What Microsoft has been saying about Xbox lately strongly implies that this is a Windows handheld designed to solve software and user experience problems with using current Windows handhelds. And signs are pointing toward the next Xbox console coming sooner than the next PlayStation and essentially being a PC running a console version of Windows. Some speculation on my part, but I’m not the only one coming to those conclusions.
I don’t think I ever pitched a subscription as being better than ownership, just that your joke is divorced from the reality of the situation and the way Microsoft has operated for over a decade, and that’s why the joke didn’t land. Microsoft won’t get a stranglehold on the market, despite their best efforts.
You are missing the distinction by several miles. A short list includes the lack of cert, the availability of competitors on the same platform, and backward compatibility whether they like it or not. If the value proposition is as poor as you expect it to be, then the launch of a portable Xbox will hardly be noticed next to the Steam Deck, but the more likely scenario is that it’s basically a Steam Deck that plays nicer with Game Pass and anti cheat technologies because it’s actually Windows under the hood. You’ve demonstrated a large lack of understanding about what’s changed between 6th gen consoles and today, but the short explanation is that I don’t see a reason to expect Microsoft to charge you for Halo again on this new platform, because it would be marketing suicide among plenty of other reasons.
How is it divorced? You’re still spending money for the same things over and over again. Your argument is purely semantics" you’re not purchasing, you’re renting!" Like there is a difference… You are still giving Microsoft money to play old games.
If I changed my original comment to read ‘spending money’ instead of ‘purchasing’ would that make you feel better? Because this seems to be your only problem with it.
Originally you brought this up to reinforce the idea that Microsoft consoles are transitioning to a PC with an xbox paint job. Which is what all consoles essentially are, but I got what you were trying to say that it’s a shared environment with a PC, which is somewhat relevant to the conversation… Kinda.
But now you are bringing up certificates, backwards compatibility, steam decks, anti cheat and other generations of consoles.
This entire section of your comment has nothing to do with my joke or the discussion so far, it’s a waste of time and nothing but a diversion. Can you get back to what we are actually talking about? I get it Microsoft rents not sells… You see that I get it right?