They say that trying the same thing over and over again and expecting the same outcome is a sign of madness, and I guess Microsoft is getting tired of repeatedly entering the console hardware market and ending up in a distant third place. So it seems that, despite its “everthing is an Xbox” marketing campaign, what’s really happening is a return to the warm bosom of PC gaming.
While the details are vague, based on what we know and some rumors, the next Xbox might really be nothing more than a Windows PC with an Xbox badge on the shell, and while fans of Xbox console hardware might not be too happy with this change in direction, I think it might be better if Microsoft plays to its actual competencies and strengths.
Before Xbox, Microsoft Was a Titan of PC Game Publishing
These days, when people think of gaming and Microsoft, it’s Xbox that springs to mind, but before the first Xbox ever saw the light of day, Microsoft was already heavily involved in the gaming industry. It was an important part of getting people to use MS-DOS and Windows, after all.
In the 80s, and especially in the 90s Microsoft developed and published a huge number of games. Many of them weren’t notable, but games like Age of Empires, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Mechwarrior 4, and my beloved Monster Truck Madness are just a few. In the 2000s they released games like Freelancer and Dungeon Siege. Microsoft even published Metal Gear Solid on PC.
In other words, on PC Microsoft was no bit player, and had plenty of respected franchises in its stable.
The Xbox Started as a Consolized PC
The first Xbox has turned out to be quite prophetic when you look at modern current-gen systems. Unlike the PlayStations and Nintendo consoles of the time, the first Xbox was basically just a normal PC, with some custom hardware. However, it ran the same type of code as a Windows PC, and the “X” in Xbox comes from “DirectX”—the Windows gaming API. After all, the console was originally going to be called the “DirectXbox”.
Not only did this make the original Xbox much more powerful than other consoles of its generation, it meant that developers didn’t have to develop completely separate ports of a game. You could simply develop your PC game, and then modify it relatively little to make the Xbox version. Today, the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 follow effectively the same model, except the operating system is a modified version of FreeBSD rather than Windows, and of course the Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles are likewise really just consolized PC hardware systems, with the beating heart of Windows with DirectX still at their core.
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The Xbox 360 Was a Fluke
In fact, the only time Microsoft deviated from this approach was with the Xbox 360, which used a custom IBM PowerPC triple-core CPU. Ironically, despite an extremely high hardware failure rate from a problem known as the “Red Ring of Death”, the Xbox 360 is the most successful Microsoft console to date. It’s not just because of the hardware, which was pretty great when it actually worked, but mostly because of all the great games on the system.
However, the Xbox 360 stands out as the only true bright spot in the Xbox console’s history. For a while, it seemed like the Xbox could only get better, but thanks to some truly epic, bone-headed decisions with the Xbox One that, frankly, sabotaged the Xbox Series consoles in numerous ways before they were even designed, the only non-Japanese console left in the race is stuck in last place.
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The New Rumored Xbox Direction Brings Microsoft Back to Its Roots
While it’s still a rumor and only hinted at by vague statements from Xbox marketing and leadership, there’s a good chance that the next Xbox “console” might actually just be a Windows 11 PC running Windows 11 games—or whatever the next version of Windows ends up being called. Microsoft is moving away from “Xbox” being a console, and aggressively marketing it as a brand across different devices. The new Xbox-branded ROG Ally handheld PC, for example, will integrate games you buy on Steam into the same Xbox-style launcher as Game Pass and Microsoft Store games.
At the same time, Microsoft is pushing its established “Play Anywhere” feature to new heights, getting more developers to sign on, so that if you buy their games on Xbox, you can also play it on PC for the same price. Personally, I think the long-term plan here is to phase out the native Xbox versions of games, and move everything over to the PC versions, assuming that the next Xbox hardware system will run the latter.
The last piece of the puzzle would be bringing Microsoft’s excellent emulators for Xbox and Xbox 360 games over to PC, which would allow the company to make a clean break from its console hardware at the end of this generation. So even though we’ve been promised that a next-generation “Xbox” is still on the cards, it may end up being Microsoft’s version of a Steam Machine.
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Sometimes It’s Best to Stick With What You Know
If it does turn out to be true that Microsoft is effectively moving over to PC hardware (and cloud streaming from PC hardware) and leaving bespoke console hardware behind, then personally I think the company is finally on the right track, and would be going back to its roots. Except, this time with years of new IP, development experience, and other knowledge to build up a robust PC-focused business.
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It’s entirely possible for Microsoft to create something that combines the strengths of the PC with the things that make people love their consoles. It’s time we accept that Microsoft’s console experiment has failed, and honestly, when it comes to hardware, the company has a pretty spotty track record. Microsoft went up against Amazon’s Echo with the Cortana Invoke, and I bet you didn’t even know it existed. The company went up against the iPhone with the Windows Phone and Kin—dead. It went against the iPod with the Zune—dead. The Surface RT? Dead. And now, the Xbox? I think it’s dead Jim.
To be fair, Microsoft did make a pretty good joystick and optical mouse there for a while, but I think that good old Microcomputer Software should probably stop pouring the money it makes with that software into hardware products that subsequently light that cash on fire.
If Microsoft is going back to focusing on being a developer and publisher for PC gaming, and can bridge the hardware gap to retain its former console fanbase—that has me genuinely excited. Despite the lamentable recent layoffs (as reported by our friends at Polygon) in the company’s gaming division, I think the future of Microsoft’s gaming exploits long-term is looking brighter than it ever was during its console experiments. If it can learn from its mistakes, it might end up being for the best.
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