Here's something that I haven't seen mentioned.
For years and years we've heard about the dreaded Windows as a subscription service. It has obviously never materialized because the hell raised on social media and whatever would make the furor at the XBO launch seem like a mouse squeak.
However, Windows as a subscription service on Xbox, a gaming console, would be more viewed as potentially a value add rather than MS trying to monetize your every single moment in Windows.
Also consider that games running on Windows on XBSX are likely to feature lower IQ due to the increased system resources that running Windows requires (not to mention Windows likely being run in a separate virtual machine) plus the fact that Windows games aren't likely to be as optimized for the XBSX hardware and there'd still be a reason for people to prefer the XBSX version of games compared to running the Windows version of games on XBSX.
Also, I could be wrong on this, but I swear I've read somewhere that your average non-"core" console owner buys 1-2 games a year on average. Those people are also the ones most likely to find a basic Windows installation suitable for their needs (as opposed to gamer focused owners of PCs). Combine those and a subscription based Windows service on the console might bring in more revenue than MS would get from royalties of 1-2 games a year (or maybe even 3-4 games a year).
Windows being available on the console only via a subscription service would likely also mollify any OEMs that might be concerned with XBSX running Windows eating into their revenue.
So, basically pay more for a PC but without recurring OS subscription fees, or spend less on hardware but have to pay continuing subscription fees in order to use Windows on XBSX.
Regards,
SB
