But those developers don't have a console they need to convince people to buy. Do you see Sony and Nintendo supporting PC at all?

Look, I think I understand why MS is doing this. They need to shake off the image of bad guys they built over the years, and they're also trying to build a safety net in case its console division fails. But I think they're going about it the wrong way. I hope I'm wrong thou.

Sony and Nintendo don't own a fairly successful OS called Windows. MS also runs the digital store included with Windows.

Regardless how well Xbox does, much of which will only be a few western countries, the PC/Windows market is a huge audience being ignored. I always felt MS should do a better job supporting PC gaming and their day one support with Windows Store is more than I ever expected.

Putting all their games on PC might eat some console sales, but its also worth considering they're making their games available to a much bigger audience that's considered neutral. There are many people who game on PC that really don't want to buy a Xbox, we even see them on this forum. Think of it this way, MS is getting more people to play MS games on a MS platform, Windows.

A lot of people are creating a scenario where Scarlett sales struggle simply because people are opting to play Xbox games on Windows. That can arguably be seen as a good thing in my opinion.

A more realistic scenario is maybe Scarlett has respectable sales like Xbox One, maybe better. While the Windows Store thrives because notable content is constantly added and Game Pass is a great deal. That's a scenario I imagine MS is aiming for.

Like I said, I hope MS (and you) are right on this one.

I would say go for the scarlett and make the game as ambitious as possible without being held down by X1 baseline.

Making it "as ambitious as possible" likely means the game couldn't be ready for the hardware launch. This game has been in developer for years on the X1.

It will be the next Halo that really takes advantage of the Scarlett. Also, technical superiority (utilizing new specs) doesn't mean a better game per se. Is anybody arguing Halo 5 is the best game in the series?

Absolutely not, the best Halo game is Halo:MCC. Because its the old games just leveraging better specs. That's what Halo Infinite will be, but at launch!

There is never certainty a game will be great.

But having more available to make it should increase the possibility of it happening.

I understand it have been in development for a long time and that you want it as launch title, and that it have used X1 for development so it wouldn't have much improvement just by shifting solely to Scarlett. But I was just arguing my preference.

TLOU2, GoT, Death Stranding will launch on PS4 and certainly have crossgen launch. But I would also say go ahead and make it exclusive to PS5 with increased scope.

To be fair, no PC gamer takes the Windows Store seriously, it's viewed very much as Games for Windows Live~ 2.0 which was a colossal failure.
It seems to be doing a bit better than GFWL... But the multiplayer populations of games are pretty barren to the point where Microsoft even issued refunds for people. (I.E. Gears of War 4.)

On PC, Steam is where it is at... And until recently Microsoft was ignoring Steam entirely, which wasn't doing their "commitment to PC" any favors. (Where is Halo Wars 2 Microsoft? Hows about more Fable 3 keys?)

As for Xbox vs PC... Both platforms have a different place in the gaming landscape, I primarily game on PC, but I do own consoles in the lounge room when I wish to relax with friends and have a few games... But I would imagine I am the exception, not the rule on that front.

However... What drew me to the Xbox in the first place was Halo: Combat evolved and Halo 2... And to a lesser extent Fable. - Yes they got a PC release, but you couldn't do split screen multiplayer... And what will keep me buying Xbox consoles is more of that... Those "small features". - Thus it is games like Halo 5 that omits such features that makes the purchase of a console less desirable.

But what exactly is "increased scope"?

That doesent doesent mean anything. I mean Halo 5 could have been been more ambitious on the same specs it was built for.

X1 and PS4 are very capable machines, developers can create very ambitious and large scale games on them. I never played a game on these consoles and thought the game design suffered just because technical limitations.

If the goal in Halo Infinite is creating large maps with lots of AI enemies, vehicles, etc. They can do that on a base X1. Even the OG Xbox did that with Halo 1 and 2.

Was Halo 5 beyond the scope of OG Xbox? I would argue no.

Yeah... yeah... no digital PC game store is taken seriously compared to Steam. Yet others continue to exist. Blah... blah...

I dont need a history lesson on GFW, I agree it was half assed effort. The Windows Store has been much better in virtually every way.

For PvP content, I'm not even sure adding games to Steam is guaranteed to bring significant MP numbers. Maybe for Halo:MCC atleast. Do PC users care about Gears MP, not a guarantee.

However, there are crossplay experiences that are fine between Xbox and PC. Like Sea of Theives, Forza, Killer Instinct, etc. Gears 4 for example atleast allows players to play co-op stuff like horde mode.

Halo Wars 1 did well on Steam I believe. As did State of Decay 1. Maybe the sequels are being used to attract users but could come to Steam eventually.

Fable 3 doesent need more keys. It needs to have the GFW content removed and no reliance on keys. But I imagine MS has bigger plans than that down the road.

Even MS said no split screen in Halo 5 was bad move. I'm still hoping they add split screen to that game via Scarlett.

And yet the Windows store is absolutely terrible and tends to omit basic features that the PC gaming community needs and desires... In-fact it does a few things even worst than Games for Windows Live!
Windows store games tend to run in exclusive mode for instance, no mod support, no multi-gpu support... And tends to have non-existent multiplayer populations for AAA games.

Is the Windows Store better than Games for Windows Live? Yes. Does that make it good? Hell no.
Replying with "Blah Blah" does tell me you aren't really interested in having this conversation though, so why bother?

Of course PC gamers care about Multiplayer, the biggest games on the PC are multi-player titles.
ElDewrito showcased the demand of Halo's multiplayer component as well on PC.

Of course.

Halo Wars 1 did really well. It boggles the mind why Microsoft would not bother bringing Halo Wars 2 to Steam.
Microsoft for what feels like over a decade has said it will "do better" and "recommit" to PC gamers and yet still pulls stunts like that.

Microsoft needs more keys for Fable 3 on Steam so they can sell more copies on Steam. They ran out of keys.

I have a copy, but there are plenty of people wanting to pick up a copy... And Microsoft is missing out on sales because of it.

I agree. Feature parity should be the minimum, but if Microsoft wants to best Halo 3, it needs to throw everything at it.
But keen for split-screen again... I only own a single Xbox One controller for that very reason.