Talking Point: Is Sarah Bond Hinting At Eventually Moving Away From Xbox Hardware?

She did mention they was in a "transition" before.

Don't know what lines your reading between but you see what you want I suppose

This is most likely referring to how the app will work with digital purchases across all platforms. I have been clamoring for this for a couple years now. It's likely that Xbox hardware will eventually be windows based allowing us to sideload steam,epic, gog, and even playstations pc launcher that is rumored to be in the works. They will definitely continue to sell hardware.

What we consider a home console is changing rapidly and xbox/microsoft is in a great position for that.

It's been pretty clear for a while that they want their gaming brand to be hardware agnostic. Keep selling Xboxes as an option, sure, but also put Game Pass everywhere, expand into mobile, and sell first-party games on competing platforms.

They've pretty much given up competing in the home console space as is, so why not?

In this case, they probably want a continuity of experiences in terms of saves and game accessibility between platforms. Basically what they're already doing with PC, but across many different platforms.

@BacklogBrad let me get steam on my Xbox yes please 😍 all those metroidvanias I could play😎

@abe_hikura they have been in a transition period since they lost momentum with the 360

i don't like this slow painful death of xbox. when i kill things, i do it quickly.

Here's what I see:

1 - Xbox consoles will be a total shift to PC architecture with a specialized "console UI" going forward - no more "closed" console. It will still be a defined hardware spec for PC developers to validate against, but won't require special console development kits or licenses. This will help with the "not worth porting to Xbox" problem as the PC versions will just work.

2 - Official Xbox 360 and OG Xbox emulators that can work on mobile, PC, and "console" for games that don't have PC versions (e.g. Blue Dragon).

3 - Figuring out how cloud saves for X360 and OG Xbox games can be converted or imported into applicable PC versions so that emulation isn't required for those games (probably pie in the sky ask there)

4 - Transferring entire digital library from across the generations to their PC versions (where applicable).

5 - Figuring out how to get OG Xbox, X360, X1, Series physical media working for PC versions of the games on their "console" with an external Blu-ray drive.

So basically, Xbox wants all the benefits people with PCs have had forever, but with the tricky part of figuring out how people won't lose progress with games that didn't use Xbox Anywhere (or came before it) or access to games they own that only exist on OG Xbox, X360, and X1.

The beginning of this video is so uncomfortable to watch. She seems so uncomfortable trying to even talk about it, it's like a hostage video. It feels like someone from corporate is sitting off stage with a rifle trained on her in case she starts saying the wrong thing. She and Phil were both that way during the awkward Feb podcast, too.

Talking about how there was no growth this year, and even last year is such a talking point from the board and she feels like a moron even towing that line. As she should. There hasn't been growth since 1988. They've been doing this since 2000. Did they not know the shape of the market? Let alone the state of the economy? "Oh we're transitioning because gaming is failing because during the past year during an economic crisis, growth stagnated." Translated: "Corporate had no idea what the industry is or how it works, and read the spreadsheet with the mobile numbers and thought all gaming had that trajectory and is now knee-jerk grinding us into dust for failing to hit targets they imagined we'd hit when none of the numbers suggested we'd hit that ever, even though I know that, and how they have me here pretending I'm surprised and how do I get out of here, where's the fire alarm?"

Hardware, most of us still believe at this point MS will continue to make hardware to play their games on, they're not going to abandon having a platform where they can curate their vision of the experience, but that they're going to merge "console" into PC. Which isn't a bad thing. And is kind of a great thing. But also won't be challenging the console market directly anymore, won't sell very well (it doesn't need to), and most importantly we have no idea what random direction changes and feature changes it will suffer all along.

I daily flip flop, with my huge digital XB library, between thinking XB is over and switching to PC or PS and then realizing that if they're going to make a PC box that has BC, nothing really is changing from a platform perspective other than things that make it better. It won't be a fun platform, but it'll be functional for what it needs to do. But what I also doubt is the true commitment to console games BC because getting the licensing to approve third party content jumping to a PC platform is going to require legal work, and while I 100% believe Sarah and Phil are committed to that, it just takes a hand wave from Amy or Satya to halt it in place because the numbers look better in projections if they abandon the effort. First party will jump over, but how do they convince Namco-Bandai t allow Xbox licenses to convert to PC licenses. Takes time and money to not sell a product...is corp ok with that? Unless they emulate and then all is fine.

I have very mixed feelings ATM continuing to invest in the platform. It's a very practical platform for my buying, and the presumed PC plan doesn't change that. But that comes with a caveat that corporate running the show means random direction changes and policy changes that seem to come from outer space.

Taking games where ever you want to play, with the decline of Physical which are often 'locked' to a specific Hardware SKU, and of course Play Anywhere with Direct Storage with Digital enabling you to download the specific Software for your machine seems to be the plan.

That doesn't mean that if you bought Forza Horizon 5 on 'disc' that you can then use that on some future Playstation or PC hardware to keep playing. It probably means that if you bought Digitally through the MS store and sign into a Microsoft account, those games will still be playable - even if there is NO native version to 'download', you may have to Stream it.

If you buy Xbox games digitally, you get whatever version for your hardware - whether its a XB1S, XB1X, Series S, Series X or PC thanks to Play Anywhere/Direct Storage so I expect that it would ONLY be for their games bought through their Digital Stores only - so you'd need your MS account to keep playing your MS games on 'ANY' future devices.

She is talking about home console, cloud, and a portable device. If we are consistent with everything we know so far. It’s just that.

I think she refers to the important change that is about to come in terms of architectures, ARM is the future, and current console games are designed for x86, which is a serious problem for backward compatibility in the future.

The libraries of other systems such as Playstation may have to be restarted or locked into the old consoles, or use an emulator with the problems that emulation has, if you jump to ARM.

I understand that they are working so that the Xbox libraries we already have (Xbox OG, X360, XOne, XSeries...) can run on ARM devices, this could be new hardware, like that Xbox console or a portable console, or a phone mobile.

Growth more growth and no growth. At this point the Xbox brand is an abscess on gaming 🤣.

Is there anyone left to believe anything Xbox suites have to say ?

@Ralizah I always felt this is Microsoft’s main mission. They don’t care how they get you into the ecosystem so long as they get you be it windows or surface or xbox or azure. The point is to get on as many aspects of a consumer’s life as possible. (I am not saying this is a good or bad thing) xbox has overall failed to push that initiative forward.

They 100% are going to stop consoles. I suspect the next hardware will just be a streaming device that they will leave open to updates but I don’t think it will be the leap we keep hearing about.

Xbox have totally made a mess of this generation and for all Spencer keeps blaming others, this is about poor marketing from the off and a a total lack of leadership.

Sarah Bond has NEVER, EVER impressed me in ANY way.

@Utena-mobile my feelings exactly. She is the figurehead and to deflect all blame from others… I always say “trust in Phil” but his silence is telling. If Phil is out the door it will be everyone’s loss unfortunately.

I love that PX is just trolling the "sky is falling" folks! 😂 Y'all just trying to get them worked up this week. Hehehe

Maybe it has something to do with the massive class action suit that would be brought if users weren’t able to access/utilize their digital library.

@BacklogBrad How would Microsoft make any money off PC stores on an Xbox?
New 3rd party Steam games are $50 compared to Xbox Store's $70. And Microsoft gets $0 from those sales.

Also, Microsoft makes people pay to play online, but if you bought games through Steam, obviously you're not paying to play that online, so people would skip out of paying Microsoft yet again.
There's no money for Microsoft in allowing these things. They only make money off 3rd party microtransaction, sales ECT off their own stores. Hardware is sold at a loss because they recoup that by subsidizing it to us and make it up in sales on software, subscriptions and microtransaction.

@TheGameThrifter it likely wouldn't be officially available but given the pc nature it would be able to be sideloaded.

Do you think playstation and xbox are going to be immune to the EU law saying Apple cannot ban other marketplaces from their devices?

Won't the other devices be way more desirable than either playstation or xbox if they can have the Xbox and playstation apps with access to those digital libraries as well as the steam/epic/gog libraries? Where is the desire to stay on a box that does one thing and cuts off access to a large portion of games available? Playstation is reportedly going to have a pc launcher where your ps5 purchases are cross entitlements (1st party would be available on pc day 1). This home console model is changing forever.

@Ricky-Spanish awesome American Dad name BTW!

I'm actually right there with you! I watched that entire interview and nowhere did it seem like she was hinting at "moving away" from Xbox hardware, in fact the contrary. I'm actually really bummed out by "Pure Xbox" lately. Most of the articles they post now just criticize our platform to hell & the comments section is filled with ppl who'd like to see Xbox die. For an Xbox centered website it's honestly pathetic. Why not write articles about the new Xbox mobile store launching in July or how Xbox actually has some good games planned for 2024. NOPE let's "read between the lines" and make a nothing burger for click bait. SMH pure Xbox used to be so great cuz I'd come in here and see people that actually enjoy Xbox & their games and now it's become a place to "hate everything Xbox" cuz it's the cool thing to do lol every major game websites are doing the same thing. "Death of Xbox" I can tell you right now if Xbox dies leaving Sony in charge of the high end console market we're all effed in the AAA!

Also the shutting of studios is heartbreaking, it's not an Xbox problem though it's a games industry problem. 2K (GTA, Red Dead Redemption, NBA 2K) just had massive layoffs. Embracer just shutdown a bunch of studios. And PlayStation shutdown studios less than 6 months ago and made massive layoffs even to studios like insomniac who's been carrying the PS5 most the generation! In fact it happened right after Spiderman 2 broke records for PlayStation. Everyone acting like Xbox is a villain it's capitalism that demands growth at all cost. It's Microsoft executives answering to share holders, it's not the 'Xbox division' making these decisions. I feel bad for all the devs that lost their jobs and not just from recent Xbox closures but from industry wide layoffs. It's extremely sad our industry has come to this challenging time but I truly believe it'll rebound just as it has before. I just wish people could see that the industry itself is hurting right now.

If Xbox became Steam and suddenly every purchase I had made over the years was compatible with the PS5, Steamdeck or perhaps my iPhone, I’d be very happy.

I can see them quitting hardware because it’s a loss leader. Or rather a future Xbox console will just be a small PC made from off the shelf parts rather than some custom silicon.

@Master_Cthulhu70 Thanks buddy and yeah far to much negativity on here for me lately me moaning about everything then just enjoying games or having laugh

@Ricky-Spanish it's clickbait.

I feel more like it's positive. I think they are referring to that rumoured Xbox handheld.

If they do stop making next Xbox consoles, they could still make accessories. I wouldn't buy it tho as I don't like their controllers.

Oh wherever they want to play could mean a handheld device.

@NEStalgia
Some interesting sale data UK April 2024.
Not sure about the USA, but consoles not shining this year so far.

Year-to-date through April the Xbox Series X|S is down just under 25 percent, the PlayStation 5 is down just over 25 percent, and the Nintendo Switch is down 38 percent.

Even the games chart UK, is filled with games from last year 2023 or older apart from Helldivers.

I think that is some of the issue but not all of it.
High consoles prices £480 in the UK don’t help.
I think PS4 and Xbox one was about £290 without deals at this time in their lives.

Not totally sure what all the gaming main three know what they are up to really.

As someone who just got their very first and what may amusingly turn out to be last piece of xbox hardware (series s bought when it was stupidly low priced) I find myself somewhat amused by the whole situation. In some ways its like the best kind of Frasier farce episode with everyone coming and going out of a room while the whole kitchen is on fire. Eddie is just sat there playing Jewel on the app for M$ points of course....

I think I need to start saving up for a PC....

I don't think it doesn't make sense to 'read' this when Xbox is openly talking about next-gen hardware and handheld devices.

@GamingFan4Lyf I think you are in the right interpretation. And I think that's exactly why they rebooted the Preservation Team.

I'm not sure why there is so much angst about Xbox moving away from a dedicated gaming platform/hardware. I'm old enough to remember that at one point I used to own dedicated devices such as cell phone, personal digital assistant/palm pilot, camera & GPS device...

Now the flagship cell phone got powerful enough it replaced multiple devices, people don't really question paying top dollar for a very useful device. If Xbox is going to be powerful "greatest leap in a generation", it better be essentially a PC because I doubt the market is going to be big enough for a powerful & expensive machine that only play games, it better have better utility. It better be a replacement for needing a PC. In my mind it is hard to imagine a flagship "console" that is only useful for playing games. The market is huge for Pro/ultra level phones because of the utility, a premium console experience will need greater utility than just gaming.

Sarah Bond can get it!

When she's talking about game preservation and the gamer being able to take their games with them wherever they are, I believe that also includes a dedicated Xbox handheld device.

The console marketing is slowly dying and MS are just taking logical steps to adapt for the future. In the future there will be a point where new console hardware is not needed - just a screen and a controller. I am glad they are using their software expertise to ensure that we can still play our games we have now in 10, 20 years time.

I would say what Xbox is trying to focus on new markets rather then just stay tied down to the Xbox consoles. The biggest issue is if these new markets will actually be profitable. One of the biggest problems is that new consoles or new platforms need games otherwise they don't go anywhere. Another issue is that even with excellent games you still need good marketing to get people to try the games. It seems to be both Sony and Microsoft are limiting the games they want to produce.

So why would some not just get a pc and use the steam library? They have good deals too Xbox doesn’t know what they want anymore

@OldGamer999 To a degree it reminds me of Samsung reacting to low sales: executives must work 6 days a week until they figure out how fix sales!

Corporations almost seem to be in denial that bad economies happen even as the layoff staff and cause it. They honestly expected numbers to go up forever and ever and ever and never ever go down. Meanwhile they scramble to replace human labor with machine slaves and can't figure out why customers aren't spending. And the governments hide the reality by showing spending is up because Ferraris are selling faster than ever.

@NEStalgia
Didn’t know Samsung did that, I think they number one in TV world now, so it may have worked 😂

They all know console sales are less than for say PS4 and Xbox one and declining compared to this time last year.
Even on other sites a few good PS5 guys I know say this seems to be the worst PlayStation so far, mainly relating to big AAA PS5 only Sony studio games and off the back nothing from them until about April 2025, that will effect sales.
And we all know Xbox issues seem a plenty.

As for Nintendo well what do they expect, the Switch is well over due a replacement and so no real new big AAA games from them in 2024 or announced for 2024.

My point it’s always games that sell consoles mainly and all three big AAA exclusive wise are suffering very badly on that front so far this year and nothing with definite dates.
Also there is little to no advertising from them currently this year probably due to the lack of big exclusives as well.

Plus I think gamers and the general public are getting a bit tired of the same old stuff churned out.

@OldGamer999 IDK, Sonys succumbed to selling animated porn games and they're still not moving consoles....I think it's mostly economy 😂

@NEStalgia
Some say economy but I have been gaming for decades and never been without a games console from the Atari 2600 days onwards.
And that goes back to when my world was poorer and we had a lot less and the standard of living was lower, then through the Commodore 64 days into NES and so on and so on.

I think the difference then was they all sold a lot less and gaming was not the juggernaut and sales it has been the last couple of decades, so the companies got used to selling those amounts of consoles and games, so the down turn looks a bit worse than it is.

I think it’s pure corporate greed creating to high prices for consoles and the games.
The PS5 and Series x should be about £330 at max by now and games about £50, additionally since prices have gone up there has been no improvement in quality or games really.
So why bother buying and investing and paying more for something worse.

The companies are to blame, higher prices, poorer results and quality.

@OldGamer999 Your not making sense mate. Ps4 launch games were £50, inflatiion means new games should cost £80 now, and thats ignoring the extra rise in dev costs due to the larger scope of some modern games.
Whilst I admire your wishfull thinking, it doesnt withstand any objective or evidenced scrutiny at all. Indeed, as someone else who has seen every single gen since the atari vcs as an adult, gaming has seldom been as affordable as it is today and I spend less now as a proportion of my income then I ever have, yet have the largest backlog Ive ever had.
Being more affordable is never bad, but thats got very little to do with the issues the industry faces imo.

@Titntin
That is maybe because me and you have been there since day one.
But the newbies might think otherwise when spending their cash. I have heard moans about splashing out £70 for game from the younger generations.
I know my young graduates 23 to 28 buy TVs but instead of buying or talking games they seem to be buying into Netflix and taking Netflix shows.
And not video games or video game subscriptions. About 5 to 10 years ago they were talking and buying games.
So I have that generations trends at the moment.

Just maybe gaming is becoming less popular and I know the younger generation look for very good value for money, even though we pay them well.
They seem to think Netflix is good value and enjoy that.

But to me personally it is no good putting prices up and selling less of a big AAA with bugs and bad performance, I just won’t buy it.
I won’t buy DD2 because of the performance and no 60fps, so that’s one sale lost.

These corporations want more money from me they best produce the best AAA games there are with almost zero bugs and the best performance at 60fps.

I get the feeling the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing with XBox at the moment. How can anyone employed there say anything with any certainty when they could be relieved of employment an hour later?

@OldGamer999 Depends. By revenue they sold a lot less. By console units sold, whether it's the big 3 today or Nintendo and Sega in the day, the number never actually grew much. Didn't shrink. Didn't grow. Just kind of stayed the same since the 80s. Minor growth. But world population is quadruple then, and they sell consoles in 100 more countries meaning sales in original core markets plummeted. Though that might just account for Japan dumping console.

Install base didn't grow much. But sales soared. It was just the same customers spending more and more. Flash forward and they all thought spending more on development to reach new audiences would net growth but it didn't. Meanwhile bad economy, those same customers can't spend as much.

The big problem is every single gaming executive looks at "gaming"sales including mobile and they see that as their market. They pitch to investors that's their market. They keep seeking to capitalize that market and not one of them understands that's a completely different market for a completely different product that shouldn't be on their ledger. They're convinced oil futures affect them because they sell olive oil too.

@Titntin zoomers grew up in a world where the most popular video games are free with a few $9.99 add-ons on a device they already have. In what universe is any executive going to convince any of them to spend $500 + $70 to play one video game? Let alone 80. That's a core problem the industry faces. Phil had a good strategy of much cheaper hardware (s) and cheap play (gp) but it failed because it still wasn't enough. $300 + $13/mo still isn't free+9.99.

Meanwhile I get the "inflation" argument on game cost but this is video games, not broccoli. I'm a bad economy where broccoli keeps going up eventually a discretionary item prices itself out if people's lives and they move on to something cheaper. Gaming is having a hard time figuring this out. Nadella cares only about King and Warzone. Maybe he's the only one that HAS figured it out.

I've suspected for a while that their next "console" will effectively just be a PC and this team has been put together to make sure their older Xbox games will run on PC's

Years ago Xbox play anywhere games were a first try but they haven't pushed really far the idea. Are they reactivating the idea this time ?