There where already some rumors about the next Xbox going to be a PC/console hybrid. Microsoft recently confirmed the next Xbox indeed will be a hybrid and they call it a premium experience. Now the expectation is the hybrid will costs at least 1000 dollar, based on the kind of hardware this hybrid will have. This means the end for the Xbox consoles as we now know, the series S was a cheap option, but is also will mean double the price of a Series X, as it was on release. I don't think I'm willing to pay at least 1000 dollar for a console and I'm even not sure this concept will succeed, with the risk of Xbox failing completely. But this will also mean investing in a game library on Xbox is a dead and, why should I still invest in TSW DLC's or other games on this platform? This new hybrid will also support Steam, so why would anyone buy games in the Xbox store for PC when there is Steam? Also, will developers and publisher still release their games on the Xbox store? On this moment, I can't even buy a new Series X in my country, Series S is new available only from some online stores, so it looks already the end of the road for the Series consoles too. I'm mostly playing simulator games and I'm playing them long term, so it's not like I'm playing games one time and never play them again. There are quite some games I'm playing right now, so I can keep playing them in the future on my Xbox, but buying new stuff like DLC and games on Xbox, seems to be a waste of money and investment. What options do I have, now switching to a PS5 and later to a PS6? The expected price for the PS6 is also high, 799 dollar. But my monitor only supports AMD FreeSync (VRR), which the PS5 does not support. So I also need to buy a new screen with HDMI 2.1 to get VRR and I even don't know how well this works with TSW and other games. Another option I'm thinking about is buying a Steamdeck, this give me also the option to switch to a full blown PC later if I want to. With a dock, the Steamdeck also support AMD FreeSync, so I can still use my same monitor. I made already a Steam account to claim the TSW6 Free starter pack, just in case. Steam also has the best sales for TSW, what makes re-buying DLC less painful and expensive. How do other Xbox players think about this, are you still willing to invest in your game library on Xbox? What options do you consider for keep playing TSW and other games?
Almost certainly investing in a high end PC at some point in the next year, which still gives my options on a lot of my Xbox content and also the chance to branch out with Steam etc. if I wish.
A PC is indeed an option, however I did not mention I'm hating Windows and I'm not using it anymore. So the Xbox app is not an option for me and after they pulled the plug of Windows Phone/mobile, this the second slap in my face from Microsoft, so I'm totally done with this company and their products.
I'm all-in on Xbox for my console gaming, have only had Xbox since the 360/PS3 generation. No interest in getting a Playstation at all. I don't really mind paying $1000 if it's a good piece of hardware. Not only is the Series X my favorite gaming console ever (tiny, silent, have yet to run a game it struggles with other than TSW lol) it's also our house's media player, so it's pretty much in use 24/7. I'm sad that it ended up being such a flop- my opinion is it never really had a chance after the Xbox One debacle. Many many people went PS4 or PC and never looked back. So we'll have to see what the final specs/quality and price end up being- if it's good value i'll probably buy it and move my Series X to the bedroom. If not i'll take that money and invest in a gaming PC as much as i really don't want to do that. Regarding TSW i'm probably done buying for it on Xbox unless the memory leak is definitively fixed someday. If i end up getting the NextBox, i'd probably play TSW on it via Steam.
My first Xbox was the 360 arcade, later on I bought the silent 360 S. After this I went for the PS4, but I never like the hardware and the interface, even the PS4 Slim was not completely silent but it was nice to play some of the PS exclusives. And now I'm back to Xbox and having a Series S. I love that tiny box, it's silent and I'm enjoying my games on a FHD gaming monitor. For TSW, yes it's double because of the issues and now being uncertain about the future of Xbox, it's making me don't want to spend money on it. So for that reason I was thinking about the Steamdeck, still can play my current games and DLC on Xbox, the newer DLC I can buy on Steam. Whatever I choose for in the future, being the new Xbox (I don't think so) or a gaming PC, I can still use the games I'm buying for the Steamdeck. But in the end I wish, there would be just a successor to the Series S for a affordable price.
This has nothing to do with being a luddite. People invest money in a ecosystem and Microsoft just pull the plug. Actually I like the progress in technology, I always did and I'm also very interested in it. But what Microsoft is doing is not really something what can be called progress, it's just burning down something and slapping their customers and even fans in their face. Microsoft again proves not being a reliable and trustworthy company, everything they say is just marketing blabla. I'm now looking at buying a Steamdeck, well products like this are kind of an innovation, isn't it? Playing full blown PC games on such a small device is something you maybe not expected 5 years ago, but here we are.
To be fair, it's $600-700 for an Xbox now with 5+ year old technology and this would be at least 1/3 better. So... that's about what a high end Xbox should cost. The original Xbox from 25 years ago was about $300+ back then for a basic model which was more like $600-700 in today's money. If they add more "hybrid" capability (basically you can use it if you want as a PC too in a pinch) then you're really getting value for your money because the whole intent is to make it accessible to the same things that PC owners can do (game mods, Steam store, etc) Basically you'll just have a gaming computer branded an "XBox." Which was essentially what an XBox was all along... a stripped down, simplified computer focused on gaming. The only big difference will be the UI, which will be based on Windows so they won't have to recreate every game specifically for XBox. For TSW, it should improve performance, shorten development time, and allow XBox users to use community mods. All good things my book.
If MS keep releasing XBOX consoles then I'll keep buying them - I prefer almost every aspect to PS and can't be bothered with PC any more. PS6 won't be much cheaper than the next XBOX and access to my game libraries on Steam, Epic and GOG (similar to my ROG XBOX Ally X) more than justifies any cost difference as far as I'm concerned. I don't know what the future of XBOX holds, but even if the next gen XBOX is the last XBOX my backlog is so huge that I have enough games to last me until the grave anyway.....
Will easily drop a £1000 if I get the benefit of having my current library of DLCs on Xbox and then the benefit of getting steam stuff like TSC
I was an original Xboxer, an early purchase with one of my first 'proper' pay checks of about £800 pm after tax!!!! First games where Fifa 2003 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Happy days and better times....
I'm somehow suprised, people still wanting a next Xbox regardless what is happening now. I can understand people don't want to loose their game collection, however I have no trust in Microsoft anymore. Even with owning a next gen Xbox, it's not certain you will keep your collection or for how low. If the Xbox store failed because everyone is buying on Steam and GamePass failed too with those high prices, how long will Microsoft then keep the store alive? I also can't imagine, the next Xbox will be a succes with those high prices. TSW is some exception with the huge collection of DLC, but there will be a lot of Xbox players with games they only play once or maybe for a year until the next game in the franchise arrives. Those people will most likely not care that much about switching platforms.
I’ve got both Series X and PS5 but the Xbox has always been my “primary” console as I’ve amassed an enormous library of games for it over the years and since TSW is what I play more than anything, all my content is on there. However in light of recent events and how the Xbox brand has been dying on its bum, I’ve started picking up some routes on PS5 when they’re in the sale as going forward I really can’t imagine purchasing another Xbox console. Having played a bit of TSW 6 on PS5 I was quite surprised by how different it looked compared with the Xbox Series X version actually - might just be that I have different settings on my TV for that particular HDMI input, or maybe Xbox’s auto HDR. Couldn’t say which looked better, just different.
Smart move to buy already some routes on PS with discount. Can you explain what is visual different between PS and Xbox? From what I saw on youtube, at least old routes do seems to a bit darker on PS, but this can also be caused by how the recording is.
It’s quite hard to describe but I’d say the colours seemed a bit bolder and more “vibrant” on PS5, which made them look a bit more striking but possibly not as realistic. Next time I get chance I’ll have a look and see if it’s something to do with my TV settings or if it is down to the way the game is rendered on both consoles. Also have only played Euston-MK on PS5, so this is a very small sample size!
Honestly half the reason I’m staying with Xbox is just so I don’t have to use the terrible ps controllers (weird place for the thumbs)
If it's really so expensive games companies can't just ditch the Xbox series that'd be suicidal for the developers. Just the way that DTG have only just started to drop support for 8th gen because it's such a massive income stream and makes up so much of the sales especially for TSW I also don't think that console TSW is going anywhere. We know that previously a year or so ago the player base was evenly split across all three platforms xbox, PS and PC. If they lose TSW on console they TSW will probably go as a whole IMO or there Will have to be severe cutbacks.
I bought the series x in the February after it came out (2021 then i think it was) i don’t feel like i need an upgrade yet for a few years still real great quality on 99% of games, no issues at all with great graphics and no personal grievances with performance unless I'm quite overloading limits of a game. think ill skip the stock issues this time around and let the price come down at least a little anyways first, definitely not considering high triple numbers price tag for a console at the minute
"Expensive" is subjective. Xbox has never been "cheap".... just "cheaper than a full sized gaming computer." No one in 2005 spending $400-500 was going to call it as "affordable."
Well, I bought my Series S for €269, if I want to buy it now it costs me €349. I believed the Series X was €499 back in the day, so when the next Xbox will be €1000, it's double the price of a Series X on release. I will call that expensive, and maybe the price will be even more then €1000.
You can call anything you want expensive. At the end of the day, gaming is a luxury. You don't need it to live. It's worth what we are willing to pay for it as a hobby. On a related note, that's why mobile games are taking off at the expense of AAA games (PC and console.) There's often no investment to play them. Yes they're "simpler" and you won't get a "simulator" on your iphone, but also ridiculously cheap (many are even free with ads) As I said, "expensive" is all relative. To people paying zero dollars anything is "expensive." To people spending $3,000 for a gaming PC... $1,000 seems "cheap."
Not always, you could spend £10k on a some kind of tech or spend £3k on a cheaper model and still call both expensive expensive to me is not a number but is something i believe to be overpriced, most often through greed, anyone can say anything, I can tell others 600k for 360 is not expensive if I want to, people’s views don’t make something not expensive.
Indeed, an Xbox of €1000 or more, sounds overpriced to me when I was able to buy one this generation for €269 or €499. An Xbox is not worth that kind of money, better go for a full blown PC then. When consoles are becomming to expensive, it will damage the ecosystem behind the console and the gaming industry in general. So when a Xbox becomes a €1000 and no one buys it, the Xbox store becomes useless and MS will not generate much of an income. Make you console cheap, more people will buy it and spend money in the store. When gaming hardware becomes to expensive in general and people can't affort it anymore, game sales will decline too, which affects the whole gaming industry.
i agree, theirs no point making a console compete with PC prices as the PC has more going for it especially with how widespread PC mod support is, as a long time xbox user i would go with PC over a console at similar pricing and capabilities. the current pricing of somewhere around £500 is much better placed for what they are selling, major increases such as 100% rise to £1000 is not gonna help console sales. As someone who works selling them theirs so many cases of families who will still buy Xbox one and Xbox 360 because of how far out of their willing price range even for Christmas and Birthday occasions when budgets go for further for that.
To be fair, rumors are it is basically a rebadged PC, plus some stuff for backwards compatibility with the old Xbox in... some manner. I see conflicting stuff on whether it's just the software end of if they're actually building Xbox chips into it. That said, even if this new machine is partially a PC I still see much appeal if you don't already have a massive Xbox collection. Every game for the past generation on Xbox already exists on PC, and so are most of the really big Xbox One titles, the only two big exceptions are Halo 5 & Rare Replay, everything else pretty well already exists on PC. Honestly the best selling point is the Xbox & Xbox 360 backwards compatibility titles being playable in a way on PC, but is that really gonna have enough fanfare to sell a $1200 machine on? IMO this is a console only for super fans, and that should worry anyone wanting to invest into it. I don't see Microsoft doing several generations of this hardware just for sales the make the Wii U look like a blockbuster hit. (Frankly I question if it will even outsell Steam Deck) And if they drop support for it in five years you might very well have to rebuy all your games on PC anyways if you wish for them to not be locked away on a proprietary piece of hardware. IMO I'd just keep the Xbox and play your older games that way, then buy or building a normal PC for new games instead.
So, 20 years ago, the decision that consoles suck and the PC is the most universal platform was confirmed. No more disappointment when your game collection suddenly turns into a pumpkin after a few years.
