Xbox Business Update Podcast | Xbox Everywhere Direction Discussion

I think there's an expectation issue here for what Microsoft should do from a consumer oriented slant.

It seems like the want is that because Microsoft as a whole has huge financial resources they should basically bankroll the hardware platform aggressively and waylay competitors that way. While this results in a very consumer preferable situation (unless maybe your a fan specifically of a competitor) is recoverable in the the long term in terms of the outlay? Especially now with the increasing big tech scrutiny and concerns about how their platforms/ecosystems/moats act as anti competitive barriers to entry?

Honestly this is the entire problem with these tech platforms. Basically platforms with inertia that become incumbents either need to self destruct, face disruptive events, and/or have an outside competitor basically throw huge money at hopefully future returns to displace them. How capitalism and competition works in theory as envisioned ages ago just doesn't really work.
 
Yeah, people seam to want Microsoft to come in and just money hat their way into industry dominance, though a fair amount of people already accuse them of doing it already.

Honestly, it's probably a good thing that the 3 main players in the console space have 3 different strategies. There is a good possibility that they will each continue to carve out a space for themselves, which would be much harder if they were all imitating the market leader.
 
But you say all you did and then contradict yourself with the oem talk. Oems need to make a profit on the hardware. So they are going to end up charging a lot more for the same console design than sony or MS will charge. You forget about a lack luster ps5 pro at $700. You may end up with a xbox oem at $1,000 that performs the same as a $500 ps6. That is where another problem lies.

PCs and consoles are very different products. I would suggest looking at windows vr headsets vs oculus and the index. MS went the oem route and now windows vr is dead. Too many headsets with slight changes , a bunch of them with underwhelming quality and performance. Oculus and valve decided to build their own and they are still around selling hardware.
And what if OEM Xboxes initially only represent a slice of the pie and are aimed at a more hardcore segment, their role could be to promote the Xbox brand by taking advantage of the echo of media and social platforms. The bulk of the pie will be traditional PCs on the market equipped with a more advanced Xbox OS/UI software, either directly within Windows or with a separate launcher. Both models offer the same console user interface with the same games.

Also, let's not forget that OEM partners may put their profits on XboxPCs, but since we are technically talking about PCs with PC games, it will be possible to significantly scale the hardware down to a reasonable entry level over time. If they want, they can also release a $ 400 version that runs PC games only at modest parameters. In this respect, it will be similar to today's PCs, there will be a 1080p designed and high-end version. The main difference compared to traditional PCs will be the form factor and the launch with a dedicated Xbox controller. This could easily be enough, coupled with a flexible and easy-to-use gaming interface, for the average buyer to consider the product as a console.
 
A lot of interesting discussion going on.

As you know, I'm someone who thinks MS can pull it off, but I'll admit that I'm not certain of it.

I hope I'm playing GamePass games on good hardware for <$1000 next gen, but maybe I won't be.
 
A lot of interesting discussion going on.

As you know, I'm someone who thinks MS can pull it off, but I'll admit that I'm not certain of it.

I hope I'm playing GamePass games on good hardware for <$1000 next gen, but maybe I won't be.
Nextgen probably won't be as good value for money as traditional consoles have been. Because More's law hasn't worked in computing for a while now. I have to say that from a business perspective MS is doing the best they can by combining consoles and PCs, and I'm a die-hard console guy, so I say this.

On the bright side, there will probably be multiple price/performance configurations. Everyone can decide how much they want to spend, and we can even choose from powerful configurations. Welcome to the console masterrace.
 
Yeah. It may not be to existing fans' liking, but MS actually have a presence now where before they've felt very much like an also-ran. They have a message and content that's reaching and establishing a clearer identity.
They are solving their first problem which is just getting people interested back into the brand itself. Which is the first step in building back consumer interest. They've been largely the 'E3' since 'E3' disappeared, and as of last year, they've definitely been the place to be to launch big name titles. They're finally getting the lion share of views. By releasing their titles on NSW2 I expect the audience to be even larger. Everyone will be watching because they know that these titles are coming to their platform. That exposure allows them to get the message out about their platform significantly easier than before. I still check reddit and other threads from time to time to see if people really know what's happening on the xbox platform and most people are still pretty clueless about it.

If Xbox manages to maintain this type of interest level on their brand and platform, when they announce something, people will pay attention. And that's the major win here for MS. It would appear that they got the bad messaging out of the way first (price increases) so that come June they want people to focus on that instead of the price increases. I hope they have big plans for this June then. They've basically been on a roll since November, and right before June will be Doom: Dark Ages. They've basically been announcing more than 1 title per month for the last 6 months - it's been a deluge of titles that will be rolling out in 2025, a stark difference from rolling out 0 titles a couple years ago.
 
I probably should be careful about trying to attribute too much brilliance to MS, but hear me out. :)

Raising game prices to $80 does two things: a) Make a lot of money on other platforms and non-GP users b) Make GP even more attractive to Xbox and PC owners.

Putting Gears on PS reminds PS owners that Xbox has great games and that those games are much more affordable on GP. Though ironically, GP generates more revenue per gamer than the usual 10:1 attach rate.
 
I probably should be careful about trying to attribute too much brilliance to MS, but hear me out. :)

Raising game prices to $80 does two things: a) Make a lot of money on other platforms and non-GP users b) Make GP even more attractive to Xbox and PC owners.

Putting Gears on PS reminds PS owners that Xbox has great games and that those games are much more affordable on GP. Though ironically, GP generates more revenue per gamer than the usual 10:1 attach rate.
nah, that's too much. There's no brilliance there.
MS is no longer willing to take any loss on hardware period. The tariffs are at least 25% more as there are some exemptions, otherwise a pure 245% is pretty much an embargo, so that seems to line up directly with the $100 increase and MS does not have a lot of hardware in storage because they haven't been producing that level of quantity for some time.

The price of everything is going up because you still have to make your forecast, and either the market is shrinking or the inputs are more expensive, so you're going to pass that loss to the consumer. This is very similar behaviour to any industry that is contracting, the price goes up because there is less volume to spread the discount around.

Placing as much of their titles onto PS and Switch will garner much more attention to their platform. That is useful if they have something they want to announce in the future. But I don't think people are going to be applauding price increases, it's really just a symptom of the realities of today.
 
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