From Sharma’s message: I just don’t believe this message at all. To me this situation reads like Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond getting fired for fumbling game pass, cloud gaming, Xbox in general,...
From Sharma’s message:
As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.
I just don’t believe this message at all. To me this situation reads like Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond getting fired for fumbling game pass, cloud gaming, Xbox in general, and an AI-pilled CEO taking their place.
I don't think it was fired. I think Spencer is cashing out and jumping ship, which is fair enough. I think he knows the way the winds are going. Bond stepping out at the same time really...
I don't think it was fired. I think Spencer is cashing out and jumping ship, which is fair enough. I think he knows the way the winds are going. Bond stepping out at the same time really reinforces this. I think she does not want to take the helm with where this ship is going either. It's that bad a situation.
And yeah. Having the previous president of the CoreAI product in a company reported to be trying to push 80+% AI integration by the end of this year alone try to suddenly tell us "yea we won't let AI slop drive our short term profits"... okay. Let's see what you tell your shareholders in the next earning calls. Clearly it's fine to outright lie to consumers these days.
My first reaction on seeing this headline is finally. His whole "I'm just like you gamers" thing got tiring quickly after year after year of mediocre or cancelled games. Edit: sigh the new...
My first reaction on seeing this headline is finally. His whole "I'm just like you gamers" thing got tiring quickly after year after year of mediocre or cancelled games.
Edit: sigh the new leadership coming from the AI side of Microsoft is not a good sign.
If Microsoft gaming (or at least Xbox) is dying, then I feel like the guy taking over who leads the push for Copilot means it's effectively dead. Not that fanboism is really relevant here, but...
If Microsoft gaming (or at least Xbox) is dying, then I feel like the guy taking over who leads the push for Copilot means it's effectively dead.
Not that fanboism is really relevant here, but I've never been an Xbox person. But it's a shame what's going on with Xbox. Less consumer choice is never good.
Seeing Sony's bungling this generation and Nintendo's moves to squeeze even more money out during this power vacuum really makes you appreciate Xbox more than Xbox's actions ever could. I'm still...
But it's a shame what's going on with Xbox. Less consumer choice is never good.
Seeing Sony's bungling this generation and Nintendo's moves to squeeze even more money out during this power vacuum really makes you appreciate Xbox more than Xbox's actions ever could.
I'm still shocked that Microsoft wasn't the one to really push a proper Steam Deck esque handheld out there first. It would basically be their version of a Switch to finally converge their two big platforms and satisfy 2 audiences at once, while pressuring Nintendo and outright threatening Sony to try and get back into the game.
Instead we have Microsoft pulling a Sega off (without Sega's financially dire state), Sony abandoning innovation and whiffing all its attempts at making a forever game (imagine having one of the potentially best roblox competitors out there that you spent 7 year on. Then dropping it unceremoniously), and Nintendo no longer reflecting that approachable family audience.
They did a steam deck, kind of. They have the Xbox branded Acer ROG Ally X Xbox or whatever stupid name they call the thing. They introduced new windows features coinciding with its release to be...
They did a steam deck, kind of. They have the Xbox branded Acer ROG Ally X Xbox or whatever stupid name they call the thing. They introduced new windows features coinciding with its release to be more competitive with steam deck on the software front.
I haven’t heard any reports of anyone buying it though. It was very expensive.
Yeah, that was always going to be a higher end product, probably to save on optimization time to get Xbox titles running on it easier. What I don't get is why they thought it would make a splash...
Yeah, that was always going to be a higher end product, probably to save on optimization time to get Xbox titles running on it easier.
What I don't get is why they thought it would make a splash in the market. It was so much more expensive than the Switch or Steam Deck, and its not like Xbox has titles to push console sales.
I really don't want to see Xbox die, but it certainly has been sick for a long while now. Mismanagement and multiple big title flops seem to have never been figured out.
I don't think they did think it would make a splash? ASUS has been making the Legion Ally X for a while, as a super-steam deck kind of device. Presumably one or the other went to the other and...
I don't think they did think it would make a splash?
ASUS has been making the Legion Ally X for a while, as a super-steam deck kind of device. Presumably one or the other went to the other and said, "hey, what if you slap your brand name on our new version of an existing product line, you get another xbox device, we get some free brand appeal, win-win" and that was about it.
indeed. They eventually try something some 5 years after Valve pushes something out, and it's the bare minimum about of effort possible. They barely had a hand in making it to begin with; they...
indeed. They eventually try something some 5 years after Valve pushes something out, and it's the bare minimum about of effort possible. They barely had a hand in making it to begin with; they partnered with an existing manufacturer's line of portable PC's, let them use the Xbox brand for a successor, and let Asus handle the rest.
no scaling of manudacturing to help bring MSRP down, no hardware facilities to help with power management, no consumer incentives over any other PC outside of branding, etc. And the advertising was tepid.
I’m pretty well entrenched in the PlayStation ecosystem and haven’t touched a current-gen Xbox controller, so I’m curious what’s so good about them? I really like the DualSense and I was under the...
I’m pretty well entrenched in the PlayStation ecosystem and haven’t touched a current-gen Xbox controller, so I’m curious what’s so good about them? I really like the DualSense and I was under the impression that was considered the crowd favorite.
Not who you were replying to, but I personally prefer the layout of the PlayStation controllers. So much so that I bought an 8bitdo controller for my Xbox that puts it in the PS Dual Shock...
Not who you were replying to, but I personally prefer the layout of the PlayStation controllers. So much so that I bought an 8bitdo controller for my Xbox that puts it in the PS Dual Shock configuration. Same thing my gaming controllers for my Mac and my AppleTV and my iPhone/iPad. 8bitdo Bluetooth controllers in the Dual Shock style.
It definitely comes down to personal preference now that the DualSense is out but the modern Xbox controller is very much an evolution of the 360s controller, not a revolution like Playstation...
It definitely comes down to personal preference now that the DualSense is out but the modern Xbox controller is very much an evolution of the 360s controller, not a revolution like Playstation went through from 3->4->5.
I still don't "get" gyro. I have it on my Steam Deck and find it an irritation at best. I've tried the micro aiming or whatever, but it doesn't make things feel any better to me. Ultimately,...
I still don't "get" gyro. I have it on my Steam Deck and find it an irritation at best. I've tried the micro aiming or whatever, but it doesn't make things feel any better to me.
Ultimately, sometimes I can play shooters on my Deck with the trackpad and have enabled gyro to try and close the gap, but shifting my wrists during play doesn't seem intuitive to me.
For me, gyro has only really made sense for Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, specifically the bow mechanics. While you can aim with the right stick, it feels easier...
For me, gyro has only really made sense for Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, specifically the bow mechanics. While you can aim with the right stick, it feels easier sometimes to just move the console around to aim and then fire. I haven't experienced the same intuitiveness in other FPS games when trying to use gyro though.
That is in essence how I'll use it for all FPS. Broad movements done with thumb, fine with slight controller move. Optionally only takes effect if looking down the sights.
That is in essence how I'll use it for all FPS.
Broad movements done with thumb, fine with slight controller move.
Optionally only takes effect if looking down the sights.
To emphasize: I'm surprised they made it good. They tries as hard as they could to ruin it though, between the horrible naming conventions and the whole 'Kinect' debacle.
To emphasize: I'm surprised they made it good.
They tries as hard as they could to ruin it though, between the horrible naming conventions and the whole 'Kinect' debacle.
I don't feel like Spencer had much to offer, but I don't see this improving things at all. However my expectations of Microsoft and its subsidiaries are so on-the-ground low that I don't think...
I don't feel like Spencer had much to offer, but I don't see this improving things at all. However my expectations of Microsoft and its subsidiaries are so on-the-ground low that I don't think there's any hope they do anything worthwhile
Bond definitely got fired. As for Asha Sharma, Microsoft also threw away their lead in AI in quite a massive way, so not particularly impressed by anyone attached to that.
Bond definitely got fired. As for Asha Sharma, Microsoft also threw away their lead in AI in quite a massive way, so not particularly impressed by anyone attached to that.
Can't say he had a particularly easy job cleaning up the absolute disaster Don Mattrick left behind, but gotta say, I don't think buying up a ton of studios to try to get people hooked on a $30/mo...
Can't say he had a particularly easy job cleaning up the absolute disaster Don Mattrick left behind, but gotta say, I don't think buying up a ton of studios to try to get people hooked on a $30/mo subscription service was a particularly good direction for Xbox either. I'm sure there'll be a couple good articles assessing his legacy shortly.
Honestly it feels like consoles are winding down as a thing. I understand why they held on as long as they did, but the more they converged with PCs the less of a use case scenario they had. When...
Honestly it feels like consoles are winding down as a thing. I understand why they held on as long as they did, but the more they converged with PCs the less of a use case scenario they had. When I started to be able to use the exact same controller for my PC or my Xbox, I knew it was only a matter of time. Especially as Microsoft famously took some pretty heavy losses on I think every single generation up to present. That's just not sustainable, let alone for 25 years.
I kinda starting hearing the death knell when SEGA bowed out after Dreamcast and declined to make another console. I think if I had to predict, Sony's going to bow out after making the PS6, and Nintendo's going to milk Switch 2 for as long as they can, and then eventually they'll all be producing for either Windows or Steam.
I dunno, maybe I'm misreading the tea leaves. I've been right about some of my crazy-ass ideas before, but also hilariously wrong. Time will tell, but my feeling is dedicated consoles are going to be a niche retro hobby going forward.
Edits: for clarity on my position on PS6. Also, I don't mention it above but I don't foresee Microsoft making another console after their next one either. I could be wrong, maybe the winds will shift and I'll look back on this post with amusement at my inability to predict the future. But if I had to put my money down today, I'd say the PS6 and whatever the NeXbox is will take down both companies' gaming divisions.
I mean... to claim that you heard the death knell of consoles when the dreamcast died is like saying you hear the end of the universe because one star went supernova! Entire lives will be lived in...
I mean... to claim that you heard the death knell of consoles when the dreamcast died is like saying you hear the end of the universe because one star went supernova! Entire lives will be lived in that time. Thats not even taking into account the actual specifics of why sega bowed out of the market.
Purpose built electronics like a console will be around for a little while longer. Mainly because their existence rely on covering a gap in the market, which there will always be because no product is singularly perfect at everything and cheap. Consider the Nex Playground, thats a new console and its market is youth oriented with an easy to swallow price tag. Its doing fairly well, justifying its existence as well as third party development costs.
The problem is that Microsoft has NO direction. They are a large company with multiple fingers in hundreds of pies, all of which theyre only mildly interested in... and some of those pies are extremely expensive to continue having fingers in. This makes decision making really difficult for these pies mmmm pies and theyre not a decisive company. Theyre an acquisition company, and unless they acquire a "smaller" competing console maker... theyre screwed. There are competent people at the xbox gaming division but their ideas are difficult and time consuming to put into motion so instead the eye of sauron finds something new to look at for a while. I would actually argue that if microsoft leaves the xbox division somewhat in tact, we might actually see a skunkworks revival in some form down the line because of how many people love the brand internally. Not to mention the optics align for it with Xbox's underdog brand in general.
My point is that consoles will continue to exist in some form, we have cell phones that can change the tv channel but we still use tv remotes and we have pc's that can run Crisis but sometimes you just want to swing your arms around like donkey kong without seeing a work email notification on screen.
If I said that consoles wouldn't exist at all then I wasn't fully forming my thoughts (I answered first thing in the morning, I don't remember exactly what I said.) I don't think they'll go away...
If I said that consoles wouldn't exist at all then I wasn't fully forming my thoughts (I answered first thing in the morning, I don't remember exactly what I said.)
I don't think they'll go away entirely, I just doubt we'll have the one-mode consoles we have now. The value proposition, I think, isn't there.
And as for SEGA exiting, as I said elsewhere I've been predicting that the console market would start dwindling since then, and I've not really been wrong per se. Three main consoles left, but when Dreamcast was out there were 4. I was nearly right when Nintendo's Wii-U failed, but the Switch went over gangbusters and set the whole thing back another few decades. All I'm saying is, don't move money based on my paint-huffing.
At the very least, I don't think Nintendo will ever leave the console market. They like to experiment with the potential capabilities of consoles. Plus, a good chunk of parents and older...
At the very least, I don't think Nintendo will ever leave the console market. They like to experiment with the potential capabilities of consoles. Plus, a good chunk of parents and older non-gamers still call all video game consoles "Nintendo's" so they've got firm brand security. They've established a strong niche and have no reason to ditch the console market anytime soon, if ever.
Also... The Dreamcast came out in 1998. Before the PS2 and first Xbox came out. That's a pretty long time ago to hear the death knell for console gaming...
Nintendo will probably be making consoles long beyond my time on this earth. But yeah, I've been yelling about the sky falling in the console space since the early 00's. I'll be right one of these...
Nintendo will probably be making consoles long beyond my time on this earth. But yeah, I've been yelling about the sky falling in the console space since the early 00's. I'll be right one of these days!
I feel they could do all of the things they want by simply manufacturing peripherals at this point. But there’s significantly less money to be made that way versus having the proverbial keys to...
I feel they could do all of the things they want by simply manufacturing peripherals at this point. But there’s significantly less money to be made that way versus having the proverbial keys to the kingdom.
What do you envision the future will be like? Valve is bringing a new console into the market, so they seem to think consoles aren't dead as a concept, especially if gaming further converges on...
What do you envision the future will be like? Valve is bringing a new console into the market, so they seem to think consoles aren't dead as a concept, especially if gaming further converges on Steam. They're already competing with the Switch, too, so one way or the other traditional console form factors would continue to exist.
I find it hard to believe the mainstream will embrace gaming PCs again. Especially with components becoming increasingly more expensive and difficult to procure. I hope they will keep existing as they are the best way to enjoy gaming, but still.
That leaves (for the mainstream) only two alternatives. Mobile gaming is one, but a lot of videogame enjoyers will never be satisfied with just that market, since it's so bogged down by slop and predatory monetization models. And the other is gaming-as-a-service, which... might not be in the consumer's best interests, in the long term, but I can definitely see that happening.
Gaming as a service, mostly played on Steam/Deck/ROG Ally handhelds, and some on actual computers and the GabeCube. The portents that I'm reading are this: Xbox Not a single profitable Xbox since...
Gaming as a service, mostly played on Steam/Deck/ROG Ally handhelds, and some on actual computers and the GabeCube. The portents that I'm reading are this:
Xbox
Not a single profitable Xbox since launch in 2001. Xbox Cloud gaming has been in Beta and available to the premium subscribers for awhile now; it's not bad, I can even play it on my Mac in Safari and have done so in the past before The Great Price Hike last year. Xboxes are essentially gaming PCs that are locked into a single use case, and it's not hard to look at he ongoing price hikes and see Microsoft bowing out of the market simply due to not being able to bring an Xbox to market that they can take that big of a bath on. Can you see yourself spending $1499 for the next console? I can't see myself spending that.
They've also been toying with "one subscription to rule them all" for awhile now. If I had to guess, sometime later this year they'll give you a discount on Xbox Premium if you've also got a Microsoft Copilot subscription. Only $99.95/mo for both and you get access to all the Microsoft products and the ability to stream Xbox anywhere you want. By Grabthar's Hammer... ... ... ...what a savings.
Sony
Sony has had PlayStation Plus for awhile, and it's something you can get independent of your ownership of a PlayStation; if you get Premium, you get Cloud Streaming. Sony itself has been selling off chunks of its consumer electronics divisions for awhile now (with their television division being their latest and biggest) and like with Microsoft it's not hard for them to look at ongoing RAM shortages and other component shortages and axing the PlayStation after PS6. If the PlayStation Portal gets that long-promised standalone update and doesn't need a PS5 tether anymore, that would be Sony officially throwing their hat into to Deck/Switch/ROG Ally space.
Nintendo
Between Nintendo Online and the way the Switch/Switch 2 already work, Nintendo is basically here. I think they'll still with the digital downloads model, but they may be able to be convinced to allow Xbox Cloud, PlayStation Plus, and Steam onto their platform for either a monthly fee or a small cut of each sale.
Valve
I think Steam's going to continue as they are, and people will flock to the GabeCube if they need to have a real computer/gaming machine experience. Knowing that your gaming PC has console-like standards for what games can run on it (and I can imagine Valve making the "works with Steam Machine" seal being as big a deal as the Nintendo seal of approval) and if you need to drop out and do other non-gaming work you've always got that real computer layer in there. I think there's a real use case for "my PC is in my pocket, and it's a powerful gaming rig as well" is kind of the dream for a lot of folks. It delivers on promises that gaming laptops have been making and failing at for years now: true portability, a guarantee of standards and minimal to no fiddling (if Valve starts cracking down on developers with piss-poor PC ports.)
I guess what I'm trying to say with this is that if I had a computer I knew I could truly, easily take anywhere, that I could drop into a dock and use with a real monitor and keybord/mouse combo, and that could also effectively game (especially if there was some sort of assurance of a minimum baseline standard that assured the games would "just work" on it as many PC games now do) then for me the idea of dropping $1k-$2k on this one machine and games for it is much more appealing than spending $2k-$3k to build a mid-range PC that's good enough for now, upwards of another $1000 on a gaming console and games for it.
Like I said, I could be reading the tea leaves wrong. It's just the feeling I've had for awhile. I'm firing this off without editing it, I have things to do today, but I'll come back and look at this later.
I'm not so sure about this one: Playstation hardware release cycles are very long. Even if the obscenity that is the AI bubble never really bursts due to protectionism or the same kind of...
I'm not so sure about this one:
ongoing RAM shortages and other component shortages and axing the PlayStation after PS6
Playstation hardware release cycles are very long. Even if the obscenity that is the AI bubble never really bursts due to protectionism or the same kind of collective investor dellusion that has sustained crypto for so long, I feel like (and I've made related arguments on tildes before) hardware manufacturing can actually stabilize faster than this, typically in just a few years, as has been the case historically - even if it's just the unlikeliest case of China catching up to the point where the departing incumbents left the technology stagnated. Seeing that, it would make little sense for Sony to make decisions regarding a next, distant future Playstation based on specifically that...
It’s long been rumored the next Xbox will be a small form factor PC running windows. I’m wondering if the steam machine announcement hurt Xbox’s plans because they won’t be able to compete with...
It’s long been rumored the next Xbox will be a small form factor PC running windows.
I’m wondering if the steam machine announcement hurt Xbox’s plans because they won’t be able to compete with the (expected) price or performance of the steam machine. With the steam deck showing gaming on Linux works, and Windows’ reputation in decline, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re considering scrubbing a (theoretical) windows-xbox console.
Won't the steam machine have an issue with multiplayer games with heavy anti-cheat? My perception has been that multiplayer games and anti-cheat will be a big part of where the future of gaming...
Won't the steam machine have an issue with multiplayer games with heavy anti-cheat? My perception has been that multiplayer games and anti-cheat will be a big part of where the future of gaming goes. I keep thinking dedicated hardware may have an advantage, but dedicated gaming hardware like the Steam Machine where it doesn't seem Linux/Proton has the same support for anti-cheat as Windows/consoles would make it something people won't flock to.
Yes, although I view anticheat as more of a problem for the game instead of for the steam machine. Arc Raiders just had the biggest multiplayer launch of the year and runs perfectly fine on linux....
Yes, although I view anticheat as more of a problem for the game instead of for the steam machine. Arc Raiders just had the biggest multiplayer launch of the year and runs perfectly fine on linux.
I don’t think anticheat is the future of multiplayer games, except for competitive games. I don’t play competitive multiplayer so it’s not a problem for me.
While this is no means a thorough examination and isn't even able to compare the relative scale of 'the issue', a cursory search seems to show multiple reddit threads just in the past week that...
Arc Raiders
While this is no means a thorough examination and isn't even able to compare the relative scale of 'the issue', a cursory search seems to show multiple reddit threads just in the past week that garnered a decent amount of attention as far as I can tell.
It's quite possible any popular game gets similar threads, and that has nothing to do with the game being playable on Linux, perhaps there are more cheaters on Playstation or Xbox than there is on Linux/Windows even as a percentage of those respective player bases, I don't know. I don't play multiplayer games much these days so I have no personal experience, but I still assume cheating is slightly more difficult on consoles than it is on PC, even with invasive anti-cheats on Windows.
I personally haven’t experienced any cheaters on Arc, so not much to say about that. The last two games I did have problems with cheaters were CSGO (PC) and Halo 4 (Xbox). The latter having an...
I personally haven’t experienced any cheaters on Arc, so not much to say about that.
The last two games I did have problems with cheaters were CSGO (PC) and Halo 4 (Xbox). The latter having an aimbot problem was always wild to me.
I don't think any game in particular is important enough to warrant that level of access to a PC, so when enough people switch to an OS that doesn't allow that level of invasive detection we'll...
I don't think any game in particular is important enough to warrant that level of access to a PC, so when enough people switch to an OS that doesn't allow that level of invasive detection we'll inevitably see a switch away from that type of anticheat.
In other words, they'll follow the consumers. Not the other way around.
Any game in particular, maybe not, but multiple games, possibly. I think it depends on the differences in anti-cheat capabilities between systems. If all available systems can be equally secured,...
Any game in particular, maybe not, but multiple games, possibly. I think it depends on the differences in anti-cheat capabilities between systems. If all available systems can be equally secured, that's one thing. If some platforms can be more secured than others, but the games allow insecure platforms on cross-platform play, and then other games do not, then I genuinely believe that with enough of a subsection of those games holding out, IF there is a significant difference in cheating impacting the games that people will choose more locked down platforms. Some games could end up being unplayable if there's too much cheating happening, so it's not hard for me to believe that people might choose playable multiplayer games that are on secured platforms rather than to simply not play those games at all.
Personally, I think the future of gaming is best captured in a few existing facets: Cloud gaming: Demos, and to a lesser extent, highly remote gamers, will want cloud gaming. This will ultimately...
Personally, I think the future of gaming is best captured in a few existing facets:
Cloud gaming: Demos, and to a lesser extent, highly remote gamers, will want cloud gaming. This will ultimately remain a very small portion of the market due to its high consumer cost, high requirements (internet), and physics fundamentals (latency)
Standard Consoles (Living room centric): Will continue to converge with PCs, and ultimately shink in market share. There will always be a market for easy couch games, but going forward it will be increasingly cannibalized by standard PCs - especially ones running Linux.
Portable consoles / hybrid consoles: The future here is strong for the foreseeable future. Tight integration of the hardware and software is especially important in portable consoles, and there exists no seriously competitive homebrew versions.
Everything else: Gamers will make increasingly use of their PCs rather than consoles to play games. Linux will gain in popularity as desktop environments mature, GPU drivers improve, and Linux distros overall become more stable. In the short term, Linux distros have an opportunity to capture lots of "market" share: Hardware prices are at an all time high, and Windows 11 is ridiculously inefficient and slow. Linux distros are lightweight, fast, and stable nowadays, so we'll hopefully see more people switching.
A fairly optimistic view of the future! For single player, consumers hate "always online" but big studios love it, so it depends on whether that particular industry keeps self-destructing and...
A fairly optimistic view of the future!
For single player, consumers hate "always online" but big studios love it, so it depends on whether that particular industry keeps self-destructing and giving way to smaller studios or not... I think for demos it's the opposite also; it's much cheaper and easier to just plop a demo on steam in time for nextfest, which is sufficient for getting your game in front of plenty of eyeballs and getting you feedback.
I feel that since at least the time Microsoft announced the Xbox One they have been actively trying to kill consoles. Their announcement of that system not only had some massively stupid changes...
I feel that since at least the time Microsoft announced the Xbox One they have been actively trying to kill consoles. Their announcement of that system not only had some massively stupid changes that they were forced to peddle back on from public outcry, they started showing it off with media capabilities and didn’t talk games for something like the first 15-20 minutes. Since then, they’ve further integrated their console business with Windows, and essentially killed off the idea of console exclusives.
I don't see why Nintendo wouldn't continue to make consoles after thr Switch 2 ; in fact, considering their history, I have a feeling they would quit the gaming industry once making consoles...
Nintendo's going to milk Switch 2 for as long as they can, and then eventually they'll all be producing for either Windows or Steam
I don't see why Nintendo wouldn't continue to make consoles after thr Switch 2 ; in fact, considering their history, I have a feeling they would quit the gaming industry once making consoles became unsustainable, even if they could make more money by moving to PC. It'd take a big turn in their leadership's direction before they would decide to give up on their closed ecosystem.
It’s exactly that leadership direction that makes me worried that they’re not going to be able to field another console after the Switch 2. Everything I’ve been seeing from the various economic...
It’s exactly that leadership direction that makes me worried that they’re not going to be able to field another console after the Switch 2. Everything I’ve been seeing from the various economic sources I pay attention to (and can understand) points to hard economic conditions in Japan, due to their lack of a younger generation being born at sufficient rates to replace the aging population. To me that points towards a lack of future productivity for at least hardware. I do think that the software division could probably hang on for decades more. I’m just doubtful about the hardware. I could be wrong though. It’s not a deeply held opinion. It’s just vibes.
Only reason I have an Xbox these days is for those old 360 games that were never ported to new consoles. Call of duty 3 (seriously underappreciated game in the franchise), lost Odyssey, blue...
Only reason I have an Xbox these days is for those old 360 games that were never ported to new consoles. Call of duty 3 (seriously underappreciated game in the franchise), lost Odyssey, blue dragon etc. For everything else I have a switch 2 and PS5. While it's sad what's happening with Xbox, I can see a third party stepping in eventually.
From Sharma’s message:
I just don’t believe this message at all. To me this situation reads like Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond getting fired for fumbling game pass, cloud gaming, Xbox in general, and an AI-pilled CEO taking their place.
I don't think it was fired. I think Spencer is cashing out and jumping ship, which is fair enough. I think he knows the way the winds are going. Bond stepping out at the same time really reinforces this. I think she does not want to take the helm with where this ship is going either. It's that bad a situation.
And yeah. Having the previous president of the CoreAI product in a company reported to be trying to push 80+% AI integration by the end of this year alone try to suddenly tell us "yea we won't let AI slop drive our short term profits"... okay. Let's see what you tell your shareholders in the next earning calls. Clearly it's fine to outright lie to consumers these days.
My first reaction on seeing this headline is finally. His whole "I'm just like you gamers" thing got tiring quickly after year after year of mediocre or cancelled games.
Edit: sigh the new leadership coming from the AI side of Microsoft is not a good sign.
Just wait for the earn money while we use your Xbox compute power
Joke's on them, I haven't turned my Xbox on in years.
If Microsoft gaming (or at least Xbox) is dying, then I feel like the guy taking over who leads the push for Copilot means it's effectively dead.
Not that fanboism is really relevant here, but I've never been an Xbox person. But it's a shame what's going on with Xbox. Less consumer choice is never good.
Seeing Sony's bungling this generation and Nintendo's moves to squeeze even more money out during this power vacuum really makes you appreciate Xbox more than Xbox's actions ever could.
I'm still shocked that Microsoft wasn't the one to really push a proper Steam Deck esque handheld out there first. It would basically be their version of a Switch to finally converge their two big platforms and satisfy 2 audiences at once, while pressuring Nintendo and outright threatening Sony to try and get back into the game.
Instead we have Microsoft pulling a Sega off (without Sega's financially dire state), Sony abandoning innovation and whiffing all its attempts at making a forever game (imagine having one of the potentially best roblox competitors out there that you spent 7 year on. Then dropping it unceremoniously), and Nintendo no longer reflecting that approachable family audience.
They did a steam deck, kind of. They have the Xbox branded Acer ROG Ally X Xbox or whatever stupid name they call the thing. They introduced new windows features coinciding with its release to be more competitive with steam deck on the software front.
I haven’t heard any reports of anyone buying it though. It was very expensive.
Yeah, that was always going to be a higher end product, probably to save on optimization time to get Xbox titles running on it easier.
What I don't get is why they thought it would make a splash in the market. It was so much more expensive than the Switch or Steam Deck, and its not like Xbox has titles to push console sales.
I really don't want to see Xbox die, but it certainly has been sick for a long while now. Mismanagement and multiple big title flops seem to have never been figured out.
I don't think they did think it would make a splash?
ASUS has been making the Legion Ally X for a while, as a super-steam deck kind of device. Presumably one or the other went to the other and said, "hey, what if you slap your brand name on our new version of an existing product line, you get another xbox device, we get some free brand appeal, win-win" and that was about it.
indeed. They eventually try something some 5 years after Valve pushes something out, and it's the bare minimum about of effort possible. They barely had a hand in making it to begin with; they partnered with an existing manufacturer's line of portable PC's, let them use the Xbox brand for a successor, and let Asus handle the rest.
no scaling of manudacturing to help bring MSRP down, no hardware facilities to help with power management, no consumer incentives over any other PC outside of branding, etc. And the advertising was tepid.
Honestly, I'm shocked it lasted as long as it has. Xbox easily ran for what feels like 10x longer than any of their other prior services.
Because it was genuinely really good. The first couple generations at least. And they still make the best controllers by a mile.
I’m pretty well entrenched in the PlayStation ecosystem and haven’t touched a current-gen Xbox controller, so I’m curious what’s so good about them? I really like the DualSense and I was under the impression that was considered the crowd favorite.
DualSense has unbeatable haptics (Astro's Playroom genuinely amazed me), but most people seem to prefer the ergonomics of the Xbox controller.
Not who you were replying to, but I personally prefer the layout of the PlayStation controllers. So much so that I bought an 8bitdo controller for my Xbox that puts it in the PS Dual Shock configuration. Same thing my gaming controllers for my Mac and my AppleTV and my iPhone/iPad. 8bitdo Bluetooth controllers in the Dual Shock style.
It definitely comes down to personal preference now that the DualSense is out but the modern Xbox controller is very much an evolution of the 360s controller, not a revolution like Playstation went through from 3->4->5.
Hot take: can't be the best without gyro.
Gyro is what sold me on controllers being remotely fun for FPS fames.
I still don't "get" gyro. I have it on my Steam Deck and find it an irritation at best. I've tried the micro aiming or whatever, but it doesn't make things feel any better to me.
Ultimately, sometimes I can play shooters on my Deck with the trackpad and have enabled gyro to try and close the gap, but shifting my wrists during play doesn't seem intuitive to me.
For me, gyro has only really made sense for Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, specifically the bow mechanics. While you can aim with the right stick, it feels easier sometimes to just move the console around to aim and then fire. I haven't experienced the same intuitiveness in other FPS games when trying to use gyro though.
That is in essence how I'll use it for all FPS.
Broad movements done with thumb, fine with slight controller move.
Optionally only takes effect if looking down the sights.
To emphasize: I'm surprised they made it good.
They tries as hard as they could to ruin it though, between the horrible naming conventions and the whole 'Kinect' debacle.
I don't feel like Spencer had much to offer, but I don't see this improving things at all. However my expectations of Microsoft and its subsidiaries are so on-the-ground low that I don't think there's any hope they do anything worthwhile
Bond definitely got fired. As for Asha Sharma, Microsoft also threw away their lead in AI in quite a massive way, so not particularly impressed by anyone attached to that.
Can't say he had a particularly easy job cleaning up the absolute disaster Don Mattrick left behind, but gotta say, I don't think buying up a ton of studios to try to get people hooked on a $30/mo subscription service was a particularly good direction for Xbox either. I'm sure there'll be a couple good articles assessing his legacy shortly.
Honestly it feels like consoles are winding down as a thing. I understand why they held on as long as they did, but the more they converged with PCs the less of a use case scenario they had. When I started to be able to use the exact same controller for my PC or my Xbox, I knew it was only a matter of time. Especially as Microsoft famously took some pretty heavy losses on I think every single generation up to present. That's just not sustainable, let alone for 25 years.
I kinda starting hearing the death knell when SEGA bowed out after Dreamcast and declined to make another console. I think if I had to predict, Sony's going to bow out after making the PS6, and Nintendo's going to milk Switch 2 for as long as they can, and then eventually they'll all be producing for either Windows or Steam.
I dunno, maybe I'm misreading the tea leaves. I've been right about some of my crazy-ass ideas before, but also hilariously wrong. Time will tell, but my feeling is dedicated consoles are going to be a niche retro hobby going forward.
Edits: for clarity on my position on PS6. Also, I don't mention it above but I don't foresee Microsoft making another console after their next one either. I could be wrong, maybe the winds will shift and I'll look back on this post with amusement at my inability to predict the future. But if I had to put my money down today, I'd say the PS6 and whatever the NeXbox is will take down both companies' gaming divisions.
I mean... to claim that you heard the death knell of consoles when the dreamcast died is like saying you hear the end of the universe because one star went supernova! Entire lives will be lived in that time. Thats not even taking into account the actual specifics of why sega bowed out of the market.
Purpose built electronics like a console will be around for a little while longer. Mainly because their existence rely on covering a gap in the market, which there will always be because no product is singularly perfect at everything and cheap. Consider the Nex Playground, thats a new console and its market is youth oriented with an easy to swallow price tag. Its doing fairly well, justifying its existence as well as third party development costs.
The problem is that Microsoft has NO direction. They are a large company with multiple fingers in hundreds of pies, all of which theyre only mildly interested in... and some of those pies are extremely expensive to continue having fingers in. This makes decision making really difficult for these pies mmmm pies and theyre not a decisive company. Theyre an acquisition company, and unless they acquire a "smaller" competing console maker... theyre screwed. There are competent people at the xbox gaming division but their ideas are difficult and time consuming to put into motion so instead the eye of sauron finds something new to look at for a while. I would actually argue that if microsoft leaves the xbox division somewhat in tact, we might actually see a skunkworks revival in some form down the line because of how many people love the brand internally. Not to mention the optics align for it with Xbox's underdog brand in general.
My point is that consoles will continue to exist in some form, we have cell phones that can change the tv channel but we still use tv remotes and we have pc's that can run Crisis but sometimes you just want to swing your arms around like donkey kong without seeing a work email notification on screen.
If I said that consoles wouldn't exist at all then I wasn't fully forming my thoughts (I answered first thing in the morning, I don't remember exactly what I said.)
I don't think they'll go away entirely, I just doubt we'll have the one-mode consoles we have now. The value proposition, I think, isn't there.
And as for SEGA exiting, as I said elsewhere I've been predicting that the console market would start dwindling since then, and I've not really been wrong per se. Three main consoles left, but when Dreamcast was out there were 4. I was nearly right when Nintendo's Wii-U failed, but the Switch went over gangbusters and set the whole thing back another few decades. All I'm saying is, don't move money based on my paint-huffing.
At the very least, I don't think Nintendo will ever leave the console market. They like to experiment with the potential capabilities of consoles. Plus, a good chunk of parents and older non-gamers still call all video game consoles "Nintendo's" so they've got firm brand security. They've established a strong niche and have no reason to ditch the console market anytime soon, if ever.
Also... The Dreamcast came out in 1998. Before the PS2 and first Xbox came out. That's a pretty long time ago to hear the death knell for console gaming...
Nintendo will probably be making consoles long beyond my time on this earth. But yeah, I've been yelling about the sky falling in the console space since the early 00's. I'll be right one of these days!
I feel they could do all of the things they want by simply manufacturing peripherals at this point. But there’s significantly less money to be made that way versus having the proverbial keys to the kingdom.
What do you envision the future will be like? Valve is bringing a new console into the market, so they seem to think consoles aren't dead as a concept, especially if gaming further converges on Steam. They're already competing with the Switch, too, so one way or the other traditional console form factors would continue to exist.
I find it hard to believe the mainstream will embrace gaming PCs again. Especially with components becoming increasingly more expensive and difficult to procure. I hope they will keep existing as they are the best way to enjoy gaming, but still.
That leaves (for the mainstream) only two alternatives. Mobile gaming is one, but a lot of videogame enjoyers will never be satisfied with just that market, since it's so bogged down by slop and predatory monetization models. And the other is gaming-as-a-service, which... might not be in the consumer's best interests, in the long term, but I can definitely see that happening.
Gaming as a service, mostly played on Steam/Deck/ROG Ally handhelds, and some on actual computers and the GabeCube. The portents that I'm reading are this:
Xbox
Not a single profitable Xbox since launch in 2001. Xbox Cloud gaming has been in Beta and available to the premium subscribers for awhile now; it's not bad, I can even play it on my Mac in Safari and have done so in the past before The Great Price Hike last year. Xboxes are essentially gaming PCs that are locked into a single use case, and it's not hard to look at he ongoing price hikes and see Microsoft bowing out of the market simply due to not being able to bring an Xbox to market that they can take that big of a bath on. Can you see yourself spending $1499 for the next console? I can't see myself spending that.
They've also been toying with "one subscription to rule them all" for awhile now. If I had to guess, sometime later this year they'll give you a discount on Xbox Premium if you've also got a Microsoft Copilot subscription. Only $99.95/mo for both and you get access to all the Microsoft products and the ability to stream Xbox anywhere you want. By Grabthar's Hammer... ... ... ...what a savings.
Sony
Sony has had PlayStation Plus for awhile, and it's something you can get independent of your ownership of a PlayStation; if you get Premium, you get Cloud Streaming. Sony itself has been selling off chunks of its consumer electronics divisions for awhile now (with their television division being their latest and biggest) and like with Microsoft it's not hard for them to look at ongoing RAM shortages and other component shortages and axing the PlayStation after PS6. If the PlayStation Portal gets that long-promised standalone update and doesn't need a PS5 tether anymore, that would be Sony officially throwing their hat into to Deck/Switch/ROG Ally space.
Nintendo
Between Nintendo Online and the way the Switch/Switch 2 already work, Nintendo is basically here. I think they'll still with the digital downloads model, but they may be able to be convinced to allow Xbox Cloud, PlayStation Plus, and Steam onto their platform for either a monthly fee or a small cut of each sale.
Valve
I think Steam's going to continue as they are, and people will flock to the GabeCube if they need to have a real computer/gaming machine experience. Knowing that your gaming PC has console-like standards for what games can run on it (and I can imagine Valve making the "works with Steam Machine" seal being as big a deal as the Nintendo seal of approval) and if you need to drop out and do other non-gaming work you've always got that real computer layer in there. I think there's a real use case for "my PC is in my pocket, and it's a powerful gaming rig as well" is kind of the dream for a lot of folks. It delivers on promises that gaming laptops have been making and failing at for years now: true portability, a guarantee of standards and minimal to no fiddling (if Valve starts cracking down on developers with piss-poor PC ports.)
I guess what I'm trying to say with this is that if I had a computer I knew I could truly, easily take anywhere, that I could drop into a dock and use with a real monitor and keybord/mouse combo, and that could also effectively game (especially if there was some sort of assurance of a minimum baseline standard that assured the games would "just work" on it as many PC games now do) then for me the idea of dropping $1k-$2k on this one machine and games for it is much more appealing than spending $2k-$3k to build a mid-range PC that's good enough for now, upwards of another $1000 on a gaming console and games for it.
Like I said, I could be reading the tea leaves wrong. It's just the feeling I've had for awhile. I'm firing this off without editing it, I have things to do today, but I'll come back and look at this later.
I'm not so sure about this one:
Playstation hardware release cycles are very long. Even if the obscenity that is the AI bubble never really bursts due to protectionism or the same kind of collective investor dellusion that has sustained crypto for so long, I feel like (and I've made related arguments on tildes before) hardware manufacturing can actually stabilize faster than this, typically in just a few years, as has been the case historically - even if it's just the unlikeliest case of China catching up to the point where the departing incumbents left the technology stagnated. Seeing that, it would make little sense for Sony to make decisions regarding a next, distant future Playstation based on specifically that...
It’s long been rumored the next Xbox will be a small form factor PC running windows.
I’m wondering if the steam machine announcement hurt Xbox’s plans because they won’t be able to compete with the (expected) price or performance of the steam machine. With the steam deck showing gaming on Linux works, and Windows’ reputation in decline, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re considering scrubbing a (theoretical) windows-xbox console.
Won't the steam machine have an issue with multiplayer games with heavy anti-cheat? My perception has been that multiplayer games and anti-cheat will be a big part of where the future of gaming goes. I keep thinking dedicated hardware may have an advantage, but dedicated gaming hardware like the Steam Machine where it doesn't seem Linux/Proton has the same support for anti-cheat as Windows/consoles would make it something people won't flock to.
Yes, although I view anticheat as more of a problem for the game instead of for the steam machine. Arc Raiders just had the biggest multiplayer launch of the year and runs perfectly fine on linux.
I don’t think anticheat is the future of multiplayer games, except for competitive games. I don’t play competitive multiplayer so it’s not a problem for me.
While this is no means a thorough examination and isn't even able to compare the relative scale of 'the issue', a cursory search seems to show multiple reddit threads just in the past week that garnered a decent amount of attention as far as I can tell.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcRaiders/comments/1ralyjv/what_can_be_done_about_the_massive_cheating_issue/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcRaiders/comments/1r4e91l/cheating_is_out_of_control_now/
It's quite possible any popular game gets similar threads, and that has nothing to do with the game being playable on Linux, perhaps there are more cheaters on Playstation or Xbox than there is on Linux/Windows even as a percentage of those respective player bases, I don't know. I don't play multiplayer games much these days so I have no personal experience, but I still assume cheating is slightly more difficult on consoles than it is on PC, even with invasive anti-cheats on Windows.
I personally haven’t experienced any cheaters on Arc, so not much to say about that.
The last two games I did have problems with cheaters were CSGO (PC) and Halo 4 (Xbox). The latter having an aimbot problem was always wild to me.
I don't think any game in particular is important enough to warrant that level of access to a PC, so when enough people switch to an OS that doesn't allow that level of invasive detection we'll inevitably see a switch away from that type of anticheat.
In other words, they'll follow the consumers. Not the other way around.
Any game in particular, maybe not, but multiple games, possibly. I think it depends on the differences in anti-cheat capabilities between systems. If all available systems can be equally secured, that's one thing. If some platforms can be more secured than others, but the games allow insecure platforms on cross-platform play, and then other games do not, then I genuinely believe that with enough of a subsection of those games holding out, IF there is a significant difference in cheating impacting the games that people will choose more locked down platforms. Some games could end up being unplayable if there's too much cheating happening, so it's not hard for me to believe that people might choose playable multiplayer games that are on secured platforms rather than to simply not play those games at all.
Personally, I think the future of gaming is best captured in a few existing facets:
A fairly optimistic view of the future!
For single player, consumers hate "always online" but big studios love it, so it depends on whether that particular industry keeps self-destructing and giving way to smaller studios or not... I think for demos it's the opposite also; it's much cheaper and easier to just plop a demo on steam in time for nextfest, which is sufficient for getting your game in front of plenty of eyeballs and getting you feedback.
I feel that since at least the time Microsoft announced the Xbox One they have been actively trying to kill consoles. Their announcement of that system not only had some massively stupid changes that they were forced to peddle back on from public outcry, they started showing it off with media capabilities and didn’t talk games for something like the first 15-20 minutes. Since then, they’ve further integrated their console business with Windows, and essentially killed off the idea of console exclusives.
I don't see why Nintendo wouldn't continue to make consoles after thr Switch 2 ; in fact, considering their history, I have a feeling they would quit the gaming industry once making consoles became unsustainable, even if they could make more money by moving to PC. It'd take a big turn in their leadership's direction before they would decide to give up on their closed ecosystem.
It’s exactly that leadership direction that makes me worried that they’re not going to be able to field another console after the Switch 2. Everything I’ve been seeing from the various economic sources I pay attention to (and can understand) points to hard economic conditions in Japan, due to their lack of a younger generation being born at sufficient rates to replace the aging population. To me that points towards a lack of future productivity for at least hardware. I do think that the software division could probably hang on for decades more. I’m just doubtful about the hardware. I could be wrong though. It’s not a deeply held opinion. It’s just vibes.
Mirrors:
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/PrVI5
https://web.archive.org/web/20260221110643/https://www.theverge.com/news/882241/microsoft-phil-spencer-xbox-leaving-retirement
https://megalodon.jp/2026-0222-0819-09/https://www.theverge.com:443/news/882241/microsoft-phil-spencer-xbox-leaving-retirement
https://smry.ai/proxy?url=https://www.theverge.com/news/882241/microsoft-phil-spencer-xbox-leaving-retirement&view=html
https://www.paywallskip.com/article?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2Fnews%2F882241%2Fmicrosoft-phil-spencer-xbox-leaving-retirement
Only reason I have an Xbox these days is for those old 360 games that were never ported to new consoles. Call of duty 3 (seriously underappreciated game in the franchise), lost Odyssey, blue dragon etc. For everything else I have a switch 2 and PS5. While it's sad what's happening with Xbox, I can see a third party stepping in eventually.