Microsoft: Valve not an Xbox competitor
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
President of Xbox business says Half-Like maker "doing some innovative stuff," but is not a bona fide threat.
Valve is stepping into the living room space with its "Steam Box" hardware and Steam Big Picture mode, but Microsoft does not consider the company to be a threat to its Xbox business, according to a new report from The Verge.
Speaking this week during Microsoft's TechForum, president of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick was asked if Valve was thought of as a competitor. Mattrick bluntly said "no," going on to note that Valve is "doing some innovative stuff."
"The scale of products and things that are being brought to market are probably a little bit richer when I look at Sony, Nintendo, Apple, and Google," Mattrick said.
Mattrick was also asked about the possibility of opening up the Xbox platform in a greater capacity to third-party developers. It doesn't appear that this will happen, as he said he is content with Microsoft's current curation strategy.
"There's a certain level of technical and production competency that people have to get through because we're trying to curate great experiences," he said. "We're trying to make sure that what exists upon our service on our system is done to a quality level and has interest for people who are likely to use it."
Microsoft is expected to announce its next-generation Xbox during a one-off media event in April. Rumors about the console have run rampant, with speculation about the device suggesting it will not work without Kinect, require an Internet connection, block used games, and have Siri-like voice recognition.
None of that, of course, is confirmed.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
610 comments
1 Like The way the NeXtBox is shaping up to be Microsoft might not be much of a competitor come next gen.
"Valve not an Xbox competitor", in the same way I would be putting Xbox in the living room and Steam Box in the guy's room / study. No competition there.
@frozenux This right here is great and it is a great representation of the lunacy Microsoft has been sowing.
they should worry.....xbox live was a great thing for the 360....but with steam in the living room, they should start worrying a bit more....so should sony
4 Like I feel that anything that allows you to play videogames in the comfort of your home should be looked at as competition. Especially if it involves Valve.
I'm upgrading my PC so that I can play games that came/come to Xbox and PC, but not PlayStation. I sold my Xbox 360 last year, so I miss out on exclusives. I am not very likely at this point to buy the next Xbox, but that depending on what Microsoft announces in the coming months.
Depending on how many people are doing the same as me there could be some competition from the Steam Box. Especially if they find a way to make the Steam Box competitively priced against the consoles (hard to imagine them getting down to $400 machines).
Microsoft has been recently talking about Xbox as a service more than a console. Maybe they mean Xbox Live only, but it could mean more. If the next Xbox is following a similar path as PS4 with x86 architecture, then it makes it completely possible that Microsoft could implement Xbox functionality into Windows 7 and/or 8 allowing new Xbox games to play on a regular PC or Steam Box. In this way, the Steam Box is another Xox on the market if its running Windows. That would be exciting news and an advantage Microsoft has over Sony and Nintendo that they have yet to leverage.
Steambox could be a huge competitor for Xbox in several ways. Microsoft got into gaming not for gamers, but because they saw what the Playstation was becoming. A potential threat to their bread and butter... Windows. They will see steambox in the same light; as a box that is running Linux and threat to Windows. The second reason MS should be scared of Steambox is that MS has very little in house development, they rely on 3rd party developers. Unlike Sony who has a ton of exclusives there will be little to differentiate between Xbox and Steambox. Steambox might even have more indie support.
8 Like You guys are hilarious with your brand loyalty nonsense. There's enough room for people to enjoy PC Gaming and Console Gaming.
@DingKing I have all 3 and I've been playing my PC way more because the games just look that much better. I'm sure as soon as I get my hands on new consoles I will be back to consoles.
I actually think both have their advantages anyway. PC for multiplats Playstation for it's exclusives. PC for FPS and strategy, Playstation for group/ party games and sports
I'll definitely be out of console generation for the next years, wasted too much money on RROD and games while I didn't even get the entertainement I wished. Free online gaming, competitive gaming with ESEA and unlocked device that will be the "Trojan Horse" of my gaming room.
- Hardcore Gamer
8 Like How could they be competitors? They aren't even after the same audience. Steam is games, while MS has gone multimedia with motion games, and core games an afterthought. And strangly they still have their deeply entrenched fanboys with the covered wagons circled ready to defend anything they do.
Well, the console market is dominated by three companies that hardly compete at all. Nintendo gets all the casuals, Microsoft gets all the ones who want a great third party software lineup, and Sony get's all the customers that can afford a console that won't break the first year.
So yeah, another console entering the market won't mean fierce competition, but that's because it's only increased competition from where it was: absolutely ZERO.
@LtReviews actually MS doesn't even have the aforementioned 3rd party support anymore. Almost all modern releases are cross platform even releasing on pc. With the way MS charges for companies to even release something as simple as a software patch on their services I think 3rd party support next generation may not be a strength for MS at all.
@Karjah @LtReviews If they continue their current strategy they will not have any real advantages over Sony in the next gen.
1 Like Actually, yes they are. Valve is even stealing over console gamers with their business model. Games that are cheap as hell ($2.50 - $5 for Deus Ex - Human Evolution) may convince someone to get a PC for gaming instead of their overpriced 6-7 year old hardware or their last, last gen new console Xbox 3 or 720. Even some of the medium range PCs are capable of gaming nowadays. Another thing I should mention is free multiplayer. Speaking of that Microsoft. Have you not noticed how all your competitors don't charge for multiplayer? Get a clue. Be nice to your customers because you're going to get kicked in the ass over this, eventually.
But me personally, I see all that stuff getting crappier and crappier for some reason. Too many PC games are just sloppy console ports with resctrive DRM schemes. And the ones that are good still have the overly restrictive drm. Profitable future? Sure, but I think it sucks.
As for consoles, they have too many gimmicks. Creepy things like Kinect that will never measure up to the good old gamepad. Dumb remotes that you flail around light a remote. Dumb fucking kiddy games. Stupid shitty sequels. Just sequels and sequels and sequels that reuse the same engines as the last game. Dumbed down gaming. More focus on pretty things and explosions. Holding your hand. I hate the 360 dashboard and ps3 dashboard. Filled with ads, useless junk and shit like Netflix or Hulu. That's not the point of a video game console. Unreliable pieces of junk that are too loud and hot. Xbox 360 red ring of death was the worst crap ever and Microsoft totally scammed people by selling them faulty pieces of shit on purpose. Sony and their getting rid of Linux. That's just them saying they do whatever they want with your dashboard, and probably console when it comes down to it software. They dream of the day that if they catch a hacker or pirate that they can shut down their console. So fucking obssed.
What I'm trying to say is gaming in general is getting mighty stupid.
and screw microtransactions. If you like that shit, you're an idiot.
@Lost-to-Apathy
Your comparison of Xbox360 to ur dumbass PCs is just freaky. Since when a PC with a 2005 GPU and 512MB of RAM can run ACIII, FC3, or BF3 etc?
To play Crysis 3 (on minimum) you need at least a 2010 GPU.
And that's more or less the reality for every other PC game, a PC from around the time the 7th gen came out its NOT playing anything anymore, you either upgrade or stop playing, so no, it's not "always better" not by a long shot.
@MatrixGamer78 You can Maximize Crysis 1 at 720P with a GPU that is not the best and built in 2007 which is 8800GTS G92 !!
( FYI : 8800 GTX is an 2006 GPU and faster than 8800GTS 512 )
Mine done that in Windows Vista ( a junk OS ) at 1280x1024 with 4xAA which is better than 720P !!!!
My xbox360 is still capable of playing current as well as upcoming future games but your 2005 PC hardware is dead to play any current titles.
because X360 was launched in 2005 not 6 or 7.. All You PC gamer are a big loser as all you don't have any appropriate answer of my question.
@MatrixGamer78
Crysis 3 sucks, and it's one of the reasons why gaming is going downhill. Fuck shiny graphics already. They don't make a game good.
Go play Far Cry or Crysis 1. Much better.
And your exaggerating. Any dumbass with internet can find out how much bullshit you spew by Googling it. Keeping up with PC gaming isn't that costly. It's only if you're looking to max out every latest game.
@Lost-to-Apathy Sony's using online passes for their own exclusives, so technically they are charging for online multi-player. Kind of a shame there.
About DRM on PC games, check out GOG.
Also, I agree with you about consoles going down hill. The controls aren't as big of an issue for me. It's some of the bull crap companies are doing. Kind of a shame some of it is also on PCs in a way.
1 Like Xbox and Play Station will still be getting all of their exclusives, Steam will get still be getting their HIGH POWERED AND FAST PACED 2d platformer indie games and horrible ports.
3 Like @CriticalCritic PC has the most exclusives, the most games, oh and backwards compatibility is a non-issue. And btw, Ubisoft makes some pretty decent games like the one that's been on the GS front page for about a week now hmmmm.
1 Like @ZetA_LatA @CriticalCritic Backwards compatibility is a big issue. You need 3rd party programs, to play some of the really old games. Laser Squad, forget it. The old Xcom, better know how to use Dosbox, but no PC isnt backwards compatible with EVERY game in its library. Not without some tweaking, and downloading of third party software, and its still not a guarantee
@MXVIII @ZetA_LatA @CriticalCritic LOL, u make it sound so hard, DosBox? install and run > "mount drive directory of dos games" > get into drive and dir run whatever u want if thats hard then you obviously never used dos to begin with to even mention dos games. Not exactly rocket science at all. Yes it is backward compatible deal with it.
@MXVIII @ZetA_LatA @CriticalCritic ofc its backwards compatable you fool, you can always install the platform a game was designed for and duel boot, or even run a virtual machine on older Os's..
@ZetA_LatA You say "the most" as if the amount >= quality. In that case, iOS has the most exclusives. Does that mean that you should sell your PC and get an iPad? Backwards compatibility isn't an issue on my iPad either. Ubisoft still makes shitty games, remember ZombiU and every other launch title they make? hmmmm.
@Cloud_imperium Dude you have like 0% GK! You havee no idea what you're talking about, you're just an annoying fanboy who has nothing better to do but cry about how is computer plays good games LOL
How much ass do you get when you tell all the girls that you can play Crysis 3 on MAX settings?
"Quality wise they are superior" that is purely an opinion that you can't back up, especially if you're talking about future releases. Looking at games that are coming out this year: PC gets more exclusives, but it isn't getting all of the games that are exclusive to consoles, you know, the good games.
The iOS point was a joke, but it's also true. Games like "Heroes and Castles," "Modern Combat," and "Infinity Blade" brought more entertainment to me than anything I have on Steam. Not to mention that iOS games like "Galaxy On Fire" are getting ported to Steam (even more are coming to the Mac App Store) because highly rated games.
PS: I don't know what the hell a GK is but I still kicked your ass in this debate.
@CriticalCritic @ZetA_LatA Quality wise they are superior as well bro . keep living in delusion . And good joke about iOS having more exclusives . You just proved that you have 0% GK .
2 Like @CriticalCritic How exactly will be getting horrible ports since both next gen consoles have PC architecture .? Consoles will be getting PC port . UBISOFT already confirmed Watch Dogs targeting PC as Lead Platform and console versions will be getting port of it . They said it's the start , that's going to be next gen for you .
@Cloud_imperium Lol, PC already has horrible ports. It doesn't matter what "architecture" the system has, it depends on the developers if the ports suck or are good.
PS: No one cares about Watch Dogs, Ubisoft makes terrible games.
@Mamamf @CriticalCritic @Cloud_imperium when did noone care about watchdogs? game looks awesome to play
@CriticalCritic @Cloud_imperium Pc games are horrible ports, Watch Dogs is a horrible game (that no one cares [LOL]), and so on... well i gotta say...
you are just too good maan!!
1 Like Yeah.... You missed is point. New gen will use PC "architecture". So we could even say that with chance "port" won't exist anymore since they will all share the same roots,but PC still gonna be superior.
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