| Shadow1980 said: I could see maybe $700, but $1000 would price too many people out and make Xbox consoles strictly an enthusiast product for higher earners. While MS is trying to fill a niche between first-party and third-party, offering their games on most if not all platforms, there are still several tens of millions of people loyal enough to the Xbox brand to keep buying those consoles. I know plenty of people that play on Xbox and have no interest at all in moving to PlayStation. If MS charged too much for the next-gen Xbox, that would evaporate a lot of goodwill among those loyalists who might not be able to afford such an expensive system. $1000 would be well beyond even the historical high end for a mainstream console even if you account for inflation (the PS3's $500 U.S. launch price is just under $800 in today's dollars). |
After seeing them license out the Xbox brand for Rog Ally & Meta Quest, I can see a future where they license out to a variety of configurations at different price points. Basically a better executed attempt at Steam Machines, Xbox branded hardware ranging from $400 to $1000 or more including an entry level home console, premium home console, portable console, VR headset, tablet, gaming laptop, gaming desktop, etc.
I feel like they are positioning themselves around 3 pillars.
1. Publishing. The acquisitions of ZeniMax & Activision-Blizzard have made them one of the biggest publishers in the game.
2. Subscriptions. They have heavily pushed Game Pass and tried to get it on as many devices as possible.
3. Licensing. I believe they will license the Xbox brand and have a bunch of hardware configurations & form factors.
When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.
