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[Drew1440]

Hopefully there's a market for powerful gaming handhelds, I can see them doing it for this generation with the Series S becoming a portable system with the next die shrink.

 

[Shits_McGiggles]

Then just buy steamdeck

OG Xbox and Xbox 360 open- source emulation is complete ass in general. You aren’t going to get anywhere near the same level of quality you get from Microsoft’s native emulator.

 

[Perrott]

The games could have cost half a cent it still doesn't stop this from looking like a weird thing to do it's just not something someone would define as normal behavior.

Kudos on you for getting the deal don't get me wrong it's just a weird thing to do if you ask me.

Well, it actually comes from a place of regretting not buying games like Dark Souls III + all DLC for two dollars back when Steam was in a similar situation just because I wasn't into high-end PC gaming at the time (now Dark Souls III is prohibitely expensive as Bandai Namco updated their prices), so when I saw those deals over at the Xbox Store I knew that I had to make that move.

 

[AV]

What? If they continue to make hardware, nobody will buy it and they will pull the plug sooner or later....

They don't sell hardware with PS5/Switch locked out of their games....

What do you think it's gonna happen when you can buy their games on PS Store/Nintendo Store without ever needing an Xbox???

That's not the point I'm making. I'm saying that IF they do make new hardware, you're not suddenly going to see some revolution where other big publishers don't bother with it at all. It's an insane take when even their shittiest generation sells 20 million units, that's too much money to be left on the table for the little amount of work involved. Even if you half that number from people moving to Playstation it's still too big a market to ignore for people like EA.

You've seen how rabid some fanboys are. The hardest of hardcore will never budge. Not suggesting they will necessarily make new consoles going forward though.

That goes for MS as well. Going down the road they're currently on is going to bleed them money.

Yeah as above, I'm not 100% that they will. Perhaps. For what it's worth the actual OP sounds completely baseless.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

Sounds cool actually, Id like to see this from Sony also, even better the PS6 to be a dockable console with something like a plug in GPU like the ROG ally but in a much more domestic user-friendly configuration.

OLED is a must and a 120hz screen.

In fact a device like that but more bespoke and based around a console experience would be incredible.

Steam Deck, Switch and Portal success could push them in that direction.

So you would be OK with a device that is as big as a Legion Go with the possible power of a GTX 1050 (Current AMD hardware runs at about a GTX 1030 at 28W) with a Battery that will run for less than 80 minutes to achieve those specs?

 

[Ar¢tos]

Other third party publishers gain absolutely nothing by not releasing on whatever Xbox hardware looks like in however many years. They don't make more money from being Playstation exclusives unless Sony hand them the bag, which they now have less and less reason to do.

The thing that will ultimately drive third parties away from future MS hardware is the need to continue to support weak SKUs. We've already heard numerous stories about how much of a pain in the ass it is to support Series S.

Porting games is not free and the more SKUs the more expensive it is. Nobody is going to port games to a platform if it doesn't even have an install base big enough to get return on the porting costs.

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Fuck it. Anything after these last four days is possible. Let's just add Microsoft buys Nintendo and Sony buys Microsoft (I know, not financially possible) to the bingo card for next week.

 

[chilichote]

I don't think they're that stupid. I think it will be a PC and a handheld PC with Xbox branding.

 

[AV]

Porting games is not free and the more SKUs the more expensive it is. Nobody is going to port games to a platform if it doesn't even have an install base big enough to get return on the porting costs.

Depends how big you think the impact of moving to Playstation would be. As above, even if it halved their Series S/X install base, you're still looking at over 10,000,000 Xbox diehards.

It's not free, but ROI isn't going to be hard to hit for the big boys like EA. Xbox players sure do love Madden.

 

[MisterXDTV]

That's not the point I'm making. I'm saying that IF they do make new hardware, you're not suddenly going to see some revolution where other big publishers don't bother with it at all. It's an insane take when even their shittiest generation sells 20 million units, that's too much money to be left on the table for the little amount of work involved. Even if you half that number from people moving to Playstation it's still too big a market to ignore for people like EA.

You've seen how rabid some fanboys are. The hardest of hardcore will never budge. Not suggesting they will necessarily make new consoles going forward though.



Yeah as above, I don't think they will. For what it's worth the actual OP sounds completely baseless.

Disagree....

I'm sorry but MS can't have it both ways, either they are first party, commited to their hardware, or they are not and so they are just like any other publisher, the biggest one in this case...

You are making up a reality that CAN'T exist

 

[balls of snow]

Make it an open platform and we have a contender. If not.
Well..

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

... They already were. Every game Microsoft has published for the last 23 years is money out of somebody's pocket who might have bought from a different publisher.

Not how that works when you are a platform holder. By your logic same can be said about sony.

The difference is that third-party publishers expect the platform holder to support their own platform. To help grow their install base so they have more people to sell their games to on their platform.

Its a completely different matter when the platform is pretty much dead, and they are barely making anything from supporting it. It's even worse when supporting it is no different from just supporting a standard PC. So why would they do it?

I don't know what else needs to happen for people to see the writing on the wall.

Oh... and if anyone thought the whole X and S thing was dumb.... this one is worse.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Depends how big you think the impact of moving to Playstation would be. As above, even if it halved their Series S/X install base, you're still looking at over 10,000,000 Xbox diehards.

It's not free, but ROI isn't going to be hard to hit for the big boys like EA. Xbox players sure do love Madden.

Can a console (sold at a loss, at least initially) even survive if all they have are some AAA games?
No indies, no Japanese games, no AAA games from certain publishers (like Square).
Sony won't stop with the marketing deals and timed exclusives if MS starts publishing games on Playstation. It will be even easier for them because publishers will now ask for less money.

 

[Astray]

THIS, you can't be first party and third party at the same time

There's no long-term thinking anymore over there, it's kneejerk reaction vs opposing kneejerk reaction and whoever has more clout in the company wins.

 

[Jesb]

I think Nvidia would be in a great position for a handheld with GeForcenow. Steam, Ubi+, ea, gamepass and whatever else all on one device anywhere you go.

I don’t know what the plan is for Microsoft. I’m not so sure they even know themselves. It looks like they’re just throwing shit at the wall. I don’t know why they don’t get into vr if they wanna burn their money.

 

[Astray]

I think Nvidia would be in a great position for a handheld with GeForcenow. Steam, Ubi+, ea, gamepass and whatever else all on one device anywhere you go.

I don’t know what the plan is for Microsoft. I’m not so sure they even know themselves. It looks like they’re just throwing shit at the wall. I don’t know why they don’t get into vr if they wanna burn their money.

Nvidia knows better than to be in the content game. They are the people who sell shovels to fools that are going for gold.

 

[AV]

You are making up a reality that CAN'T exist

Can a console (sold at a loss, at least initially) even survive if all they have are some AAA games?

Again, I'm not saying they're going to make new hardware. Maybe they won't. The thing I was replying to in all this was "if they make a new consoles no other third party publisher will publish on it", which is rubbish.

It's even worse when supporting it is no different from just supporting a standard PC. So why would they do it?

See above, I don't necessarily think this will become a reality, but the answer is still money. If Xbox go ahead and make new hardware you will 110% still see Madden, NHL, FIFA, Assassin's Creed, Hogwarts Legacy 2 on it.

Let's all be real here, if they bother to make new hardware, they're absolutely going to make publisher deals before production even begins, for the very reasons you're outlining. We're mostly on the same page.

 

[BlackTron]

People are not seeing the big picture here...

Once MS goes third party, they become COMPETITION for other publishers (EA, Take Two, Ubisoft, Capcom, Konami)

No other third-party publisher is supporting a MS console after this gen....

As if third party developers never felt like they had their lunch eaten by first party games before...

 

[Sub_Level]

A next gen console just two years from now......after what has come so far.......this will truly be the gen that time forgot.I picked the right one to sit out(if that actually happens,I'm torn right now thanks to Kojima,lol).

May as well wait if you have managed to wait this long already. If you cant wait until PS6 in 2027 or whatever then at least wait until next year for the inevitable GTA bundle.

 

[VolticArchangel]

HeisenbergFX4 202"6".

Thoughts?

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Well, high time I resurrect my meme:

The only thing I know for certain is that this might be the most entertaining week in the history of GAF, been a pleasure boys!

 

[killatopak]

Man I think I saw a poster point out that they have no direction and keep going to the next fad. First the living room then motion controls then tv then cloud and now portables.

Is it so hard for them to solidify their roots in one aspect before branching out? Xbox is eating more than they can chew.

 

[WitchHunter]

What is going on with all these rumors??

I know from a reliable (emphasis here) source that MS will announce the virtuVgina and its counterpart the backpussy. These ofc collect semen, sends the digitzed genetic sample to the hq and clones children with an MS stamp (Property of Phil) on their forehead for third world use.

 

[harmonize]

If they're "consoles" that run the PC versions of games from the Microsoft store then honestly this could work out for them. If all it'd take from devs to put their games on Xbox devices is to put the PC version of their games on the Microsoft store then it'll almost certainly mean that Xbox will miss out on less third party games then they do now where they have to convince devs to port to an entirely different platform. Plus they get third-party sales from PS and Nintendo.

 

[dotnotbot]

Why? If devs aren't going to be forced to run everything natively on the handheld, which I doubt, it seems like a better idea to me than S/X. However, it's going to be weird if a new Xbox releases 2 years before PS6. And if they indeed go full 3rd party, I think PS will dominate them even more in sales.

One will compete with Deck and Switch 2 and other handhelds while other sounds risky considering they struggle to sell Series X with big discounts.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Again, I'm not saying they're going to make new hardware. I don't think they will. The thing I was replying to in all this was "if they make a new consoles no other third party publisher will publish on it", which is rubbish.



See above, I don't think this will become a reality, but the answer is still money. If Xbox go ahead and make new hardware you will 110% still see Madden, NHL, FIFA, Assassin's Creed, Hogwarts Legacy 2 on it.

Let's all be real here, if they bother to make new hardware, they're absolutely going to make publisher deals before production even begins, for the very reasons you're outlining. We're mostly on the same page.

Ok, lets make this simple then. So neither you or I confuse eachother.

If any platform holder decides to make a new console. How do they sell that console? How do they convince people to buy that console over say a more popular and competing console?

The answer to that is simple.

EXCLUSIVES.

If come next week, we come to understand that Xbox games, past, present and future... are coming to PlayStation. Then how exactly is MS now supposed to market their new console(s)? Or do you really think not having exclusives on your platform period make a difference? And if MS cant even get people to buy their console, because said console lacks any reason to get it over the PS5/PS6 because you can play its games there anyways. Then how exactly do you see them convincing third-party publishers to support it? And why should third parties build on your console, with its abysmal install base, and give you 30%, and risk not even making much of an ROI, when they can just release on steam/Epic Game Store and pay even less?

 

[IAmRei]

Xbox S (switch)
*Kidding

It might had potential if it were true, but i dont see any reason xbox target market will welcome this much. I cant predict future, but i will wait and see. More option for portable gaming tho

 

[Sanepar]

Everything points out to be a marketing trap. Every attention will be on them next week. From ps, nintendo and xbox fanboys. An event with Geoff. In the end will be a few old crap for other consoles and to promote xbox next gen.

 

[Moses85]

 

[Porticus]

OG Xbox and Xbox 360 open- source emulation is complete ass in general. You aren’t going to get anywhere near the same level of quality you get from Microsoft’s native emulator.

Not true, plus the Steam ecosystem is leagues ahead of the Xbox, really no reasons to waste money on such a device if it will ever be released.

 

[Hohenheim]

I'm definitly up for a handheld Xbox! Love the new wave of handhelds, and always good fun to try out new tech.
As for a new traditional Xbox, i'm probably good because of PC.

 

[AV]

Ok, lets make this simple then. So neither you or I confuse eachother.

If any platform holder decides to make a new console. How do they sell that console? How do they convince people to buy that console over say a more popular and competing console?

The answer to that is simple.

EXCLUSIVES.

If come next week, we come to understand that Xbox games, past, present and future... are coming to PlayStation. Then how exactly is MS now supposed to market their new console(s)? Or do you really think not having exclusives on your platform period make a difference? And if MS cant even get people to buy their console, because said console lacks any reason to get it over the PS5/PS6 because you can play its games there anyways. Then how exactly do you see them convincing third-party publishers to support it? And why should third parties build on your console, with its abysmal install base, and give you 30%, and risk not even making much of an ROI, when they can just release on steam/Epic Game Store and pay even less?

That's one answer. In the bigger picture, there's also blind brand loyalty - which I'm sure you've seen pasted all over the web this week, and needs no further explanation - and the massive question of how they handle digital libraries. If Sony simply start putting Microsoft games on the Playstation store with no way to import 20+ years of die-hard fans' libraries, are they going to make the move? Are they going to keep their old Series X under the TV forever to play their older games, in a world where people demonstrably want less and less physical clutter?

The Series S/X already have a bad install base, it doesn't stop other publishers publishing there. We have no way of knowing what sort of cut Microsoft would ask for going forward, and how any deals with Sony would impact that. We have no way of knowing if they wouldn't keep some exclusives, or exclusive content for some games, to themselves, no way of knowing what Game Pass looks like and if it even exists, and no way of knowing just how big an impact publishing on Playstation will actually make.

All of this is to say, we don't have enough data to know what reality it coming, but in the reality that does include new Microsoft hardware, it wouldn't even exist without them already knowing that they'd receive third party support. Porting games costs money, but I don't see a world where it costs EA close to the money they'd make on, say, 10m hardcore Xbox fanboys buying their sports games annually.

 

[NickFire]

I don’t understand how or why this can be true if they aren’t addressing all of the rumors before next week. Seems weird.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Why would you buy an Xbox handheld when you can get a Steam Deck or an ASUS Rog or whatever it's called?

 

[Astray]

Man I think I saw a poster point out that they have no direction and keep going to the next fad. First the living room then motion controls then tv then cloud and now portables.

Is it so hard for them to solidify their roots in one aspect before branching out? Xbox is eating more than they can chew.

Just a few months ago Phil Spencer was crying to XCast about how they can't out-console either Sony or Nintendo and they have to be different.

Now you get insiders claiming that they're going to try to out-console BOTH.

Make it make fucking sense. I beg you.

These morons needed to be fired ages ago.

 

[mejin]

 

[Krieger]

Feels like these insiders don't give a fuck anymore. Soon one of them is gonna leak a 17TB folder with everything Xbox ever did or planned to do.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

That's one answer. In the bigger picture, there's also blind brand loyalty - which I'm sure you've seen pasted all over the web this week, and needs no further explanation - and the massive question of how they handle digital libraries. If Sony simply start putting Microsoft games on the Playstation store with no way to import 20+ years of die-hard fans' libraries, are they going to make the move? Are they going to keep their old Series X under the TV forever to play their older games, in a world where people demonstrably want less and less physical clutter?

Bling loyalty? Thats what you are basing this on? Have you read the room? Have you seen what brand loyalty has got them so far? You do realize you are saying they base their future strategy, on something that if they had to the degree that it makes a difference... we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with right?

They sold a $500 console for $350 for almost 6 weeks, while their biggest rival increased its console price... and they still came in under their internal projections. ANd you are mentioning... thinking.... brand loyalty?

The Series S/X already have a bad install base, it doesn't stop other publishers publishing there. We have no way of knowing what sort of cut Microsoft would ask for going forward, and how any deals with Sony would impact that. We have no way of knowing if they wouldn't keep some exclusives, or exclusive content for some games, to themselves, no way of knowing what Game Pass looks like and if it even exists, and no way of knowing just how big an impact publishing on Playstation will actually make.

All of this is to say, we don't have enough data to know what reality it coming, but in the reality that does include new Microsoft hardware, it wouldn't even exist without them already knowing that they'd receive third party support. Porting games costs money, but I don't see a world where it costs EA close to the money they'd make on, say, 10m hardcore Xbox fanboys buying their sports games annually.

There have not been 10M hardcore Xbox fans buying anything since 2012.

ESPECIALLY since after gamepass became a thing in 2017. You clearly are looking at all this through some serious green-tinted glasses.

You know how game sales projections work right? Do you think any publisher is looking at an install base of 10M people and saying to themselves, we can sell our game to every single one oft them?

Feels like these insiders don't give a fuck anymore. Soon one of them is gonna leak a 17TB folder with everything Xbox ever did or planned to do.

at this point why not... some of them are about to be out of a job. Literally. Might as well cash in why they still can.

Just confirmation on why any kinda of biased game journo has always been a flat-out insane career choice.

 

[Hugare]

Leaving a market that they only had to face Sony for a market that is booming with Valve, Asus and thousands of chinese companies as their competitors

Just don't, MS

 

[Astray]

Leaving a market that they only had to face Sony for a market that is booming with Valve, Asus and thousands of chinese companies as their competitors

Just don't, MS

Why would anyone wanna buy a machine that only plays Xbox games when they can buy one that can play everything a PC could?

 

[Giallo Corsa]

Whatever they do, i hope they manage to bring the glorious days of xbox live back - that, and the glorious blade UI

 

[Ghostage]

If they manage to get both SKUs to sync and enable quick resume between them, I would buy both.

 

[Del_X]

Interested in the handheld. I think it can work if it renders 480-720p then applies upscaling. Very interested if I can install steam.

 

[Hugare]

Why would anyone wanna buy a machine that only plays Xbox games when they can buy one that can play everything a PC could?

Even if it ends up being a Windows handheld, what would it offer? The Aly and the Deck can run Game Pass.

Maybe if it offfered more bang for buck with MS loosing money with each unit, but would they loose even more money than they've already did with the Series?

And for what? People would spend money on Steam, not at the MS Store

 

[TrebleShot]

So you would be OK with a device that is as big as a Legion Go with the possible power of a GTX 1050 (Current AMD hardware runs at about a GTX 1030 at 28W) with a Battery that will run for less than 80 minutes to achieve those specs?

Yeah or even lower spec

Plug it in if you want the big boy graphics and as always consoles to pc comparisons aren’t really valid.

 

[Astray]

Even if it ends up being a Windows handheld, what would it offer? The Aly and the Deck can run Game Pass.

Maybe if it offfered more bang for buck with MS loosing money with each unit, but would they loose even more money than they've already did with the Series?

And for what? People would spend money on Steam, not at the MS Store

This is a company that's running on vibes, Spencer recently mentioned how much he likes his ROG Ally, so now they have to make a handheld model.

No one thought of a situation where a game might not run well on a Handheld, like if Square wants to port FF16 or something. It's all vibes-based with zero cohesive and all-encompassing strategy. Their messaging is now even more chaotic because there's a struggle within the company over future direction of Gaming division.

It's a shitshow all around, no kidding.

 

[AV]

Bling loyalty? Thats what you are basing this on? Have you read the room? Have you seen what brand loyalty has got them so far? You do realize you are saying they base their future strategy, on something that if they had to the degree that it makes a difference... we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with right?

They sold a $500 console for $350 for almost 6 weeks, while their biggest rival increased its console price... and they still came in under their internal projections. ANd you are mentioning... thinking.... brand loyalty?

There have not been 10M hardcore Xbox fans buying anything since 2012.

ESPECIALLY since after gamepass became a thing in 2017. You clearly are looking at all this through some serious green-tinted glasses.

You know how game sales projections work right? Do you think any publisher is looking at an install base of 10M people and saying to themselves, we can sell our game to every single one oft them?

What has blind loyalty got them in the past? The Xbone was a complete disaster across the board. Did that stop 20,000,000 people buying Series S/X machines? It's called blind loyalty for a reason. There will always be a group of hardcore Xbox fanboys that will absolutely refuse to move to Playstation as long as there's still an alternative. Go to Twitter or at least one of the other threads here reposting Tweets and it's not hard to find them.

Their sales may not come close to Playstation, but there's 20m Xboxes in the wild and people are buying full-price copies of third party games on them no matter which way you wanna slice it - but there's no "green tinted glasses" here, an Xbox is the one platform I don't own. I've got a cheap Brazilian VPN loophole PC Game Pass sub I haven't used in months. I don't care what happens to MS hardware, doesn't affect me.

But we're really wasting time here and I've got work to do, if Microsoft make a new console feel free to come back to me when it obviously has FIFA etc. on it because all we're doing is going in circles. We're mostly on the same page but the hypothetical world where MS release a new system and it only plays MS games is just complete guff.

 

[saintjules]

Not exactly related to the topic, but from what I understood, their near future announcements on hardware are more like Updated SKUs. More info in the Summer.

 

[Zheph]

What has blind loyalty got them in the past? The Xbone was a complete disaster across the board. Did that stop 20,000,000 people buying Series S/X machines? It's called blind loyalty for a reason. There will always be a group of hardcore Xbox fanboys that will absolutely refuse to move to Playstation as long as there's still an alternative. Go to Twitter or at least one of the other threads here reposting Tweets and it's not hard to find them.

This group is only getting smaller tho and it won't cover the insane costs of owning publishers and developping new hardware, diminishing returns for others publishers

 

[StueyDuck]

• Xbox community member Magg allegedly has insight into Xbox's plans for the future, revealing that Xbox is still planning to release a next-gen console.
• The next-gen Xbox launch will reportedly include two SKUs: a traditional high-end console and a Switch-like dockable handheld.
• Phil Spencer previously stated that the Xbox console is at the heart of everything they do and will be moving forward.

A next-gen Xbox console is on track to launch in 2026 according to rumours. Apparently, Microsoft are planning to release two devices - a traditional high-end console and a dockable Switch-like handheld.​

It's been quite a week for Xbox fans. Rumours about games like Starfield , Hellblade 2 , Gears of War and even more going to other platforms like PlayStation 5 certainly did not sit well with the majority of the community, who are fearful that Xbox might leave the console business for good.
Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer tried to ease those fears by tweeting that Xbox "are listening and hear" the concerns of the fans and will reveal more details next week in a "business update". It's not quite the wording that Xbox fans wanted to hear but I guess it's still better than dead silence.
Anyway, in the sea of these negative rumours, we also have some exciting details coming from Xbox community member Magg who allegedly has insight into Xbox's plans for the future.

Magg revealed that Xbox are still pretty much planning to release a next-gen console. The target release window is currently 2026 but obviously, plans can change and nothing is yet set in stone.

In addition, the next-gen Xbox will reportedly have two SKUs. One is a traditional high-end console akin to the Xbox Series X, while the second one is a bit more exciting. According to Magg, the second device will be a Switch-like dockable handheld.

Unfortunately, he did not delve into details so that's pretty much the only info we have regarding these products. Reliable Xbox journalist Jez Corden recently revealed that Microsoft greenlit a bunch of Xbox hardware, implying that they have no plans to leave the console space anytime soon.

Source:

source: https://www.altchar.com/game-news/n...switch-like-handheld-its-claimed-ayUnB9z6fJ6r

I've noticed lately we call Jez. Speshal nick and other fanboys "reliable"...

Can we like... stop doing that because none of them are reliable about anything. They just sit on the same discords/reddits and era and try to repackage things people say that they think are going to be true