SvennoJ said:
DirtyP2002 said:
Some other pro arguments:
- Developers would have a HUGE audience to sell their games to (PC and various consoles combined).
- No more ports sold as remasters.
- HUGE library of games, probably the biggest you will ever find
- 100% indy friendly
- Marketing costs will not be 100% with Microsoft to promote the hardware.
- The possibility to play the games at absolute ultra maximum settings.
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- They already have that advantage, yet now they'll need to optimize / adjust the game for even more configurations. On PC it was always the user's responisbility to meet minimum or recommended specs. With being forward/backward compatible consumers will expect the games to be adjusted to each configuration.
- Less income for publishers, less reason to add extras to make a game interesting again.
- True, yet that will also put pressure on prices, lower margins on new games. (just wait for the 'steam' sale)
- Depends on entry fees for publishing on the win 10 store.
- Subsidized hardware will also be a thing of the past.
- At the cost of a split userbase in competitive online games or needing some kind of equalizer.
Hardware upgrades sounds like a good idea yet making an box that you can upgrade is a lot more expensive than one with a tailor made motherboard with everything on it. Plus you introduce extra bottlenecks and weak points where the replaceable parts have to connect. It's not going to be a roomy pc tower where you can easily plug in a new gpu.
Building and stocking several tailor made boxes is not cheap either. Subsidizing different hardware models that cost extra to make means lower margins on each model. Plus people expect the price of older models to drop faster. Instead of a revised slim version with a few tweaks for less you now get a better version for the launch price and can buy the old version for a bit less. It will make the whole thing less attractive for people jumping in mid cycle. Waiting for the slightly improved sleek slim model now becomes, do I pay launch price for the beefed up model or buy a second hand chewed up old one.
And yep, plenty of second hand models entering the market as soon as the hardcore follows the upgrade cycle. Another thing that will keep these upgrades costly as margins on the older models will shrink faster. It'll become like buying the latest iPad every year or two. Converting to Apple's business model while trying to take on Steam with an audience that is mostly interested in buying a console that ensures 6 years or more of games getting the most out of it. Whatever can go wrong :)
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- Nope.
- So you want to keep on going with remasters? And less remasters is a bad thing? I wonder how you (and according to your logic every publisher / developer as well) survived every generation before. Remasters sold for full price need to die.
- competitive prices are bad as well?! WTF is wrong with you?
- Apparently that wasn't a problem before, so why should it become one?
- How so? I think more manufacturers would make the prices really appealing for consumers. And Sony, MS and Nintendo claimed to have a profitable hardware at launch this gen. So there was no subsidized hardware this gen either.
- How is the userbase split? You can still play your games against other players, it is just that you might run it on ultra settings while the other player uses mid settings.
"Waiting for the slightly improved sleek slim model now becomes, do I pay launch price for the beefed up model or buy a second hand chewed up old one."
Absolutely not.
If the scenario turns out like that you have way more options than before. You don't have to wait for a redesign to happen. Look at the smartphones. If you want an Android system, you have dozens of options out there. If you get the latest Samsung Galaxy S7, you know you will be fine for years to come and, for consoles speaking, you can play the latest games at maximum settings.
If you just want a nice gaming experience and to get the latest games, but don't care much about visuals you can pick up a Sony Xperia Z4.
If you just want a second console for your bedroom to watch Netflix and maybe play some more casual games, get a HTC Desire.
I hope you get the idea.
If that is what Microsoft is aiming for with Win10 / Xbox, I will give it a warm welcome.
