Developers still need to test and customize the game to each sku and resist the temptation to charge extra for the premium version.
On PC it's the user's responsibility to meet minimum / recommended specs. With different console sku's it's basically extra platforms which all have to go through QA separately.
Console prices won't fall as fast with tiered models, actually the price will likely remain the same or go up on average as tiers shift along.
Having some games not work well on older hardware or not at all will not help with consumer confidence.
Competitive online user base will be split unless some kind of equalizer is build in, negating the advantage of the faster models.

There is nothing wrong with backwards compatibility, it does help somewhat at the transition to a new cycle. Yet fixed console hardware has always been the biggest advantage. A unified user base, one spec, a clear break with the old gen 2 years in, time for new graphics engines. With game development getting longer, shorter mini console cycles is not an advantage.

And in the end, why not buy the slim model revision from the competitor, instead of paying premium price again for a slight upgrade to the console you already have. Especially if you can still play the new games... The pc market already has that demographic locked down.

But you know, in the real world, Nintendo can't get Xenoblade Chronicles 3DS working well enough on anything but the "new 3DS" and the "new 3DS" is just marginally better than the 3DS. But people are absolutely convinced that just a little over a year later Nintendo is going to use this model as the basis of an entirely new platform. Brilliant move. That must be why new 3DSs are flying off the shelves.

Now Microsoft is going to adopt this business model too? Video games just scale, right?. Move a couple sliders in the dev kit settings, recompile, bingo bango bongo you got yourself a game that runs on different spec hardware. It's just that easy! Well it's not. But let's assume it is. Let's assume it works just like PCs.
Just do me a favor, take a new PC game, go into the settings, and turn down every single slider to its lowest possible setting, and uncheck the boxes of every visual option possible, and just see if you can still tolerate playing that game. Now imagine how well that game would run on a $300 PC that is 5 years old. Tell me if that's a game you think the average consumer would accept if the game was advertised with all of those options maxed.  They might feel a bit betrayed.

Then comes the day, (and you know this day will come), where new games simply aren't compatible with older xboxes. The day someone goes into a store, buys an Xbox Next game, brings it home, and discovers when they put it in it doesn't work with their Xbox Next unless they buy a new model or upgrade the existing one is when the Xbox Next goes back to the store with the incompatible game and a PS5 and compatible game are purchased in its place. The outrage will be astronomical. If this happens, I really hope no one has to scratching their heads as to why the PS5 is absolutely obliterating Nintendo and MS's platforms latest offerings. Its going to be a bloodbath.

People game on consoles for convenience and ease of use. Not because its cheaper (it isn't in the long run), not because it's even remotely as powerful, but because you can get home from a hard day at work, fire your game into your console, and it just work the way you want it to and the experience is "good enough" compared to the experience on PC. No tweaking settingss, no updating drivers, no dealing with a screen tearing issue because the games engine was designed for a nVidia GPU, not your AMD GPU. You just pop in the disc, boot up your game, and pick up right where you left off. Microsoft is abandoning that, removing the most attractive parts of console gaming, and pretty much taking the worst of both worlds. Good luck with that. Disagree? Please go ahead then and show me a picture of your steam machine, because this is MS's version of that exact same idea, and we all know how consumers fell over themselves to get themselves in on that action.

Except, with MS, they also have to deal with the conundrum of what to do about how if a user plays a game on their PC, online is $0, but if they play it on their supposedly cross-compatible Xbox Next, they'll have to pay $50 a year to play that same game online. Something tells me that MS isn't dumb enough to kill that cash cow, nor are they foolish enough to start charging people to pay to play online on Win 10 when steam online will still be free. On second thought, maybe they are.

Either way, if MS goes this route, this will make the X1 launch debacle look like an intelligent move. So much dumb. So, so much dumb.

I can't take posts saying that MS has exited the console industry seriously as well as those who think X1 sales are getting lower because of this or just ignore other things. More wishful thinking.

I'm a bit lost in regards to what some users on the internet think is happening. Especially hearing some say they take this as Microsoft leaving console gaming. From what I understand after looking through a lot of info and what Phil Spencer actually said, is as follows.

PC and current Xbox One share a lot in common for software. Particularly games made for the Windows 10 store. Both current Xbox One and Windows 10 PC will have a unified store and both use Direct X 12 for games. Designing a game on Windows 10 PC can be easily ported with just a few tweaks and downgrades for Xbox One. The Xbox One as of November 2014 uses Windows 10 with the exact same Kernel as Windows 10 PC and Mobile.

Now as for Xbox being upgradable :

It will NOT be an Xbox where you physically upgrade components.

Every 3 years a new model of Xbox will release. For example 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025. And so on. This does NOT mean people who bought the Xbox One in 2013 HAVE to upgrade. Because it will still play every single title released to roughly 2021. Albeit at a weaker visual clarity and framerate alongside the existing PS4. People who don't care for cutting edge graphics will stick with their Xbox 2013 models or their PS4s.

Lets say this year the Xbox version 2 is released at xmas. With 12gb DDR4 ram, 2 x generational better GPU over 2013 Xbox model and the same CPU just clocked higher and more CACHE. It might have 2x HDMI in ports and be able to stream Netflix at 4k as well as Blurays in 4k etc. Visuals will be able to maintain 1080p @ 60fps with any title and be far far closer to top end PC games.

Its entirely the consumers choice to upgrade if they want. Because every iteration of the Xbox will have exactly the same Windows 10 dashboard that exists right now on Xbox One. Connect to the exact same Xbox Live. The only difference being that version to has better hardware to run games better and have more PC settings turned on. Also gamers don't need to be the ones to turn settings on and off. That's done by the devs.

For example. A developer creating a game in the Windows 10 ecosystem today only needs to modify small variations of code and change design inputs for each device. Touch, Mouse, controller. The dev creates the game at full spec for PC, then scales down the visuals for box version 2, then scales down for Xbox version 1. No extra multiple years of development like some are claiming. Microsoft designed Windows 10 for developers to be able to do this. Another reason why Xbox One got Direct X 12.

You cannot play PS5 games on PS4. Likewise eventually Xbox One 2013 will not play newer games say 2021 onwards. The difference is Microsoft is changing the game here and giving console owners a choice when they want to upgrade. EXACTLY the same as Smartphones, Tablets and even PC to a degree. Albeit PC is individual parts.

I do not see Microsoft releasing a new model every year or even 2. But I fully expect an announcement of a new model at E3 or just after for release this xmas. Then again every 3 years. There will be no interchangeable parts. This makes perfect sense. Hurts absolutely no one, and also means along with full mouse and keyboard support later this year Xbox console will get all Windows 10 PC exclusives with a unified store. IMO this is a game changer

Making existing owners folk out on an entirely new $400 box or stick with their current model every few years doesn't sound like smart business, many will keep their existing box despite wanting the new benefits, which means Microsoft will miss out on potential sales. For developers aswell, it'll be far reassuring if upgrades were not confined to entirely new SKU's.

Unless there are serious logistical problems at hand, having an interchangeable hardware slot as well as selling the upgrades as entirely new SKU's makes the most sense. Every 6-7 years they can introduce an entirely new model like we see in a traditional generation where you have to buy the new box to experience the benefits.

I personally don't think we'll see this with the Xbox One, but their next system(2018) will be built around this ideology. The Xbox One will be where they implement and fine tune the universal software vision.

I thought my post ws pretty self explanatory. Noone is forced to do anything. Are you forced to get galaxy s7 when galaxy s6 is plenty fine nd runs newer versions of android?

If you dont want to upgrade from xbox 2013 then you dont have to. And cn still play all the latest games till 2021 if you wish. For those console gamers who want awesome graphics more frequently then they can trade in thei old version for a new one, or sell the old one. The same as every other technology market in existence.

Having interchangeble hardware is confusing for mums at christmas. But mums understand iphones, galaxys etc. The xbox will be no different to other markets. I know plenty of gamers who chose PS4 this gen not for any exclusives but just because it had slightly more power for multiplats they play. So power is definately a thing in the console world. They woud trade every 3 years for the latest console visuals. And get to kep their library for years and years unlike the existing model.

Again no everyon has to upgrade. But those who want cutting edge visuals on console more frequently than 6-8 years apart can and will in big numbers I believe.

Over a 6+ year period*

And that still doesn't address the benefits of allowing upgradable hardware. Why would they not? Take into account that upgrades would be incremental versus huge leaps.

Because it's double edged sword. The only reason for all this new strategy here is the PS4, what displays the same games in 1080pwith more stable FPS, and cost exactly the same amount of money. If u can pay 300 for 1080, why u will pay 300 for 900 ?

I really doubt, that console user, who will not buy a next gen for more than 400 $ 5-8 years ( because 400+ for new console every 5 years is simply too much ), will pay 300 again to get their games up from 900 to 1080p after 2-3 years.

To be honest, I think the only people who will benefit of next version of Xbox One, are ... potential Xbox One users, who did not buy X1 already. People owned X1 aready  will still play in 900p, or will have to buy next version, making their older version going on sale.

That sounds all perfectly reasonable, yet it's a more costly model over all.

It all comes down to economies of scale. Consoles make their most sales after the first price cut and slim model revisions and profit increases during the gen simply because the hardware gets cheaper to make.  What you're suggesting is cutting the production run of a console in half or worse. A slim model is a simple redisign that doesn't need a lot of R&D or QA, a new premium model will need all that. Extra SKUs, extra support, extra marketing.
Plus those people (the majority) that wait for the affordable slim model will feel conflicted. Will MS still provide that slim update of the original model, is the old model going to drop in price, should you just buy a refurbished model after the hardcore upgrades? And how well will it run new games. The premium model is not going to be cheaper, likely more expensive as the projected lifetime sales will be less, simply due to fragmentation.

From the developer perspective, now they have more SKUs to run through QA. There is no magic make it stable 30fps button. It might be a lot less work than porting between generations, it is still extra work. Every patch has to be tested on all SKUs etc.

From the users point of view, even more bullshots. Downgrades are the biggest complaint every time, now there is a valid reason. Well it will look like that on the next hardware version that will inevitably come out in 2 years. It's fully forward compatible, so enjoy the slighty dull looking version now and play it again later the way it was meant to be played.

There will be some fragmentation of the user base. Suppose the new hardware version can have higher multiplayer counts online. Should it limit itself to cross play with the old version, or too bad, upgrade if you want to continue playing with your friends.


I don't doubt there will be a slim model with hdmi 2.0, 4k Netflix, upscaling blu-rays and all. A bit snappier interface, better hdd maybe ssd hybrid. Yet actually changing the hardware spec and selling it at full price again, I don't think so. The whole point of the mid gen 'new' affordable slim models is to get the majority to move over to the current gen, while making the most profit on sales.


I don't think it will be a game changer. More like confusion to the likes of the WiiU. Lots of people thought it was a simple upgrade and therefore ignored it. Ofcourse this game changer would make it fully justified to ignore the new models, games still work, well until some don't. Minimum and recommended specs for console games, ugh.

Not everyone has to upgrade, but you're forgetting some major things. Let's just take a look at the PS4. The PS4 to date has 37 million in a little over 3 years. Lifetime to date, it's expected to sell over 100 million copies. That means the vast majority of a consoles sales typically comes when the console is over 3 years old, and the price begins to go down, the game library is established etc, consoles fly off the shelves. This year is projected to be a peak year in sales for the PS4. Because people know that there's years worth of awesome games for them to play, and 5-6 years ahead of the latest games that will work on the PS4 just fine.

Now let's say Sony does what you suggest. Bam. E3, 2016. PS4.5 announced. 50% faster than the PS4.  First off, those that were going to buy a PS4 this holiday season, they're now not so sure. Now the consumer knows that in 3 years time, Sony will be releasing another PS4.9 and those games WILL NOT be compatible with their console. The PS4 now has a hard expiration date for when new games will no longer work on PS4. 10 years later, you can still get new games for PS3, but after 6 years, the original PS4 is no longer going to feature the latest and greatest titles. That doesn't sound too appealing. Then theres the marketing. Imagine going into a gamestop and seeing PS4 games with 3 different labels, and explaining to parents that the dark blue labels work on the PS4, but the light blue labels work on a newer, but different PS4 but not their PS4. Do not underestimate the stupidity of the consumer. Hundreds of thousands of people bought HD DVDs thinking they would work in their DVD players, because "it's a DVD and I have an HD tv". Educating the consumer would be a nightmare. In comparison, the PS5 games will have completely different packaging than PS4 games. That makes it pretty easy to tell whether or not the game will be compatible. You can definitely expect in this model for PS4 sales to be lower than they would if the PS4.5 wasn't announced, especially considering as you state that many would want to upgrade which means the market will be flooded with cheap used PS4s, driving the used price down. WHy buy a new PS4 for $250 when I can get a used one for $150? It's not going to be able to play the latest games in 3 years anyways!

Next, some developers are going to want to develop exclusively for the PS4.5 to get the most out of its power. Oops wait, too bad, Sony mandates developers need to develop for both. That means that PS4.5 games won't look or run as well as they could because developers have to develop for the lowest common denominator - PS4. If the PS4 can't handle it, developers won't bother to include it. It's that simple. So most games on the PS4.5 won't run as well as people like you and their consumer base would hope, because game development is really hard and really expensive as it is. Developers also need to buy a whole bunch of new dev kits, because hey games need to run well on both PS4 and PS4.5 That also means practically double the QA budget, so now games are more expensive to developer for. All the more reason to cheap out on PS4.5 enhancements. Wow. This isn't sounding too hot is it?

This will be a disaster if Microsoft goes through with it. An absolutely disaster. And you will applaud them all the way to big losses, and wonder what went wrong.