| KLAMarine said: I often come across the complaint that many XBox 1 games that would have otherwise been exclusives are also put on PC thus rendering them non-exclusives and I'm wondering why people complain? Does a game being available on more than one platform not make it more readily available to people thus benefiting the consumer? Is the ability to play a game on more than one configuration not a good thing? PS4 and Switch exclusives can only be played on their respective platforms but with XBox1/PC, you have more choice. Online gaming on PC is free last I checked so you don't even need to pay a subscription fee to play these games online. Microsoft undermines their own efforts to charge for online multiplayer by making their otherwise-XBox 1 exclusive games also available on PC. Already got a gaming PC? Great! No need to buy an XBox 1 and we the consumers win but I cannot recall any time wherein Microsoft has received rightful praise for their pro-consumer policy of making their software available on XBox 1 AND PC rather than just locking their software to one box.
What's the deal with people complaining instead of praising? |
One of the main problems here is that MS Play Anywhere program doesn't work like it should be. You still have a lot of differences between XB1 and PC versions of games. The majority of PA games doesn't have cross-play or cross-save. So, what's good in splitting the userbase between two platforms. When the program was announced it sounded good in theory but MS seems to have failed to achieve what they were expected to. Also, they release some games on Steam and this versions doesn't use XBL for online play at all splitting user base even further. Now between three different platforms. I think that people doesn't praise them because it all looks like MS is just being desperate for a quick buck instead of thinking about the future of their gaming platform.
Also, I disagree with your statement that MS selling Xbox One X at loss is a proof that they are not leaving hardware business. First of all, they aren't selling it at a loss. And even if they do, it doesn't seem that this loss is huge according to Phil Spencer's interview. But MS shifting their focus from Xbox to Win10 I think is a good proof that they exactly want to leave console market. Let's look at some of their E3 announcements: when they talked about VR they mentioned that PC is the right choice for it. So, they are more interested in bringing VR to PC than Xbox. They have 1 PC exclusive: AoE HD and 0 for Xbox. And it is understandable from business point of view. Why would you waste your money on R&D to make dedicated gaming hardware if you have a lot of partners like HP, Asus, Acer, etc. that will build this hardware for you and even pay you for installing your OS on it. The main reason why they still release Xbox One X is that Win10 crowd is not nearly as big as Xbox right now. They can't risk right now and they need something to keep them in the gaming business while this shift towards PC is in progress. I can bet that when Windows Store userbase will surpass the Xbox userbase, MS will leave console market. That's a given.
