I’d be surprised if Xbox is a thing in 5 years after this news. The way things are right now Microsoft can’t make an Xbox console that will succeed by any metric. Maybe it’ll stick around as software.
Phil had to salvage the brand after the fucking disaster that was Xbox One and I don’t think he was terrible but it clearly wasn’t working out.
Replacing him with the head of Core AI is a fucking joke though.
With the cost of hardware skyrocketing and Sony closing studios gaming is in a really dark place right now.
It’s in a dark place because it is going to eventually become unaffordable to those who haven’t purchased a console or pc or handheld yet due to the ram shortage. I guess mobile gaming will become the main focus like it is in China.
In fact, such regulations really need to go a lot further and make illegal straight up unnecessary subscriptions, too. If something doesn’t need actively maintained things outside of the actual product for it to function, then it doesn’t ‘need’ a subscription model.
A silver lining is that the NVIDIA/OpenAI deal was cut by ~70% this week, so hopefully the reality of AI not being a panacea sets in for those who have been driving the prices up. If the planned data centers never actually get built, production will shift back and consumer pricing should adjust accordingly. The MBA class will keep trying to manipulate it artificially of course, but they’ll only be able to keep the ruse this far from reality for so long.
Xbox is just going to be a brand/publisher I reckon.
There’ll be ‘Xbox verified’ console PCs or somesuch that aren’t necessarily made by Microsoft, and there’ll be the Xbox app for games and streaming, and Xbox published games.
And then another 5-10 years later they’ll phase that out and just be ‘Microsoft Gaming’ or somesuch branded, and the last traces of Xbox will be gone.
I see it as a good thing, maybe another videogame market crash is exactly what we need so they’ll understand that not every game needs to have an overblown budget, bloated content, micro transactions, massive player retention, sell a billion copies and win awards to be a good game, it’s about time videogames are recognized as being pieces of art first and products second
I’d be surprised if Xbox is a thing in 5 years after this news. The way things are right now Microsoft can’t make an Xbox console that will succeed by any metric. Maybe it’ll stick around as software.
Phil had to salvage the brand after the fucking disaster that was Xbox One and I don’t think he was terrible but it clearly wasn’t working out.
Replacing him with the head of Core AI is a fucking joke though.
With the cost of hardware skyrocketing and Sony closing studios gaming is in a really dark place right now.
Gaming is in a great place. AAA gaming is not, because of-fucking-course corpos don’t understand art.
It’s in a dark place because it is going to eventually become unaffordable to those who haven’t purchased a console or pc or handheld yet due to the ram shortage. I guess mobile gaming will become the main focus like it is in China.
Given all the fun I’ve had over the years with far less powerful systems, it’s not exactly a deathknell to gaming if it turns out that way.
It just better be the deathknell for terrible mobile game microtransaction structures and p2w schemes if mobile devices become the new norm…
My hope is the EU and China start to regulate mobile gaming for it to become less like casinos for children.
Fully agreed with that.
In fact, such regulations really need to go a lot further and make illegal straight up unnecessary subscriptions, too. If something doesn’t need actively maintained things outside of the actual product for it to function, then it doesn’t ‘need’ a subscription model.
A silver lining is that the NVIDIA/OpenAI deal was cut by ~70% this week, so hopefully the reality of AI not being a panacea sets in for those who have been driving the prices up. If the planned data centers never actually get built, production will shift back and consumer pricing should adjust accordingly. The MBA class will keep trying to manipulate it artificially of course, but they’ll only be able to keep the ruse this far from reality for so long.
Gaming is most definitely not in a dark place right now
Steamdeck, Gaming on Linux, indie games, Arc Raiders, skies are blue and the sun is shining my friend
Xbox is just going to be a brand/publisher I reckon.
There’ll be ‘Xbox verified’ console PCs or somesuch that aren’t necessarily made by Microsoft, and there’ll be the Xbox app for games and streaming, and Xbox published games.
And then another 5-10 years later they’ll phase that out and just be ‘Microsoft Gaming’ or somesuch branded, and the last traces of Xbox will be gone.
I see it as a good thing, maybe another videogame market crash is exactly what we need so they’ll understand that not every game needs to have an overblown budget, bloated content, micro transactions, massive player retention, sell a billion copies and win awards to be a good game, it’s about time videogames are recognized as being pieces of art first and products second