Ok I will humor you on that, but there is still an issue with MS taking over gaming.

The 360 was outsold by PS3 worldwide every year after year 2 of the PS3 life, which was due to a rocky PS3 launch.  The only reason PS3 had to catch up as long as it did was because of the year head start the 360 had.  And then we have the Wii, which doninated the market during that gen regardless of personal preferences.  The 360 finished last, even with the head start and advantages it had.

Meanwhile the X1 is in a very distant second, MS is porting almost all exclusives to PC while getting a rep for shoddy ports (making it harder to beat steam), and almost every other piece of hardware they have has been labled junk by most consumers.

The X1 is not another OG XBox, not even close.  Even if it was it has no bearing on how MS will never take things over with all odds against them, plus the fact they never have and likely never will win a gen.  Hell they were lucky to take the number two spot this gen with how bad their reputation is becoming.

Try to spin it all you want, it does not change the truth.  In the gaming industry, MS will always be in the shadow of someone else no matter the platform.

I hope not, monopoly will only allow them to get away with more because there are no other options and addictions sucks. I hope Ms do better for the consumer as something more then a money-milking machine. At the moment i believe steam will take over, they are even further into the future with their steambox which is a good choice for console gamers and Steam gamers for a lot of different versions.

No they're not. We'll always have Steam and if Steam is gone and if they manage to beat Steam to get every game under the "universal app platform", I swear I'm ditching Windows for good.

Articles like this make me feel younger, as if we were back in Ballmer era.

Just one? I could think of more than that... 

As for being the shadow of someone else, I am afraid you're deeply mistaken. If there was a reason they didn't win with the OG Xbox, it was because they were the newcomer, then it was because they didn't have a blu ray drive and their console was more dated (the two year lead also crippled them later on) and now because of bad rep. Had they decided to embrace their pre Mattrick selves (more games, JP support, streamlined form factor, consumer friendly policies, independent optional Kinect, waiting until the last second to pump the power of their own machine and make it the strongest, enhanced customization options) then there's no doubt they'd have swallowed Sony up this gen. Heck, the only reason they didn't "win" the last one was because of the very cheap, very child friendly Wii. Since I don't count victories against hardware that is completely different, they technically won last gen. 

They already cleaned their reputation this one, but they did it too late. Now, if they take this and run with it, they might win next gen. This has never been a decided race, and when you're dealing with a company who, when pissed, can simply retort to brute forcing things to go their way by paying/intimidating/taking forcefully over something, there is never a clear winner. Let's face it, they lost because they had a group of fools in charge. If they wanted, next gen they could crush the competition effortlessly by leveraging Windows alongside the Xbox brand (just think about how far better the Xbox would sell if it could double as a branded PC and play PC games AND Xbox exclusive games).

Also, I am afraid I don't follow with the whole hardware part when they still create the best smartphones and the Surface brand has been getting a lot of points over the Macbook and iPad computers. Thinking otherwise is nothing but denial and if you insist on it, you're a fool. 

And when the gen is over, people forget everything that happened. Also, the last generation ended before the PS3 could close the gap (it ended when the Wii U was out. The PS3 took another two to three months to close the gap) so the Xbox 360 was a second place. In other words, MS can still take the first place (and make it final) next gen if they actually try rather than getting comfy, so spare me all the doom and gloom speech worthy of a fatalistic hater... 

I thought PS owners hated MS the most, but it seems I was wrong... 

What's wrong with MS being first place? I always like to see the underdog biting back and claiming what is rightfully theirs, plus, Steam has let me down exactly the same way Sony and Nintendo have. At least I am sure I won't find crap in the Windows Store... 

Alby_da_Wolf said: Articles like this make me feel younger, as if we were back in Ballmer era.

Ah, those days where MS taking over the world was the future... I will never forget them, the days where I'd kick up Windows 98 and hear how MS did it again... Great times... 

Rather interesting perception you got there dude.

AsGryffynn said: WolfpackN64 said: No they're not. We'll always have Steam and if Steam is gone and if they manage to beat Steam to get every game under the "universal app platform", I swear I'm ditching Windows for good. I thought PS owners hated MS the most, but it seems I was wrong...  What's wrong with MS being first place? I always like to see the underdog biting back and claiming what is rightfully theirs, plus, Steam has let me down exactly the same way Sony and Nintendo have. At least I am sure I won't find crap in the Windows Store...  Alby_da_Wolf said: Articles like this make me feel younger, as if we were back in Ballmer era. Ah, those days where MS taking over the world was the future... I will never forget them, the days where I'd kick up Windows 98 and hear how MS did it again... Great times...

I don't know why you think that except for a few trolls and ...boys you see on the internet the majority of the ps owner doesn't hate MS.

Don't think it would be effortless. I think it's within the realm of possibly, but it's definitely going to take effort, and a lot of it.

Because the one thing Microsoft's shown rather consistently when it comes to the Xbox brand is that it's significantly weaker on the global stage. Even the Xbox 360, which had literally every possible advantage- better pricing, early start, better multiplatform performance, people didn't loathe it and its stupid arrogance like they loathed the early PS3, pretty much EVERYTHING- wasn't enough to secure them numerous markets. Markets that, though individually small, were what ultimately prevented the 360 from having a runaway victory against the PS3. (Regardless of where the generation ended, who's in second or third, etc, you've got to admit, it was pretty close. =P )

And looking at this generation, the Xbox One- which, along with its initially higher price point also launched in many, many markets substantially later than the PS4, and lacks even a performance advantage- looks to have further damaged their brand power outside of the U.S., U.K., and their other Xbox 360 strongholds. In Japan, the Xbox One managed to do incredibly poorly even by the standards of an Xbox console in Japan, and when it comes to regions like Germany, France, etc, the PS4's marketshare seems to be higher than the PS3's, and the Xbox One's is much lower than the Xbox 360's.

Recovering enough to make the Xbox Two a solid competitor in the territories the Xbox 360 was dominant in is one thing, and perfectly doable if they launch the generation on the right foot. (Will it be even MORE dominant than the Xbox 360 in the U.S.? That I'm less certain of.) At least in those regions, though, they have a strong base of current and former fans to build upon.

But trying to create a brand that transcends multiple cultures, languages and customs to compete with a company that has held the upper hand in many of those territories for four generations straight now is going to be a truly Herculean task. A lot of that fanbase is going to need to be built up entirely from scratch. I'm not saying Microsoft can't do it, but it sure as heck won't be effortless, the logistics and planning alone would be immense, and they'll need to spend ten times more than Sony in advertising to counter their competitor's home field advantage. They will need a LOT of exclusives that appeal to more than just a Western audience- I'm talking Japanese titles and other more 'niche' items.

----

And I do mean actual exclusives. Because no, simply leveraging PC games in those regions isn't necessarily going to be enough. Something you may be neglecting when you say 'sell PC games' is that an Xbox branded PC would- let's face it- probably only allow its users to buy from the Windows Store, because that's kind of the entire point of both Xbox and Playstation; monopoly on the storefront. No Steam, no GoG, etc. Meaning the value of this whole 'PC games on Xbox' thing will be tied entirely to how many developers choose to make use of UWP, and that will be tied to how the PC userbase responds to it, and right now the overall response is not filled with love and sunshine.

Right now, Microsoft needs to focus on making Universal Windows Apps an actual thing that people like, or at least somewhat tolerate, and not something that's raised more than one comment of 'Jesus, I'd Prefer Games For Windows Live!' so developers can be confident that if they make their title a Universal Windows App, the bulk of the PC demographic aren't going to shun it on principle. Once they've done that- once they've loosened the restrictions on modding, third-party attachments, and fixed the other issues the platform has- then maybe 'leveraging Windows' will actually mean something. =P

But right now, it's kind of an empty prospect.

It's because their app platform is proprietary.