Series X Refresh and Next Generation Xbox Hardware
- Thread starter Shortbread
- Start date
I don't think cheaper games would be a great selling point because Game Pass has, in many ways, nuked single-game purchases on XB hardware. For good or bad, GP is the better option for XB users wanting hundreds of games at their fingertips at a reasonable cost.
Frenetic Pony
Veteran
Game price is set by publisher, all the console maker can decide is % they take.
Also Gamepass is exclusively for people that want the games on game pass. You want to play Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate 3 or some other mega (non MS published) hit? You're outta luck.
Now, competing the Epic Gamestore way, by lowering the % they take, that would be interesting.
As seen elsewhere, where the publisher cut is lower, the pubs still charge the same and take a larger amount. Consumers are used to a price and the pubs will maximise return on that price.
Frenetic Pony
Veteran
It doesn't help that Steam has both a controlling market share and a price parity rule. Drawing conclusions that Xbox vs Playstation would be the exact same as Epic vs Steam seems wooly.
That being said I wouldn't expect prices to change most of the time, yay economic theory, but publishers could be more willing to put things "on sale" on Xbox than Playstation, and possibly for prices for older games to lower more often (efficient market hypothesis would discount this, but markets aren't efficient, making "more" money on Xbox per unit sale would incentivize price changes more often), it would also incentivize things like Gran Blue Fantasy Relink and other "Japan first!" games to come to Xbox.
Really though what would be most helpful is if Xbox (and everyone else) ditched their proprietary developer SDKs and made putting games onto their console far easier. I don't know how anyone with just a console even considers gaming a "hobby" anymore, so damned few games come out versus say 14 years ago. The Steam Deck is "winning" because you can play Horizon (Forbidden West/Forza) on it sure, but you can also go play Last Epoch, Balatro, Enshrouded, etc. etc. while modern consoles barely have a release list.
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Cappuccino
Newcomer
Maybe this is a European thing but in America Steam games are $70 just like consoles.
Tbh the narrative about consoles having more expensive games compared to PCs hasn't really been a thing for a while, at least in the US. It used to be that Steam sales were way better than console sales/GameStop used prices, now Steam sales have calmed down a bit and console sales (at least on Xbox) are essentially equivalent. I've seen 90% off recent-ish titles on the Xbox store.
If only someone had the powers to move their posts...
Edit: yes I know. lol. Sorry I will move it. Haha. Just so overwhelmed at the moment. Need to get to my PC.
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Frenetic Pony
Veteran
If anyone wants to know what lightfields look like (as best as can be displayed through a 2d screen):
Lighftields feel like they're "on their way", there's this product, Google has partnered with HP to bring specialized conference display/camera setups that they actually sell, there's more and more research about constructing and displaying them efficiently at conferences. By the end of the decade this could be pushing into the consumer space.
That being said this feels a bit more like a Nintendo or Sony thing than Microsoft. Microsoft tried an advanced display thing once in it's entire history with Hololens, and never ended up making a consumer version. Surface Pro was the only piece of consumer hardware Microsoft ever brought to the consumer market that wasn't safe AF.
Lighftields feel like they're "on their way", there's this product, Google has partnered with HP to bring specialized conference display/camera setups that they actually sell, there's more and more research about constructing and displaying them efficiently at conferences. By the end of the decade this could be pushing into the consumer space.
That being said this feels a bit more like a Nintendo or Sony thing than Microsoft. Microsoft tried an advanced display thing once in it's entire history with Hololens, and never ended up making a consumer version. Surface Pro was the only piece of consumer hardware Microsoft ever brought to the consumer market that wasn't safe AF.
Because that's the signal MS gave. Funny that we are still getting more and more such signals after two months
cheapchips
Veteran
It was on the list of possible features in the leaked FTC trial. Outside of upscaling, I'm sceptical as to how useful it'll be. It'll be a while before npus are across a large install base.
Like I said before , MS has enough first party studios that they can intergrate ai functionality into every one of their games
raytracingfan
Newcomer
At this point it's clear that Microsoft is very interested in bringing AI to gaming.
I’m not sure that AI in the way Microsoft has demoed is what we need in gaming as a whole. It’s essentially a virtual assistant/encyclopedia?
cheapchips
Veteran
At this point, I don't place a lot of value on game AI copilots, but maybe that's a killer feature for enough people?
Gameplay features that require an NPU can't be core to any cross platform or cross gen games for a decade. That's going to be most MS Studios output.
I'm interested in what NPUs bring, but just remain skeptical as to whether we see anything really impactful.
Hellblade 3, you can chat to the voices inside your head if you play on Xboy!
It doesn't need to be an extra chip, and I have no idea what role an NPU would have in a console that already, by default, has a large GPU onboard that can do this stuff way better. Sure, an NPU might be a bit more efficient for some light 'everyday' AI tasks, but what kind of uses would a console have for anything like that?
Unless they're really going with 'Xbox branded PC's' instead of a real dedicated console, I just feel it's a waste of silicon in a product where pruning die size wherever possible is especially critical. Xbox certainly should have learned that from this generation.
To me its more about companions in games like the skyrim video I showed awhile ago. Also it be great if we can move beyond ultima 4 and instead of having a town where scripted things happen or don't happen the ai can react to everything you do.At this point, I don't place a lot of value on game AI copilots, but maybe that's a killer feature for enough people?
Gameplay features that require an NPU can't be core to any cross platform or cross gen games for a decade. That's going to be most MS Studios output.
I'm interested in what NPUs bring, but just remain skeptical as to whether we see anything really impactful.
Hellblade 3, you can chat to the voices inside your head if you play on Xboy!
cheapchips
Veteran
Those are the things that peak my curiosity too. Even with internal studios though, they'll be on Series consoles for at least another game or two. It precludes going all out on something like that unless we get those sort of NPCs in smaller projects from the likes of Obsidian and Ninja Theory.
(Without veering OT, I do think we'll still see smaller and medium sized projects from MS Studios)
