| BINARYGOD said: Perhaps I am misreading, but this logic has proven faulty many times over. It's the "MS needed to do this, Sony doesn't" mixed with "Sony was the winner, so..." sort of talk, and I mean - just look at history. There is very little MS has done since entering consoles (and very much so starting with the announcement of the 360) that Sony has also not done after MS proved it out (or just announced first, if we think of the PS3 announce at E3 months after the 360 announce, and how much smoke a mirrors Sony used at that event to say "that, but better!"). Free games with a sub are one of few examples where Sony did it first and MS copied them. Whether MS "needs" to do something is irrelevant - did that that thing turn out to be historically correct? I guess the question boils down to if the Series S seems as historical correct as it seems right now. Obviously global/economic issues make it seem even smarter, but the reasons they came up with it originally still apply and don't get better for next gen, they get worse. THAT SAID - I also think an interesting question is if MS chooses to copy themselves (the 360)/ copy Sony and make the cheaper sku not based on the cpu/gpu/ram next gen SHOULD devs say they would rather other options for a cheaper box go through (and no, current statements we have on record are not good evidence of anything). |
My personal 'fear' is that MS will focus more on mobile (game streaming) to go after that much more lucrative market, the one where all the growth is nowadays. After the ActiBlizzKing deal I expect the focus to shift more towards the mobile and the tv side, game pass on everything. MS scrapped their first gamepass streaming stick (Keystone) but only because they can't reach their intended price point yet. Next gen it will probably be there. Question is will there still be a premium console from MS next gen.
Perhaps MS is also looking to develop a TV OS or maybe buy one of the available ones and integrate game streaming. No stick is always better, but TVs aren't fast enough yet for low latency game streaming.
I do hope MS keeps pushing back against Sony in the hardware and AAA gaming market as well. Nobody wants early PS3 Sony to come back. But we do still need powerful standalone hardware to allow the VR market to grow, for at least another generation. Perhaps after next gen mobile hardware will be small and power efficient enough to provide the full experience in just the headset alone. For now VR visuals are still far behind (will get better with eye tracking and foveated rendering) with bulky headsets that don't leave many options for power hungry heat producing hardware.
