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SvennoJ on 29 April 2023
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LudicrousSpeed said:

EA Play is not even close to GamePass, and EA doesn’t have the studios or games Microsoft has.

EA games come to EA Play long after release, when they are pretty much done selling and are heavily discounted. Xbox games launch day one into the service.

Why would Sony, for example, want a service in their ecosystem where a game like Elder Scrolls VI will be available to subscribers day one included in a small monthly or yearly fee? At best Sony would get a small piece of every GamePass subscriber, where as they get a good piece of every copy sold, whether physical or digital. It also disrupts the sales of their own games.

It’s also not as good a deal for MS. They can subsidize the loss of revenue by games on GamePass selling less by getting the full piece of the pie of the actual sold copies, plus all the monetization, plus a piece of every third party game and MTX on their store. Not to mention XBLG. In your scenario they now get no Gold revenue, they don’t make anything from third party sales, they now have to give Sony a piece of GamePass subs, and they have to give Sony a piece of every game and monetization transaction.

Doesn’t add up for MS. They make way more money as a hardware company, even a third place hardware company.

Keep making new consumer hardware is what doesn't add up for MS. Much easier to invest in Azure and get Gamepass xCloud on TVs and mobile phones. GP doesn't need Sony nor Nintendo at all. MS has already been working on a streaming stick for xCloud but it's still too early (can't make it cheap enough yet to make it an impulse buy)

It's all summed up in here
https://www.techradar.com/news/xbox-streaming-stick-everything-we-know-so-far

At E3 2021, Microsoft revealed its intentions to move beyond its traditional console hardware platforms for its cloud gaming services.

“Xbox is working with global TV manufacturers to embed the Xbox experience directly into internet-connected televisions with no extra hardware required except a controller,” it said in a press release, suggesting TV manufacturers would soon be offering a built-in Xbox app, ready to stream games from the cloud. There’s already precedent for this from Samsung, which offers the Steam Link app on its web connected TV sets.

On top of this, and most crucially, Liz Hamren, CVP of gaming experiences & platforms at Xbox, revealed that Xbox is “also developing standalone streaming devices that you can plug into a TV or monitor, so if you have a strong internet connection, you can stream your Xbox experience.” 

....

"Our vision for Xbox Cloud Gaming is unwavering, our goal is to enable people to play the games they want, on the devices they want, anywhere they want. As announced last year, we’ve been working on a game-streaming device, codename Keystone, that could be connected to any TV or monitor without the need for a console."

...

According to Grubb and Warren, Microsoft will launch the stick as part of a wider Xbox Everywhere project, an initiative designed to extend Xbox Cloud Gaming's reach to more devices, markets, and players. The idea is to make Xbox streaming more accessible than ever by giving potential players, who would otherwise be turned off by the cost of expensive gaming hardware, an affordable means of hopping aboard the Xbox Game Pass.


And we've all seen how that has turned out with video content. The DVD years of console gaming are over. We're on the verge of a major disruption in the way games are consumed. Whether you like it or not, streaming is the future. Downloading and playing local will be the Vinyl of the future.

I certainly don't like the forecast, I still buy CDs, Blu-Rays and physical game discs when possible. In a decade or two, downloading a game can be added to that list as well. PC will survive of course, but not so sure about consoles. PS6 sure, PS7?