Re: Now Even Microsoft Is Making a SteamDeck

On Mon, 16 Jun 2025 08:49:42 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

On 15/06/2025 17:12, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Which doesn't mean we won't see more OEM-built handheld-PCs with XBox
branding, like the recently announced Asus ROG XBox Ally. But
Microsoft is backing away from making their own portable console
hardware. Or, really, any gaming hardware in general. They haven't
--yet-- given up the idea of making another XBox console, but on the
whole the company is a lot less bullish about hardware in general.
These days, it seems they're much more interested in streaming and
cloud services.

>
I have seen some speculation that MS are changing course on how they
make money from games and focusing more on the software/services instead
of hardware. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a next generation of XBox
but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the last one.

They've more or less indicated that's the plan.

Microsoft's end-goal for decades was software-as-a-service, and the
original XBox as a foot in the door to this goal; a way to get their
presence in every household and to start pushing the idea of a
connected world where software, like cable-TV, was something you
pulled down from a central office rather than had sitting on your
shelf. They've been incrementally pushing us in that direction since
the late 90s. Now, we've pretty much reached that end-goal.

And having done so, Microsoft doesn't NEED to push the hardware.
Hardware is expensive to develop, to build, and to support. Better to
let OEMs handle that mess. They've got the software, they've got the
APIs, they've got the IPs (whether it's Microsoft Office or Halo) you
want, and the wider the net they can spread in terms of hardware the
better.  Why limit themselves to just a single XBox console when they
have billions of PCs, phones, Macs, set-top boxes, etc. just waiting
to be link up to the MS mothership.

Of course, the lack of a hardware base does limit Microsoft's
exclusivity. If you have an XBox, it can only use XBox; if you've a PC
(or phone) you might choose to use XBox... but you might also pick
Playstation or GeForce or whatever. But Microsoft has years of
experience in leveraging markets (and their APIs) to create a
dominant, monopoly position for themselves, and I think they're
counting on that to see them through. And even if they never get quite
the same dominance as they had with Windows, being one of the top
three or four players (and able to exclude any up-n-comers) is a
pretty good place to be too.