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Forums - Gaming - Converging Xbone and PC kills the console... or does it?

 

Is this what MS is planning to achieve?

Yes 41 40.20%
 
No 41 40.20%
 
Maybe 20 19.61%
 
Total:102
Scisca on 21 February 2016
vivster said:

I have no idea what point(if any at all) you are trying to make. PC and console will be seperate for the forseeable future since they have different use cases. Microsoft will always treat them as different entities, no matter how similar those boxes become. The cross playability won't hurt or help the other.

The good thing here is just that MS has the ability to garner more favorability amongst PC gamers and at the same time make an easy buck.

Really I still don't know where you're going with all this.

Really? You really can't see the extra added value in all of this?

Cross-buy, not Cross-play.

You buy the game once on the Windows 10 marketplace and you can play it on your gaming rig with graphics that blow PS4 out of the water, but you can also play it on your living room Xbone, or in your bed on the bedroom TV, your kids can play the game on the Xbone in their room - you really can't see how this gives great extra value for the same money? And how this would entice PC gamers to put that box under their TV? Or to buy the Bone instead of the PS4 for their kids? They don't have to buy a single Xbone game ever if they buy in the MS store! They can remain the tru PC Mastah Race, while getting some extra Xbone love on the side It's almost a one-off purchase and not an investment into an eco-system, like it is with the PS4. And down the line wouldn't it entice PC gamers to get the MS Windows tablet instead of an Ipad or Android one?

I think it's very simple and if MS pulls it off, they can make many companies very unhappy.



Wii U is a GCN 2 - I called it months before the release!

My Vita to-buy list: The Walking Dead, Persona 4 Golden, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, TearAway, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, History: Legends of War, FIFA 13, Final Fantasy HD X, X-2, Worms Revolution Extreme, The Amazing Spiderman, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - too many no-gaemz :/

My consoles: PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim 320 GB, PSV 32 GB, Wii, DSi.

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DEAD_ORIGINAL on 21 February 2016

Honestly i hate pc gamers getting xbox exclusives de-vaules xbox. Microsoft should either sell there xbox division or invest heavily to compete. I mean they could by sega and release tons of old ip in new content



hershel_layton on 21 February 2016
Scisca said:

So we all know MS is converging Xbone and PC, Xbone exclusives are coming over to PC, Xbone gets mouse and keyboard support, etc. Everyone sees this as the end of the Bone. But are they right? I think MS is onto something.

The way I see it, MS is changing its business model, they no longer want to play on equal grounds with Sony. They know Xbone will never win in EU and Japan and they have to fight hard even for US - that's not a fight they want to take, so they switch the rules. Traditional console is a typical 0/1, closed experience, you have to buy the console and games for that console or we have nothing for you. MS is changing that and the key is the incoming cross-buy!

Everyone has a PC. Every console gamer has a PC and nowadays even average laptops (top tablets soon as well) are close to Xbone in performance, since the hardware race has slowed down the last couple years, we're hitting dimishing returns and manufacturers are more focused on power efficiency than raw power of the hardware. Many gamers do have OP OC OMG PC Master Race PCs. But we have them next to our desks where we work, not many people hook it up to the TV next to the couch in the living room. We can get a second PC for that (the famous Steambox idea), but it's a big box, OS is not optimized for couch experience, it costs more than a console - you know the drill, all the reasons, why we buy consoles in the first place. So, how about MS turns Xbone into the ultimate Steambox?

Just think, you get the ultimate gaming experience from your rig, but when you actually wanna play on a massive screen, on the couch, in the bedroom, give a console to your kids, etc. all you have to do is put a cheap $250 (soon to be) Xbone Slim and you can play all your PC games there for no additional cost, since you share your library! How about that? Isn't that a massive gamechanger in favour of the Bone? PS4/NX can't offer that, cause you still need to buy their platform-specific games, while MS can offer you cross-buy Xbone/PC games. Obviously, they have to tackle Steam to do it, since I can't see them sharing profits with Valve and giving up Xbone games' sales at the same time, but that is a great incentive for people to switch over from Steam. Why buy a game on Steam for PC only, if you can pay the same price and have the PC and Xbone (and tablet?) version? After all, nowadays we have multiple screens at home in multiple rooms and this Xbone/PC experience would be an answer to that. And as the second step, they would extend this service to Windows tablets/phones and take on Apple/Google in the mobile market by making their products the go-to gamers' choice - just hook up the Xbone controller to your Windows tablet and you can play your whole library anywhere you are! That would be massive and would make picking up a Windows tablet over an Adroid one a no-brainer for me.

What do you think? Is this the direction in which MS is going? Isn't this a great way for expanding their business and turning the cursed to be 2nd/3rd console into a Steambox killer and the most reasonable and complete choice for household entertainment? Console gamers still get the same experience if they just want to go with Xbone, but at the same time they get PC/tablet versions as a free premium. PC Master Race guys will be tempted to get the console for other rooms even just as a cheap gaming hub.

Obviously, I can see this multi-device support as a part of the Live subscription to keep the subscriptions money flowing.

I think MS is onto something potentially very big here, despite so many nay-sayers.

I really wish All-in-One PC's get a huge miracle boost. I chose to get an All-in-one for the first time ever. Love how wires are nonexist, but it bothers me by how weak the GPU is. 



 

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12/22/2016- Made a bet with Ganoncrotch that the first 6 months of 2017 will be worse than 2016. A poll will be made to determine the winner. Loser has to take a picture of them imitating their profile picture.

Protendo on 21 February 2016

Xbox the console will lose sales.

I only bought an Xbox for the exclusives that wouldn't come to PC, and I have many friends who said they would have just got a PS4 and PC instead of getting an Xbox had they known so many first party games were coming to PC.

Like it or not. The PC and consoles do compete. PS4 and Xbox One compete. Xbox one and PC gamers are going to become PS4 and PC gamers.

Best case scenario, only Xbox One sales will go down, but does that really matter? If the games still get released, who cares if sales go down and more people are enjoying the alternatives? If support starts to twindle, that's when you worry.



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aLkaLiNE on 21 February 2016

They can try what they want but truthfully, moving away from one behemoth in the console space (Sony) to go fight a losing battle against the other behemoth (Steam) won't grant them access to domination on a global scale like they've been trying to achieve for years now. Honestly MS is not a gaming company and the overall gaming population just doesn't prefer them. I don't think this is something they will be able to change.

I also think these moves and the more recently transparent agenda is a bad play toward any potential gamers that might have been interested in the xbox before. They're sacrificing one base for another that they've had even less success in. Just drop out already, dammit MS d: You're that smelly poop kid.



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Puppyroach on 21 February 2016

It has been their plan since the Windows Phone 8 days and when the made "Xbox" the brand for their games across all platforms. Now they have unified the platform in Windows 10 and this ambitious plan can really come into play. So I agree and I actually don't think that many gamers have a comparable PC spec-wise so the X1 becomes the perfect gaming PC at an affordable price while the gamer get the PC version anyway for free when buying games. And I look forward to the next Xbox, a tablet that doubles as a midway PC AND a dedicated gaming machine :).



GoOnKid on 21 February 2016
vivster said:
PC and consoles are not in competition and PC players won't buy an Xbox anyway. There is no downside to releasing X1 games to PC. It's just a win for both PC players and Microsoft.

This.



AsGryffynn on 21 February 2016
aLkaLiNE said:
They can try what they want but truthfully, moving away from one behemoth in the console space (Sony) to go fight a losing battle against the other behemoth (Steam) won't grant them access to domination on a global scale like they've been trying to achieve for years now. Honestly MS is not a gaming company and the overall gaming population just doesn't prefer them. I don't think this is something they will be able to change.

I also think these moves and the more recently transparent agenda is a bad play toward any potential gamers that might have been interested in the xbox before. They're sacrificing one base for another that they've had even less success in. Just drop out already, dammit MS d: You're that smelly poop kid.

I smell butthurt, because I don't remember the same happening when it was the 360 that was around... not to mention they stopped trying after 2010...

MS could just say "screw it" and buy either of the companies with all the spare change they are hiding in other countries... to be honest, they are the only tech company short of HP and Dell that I still like a bit (and even then my support of them has dwindled)...

Whatever happened to the world domination plans they had in the 90s?

Also, if they buy Sega, I hope they only buy the IPs and not the brand... or just the gaming division... the other companies under Sega are one hell of a trainwreck (I'd like to see MS try and say TMS from crashing down and burning) and if I had to pick a company, I'd rather them buy Mistwalker and retake Tecmo before offering it to Tom in a silver platter for all his troubles... 

Puppyroach said:
It has been their plan since the Windows Phone 8 days and when the made "Xbox" the brand for their games across all platforms. Now they have unified the platform in Windows 10 and this ambitious plan can really come into play. So I agree and I actually don't think that many gamers have a comparable PC spec-wise so the X1 becomes the perfect gaming PC at an affordable price while the gamer get the PC version anyway for free when buying games. And I look forward to the next Xbox, a tablet that doubles as a midway PC AND a dedicated gaming machine :).

It's the purpose of the company. Gates was very clear when he said he wanted "a Microsoft machine in every living room" and they won't do anything else until they achieve that. They won't stop until this happens. 

I just hope that the next console is powerful and not a tablet. A PC and dedicated machine with a dedicated link seems great to me... 



Chazore on 21 February 2016

I see it as a good thing for those who don't have a good enough PC and are pretty much with a console. For PC only people, I don't really see it as being objectively worth it, even for hub boxes. I also don't see MS suddenly toppling Steam, especially since Steam is still going with their core market. As for someone like me, I can't say I;m interested since I've never wanted an X1, never needed a hub, not interested in 10 and the exclusive store rules and I;m also really fine with carrying my PC to my living room to hook up to my TV or use the TV that also happens to be in my room, that's exactly why I bought a case that has handles (apparently nearly 7 billion people are too lazy to move one box to another room but are fine to lift heavier objects or do other things).



Mankind, in its arrogance and self-delusion, must believe they are the mirrors to God in both their image and their power. If something shatters that mirror, then it must be totally destroyed.

slab_of_bacon on 21 February 2016

Oh no... it's happening again!

 

 

No wait... these are very different things.



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