I mean for now we have Phil and we know he's a gamer. 

Honestly I have my issues with AI but It's not overhyped. Once we reach the point of AGI which is inevitable with how fast the space is growing the investments made will payoff. It's going to accelerate what we do now so like for disease research and space exploration something that might take 10 years to uncover or work on might be able to be done in 2 years with collaboration from AI once it hits that AGI benchmark. Not trying to defend AI i really don't like it either but the tech truly is insane.
Also the Trump bill if it ever passes has a 10 year ban on states regulating AI. Scary stuff.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/27/trump-tax-bill-ai-climate-emissions

Just the way I wanted to start off the week.

Can't have a week go by without some Xbox doom and gloom this week is looking to get worse as well.

Both Ybarra and Fryer are from the old guard of the way the console business traditionally ran, and seeing Xbox derail from that traditional way of competing in the extreme way that they are will get the original people upset about it. Even Seamus Blackley is vocal about it. 

Xbox has made it clear that they're no longer competing in the traditional way, so it really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone about any decisions Xbox makes.

Although Fryer's thought that Xbox is leaving first-party hardware is pretty unfounded considering we just had the announcement 2 weeks ago that the next Xbox console is coming that will play all Xbox console games natively.

Something funny about those two stances is that the former (Mike Ybarra) outright says that Xbox should kill their hardware and become a full publisher whilst the latter (Laura Fryer) sounds more super depressed about the Xbox hardware ceasing to exist (in her opinion) so they have pretty contrasting stances, Lmao.

Anyway, I don't care much about Mike's thoughts, I don't see why Xbox has to not make hardware as an option for those who want it, literally the only person who may be hurt by more Xbox hardware is only Microsoft themselves if it completely bombs, so if Mike's worry is about Xbox losing jobs if the hardware bombs, well take a look around, it literally doesn't matter at all to Microsoft, there is nothing that you can do for Microsoft to prevent being laid off whether you're running a profitable business or not.

So make more hardware, I want more hardware, I don't see how it's confusing really, Xbox can make more niche hardware that sells at a profit for those who still want it and will remain in Xbox's ecosystem, even if it's only 10-20m it would be worth doing if it is sold at a profit because that's also still 10-20m people spending solely in Xbox's ecosystem.

Also with it being a hybrid Xbox/PC, in effect it is essentially going to be a prebuilt PC, how is that confusing? It is what Microsoft should have done years ago, they should have done it instead of Xbox Series X/S and it's what they originally wanted to do. It's just Microsoft making more PC devices, like their Surface line-up. There's nothing confusing to me. I don't understand this mentality from Mike that it is one or the other, if they become a 3rd party publisher that they must not ever make hardware ever again.

As for Fryer, her comments come across as a bit "back in the good old days" but we're not in 2005 anymore, things have drastically changed, the current approach wasn't working for Xbox and destined to become more and more irrelevant, they had to change. Xbox hardware is not dead (yet) because they just announced new hardware. I get that she has an attachment to the old ways of Xbox and the piece of plastic but if it carried on like that then Satya would have literally shut Xbox down entirely.

I for one actually really like the idea of Xbox's future Play Anywhere, on any device approach, the Xbox/PC hybrid, the Xbox/PC handhelds, their own hardware for those who want it, not pointlessly locked down to a single piece of plastic. I'm excited for that, if only Microsoft wasn't a massive cunt everywhere else and destroyed all my excitement with these constant layoffs and pure greed, that is actually the #1 thing pushing me away from their ecosystem right now and not this change in direction which I'm tired of debating.

Seamus is more upset I think about how they're treating their employees.

Funnily, Mike straight up replies to someone and says Xbox should kill their hardware and become full third party so he isn't old guard in the sense like Fryer is, and I imagine a lot of Xbox console warriors will latch onto Mike's comments but without reading further where he says they should kill the Xbox hardware. Mike's stance low-key seems the more "investor" one where he is speaking from a pure money making perspective but he always gave off that vibe for me, and he gave it off really strongly when he was running Blizzard.

Fryer's stance definitely looks the more personal one, which I sort of understand, but if they were still running things like she wanted, Satya wouldn't have hesitated to put a bullet in Xbox. Should just be grateful we're getting more hardware at all and at least if it's a full blown Xbox/PC hybrid then our libraries will be safe if Xbox ever does cease with hardware entirely but the console wars are over, Xbox is competing on a different front now.

And I'm not sure why Fryer threw a dig at Xbox; "make a lot of money releasing their older games. Older games from an era when Xbox knew how to build them." What? Has she been living under a rock? Xbox Studios have been on an absolute roll the past year and that looks to continue for all of 2025 too, in both consistency and quality, that should continue for the future (if they don't fuck that all up with layoffs), so what the hell is she talking about? It does come across a bit like an angry employee saying "I was better than you was!" 

To be honest, as long as my library and profile is safe, and future devices can work as seamlessly as a console (plug straight in and play) then I really would not give a shit whether the next "Xbox hardware" devices are "made by Microsoft" or "made by ASUS" or "made by whoever" because at that point the only damn difference is that one has Microsoft's official stamp on it and one doesn't, Lol.

I would perhaps "trust" a Xbox made device more but that's only because I've bought Xbox devices for my entire life, but from a user standpoint, I really don't see what damn difference it would make to me. I'm really excited to have a PC device but with console features, console UI/UX which I can just easily plug in and play without any extra Windows bullshit and one which I can carry my entire profile and library over to, which ensures it's safe because PC is the safest place to store a library.

If the next Xbox is essentially a PC then...The ecosystem is basically going to be available on all PCs and if they pull this off then it makes no difference to me whether Xbox makes the hardware or Asus does, they will all provide the same thing but at different specs, I'm getting an ROG Xbox Ally X and excited for it, but that's very much an ASUS creation first and a Microsoft creation second and I'll likely have the same stance for future hardware if it's no longer directly made by Microsoft. I'll just likely end up picking the most powerful, Xbox as it stands is simply a device to access my library and nothing more, so would these 3rd party devices.

Looks like we're for sure getting to see the supposed Halo remake at HCS Finals!

That all but confirms they're revealing a Halo project at HCS.

You know what, I love that, they could have revealed it at the June showcase but instead they're giving it straight to Halo's most dedicated fans directly to them, at a Halo dedicated event, Halo Studios new approach is far more fan focused.