For real, and with Steam machines back on the horizon I don't see how they could compete with that.
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Xbox Series S/X: Thread 05
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Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Posthttps://www.eurogamer.net/xbox-sees-...ess-controller
They might stop making consoles but they'll never stpp making... new controller colours!
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I know that we know it and we know that MS knows it but after all this time they're still having a difficult time just admitting it - this is now the most explicit and direct so far:
"Can you solidify that Starfield is staying put for the time being?"
Phil Spencer: "No. Like there is no specific game, that I would .. That kinda goes back to my red line answer. Like there is no reason for me to put a ring fence around any game and say this game will not go to a place that it would find players, where it would have business success for us. What we find is we're able to drive a better business that allows us to invest in great game line-up like you saw. And that's our strategy, right. Our strategy is allow our games to be available. Game Pass is an important component to playing the games on our platform. But to keep games off of other platforms, we don't think is the path that we're gonna .. That's not a path for us. It doesn't work for us."
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I think it's because they have no way of making unique hardware. Most seem to tak eit as them making a handheld but Switch 2 is already on the way, we've already had the same rumbles about a PS Portable 3 and then there's Deck and its ilk. An Xbox handheld at this point is just another SKU to ignore, it would have been a brilliant move if they'd have got out in front of it when Deck first emerged but they're too behind the curve now and by the time it emerges it'll already be old news.
Similarly, there's the rumbles of a mega-powered system. PS5 Pro has shown you can't market them cheap so it won't be anything massive - plus similarly Sony will simply do something simple like release a 30 second video with the number 6 in it and they will be dead in the water again. Consumers don't want an expensive powerful Xbox, they don't want Xbox at all at this point.
If it weren't for how Xbox console dependent Game Pass still is I'm 100% they'd have pulled out of hardware by now.
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From a strategic perspective though, where else do they go?
They could have the single best game ever made and it wouldn't move Series X machines at this point.
I think a handheld is probably the only option to try and stimulate some interest. Should they have released it three years ago? Undoubtedly. But they are where they are and it would be interesting to see them do something really aggressive which is physically different to what Valve and Nintendo are offering.
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They need someone at the top to make a firm decision on what approach they want to take, they seem to constantly be in fear of choosing the right path. Realistically, they're going to have to choose between Game Pass and being the biggest Third Party publisher. I get they're wary of culling hardware as it would cause an immediate collapse of Game Pass, but 100% the next major decision they're going to make is to either hugely ramp up the top tiers price point or to end Day One GP releases. No-way the Xbox console platform and Game Pass as it exists survives the next gen of hardware from them in any SKU form, the brand is far too damaged now and just lacks strong leadership at this point.
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Don't disagree at all. If the current marketing push ('This is an Xbox') actually worked and they recruited plenty of non-Xbox subscribers, that would see them unwinding the hardware business quite quickly I think. The chances of that happening are basically nil, though, which I'm sure Phil is well aware of. If they're unwilling to divest Game Pass entirely yet, they need to keep making hardware as you say. And if they're going to keep making hardware they might as well take a stab at something which isn't just exactly what the PS5 already is.
In the end what will probably happen is that Xbox hardware goes and Game Pass kicks on for a few more years before being discontinued. It won't be viable at that point since obviously it would never be allowed onto Nintendo and Sony platforms.
It's probably going to take years for all this to happen, though.
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