Michael Pachter said that Microsoft are actually preparing themselves for a future where consoles are not the only means of consuming gaming entertainment, a future where games can be played on a whole host of devices.

"I don’t think that they are trying to get out, I think that it is inevitable that consoles will go away eventually,” Pachter said. “So I would say that it’s fair to presume that after this console cycle, each succeeding console cycle will be about half as big as before. And the reason for that is not fewer people playing games- the reason for that is more people playing games. But they’re going to be playing games on other devices.”

Pachter went on to point out that consoles as devices were made necessary by the fact that there was no device that could play games properly, on a big screen, at home. This led consoles to catch on- but with modern devices, such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and media boxes like Apple TV and Roku, increasingly becoming capable of playing games with few to no restrictions, and also capable of casting their image to TVs, consoles are not as necessary now as they used to be before. While consoles will continue to survive, because some will always prefer them, he said that they won’t be the most important pillar in the gaming ecosystem- the ecosystem will basically become a market of hundreds of millions of connected capable devices, including consoles. In such a context, no publisher will want to restrict themselves to just one,or even all, consoles’ install base.

“EA sells something like 18 million units of FIFA a year to 150 million console households- but if there are 2.5 billion people on the planet with internet access, what do you think FIFA sales would be now? At least double. Same with Call of Duty, same with any game. So I think Microsoft’s Windows 10 integration is just and acknowledgement that thesis coming. And they would like to be the relevant platform, they would like games to be played on whatever CPU/GPU combination you choose, using Windows 10. So they stay relevant,” he concluded.

http://gamingbolt.com/microsoft-is-preparing-for-a-future-where-consoles-are-less-important-according-to-michael-pachter

With their Win store, i don't think so.

We need a whole Patcher board in this forum. Everytime the man talks there's a thread about that. XD  "Mmm, I think I'll eat tacos tonight" said Patcher. Minutes later there's a thread about how taco stores are going to go under worldwide, half of the posts are blaming him for that.

About the topic. I think Microsoft is going to try and recover the lost ground on PC, and that the XBox brand will become an extension of Windows 10 store marketed at console gamers.

And Sony. PS Now, baby.

Yep. I expect all of them three to end with services like Steam.

Thats... pretty much what they said. Thx for the echo Pachter. :D

That's already what NX is.

It's just, you know, tied to hardware.

No suprise. Its 2016, having a dedicated box under your TV is pretty pointless when there are other ways to provide games. These machines have been happening since the early 80s. Its time to evolve.

Less important? Is that even possible?

And on what machines will people play their games? Steam requires a PC.