Xbox Business Update Podcast | Xbox Everywhere Direction Discussion

What will Xbox do

  • Player owned digital libraries now on cloud

    Votes: 3 23.1%
  • Multiplatform all exclusives to all platforms

    Votes: 3 23.1%
  • Multiplatform only select exclusive titles

    Votes: 8 61.5%
  • Surface hardware strategy

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • 3rd party hardware strategy

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • Mobile hardware strategy

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • Slim Revision hardware strategy

    Votes: 1 7.7%
  • This will be a nothing burger

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • *new* Xbox Games for Mobile Strategy

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • *new* Executive leadership changes (ie: named leaders moves/exits/retires)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
It's not looking for failure. It's only failure if you have a desired objective. What's being looked for, certainly from me (I appreciate some persons may be looking for evidence of their own narrative), is understanding. If change is happening, I'm neither labelling it good or bad. However, I want to see what and how the change is happening. We might see MS 'Xbox' revenue increase 5% per year every year for 20 years, but that's a different story to what's happening with the XBox console which might reduce 20% year on year...and first we'd know about it is no more consoles, I guess.

The main issue here really is MS constantly evolving how they communicate with shareholders. Sony is very old school, breaks down the numbers, and they are pretty open about what's going on with their businesses as a result. Because MS doesn't have these direct breakdowns we're often left reading between the lines. In this particular news, at least we've been thrown an 8% bone! But we can't interpret that in terms of units sales or subs as it includes the GP price changes.
Yea I respect everyone is looking for their own reasons.

GP price changes are only affecting new subs right. Anyone on grandfathered plans keep their price.

Lumping everything together looks certainly better, a good way of hiding things. But at the same time, if the business continues to grow quarter over quarter, that is probably an even more positive sign that they made the right moves.

MS is going to be very careful about releasing subscription revenue. They don’t want competition, they don’t want their competitors to gain the same learnings as them without paying the price to learn it.
 
I heard interesting quote that Microsoft is trying to sell idea that you can play Xbox games anywhere. And people are doing it, they playing anywhere but not on Xbox.
I understand that this statement is hyperbolic but it’s gonna be interesting to see how msft is planning to convince existing users to stay on Xbox and even how to attract new customers.
 
I heard interesting quote that Microsoft is trying to sell idea that you can play Xbox games anywhere. And people are doing it, they playing anywhere but not on Xbox.
I understand that this statement is hyperbolic but it’s gonna be interesting to see how msft is planning to convince existing users to stay on Xbox and even how to attract new customers.
Have you tried cloud gaming? You might want to play that on your Xbox instead.

I'm only half kidding. I think the motivating factor to stay on Xbox is the integration of services. Your friends list, parties, cloud saves, game library.... These things are sharded across PC/Xbox Consoles and Cloud, and some other platforms as well. Minecraft Bedrock uses Xbox friends lists on Switch and mobile, for example. Geforce Now supports streaming of some games purchased from Windows Store, and most (all?) of them were games that once appeared on PC Gamepass and often use Xbox services. Xbox Games Studio games on Steam require an Xbox login as well, and use Xbox services for matchmaking/cloud saves/voice chat/friends. Microsoft is trying to build a bunch of pathways to their services, that's their endgame.
 
Have you tried cloud gaming? You might want to play that on your Xbox instead.

I'm only half kidding. I think the motivating factor to stay on Xbox is the integration of services. Your friends list, parties, cloud saves, game library.... These things are sharded across PC/Xbox Consoles and Cloud, and some other platforms as well. Minecraft Bedrock uses Xbox friends lists on Switch and mobile, for example. Geforce Now supports streaming of some games purchased from Windows Store, and most (all?) of them were games that once appeared on PC Gamepass and often use Xbox services. Xbox Games Studio games on Steam require an Xbox login as well, and use Xbox services for matchmaking/cloud saves/voice chat/friends. Microsoft is trying to build a bunch of pathways to their services, that's their endgame.
since i dont have any friends on my xbox i often overlook social aspect of this. Thanks for reminding me ;)
 
It's already announced for the Legion Go S, they are producing two version of that handheld. One with Windows and one with SteamOS, the SteamOS version is a hundred dollars cheaper and will likely perform way better. It's also been implied that a device agnostic vertsion will be available this year for other handhelds.

It seems that Valve are already, sepecifically, working on Rog Ally compatability (which will be amazing - Windows is the cause of nearly all the issues handhelds have - battery life, game performance etc). If they pull this off, and I have no reason to think they won't, then SteamOS will be a very viable alternative to Windows for Gamers - if their sole reason for having a PC is to play games then Windows becomes the worst option for that. Even if you do need access to other appliactions then SteamOS is a full linux OS under the hood so you still have a desktop and productivity tools available.

Windows has never been a good gaming OS, too much bloat, too much overhead etc. though if I remember 2000 was OK but that was only because the underlying code was bought when they purchased NT.

There's quite a good article here
I disagree on that Windows is the worst OS for gaming. It's the best. Native gaming, HDR, etc etc. But you are right on the bloatware thing and lack of optimisation, which games need.
 
Is SteamOS spreading anywhere other than SteamDeck? Is there even a roadmap and intention from Valve to do that?
it will be on desktop soon too! That's a huge threat for Windows. I've watched a youtuber who has a RoG Ally X installing SteamOS on it and the title of the video was: "Hi Linux, goodbye Windows". And there were people saying that many of them were waiting for the desktop version of SteamOS to say goodbye to Windows --not the best idea. 🤔

But yeah, even a MS fan like me would be curious about Steam OS desktop. I just hope that MS creates a Windows version tailored for gaming on any device, that would be huge.
 
What other parts, though? They bought most of those other parts as well, so if we are going to disregard all of the studios/IP they purchased then the company is... Well I don't even know what Xbox is. The only modern franchise I can think of that Xbox has built from the ground up is Forza. Their other franchises (Halo, Gears, COD, Crash), they're all acquired. So where do we draw this line and say "this is how they are really doing".
The criteria that it has to be built from the ground up is a bit needlessly strict. Halo and Gears weren't massively successful games beforehand, and Microsoft actually took a chance and invested in these because they wanted to bring people good, unique content for their platform. The situation isn't remotely comparable to them buying up Bethesda and certainly not Activision.

Cultivation I think is the important distinction. Xbox/Playstation/Nintendo dont need to necessarily have to build everything from the ground up in house from Day 1 in order to be perceived as part of their home grown success. But the Activision purchase especially had nothing to do with cultivating anything whatsoever. It was purely to help their financials look better. That's it. Gamers didn't benefit, we're not getting great new games we otherwise wouldn't, we're not getting more refined or polished games because the studios just never had many resources before or anything like that.

From a gamer perspective, these things are pretty clearly different and that's where people make these distinctions from. So no, I dont think such a line is that hard to define. In fact, I think simply excluding Activision on its own would be enough for people to get the more clear picture they'd like to see.
 
it will be on desktop soon too! That's a huge threat for Windows. I've watched a youtuber who has a RoG Ally X installing SteamOS on it and the title of the video was: "Hi Linux, goodbye Windows". And there were people saying that many of them were waiting for the desktop version of SteamOS to say goodbye to Windows --not the best idea. 🤔

But yeah, even a MS fan like me would be curious about Steam OS desktop. I just hope that MS creates a Windows version tailored for gaming on any device, that would be huge.
As I said before I don’t think it will have the impact people think it will. SteamOS existed before and didn’t make drastic changes in user base. Most people don’t know shit about Linux. How do you install drivers, where are my programs, why there is not program X on it? It always worked on windows, where are my files? Why my WiFi is not working etc etc
 
As I said before I don’t think it will have the impact people think it will. SteamOS existed before and didn’t make drastic changes in user base. Most people don’t know shit about Linux. How do you install drivers, where are my programs, why there is not program X on it? It always worked on windows, where are my files? Why my WiFi is not working etc etc

While I'm unsure what impact the current SteamOS will have, 'it existed before' isn't meaningful. A handful of compatible Linux ports .Vs the massive library that Proton now serves up is a completely different proposition.

SteamOS can't replace general purpose Windows for most users who just buy a laptop for random computing. It's not trying to compete with a gazillion cheap laptops.

It's going to be competing with devices that boot into the XBox/Windows Gaming UI, whatever that turns out to be.

Steamdeck is great and Microsoft have a tall order making Xbox Windows, or whatever stupid name they give it, as good.
 
It's also been implied that a device agnostic vertsion will be available this year for other handhelds.
Implied where? I have been hearing for years now that SteamOS 3 is getting a generic release for handhelds and desktop but it hasn't materialized and Valve hasn't been keen on evangelizing SteamOS at all outside of their own hardware and this Lenovo device (a departure from SteamOS 1 and 2 where they actually encouraged users try it, although it was really only official for Steam Machines and Valve's recommended distro ca. 2013 was Ubuntu).

Windows has never been a good gaming OS, too much bloat, too much overhead etc. though if I remember 2000 was OK but that was only because the underlying code was bought when they purchased NT.
I hear this a lot yet benchmarks between various mainstream Linux distros and Windows usually come out to be almost identical. Windows has more bloat but Linux is running everything in a compatibility layer (and tbh desktop Linux overall is way less stable than Windows, something usually omitted from these discussions lol).

That said, I don't see why people are waiting for SteamOS: install Manjaro or regular Arch Linux or Ubuntu or Fedora or whatever on your gaming desktop. SteamOS is mostly for handhelds and maybe TV setups. The problem I see is people have this perfect vision of Linux gaming that will be realized thru SteamOS and they'd rather speculate about that then actually try the (rather flawed) existing ecosystem.

While I'm unsure what impact the current SteamOS will have, 'it existed before' isn't meaningful. A handful of compatible Linux ports .Vs the massive library that Proton now serves up is a completely different proposition.
It exists now, you can use Proton on any non-esoteric Linux distro. It just isn't all that user friendly. Do we seriously expect the types of people that buy Xboxes and PlayStations to download Glorious Eggroll builds of Proton? Or to check ProtonDB for compatibility tweaks and fixes? The whole point of a console is effortless and frictionless gaming, Linux is definitely not that (although it is way better than it was 12 years ago when I first installed Ubuntu).
 
It's going to be competing with devices that boot into the XBox/Windows Gaming UI, whatever that turns out to be.

Steamdeck is great and Microsoft have a tall order making Xbox Windows, or whatever stupid name they give it, as good.
That part I completely agree with and I think it’s gonna be more successful then anything msft come up with.
 
it will be on desktop soon too!
Is that official, or speculation? Once it hits the everyman PC, maintenance becomes much more problematic. Vavle have to worry about supporting every PC configuration under the sun, and support for those platforms as things evolve over the ages. Do they want that and can they do that?

SteamOS can't replace general purpose Windows for most users who just buy a laptop for random computing. It's not trying to compete with a gazillion cheap laptops.

It's going to be competing with devices that boot into the XBox/Windows Gaming UI, whatever that turns out to be.
Or dual-boot systems. Or even conceptually a machine that can swap between modes. You could hibernate one OS when switching to the other.
 
Or dual-boot systems. Or even conceptually a machine that can swap between modes. You could hibernate one OS when switching to the other.

Duel boot is just for nerds.😜

For Microsoft, mode switching to and from a meaningful 'game mode' would be a big win over SteamOS. I've no confidence that thye can actually do it in a way that would make it console like of you're in game mode. At this stage anyway. We'll see what the year brings.


It exists now, you can use Proton on any non-esoteric Linux distro. It just isn't all that user friendly. Do we seriously expect the types of people that buy Xboxes and PlayStations to download Glorious Eggroll builds of Proton? Or to check ProtonDB for compatibility tweaks and fixes?

I was quoting a reference to SteamMachine's version of SteamOS.

Don't think anyone's expecting traditional console player to leave the current SteamOS's 'console' interface or roll their own Linus/Proton combo.
 
That said, I don't see why people are waiting for SteamOS: install Manjaro or regular Arch Linux or Ubuntu or Fedora or whatever on your gaming desktop. SteamOS is mostly for handhelds and maybe TV setups. The problem I see is people have this perfect vision of Linux gaming that will be realized thru SteamOS and they'd rather speculate about that then actually try the (rather flawed) existing ecosystem.
Because that requires work, and then taking a bit of responsibility if your games don't work if they are listed or reported as working by other Proton users. People don't want that. They want something that works, and someone to blame if it doesn't. And they want to blame Windows for things.
 
Mod note:

I’d like to reinstate Some guardrails on the steam OS discussion. If you can’t tie your discussion about it back to Xbox (not Windows business), you are probably too off topic.

Normally we would split out Steam OS talk, but it’s not often talked about so I rather not clip it until it’s a really mature topic here.

We are still assessing what needs to be clipped out if any thread splitting must happen.
 


Of course WS twitter headline will try to spin it as if its both S and X consoles that have high demand yet in fact its been the X. But this has been a common occurrence during this gen. MS did not produce enough Series X devices and prioritized Series S production. As well this could be in preparation to pull out of most markets and replace Xbox with a service. Redefining what it means to be an Xbox and an Xbox fan.
 
It’s all the same source. Media writes 50 articles amplifying a statement like it’s independently verified when it’s all pointing back to 1 dude. It’s a terribly sad world we live in.
 
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