The Microsoft conference rendered their console unnecessary. Everything that you would need an Xbox One for is now no longer an argument, since all exclusives aren't exclusive. Releasing an Xbox Scorpio at this point is mostly just MS releasing a minimal-purpose Gaming PC (I say minimal because we can all agree that in the face of a normal PC, the XB1 doesn't have as much going for it.
From a game perspective, this is a great thing. As a PlayStation/Nintendo gamer with a Gaming PC, I can now completely cut out Xbox One and not miss out on anything.
From an Xbox brand perspective, this is the devastating bullet to the head to put the ol' girl out of her misery. With no exclusives and and the promise of being able to play with PC and PS4 users, there's now no reason for anyone to buy an Xbox One. If not for the crossplay, you could at least argue that you still need it to play with any friends who own XB1's.
But instead, we've simply witnessed the end of Microsoft's console business. Xbox isn't a real gaming brand like Nintendo or PlayStation anymore, it's just a well recognized Microsoft-branded Steam Machine. Anything it can do can be done on a PC and then some; no exclusives.
On the flip side, this means that MS can more regularly release new consoles, which is a good and bad thing depending on your stance. Realistically, though, I feel that Microsoft has ended their direct relationship with console gamers in the most covert of ways: Xbox fans are too busy cheering for "the strongest console ever" and PlayStation fans are too busy worrying if that will affect them in some way to really notice what just happened.
Overall, I give this press conference a 3/10. I can rest easy knowing I can play ReCore and Scalebound, but at what cost?
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