gaming history. The pc gamers wont see a reason to use steamOS which will limit your pc game library segnificantly, there is no point for them to build a dedicated steam machine which is a waste of money if you allready have a rig.

Hardcore console gamers wont care because like i said the smaller library, and this OS only supporting digital games makes people rather to switch to just the pcs instead of this. I dont see devices not supporting physical media as consoles, by that logic everything that has a controller attached to it is a console.

The casuals wont care because there are like 20 different version out there which will confuse the hell out of them. Steam machines are also more expensive than consoles dueto not being mass produced and not by the same company who runs the eco system.

That and the OS being "free" really does nothing for me, Linux and it's different distros have been free for years but I've never once thought of using any of them since most games I own don't run on linux, even if they did I'd still see no point since windows 7 has worked fine for me and 10 doesn't look as bad as 8.

 

Then we've also got these "smart" tv's, hardcore console and PC gamers aren't even remotely going to care about those, those tv's by default run on limited hardware, they won't be able to run the latest demanding games and if they relied on streaming that would be even worse, if you were to add more hardware towards a smart tv or steam machine you may as well be buying/ building yourself a PC/console, the very idea of the steam machine/OS and smart tv's are really only meant for the super niche markets, even my folks don't give two shits about smart tv's, they'd rather not pay extra for those and go for regular 1080p models.

I get what OP is saying though but I see it all as wishful thinking from an android/linux fans point of view (I mean the avatar kinda gives it all away tbh), but the world and everyone in it isn't magically going to go all linux/Android crazy and abandon MS/apple or force MS to go do exactly what linux/android are doing to make everything the same because a few programmers think it;s the best ideal existence, it;s just not viable for all of us, we all want something different, even if Linux/android can offer differences, we'll still want something not android/linux.

I am not saying this from a Linux/Android point of View, I am saying this from a point of view Of consumer electronics in general and has far increased its own general computing platform in of itself. A massive growth area even more than PC's ,I  was saying this from an Adoption of the OS point of View. If you have not noticed other OS's that have been free for years are now getting main development support that to be blunt only really Microsoft has been able to gather for only a Windows OS only in the past but now its changed more in line for other OS's than even Microsoft in this growth market.

You said niche markets: but If you have not noticed Android is not a Niche, if anything Windows phone is the Niche market! 

Nothing wrong with being a Niche, but what I am pointing out is Things has changed when it comes to OS's that even though they are not Windows, Microsoft no longer has a lock on being the only real OS support for gaming on PC now. That is not to say in PC that Microsoft is still not the leader, what it is showing is now the main OS for consumer electronics are not a windows OS powering the box, its not a windows OS powering the TV is Linux and Android.

That is more than just a very niche market.