The need to vicariously ‘win’ because the media you choose to consume is ‘beating’ the media you don’t choose to consume (or consume less of) has always been a weird obsession in a lot of ‘nerd’ culture, I think: video games, comic books, even the sort of film nerds who obsessively track box office (when box office…

Yeah, you’re not wrong, but I also think multiple ‘ease of use’ improvements are actually better, in the long run: the games may not feel ‘next gen’ yet, but they usually don’t, this early in a gaming cycle (especially when nearly everything is still cross-gen). So just because the improvements aren’t as flashy…

I think there’s a definite distinction to be made between ‘entirely new technology/companies’ and ‘an established game/console company making inroads’. VR’s barrier to entry has always been cost, complexity, and the fact that it’s just not for everyone, even people who can overcome the prior obstacles; Stadia was…

I do find it interesting how much I see people mention this as though they’re ‘getting one over on Microsoft’, or as if that somehow puts Microsoft in a less enviable position (not necessarily you, just a sentiment I’ve seen a lot in discussions like this), and I don’t really get why. It’s like Microsoft making…

Oh, it really is almost a fundamentally different game. I will say, though: Bungie chipped down on a lot of those load times with the release of Beyond Light just in general, so it’s not just the Series X. I actually did a comparison, because I got my Series X the same day Beyond Light hit, so in the same day, I wound…

To be fair, I’d assume the resistance to that idea would be more from Sony than Microsoft; I’m sure Microsoft would love to get a piece of all those Playstation users - but there’s no real financial incentive for Sony to allow them that access.

It’s also one of those things you can calculate a bunch of different ways: is the ‘cost’ of the console the manufacturing cost (parts and labor, basically)? Is it the manufacturing cost plus that individual console’s portion of the marketing budget? The manufacturing cost, the marketing budget, and paying down the R&D…

Oh, I’d definitely assume you’ll see a price increase in GamePass once it hits whatever internal metrics Microsoft is waiting for - and you’ll definitely see an end to ‘sweetheart deals’ and ridiculous sales before that - but I doubt it’ll be any more onerous than the various price hikes we’ve seen Netflix push through…

Oh, Nintendo definitely wins the PR war, hands down - the only other corporation I can think of that benefits from the same level of consumer goodwill (whilst also embracing their fair share of anti-consumer practices) isn’t even a videogame corporation at all: it’s Disney. So apparently the lesson is... aim for the…

Which is funny, given how badly Apple beat them in the ‘perception of ease of use’ when it came to the PC market.

Maybe so - but there are probably plenty of Xbox 360 users who would have said the same thing about a PS3, and Microsoft wound up hemorrhaging users that generation. ‘Alienating potential customers’ is still a risk, even if those ‘potential customers’ are firmly encamped in your rival’s territory. (That doesn’t mean…

When it comes to controller difference, I don’t know that there’s a way to get beyond that being entirely subjective, either - some people are going to prefer the shape/layout of one over the other, and there’s not a lot you can do to ‘change’ that at this point. (This coming from someone who stuck with Xbox as my…

Exactly; who knew that giving customers an experience to their advantage would then align that customer with the corporation, to the corporation’s benefit? Nobody!*

Agreed. Quick Resume is having a much bigger impact than I would have thought as well, for similar reasons: games that I wouldn’t necessarily have ‘gotten into’ because I don’t want to play them for long stretches at a time seem much more approachable when I can jump into the game, play for five minutes or so, then…

I mean, I don’t disagree, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t incredibly useful in practice; just because Sony had less reason to do it doesn’t mean that it isn’t nice Microsoft did, regardless of whether it was ‘easier’ for them.

I don’t disagree in general, but I’d challenge the perspective on a few key points: I don’t think their interest is so much in ‘being a game studio’ as it is ‘selling a service where games live’. In other words, if they didn’t have to buy Bethesda to guarantee all Bethesda games were on GamePass, I doubt they would…

Absolutely. (Though, in all fairness, the load speeds on the PS5 are roughly the same level of improvement, as I understand it. So that’s not necessarily something the Series consoles have going for them ‘over’ Playstation, the way Smart Delivery and Quick Resume are.)

I think a lot of what you’re saying is correct... but I also think a lot of what you’re saying also applies to Sony (and to a lesser extent, Nintendo). Whatever differences there are between Xbox’s footing in the market - versus Sony’s and Nintendos - I think are more or less mitigated by Microsoft’s firmer footing ove…

I absolutely agree, I just think the perception will be that Microsoft is taking things a step further with the Bethesda deal. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of ‘hot takes’ elsewhere online that basically boil down to ‘Microsoft couldn’t solve their lack of first party games on their own, so they’re just trying to buy their…

I own a Series X, yeah - and I agree with... a fair bit of what you’re saying, but I think the ‘people don’t just know when they don’t have it’ hurdle is a lot harder to overcome... which is kind of why the Quest (and VR in general) is still just kind of a niche thing, come to think of it. And I’d say it’s definitely t…