What if next-gen console(s) could run PC games too? [2020] *spawn*

[Deleted member 11852]

he rumours suggest that the Xbox Series X may feature a "Windows mode" that enables players to switch the console's operating system to Windows 10, which would give you access to the Steam and Epic Games Store platforms.

I'm getting a overwhelming sense of deja vu here, possibly because this gets conjectured before every new Xbox.

I personally would be thrilled if Microsoft want to sell a ~£600 XSX with a small, quiet, well-engineered chassis with octacore Zen2 CPU, 16+ Gb RAM, 10+Tf GPU, fast SSD and nextgen Xbox controller that I can run Windows/Steam/Epic games. That would be fan-fucking-tastic, but I don't see what is in it for Microsoft.

 

[iroboto]

I'm getting a overwhelming sense of deja vu here, possibly because this gets conjectured before every new Xbox.

I personally would be thrilled if Microsoft want to sell a ~£600 XSX with a small, quiet, well-engineered chassis with octacore Zen2 CPU, 16+ Gb RAM, 10+Tf GPU, fast SSD and nextgen Xbox controller that I can run Windows/Steam/Epic games. That would be fan-fucking-tastic, but I don't see what is in it for Microsoft.

My general feel around MS is the goal of getting more people to subscribe to subscription based services. Both Office and Games Pass, Azure compute etc. Sub services are their bread winner and I don’t see that going way, in fact I see it ramping up further. windows is going to drop off and be left for professional users. 10X is going to enter the causal mainstream users market.

I don’t really know if Epic or Steam coming to 10X would make sense. Unless you guys can come up with a way that sub services could benefit from it.

It is an easy way to completely open up your gaming platform. Get a huge instant library. But that could be a lot of 3P profits out the door.

MS can technically do this; the business case for Steam and EGS on Xbox is the question we need to answer. But it being named Xbox Series X might be a hint that perhaps it’s running 10X. Who knows. Phil did say that their naming conventions would try to encapsulate what they are trying to do with the console.

 

[Jay]

Sounds like what people are after is one of those non upgradable pc's.

Does dell still make those small optiplex pc's? Maybe modern day version with half decent components.

 

[Xbat]

How much money does the Xbox division make from game licences?

Whatever the answer to that is the reason this is unlikely to happen.

I suppose they might want to disrupt the market and they have the money to do it.
I see them maybe allowing the windows store but I doubt any other market places would be allowed to.

 

[mpg1]

We've already speculated on this.

I could possibly see them have a very limited mode that just allowed the ability to boot PC games right from the Xbox OS without any access to windows desktop. The major benefit for Micrososft is they could just start selling PC games right in the Xbox Store.

A potential problem would be that some developers could just decide not to make an Xbox Version of their game since the PC version would technically run...of course Micrososft could just restrict it to PC games that are already released up to that point that don't already have an Xbox version. Given the size of the PC catalog this would be still be cool.

Another potential problem for Microsoft would be the fact that PC games don't require Xbox Live for multiplayer. Given everything is about subscription services these days I'm not sure if they would like the idea of that within the Xbox ecosystem. I mean I guess they could require Xbox Live to use the PC game mode to begin with but I don't think that would be a very popular move.

 

[Davros]

Back in the day there was a playstation with an officially sanctioned version of linux
If the version would have included wine you would have had a console capable of playing P.C
games.

 

[PSman1700]

$499 for a ultra high end gaming PC is going to piss a lot of the OEMs off.

That wouldn't be really ultra high end by late 2020 though. That would be RTX3080Ti or even Titan (or AMD 16+ TF variants), with 64GB main ram, A zen 3 +12core screaming @4ghz or more. I would say more mid-range with the GPU being close to the higher end by then, if it is comparable to the 2018 RTX2080.

Back in the day there was a playstation with an officially sanctioned version of linux
If the version would have included wine you would have had a console capable of playing P.C
games.

The PS2 playing PC games?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

My general feel around MS is the goal of getting more people to subscribe to subscription based services. Both Office and Games Pass, Azure compute etc. Sub services are their bread winner and I don’t see that going way, in fact I see it ramping up further. windows is going to drop off and be left for professional users. 10X is going to enter the causal mainstream users market.

I'm not sure how any of this relates to an XSX that can run Windows/Steam/EGS?

MS can technically do this; the business case for Steam and EGS on Xbox is the question we need to answer

There is no answer. Microsoft would take a loss on hardware and for every not bought through the Microsoft store they lose licensing fees. It's lose-lose. The economics of loss-leading console hardware works because of licensing fees and attache-rates which are assured because of the closed software ecosystem.

 

[iroboto]

im not sure how any of this relates to an XSX that can run Windows/Steam/EGS?

: in that I don’t think it would do it unless it somehow benefitted their subscription game.

 

[PSman1700]

Microsoft would take a loss on hardware and for every not bought through the Microsoft store they lose licensing fees. It's lose-lose. The economics of loss-leading console hardware works because of licensing fees and attache-rates which are assured because of the closed software ecosystem.

With everything crossplatform, it doesn't matter where people buy their games?

 

[dobwal]

Its a wholesale bad idea imo, the amount of vulnerabilities that are in windows is huge, it would be opening up a platform that has had a great history (this gen) of resisting attacks to an entirely new surface that could be used to attack the box.

Nevermind the, “let me give you the hardware and windows 10 license, so I can make no money at all!!!” proposition.

Plus the OS is already Windows based and MS can do like they do with Android and Mac which is make their 365 services compatible with XSX.

 

[Pixel]

Besides losing or sharing licensing fees with Valve, how exactly would they force multiplayer through Xbox Live Gold membership on every single Steam game? Obviously they dont have access to any 3rd party published game's source code. If they don't do that people would flock to buying off the Xbox-Steam storefront where they can buy games and get free multiplayer without paying for Gold.

So giving up some OR all game/dlc/mts licensing fees (billions in either case) and Gold membership (billions).... in return for... getting 10-20 million core PC gamers (with dedicated videocards) to migrate over and spend their money on the Xbox-Steam storefront?

What if Valve starts making decisions that directly challenge Gamepass eg starts offering game bundles that challenge gamepass... how much control would MS be able to exert on Valve in negotiating.
What if things turn sour between Valve and MS and all those Xbox owners lose access to Steam via Xbox?

 

[AzBat]

I could see a Windows sandbox mode like Windows on ARM that only supports Windows-based subscription services like Game Pass PC, Ubisoft Uplay+ & EA's Origin Access. Just imagine a Steam subscription also debuting with the new console?

Tommy McClain

 

[PSman1700]

I can totally imagine MS doing something in the form of XBOX/PC as a more united platform. Don't know about W10 on XSX, but they certainly are moving more and more 'PC' with their Xbox brand. Sony and Ninty seem more console oriented then MS is atleast. I do like MS's idea more, of not keeping 1st party devs limited to just one platform. Hideo Kojima for example rather wants to release on multiple platforms so that his creations reach to more. I understand what Sony/nintendo do, they want to have something that seperates their platform, they probably need it to survive/keep that install base larger.

MS seems to be more offering software/games, and the Xbox devices could be steam pc's? Oh and, who has said XSX will be cheap (499/599?), if their having a lower-end SKU, the XSX could be retailing for quite high prices i think. They are basically selling a pc with that thing, a compact pc.

 

[Jay]

It will be cheap in comparison to pc of the same feature and performance level.
The reason consoles can be sold so cheap is because they make the difference up and profit on game sales and subscriptions.
What is being suggested is to negate that and sell a cheap pc, with no profit.

They would be better of not selling a console and just going 3P. Why bother invest in the development of a console if your only going to make a loss from it?

 

[Xbat]

With everything crossplatform, it doesn't matter where people buy their games?

What? Of course it does. Microsoft get a 30% cut of games sold on Xbox and sweet nothing of games sold on any other market place.

 

[AzBat]

What? Of course it does. Microsoft get a 30% cut of games sold on Xbox and sweet nothing of games sold on any other market place.

Not necessarily. Microsoft has an agreement with EA for their EA Access service. We don't know what they make off, if any, off the game sales and/or the monthly subscriptions. Plus, there other avenues of revenues like Azure/Project X Cloud services. Similar to their deal with Sony.

BTW, I know this is only for their own studio, but they now have 30 titles for sale on Steam now & lots more on the way. Things are a lot different now with Microsoft. They really don't care as much about where buy & play their games. They will get some kind of piece of the action one way or another.

Tommy McClain

 

[Xbat]

BTW, I know this is only for their own studio, but they now have 30 titles for sale on Steam now & lots more on the way.

Which they make money off because it's there games. I'm very sceptical about them just giving up all the money they make from licenses of third party games.

I don't know how much Sony or Microsoft make from game licences but I doubt it's a trivial number.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

That would be fan-fucking-tastic, but I don't see what is in it for Microsoft.

Increase userbase by offering a product that caters to a wider range of customers.

If the XBSX supports windows 10 then I'll probably decomission my HTPC.
And then I'll most probably switch it to XBox mode to purchase and play exclusives and some 3rd parties.

 

[Betanumerical]

It didn't seem to impact Xbox One when they allowed every console to switch into Developer mode and run any program that could be produced by a simple one time $100 registration. Granted that meant offline and some other restrictions but it didn't lead to any rampant piracy or hacks into the gaming system.

Every decision to open up something like developer mode or to run a less restricted operating system on the host with non-verified/certified (which is the only way I can see this being worthwhile) opens up inherit risks to the system itself. From the presentations I have seen on the security of the XBONE, even a kernel exploit in something like windows wouldn't be enough to breakthrough to the actual OS/hardware (this being reliant on the windows mode running containerised using the system they have already described for games), but would likely allow to continue exploration into the container system.

I honestly don't know enough about the details of the developer mode to tell if it exposes a decent amount of the API and system.