| melbye said: Pretty obvious at this point that the XBOX-brand will not exist in he future as it exist now |
IMO xbox 1080 becoming the equivalent of Steam machines always seemed llikely. It would significantly cut R&D, marketing. It would allow them to close unprofitable studios and budget more towards ROI. If they execute well a f2p Halo game can be more productive then another 343 mainline game, especially when the distrust seems to be based on single player execution rather than gameplay or f2p mechanics. The primary revenue is third party title sales anyway.
The XB1 has had a dearth of 'true' retail/AAA exclusives (only Forza 5/6, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive in over two years). This in itself signals a certain exit strategy. It reminds me of the Japan exit. Just like in Japan, there are quite a few constumers who will feel burned by the XB1 exclusives when most of their games end up on a platform they owned anyway. The majority however won't really care if the platform they're playing is 'xbox' or 'xbox pc'. The only question mark is how important retail presence is.
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