New Xbox & AI CEO announced via Twitter ( not calling it x) the new “hybrid” console that will play Xbox and PC games.
In other words you know just a PC. Thus far it seems the system will use the exact same Xbox desktop experience as the “rog ally”.
While we all saw it coming and there isn’t much surprise. This to me says Xbox is dead as a platform.
It’s going to be expensive, it’s going to have Windows. It’s going to have co-pilot it’s going to have the same pop ups.
At least we get an Ally ROG desktop at most a Surface Gaming Desktop. Either honestly is a terrible idea. There will be most affordable options not tied to windows there will be mode powerful options at the same price. Even if you like the idea of going all in PC gaming this won’t be your best option.
If you want to stay a console gamer you’re going to have to switch teams …
RIP Xbox.
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If I can get my Xbox game library and saved progress onto the PC, great. Sucks I’ve double bought some titles but whatever I guess.
Microsoft Xbox hardware wasn’t going to be competitive in sales with Sony or Nintendo. Maybe now they can be competitive with ASUS ROG and Lenovo Legion and Dell Alienware
Will they call it Xbox copilot? I can not and will not own any device that runs on software from Microsoft. Never again.
Dumb marketing speak aside, the general thrust of just turning Xbox into a brand for Microsoft games Studios to release games on Windows and maybe other platforms one day doesn’t seem like all that bad of an idea to me.
I want more easy access to more open and flexible platforms in my everyday life, not less. If the traditional console has to go away for us to get the proliferation of “PC games” as the default in ways the average person can easily use that seems like a win for the gaming market overall.
Consoles aren’t going anywhere. I understand this crowd isn’t going to understand why. As half of you this morning for funsies decided to self host an instance of a discord clone on a toaster you found on the side of the road. Using Arch Linux of course !!
But the majority of people that aren’t on here the majority of people you know Microsoft is actually salivating to take money from aren’t. And I can tell from Xbox one to Kinnect those are the people they want !!
Steam deck over its 4 years has sold roughly around 5 million world wide. Switch 2 in less than a year has sold nearly 17 million !
The goal of this “new” Xbox is to get Windows for more normies into their living room. And Microsoft going to recoup share they lost overtime to smartphones and others. And to me I don’t see that working like at all …
Xbox is dead as a platform and this new strategy will be dead on arrival.
How much you wanna bet it’ll just be a pc you can’t uninstall windows from?
Finally.
It’s something I’ve wanted since the Xbox One X was announced 8 years ago.
There’s no reason for these powerful machines to be single purpose devices anymore.
My only concern is that this might be coming in too late. I don’t know if this is enough to save the Xbox brand.
If this is what people truly wanted steam Decks would of sold over 30 million or so. They’ve sold around 5 million.
There is a place for dedicated game consoles. If there wasn’t the Nintendo Switch wouldn’t have sold 150 million units …
I’m confused by the pessimistic reactions, though.
Companies converging towards the semi-open platform is a good thing. The locked down hardware and exclusives are not something we as customers asked for. It was something the cartel just shoved down our throats.
What bothers me is the backwards compatibility that microsoft has always just hand-waved in regards to the sunsetting of the xbox HW. A clear yes or no would be nice.
Microsoft was already releasing games on PC. All this does is removes any dedicated hardware. Officially forcing windows down Xbox gamers throats. One less option in the space not really one more.
Windows is not the future for gaming. Windows shouldn’t be anyone’s future
You realize PC is not just Windows, right? It’s Windows, Linux, Mac.
Windows might be the most used PC platform but game developer are well aware attaching their success to Windows is not the right move. And that’s exactly the kind of freedom PC gives that consoles do not.
I’m not sure if you understand the point of my post. Yes PC is not just Windows. But the whole point of this product will be the “Xbox experience” which is installed on WINDOWS. Sure you can buy this box and then just install Bazzite or whatever. But why wait for this “box” to do it ? Just build a custom PC which is guaranteed to be better value and something you can do right now ?
I’m not attacking PC gaming. I love PC gaming. But this is in the context of an dedicated gaming console. Which for Xbox is going away.
My point is I see little value in the move. My point is I believe it’s the wrong approach. Valves approach with their baked in software is much better.
I mean, your post says “Forcing windows down Xbox gamers throats”. So people that are already in the locked down Xbox ecosystem, not people that already know that and avoid Xbox. Xbox is just Windows but locked down. It’s both Microsoft.
I completely agree people should just go for a PC, but if someone was buying Xbox already, they aren’t in the mindset. So if they’re going to buy Xbox anyways, having a device that’s not locked down to some console OS means they can switch at any time and rid themselves of Xbox, since it’s your device. To me that’s definitely an improvement over the status quo, even if other better options were already available.
But think of the AI agents that need to work on it!!!
I, for a long time, wanted Microsoft to delete the difference between PC and Console. They are the same hardware, they can run the same software. Valve achieved this with the Steam Deck. I just wonder how Microsoft is going to fuck it up.
I’m confused by the pessimistic reactions, though.
Microsoft has done an amazing job of destroying good-will. And it’s why I and an increasing share of people stopped using Windows (I still have to suffer with it at work though). For any gaming PC that runs Windows:
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Why is there a pre-installed Xbox app in Windows? It doesn’t help play Steam, or Epic, or GOG, or even Amazon games. I don’t think it even helps with Windows Store games…
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Why are there ads in the start menu?
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Why are there two control panels? Why do I always have to hunt to find the old one because the new one doesn’t do what is needed?
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Why are there popup ads in the notification area?
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Why do I need an online account, or a hidden fucking terminal, just to get the OS going?
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Why is Copilot fucking everywhere?
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Why does the OS hoover fuckloads of data and send it to Microsoft?
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Why is there pre-installed bloatware?
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No, but seriously, why are there ads?
These are all questions that are relevant when you ask about why people are pessimistic about Windows as a gaming system. But with the merge of Windows and Xbox, all of the above questions apply, but you also get to add:
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How locked down will this merged thing be?
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Will multiplayer require monthly payments?
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Will it have backwards compatibility?
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Will they find another place to shove copilot?
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How many extra ads will there be?
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Oh God I know this will go over many people’s heads but I was listening to a podcast where they where talking about the renewal of CUSMA (or USMCA for you Americans) and a senator said “I’m half included to think Donald Trump is ready to make a decision” to which Rob Russo, a journalist, rightly pointed out that was not clarity it is infact the absence of clarity. He then said, and this is why I laugh and the yes/no comment is so true.
“If I told my wife ‘Im half inclined to take the garbage out today’ she would not say that is a clear answer as to if I was going to do it”
Political and Business language needs to fuck off.
In emulation and retro gaming forums I frequent the reactions seem mostly positive. Lots of questions surrounding backwards compatibility of course.
Sounds great honestly, locked down console hardware is such an aging concept. If Valve manages to pull off the Steam Machines, it’s proof that we’ve past the age of consoles. Except Nintendo I guess, they’ve always been a special case somehow.
a special case somehow.
IP, e.g. Mario, Zelda, Pokemon.
Like honestly though, in what way will it be significantly different than currently? All the games they put out are just also on PC so what, things stay essentially the same?
I doubt they’ll allow me to play my steam games, will it allow side loading of other random games? Do I have to just buy the Xbox version of this PC game to play it? Gamepass Ultimate already includes playing the PC versions of the games which again are identical to the versions on the Xbox. So what really will be the actual difference to the current Xbox?
Your thinking about this to literally with the name “Xbox” which is a part of my concern. Modern traditional consoles use customized hardware , usually offshoots of existing PC parts. They run by custom firmware and software that makes them purpose built devices. Xbox’s to this point had a kernel level Windows implementation with most of what we hate about windows left out.
With this new “Xbox” your getting a Windows PC. There is no “sideloading”. You just close the Xbox interface and install Steam. Your “Xbox” games will just be windows games. And if your OG xbox games play , it will be through emulation.
If this sounds exciting to you, great. But you don’t have to wait for Microsoft to release anything. You can go buy or build your own gaming PC right now and get all the same things !
With Steam Machine being announced and price about to be released, new xbox is dead even before arrival. I will be totally bemused if gamers will chose new xbox/pc over Steam Machines.
Oh we do have a lot of Microsuckers in this world who will choose this over the Steam Machine because “It is well integrated into the system” bullshit.
“XBOX game pass is heaps better than Steam” - said no one ever
Better integrated than Steam? I’d be curious to hear how.
Have they said they are ready to commit to a price somewhere? The timing of the steam machine and the ballooning price of disk space and RAM is comically tragic.
Not that I know of. They supposed to announce prices in the first quarter of 2026 but due to memory shortage they have postponed it. As for shipping, they have claimed that they are still planning to launch shipping by the end of first half of 2026. Price is estimated at $800-$1000. Shortage might increase it.
With the inability to obtain hardware for new PCs and other computing devices (for reference see how hard it is to get a hold of a steam deck these days). I’m not sure if the steam machine is ever going to come to fruition while the AI boom continues to fuck up the market.
Yep, and I wager the steam machine is probably going to be, at minimum, 50% more expensive than valve planned it to be, which more than likely will kill it on arrival as far as price/performance goes.
Will there be die hards who buy it no matter the price? yeah… but i wager it’ll see a fraction of sales that the deck did, due to ram and storage price bullshit thanks to AI fucking everything up.
I will concede that it will be more expensive, but so will all computing devices. There will be some people who just can’t afford it, but I don’t think people will specifically avoid it due to price. Since a new computer will also have that same increase in price.
I can agree on AI being bullshit though.
You think the average person will buy a more expensive box that doesn’t play COD, FIFA, etc?
No prices for both new xbox and Steam Machines has been announced. How do you know which would be more expensive?
If it’s allowed to run Linux, it’ll be better than the Steam Machine.
Microslop, for their faults, actually does get custom hardware from AMD - Valve uses repurposed parts which is much cheaper for their smaller runs.
I think it’ll be fully locked down though, but if it’s not - i’d wager it’ll make a better Steam Machine than Steam Machine.
Probably not so much as “better” as it would be “almost as good for cheaper”.
The bespoke AMD part is an exercise in cost management. iGPU is more affordable but usually pretty low end. The bespoke AMD solution is an iGPU bumped up to a nearly on par with a mid tier discrete GPU.
If released with same generation of tech, I would expect the steam machine to have higher performance but at a disproportional higher price.
i think this is a bit over dramatic. seems more the next logical step in the “console” world
This is the logical progression—the console wars were bad for consimers. I don’t mourn Xbox.
I do not trust that Microsoft will be doing anything other than pushing subscription-based streaming. Call me when they have a robust storefront selling games on par with Steam and hardware that allows you to play these games on or offline. Until then, imma press X to doubt.
Good riddance. All consoles are cancer, by their walled-garden nature.
Good, I’m sick of playing lowest common denominator console ports. Develop for PC and let the consoles have the degraded experience, not the other way around!
