Xbox Series X|S

Is it actually the next Xbox or the Series X update due this year?

I'd imagine they're well underway with development of whatever the next gen looks like.

The mid gen discless SX refresh is coming out this year IIRC, so I'd say will be pretty much ready to go already.

I hope they don’t stop releasing consoles, I’m pretty much locked in to buying Xbox because of my digital library. I think over a hundred full price games. If they did I think I would go exclusively PC.

I really don't see cloud gaming ever been big unless MS, Sony and Nintendo make it the only way to play.

The Xbox One has to be the biggest marketing fuck-up since Ratner.

Sony having no competition outside of Nintendo (who will always sell consoles in good numbers to their fans) doesn't sound like a good thing to me.

At this point it's a fool errand especially when you have a mega company like Google not having the stomach for it despite all their idiotic moves.

According to EG they have only just signed a contract with AMD for next gen, and were seriously considering Intel or even Nvidia until a few weeks ago. Meanwhile Sony have had their contracts for ages and the PS6 is in "high level development".

The suggestion is that Xbox didn't know what form their next hardware would take due to all this going on

Dreamcast 2!

The 360 really felt like a Dreamcast 2 in the first 3/4 years.

Shenmue 2 was the reason I bought an OG Xbox!

They will definitely find a way to shoe horn Gamepass on both Sony and Nintendo platforms. By potentially exaggerating Sony’s market share they could force their way onto the platform without paying Sony licensing. And once they do, that will hugely impact software sales on the platform. Especially if they choose to undercut Sony’s offering.

In theory, Gamepass being a digital platform on another console could mean you bypass the need for an online subscription to play games online. You could still download games to the SSD (even if they’re only accessible within a dedicated Gamepass app).

Sony would still be banking money on 1st party titles, but 3rd parties could easily opt for a deal with Microsoft for licensing and potentially cut Sony out of the equation. This would mean lower profits that would either result in higher hardware costs (no longer selling hardware at a loss) or higher software pricing (which would only add value to Gamepass as an alternative).

If Microsoft do this, the console cycle as we know it could well be over. Or the market will become more and more fragmented with cheap Gamepass machines and such.

Either way it leaves Sony in a position where they are no longer competing with a direct competitor with high-end hardware specifications and thus less likely to throw sums of money at a new machine if there isn’t a positive return, financially.

I think Nintendo are the only manufacturer who could get away with their existing console strategy because the offer fairly unique hardware and have a much larger pool of exclusive titles. Gamepass might eat into their 3rd party licensing profits, but their own software is far more numerous and cheaper to produce, generally.


Obviously, this all depends on how Microsoft manage publishing software and Gamepass in general, but we could be looking at an industry battle comparable to Blockbuster and Netflix. If Gamepass were to die, then we’ll probably just have a weird stalemate between Sony and Nintendo until digital software finally puts physical sales to bed.

Would having GP really benefit Sony in any way? They won't get much of a cut from it?

All depends on if Sony and Nintendo have to allow 3rd parties to sell software outside of their own store apps. I don’t know the ins and outs, but if Sony’s market share increases (which it will if they stop selling Xboxes altogether) they would be able to argue a monopoly on the platform and force Sony to allow other storefronts on their console.

I don’t know what fee Sony could ask for in such circumstances, but I’m sure it would be much less than they currently ask for. And Microsoft can afford to price Gamepass aggressively to undercut Sony, however it works out.

I can just imagine they will force Gamepass onto consoles in such a way that neither Sony or Nintendo would be happy about.

Could all be nonsense, but it feels like this is what Microsoft are trying to achieve. I think we’re inevitably heading towards an all digital future in which distribution of software, rather than hardware becomes the primary goal. And if Mixrosoft do pull out of the hardware race, they’ll want to accelerate us to this future as quickly as possible.