| Intrinsic said: It suddenly just hit me; could this be the last Xbox console we ever see? First signs pointing in this direction is the heavy XBL integration Microsoft is pushing into windows 10. And the second is that I think by now MS probably accepts that they cannot compete with the PS brand on a global scale. So what to do? Focus on PC gaming. PC games pretty much already all (mostly) run on windows and are built using windows APIs (by default). When you think of it, there is no reason something like steam should even exist if MS maximized the basic potential they have with windows. Ms could literally require PC games to have some basic XBL support to be compatible with windows, make their own store to rival steam, and just settle for the cut they will get from sales and forgo royalties. In addition to that, as it stands the only way to get PC games is pretty much to download them, so the platform is already open to whatever kinda DRM MS could choose to impose on games. And if the prices remain as competitive and devs know that as long as they are using DX12/13 and conform to the XBL TOA, there would be DRM protocols put in place that coukd make piracy obsolete. Any and every dev will pretty much get behind that. Make the next Xbox basically be a streaming service that streams games from some sort of dedicated. server like PSnow and Nvidia shield for those that can afford a proper gaming rig and they would still be making a killing in the industry. What do you guys think? |
First bolded point: This is a way for them to draw more users in, not them giving up on Xbox. It's more of a, "Hey, get our product, because it works with everything," kind of thing.
Second bolded point: They got destroyed with the Xbox. They dominated with the Xbox 360 (until the last few years, but still an excellent product). They're not admiting defeat. They did things wrong with this console. They'll (hopefully) learn from it.
Third bolded point: Too many people are too invested in Steam. Microsoft should have done this from the start. They didn't, and at this point it would be financial suicide (maybe exagerating, but my point is "no").
Fourth bolded point: As long as there are people who want to pirate there will be pirates.
Fifth bolded point: We should never go this route. Ever. Too many issues with lag/latency, that goes back to the requiring an always on internet connection that people were in an uproar over the Xbox One. This simply will not happen.
