Phil wants to open up Xbox to Steam/Epic, eliminate exclusives

firstly, you clearly have no idea what an "ecosystem" is..

secondly, as a "loyal customer", you are getting more Xbox 1st party game support and investment now than ever before.. Xbox isn't a "gaming device".. it's an ecosystem.. please catch up to current events..

everything beyond that is just you fanboying over an outdated console war.. something that literally shouldn't matter to the end consumer..

Even from a business standpoint, in terms of active users, Xbox is #1.. In terms of gaming revenue, Xbox is #2 (with legit potential to be #1).. In terms of game studios, Xbox has the most.. In terms of Day One endpoints, Xbox has the most.. Yet, you are downplaying all that because they sell fewer consoles.. somehow forgetting that the entire point of selling consoles is to gain users, generate revenue, make games, and create endpoints for consumers.. all things they are currently excelling at.. 🙄

and don't get me wrong.. i enjoyed the console wars.. i was fanboying for the SNES, PS1, PS2, PS3, and the Xbox One.. but times have changed.. the war is over.. Sony won with the PS4.. you simply need to wake up to that reality and enjoy games; not hardware sales..

Because, without Phil and the change in Xbox strategy, Xbox likely would have just been shut down by Nadella years ago.. That's the key part of the story you seem to be willfully ignoring..

Yes, I am curious as well.

I might have misread, though, I had something crazy stuck in my eye.

"console optimization performance premium?" Is this satire? Or have we reached the end game where the things we would have thought a joke are real? OH GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING!?

I haven't mentioned fanboying a consoles war YOU do over & over again, this has nothing to do with fanboying, this has everything to do with keeping Xbox relevant, so they keep making consoles for me to purchase, by releasing games on every system Phil is making Xbox less & less relevant as the years go by.

You are a Phil fanboy that much is clear, you echo the dumb shit he says and actually think he's done a great job.

Xbox gets less and less games from Japan that Phil has to jump on a plane and kiss the arse of Japanese devs to get games on the Xbox because he's making the console less relevant than other consoles.

In the end you're the fanboy here, a Phil fanboy.

@last_lap: what exactly should Phil have done differently?..

Honest question..

Because it seems you are under the impression that limiting Xbox games to a single console (the Xbox One) that was getting demolished by the PS4 3:1 was going to magically "keep Xbox relevant".. Huge exclusives like Titanfall and Halo 5 didn't move the needle in Xbox One console sales so your entire logic has failed from the start.. In 2014 (years before Xbox Play Anywhere and Game Pass), Phil went out and secured Rise of the Tomb Raider as an Xbox exclusive.. Not only did that not cause a boost in Xbox One sales, there was an overall backlash.. That's how unpopular the Xbox One was..

beyond that, Terry Myerson dried up financial support for games resulting in years where all Xbox got was smaller scale titles like Halo Wars 2 and Crackdown 3.. and while Xbox 1st party was being starved by Myerson, Sony was pumping out AAA bangers like Uncharted 4, Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War, and Spiderman.. so with that said, in what fanboy fantasyland does keeping comparatively AA games like State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves off PC make any difference for Xbox One sales?..

Follow up question, how "relevant" would Xbox be right now after Nadella shut it down as a failed hardware division?..

keep in mind that under Satya Nadella, Microsoft is a cloud-based services company that puts their products everywhere.. As such, Satya saw little-to-no value in remaining in a traditional hardware business with a declining Xbox One.. It was Phil Spencer that sold Satya on the ideal of an Xbox ecosystem across all devices via Game Pass, Xbox Play Anywhere, and xCloud.. Without that change in strategy, Xbox was likely going to get the axe at Microsoft.. (something you are still willfully ignoring)

Phil Spencer literally saved the Xbox brand and you want him to be fired.. make that make sense..

Because simply acknowledging reality doesn't make someone a Phil fanboy.. But obsessing over "console sales" while Xbox is literally doing better than ever in terms of users, revenue, 1st party, reach, and more does make you a console fanboy.. 🤷🏽‍♂️

This thread is so...........sad and frustrating?

It reminds me of the threads we used to have about DVD vs streaming, Bluray vs streaming, physical vs digital.

In each, there was a ton of people arguing AGAINST change. In every transition or evolution of an industry, there will always be people who are comfortable with how things are, or simply cant understand or see the use for the evolution.

I will say that if I were to give an analysis for a presentation on this subject, one of the things I would point out is the need to explain why this change is important because, clearly, there are a lot of people that just don't (and wont) get it.

Our industry (traditional console market) is currently killing itself, and those at the top see it but want to make as much money as possible before the change. From adding microtransactions to single player games (Dragons Dogma 2), to the shift to live services from WB and Sony. Console growth is down, and continues do be YOY. But if you look at the industry from the top down, all players are already making the transition.

What Phil is saying is one of the few options consoles have left, and that is to open up their closed platforms and become more customizable. Adding PC stores to a traditionally closed box doesn't make sense if you are looking at it from the traditional console POV. But If you think about the Steam Deck, it is an open platform where you can install any game, but Valve offers a console like experience for those who want it.

That is the future of consoles if they hope to survive. The industry is slowly dying and some of you are arguing everything is fine. Im all for an open platform with very few exclusives if it means lower costs and more smaller games instead of everyone going for broke with big AAA gambles.

I have so much to say on this subject but don't want to create a wall of text lol, so I'll end it here.

@last_lap: Are you upset that Phil isn't gatekeeping gamers MS published games? you wish Xbox had exclusives like Playstation?

I think Phil is the best thing to happen to Xbox / MS gaming division arguably ever.

Phil is the man. Hope he runs Xbox forever.

I just want GP on my Steam Deck without having to jump through a bunch of hoops.

@Antwan3K: Simple you fight to keep the platform you were hired to resurrect relevant in the market. Phil has done the exact opposite, he has thrown all kinds of💩at the wall to not compete and help Xbox recover from the disaster THEY created with the Xbox One.

Phil does interview after interview (he loves to talk) and his messaging is atrocious, a 7yr old could convey a more coherent message than Phil can. And when you keep talking and create confusion to the public (Phil has done that in droves) you create distrust for your brand.

Then because you don't want to fight to keep your console relevant you take the easy route and put games on PC, then on Switch and now PS, there is no reason for anyone who isn't doesn't own an Xbox to buy one, thus devaluing your brand.

I would rather Phil fight for Xbox market share and fail and close down Xbox then have it the way it is now.

I don't care about Nutella (or whatever his name is) and whether he would have closed down Xbox or not.

I do find this part to be the most idiotic though

'Because simply acknowledging reality doesn't make someone a Phil fanboy.. But obsessing over "console sales" while Xbox is literally doing better than ever in terms of users, revenue, 1st party, reach, and more does makeyoua console fanboy.. 🤷🏽‍♂️'

First thing's first, you parrot EVERYTHING Phil says, that does make you a Phil fanboy.

Xbox is a console and Xbox console sales are not great at all. So explain how Xbox has more users when Xbox's sales are not great, and please don't use PC users, because they are not Xbox users, just because Phil calls it Xbox gamepass for PC (another stupid thing Phil has done) doesn't make them Xbox users.

On a side note now you're trying to label me a console fanboy, just like your boy Phil you keep flinging shit at the wall until something sticks, well congrats something has stuck. Yes i'm a console fanboy and want consoles to still be around that's my whole ARGUMENT here, Phil is doing his best to make sure that doesn't happen.

That would be nice.

It would also be nice to not have to jump through hoops to play PC Game Pass games. Needing to publish a “How To” chart to play Diablo IV is something else

@ghostofgolden: It would be nice if PC could have the straightforward operation and ease of use of a console.

PC is plenty straightforward. The way Xbox and Game Pass are doing PC gaming is the issue.

@ghostofgolden: I agree, PC is straightforward except for things on PC.

@last_lap: so out of that wall of text, you literally didn't type anything that Phil could have done differently.. zero specifics.. thanks for proving my point..

essentially, you would have just let the Xbox brand die as a failed console.. gotcha.. 🙄

all spoken like a true console fanboy and i'm glad you admit as much.. certainly puts everything you say into perspective and you are certainly not to be taken seriously when you'd rather "close down Xbox" than have them put games on PC and etc.. that's just a sad amount of fanboyism on display..

just like in a previous discussion with you about cloud streaming, you'd prefer to have less options rather than accept changes in the industry.. your worship of plastic boxes goes that deep.. it's truly mindboggling..

anyway, at the beginning at of this back-and-forth, i asked you to exit fanboyland and join the rest of us in the real world.. you dont seem to care about monthly active users (ie customers), gaming revenue, amount of 1st party studios, or anything else i mentioned.. apparently all that's "parroting Phil Spencer" despite the fact that Sony also touted monthly active users as a key metric moving forward and the CEO literally said they are also going to expand on PC, cloud, and mobile.. (i guess Sony is parroting Phill too).. but how about games?..

in the real world where Xbox has at least 3-4 major first party releases this year (Hellblade 2, Avowed, Indiana Jones, Call of Duty, etc) while PlayStation doesn't have a major first party release planned until after April of 2025.. if you are an actual fan of Xbox, this looks like a rather good year for the brand..

unfortunately, you are a console fanboy and only care about how many units of a plastic box they sell.. so i guess it's always going to be a bad year for you.. 🤷‍♂️

good luck with that.. and hopefully you'll leave fanboyland at some point.. it's certainly a good time for the actual Xbox fans, and gamers overall.. come join us..

Lol wut? The Switch is decimating the PS5 😂👍

Xbox for the players.

Playstation for the salesers

@SolidGame_basic: But, as I have read about it...

This move, should it happen, is the death of consoles as we know them - especially PlayStation. Sony's leveraging their future on PC ports. If the Epic store and Steam are on the next Xbox, then... so will PlayStation ports.

That mean every PC game, every Xbox game, Game Pass, and PS Ports will all be on Xbox.

You've just proved that you defend Phil Spencer. Nice one.

Be nice to people. It’s better to be positive.

Thanks for the insight.

Official gamepass support for Steam Deck would be a nice start like already mentioned.

I would likely subscribe more frequently if it happened.

Would love the ability to access my steam account and Epic account on my SX.

Would be fantastic

For those asking about how they would handle the S and X if they added PC launchers there are really only two options.

1. Only release the launchers for the X

2. We won't see the launchers until the next generation of consoles.

My guess? 2. They have been saying for a while now that they lost the console war and that next generation will be coming sooner than most and will be the largest jump. I'd say their plan has been cemented for quite some time as being an all in one console for next gen consoles.

What i mean is that consoles games run much better than what a pc of the same specs could run them. this is because those games are opitmized to run on that very specific hardware. a steam version of a game is not optimized to run on any specific hardware, so it will run on an xbox the same way as it would run on a pc with the same specs.

It would be interesting to see what happens with the Sony games on steam.

I see your point but I'd call that "poor optimization" or lack of, and not really "optimization". And certainly not something I'd use as a selling point.

I haven't seen evidence of this from my testing.