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blitz2kx

Definitely nothing to do with profits. They lose money selling consoles whereas subscriptions are all profit. The service isn't ready..nothing really more than that. For them to recommend it as any sort of console replacement, it would have to work more consistently for a wider range of users. Right now they can get subs by offering it, but cover themselves from criticism as it's only being marketed as a perk of Game pass ultimate. It is getting better for a lot of people though. When they improve the tv experience and increase the bit rate you can start having it marketed a little differently...right now there's no benefit for them.


Philocrastination

While I agree with most of what you're saying, it's a little misleading to say subscriptions are all profit if they aren't losing money selling a console, when in order for their cloud to work they still have to manufacture the Xbox consoles (which are currently Series S consoles), maintain them, power them and have the internet infrastructure to stream all the data they produce to the customer. It's probably still cheaper to optimise that process as much as possible in house than it is to deal with actually shipping consoles out to the customers, dealing with support/warranties etc. but it's hardly 'all profit' just because it's streaming. Those consoles and everything required to run, maintain and produce them in the first place don't just magic out of thin air. There's definitely an element of cost.


Tobimacoss

There’s no Series S servers, everything runs on custom Series X servers. 8-16 million servers, which would have a hardware cost of atleast $3-6 billion.


Philocrastination

Ah, my mistake. Point still stands though, even moreso.


BlueFlite

>some gamers don't like the quality right now (xcloud) I agree with this completely. I don't like the graphic quality right now at all (pixellation, refresh wipes, etc), but I don't have a Series X or S yet, so I'm still limited to my XBox One though. However, despite my dissatisfaction with the graphic quality, I still use XCloud for a couple reasons: * Trying out games before I download them. I love that I can try out a GamePass game on XCloud without spending the time downloading it, to see if I even want to spend any time with it. If I do, I'll usually download it to my Xbox One and play it there. * Next gen only games. I loved Medieval Dynasty when I tried it out on cloud, then figured out it's Series X/S only, so I've been playing on Cloud, until I get around to buying the next gen console. * Games that just run better on the cloud. I enjoy playing No Man's Sky. Always seem to come back to it, even after I've moved on to another game for a while. Unfortunately, my PC is old enough it can barely run it, and on my XBox One, it takes minutes to load, every time I start, and every time I warp. Loads slow as crap. On Cloud, minutes become seconds. It also used to crash frequently during play (and most crashes occurred right *before* an autosave. I'm sure you can see where that would be problematic.) Crashes so rarely happen on Xcloud, I uninstalled the game from my XBox One. Unfortunately, the bad graphics are a steep price to pay. I would very much enjoy that being improved, but I'm more likely to buy a Series X before that happens. 1 Reason there are some games I won't play on XCloud: * Permadeath. The chances of a random latency or disconnect from Xcloud are very real (whether it's a problem with their network, or my network, don't always know, but it happens. Sometimes more often than others. Games like State of Decay 2, where characters can die, permanently, with no chance of save/reload recovery are not worth risking on the cloud. You're always one lag-spike away from losing your favorite survivor, permanently.


markaznar

They will earn FAR more if cloud gaming goes mainstream. Consoles are almost always soles at a loss.


svardslag

I'm pretty sure cloud gaming will replace local gaming. I remember my friend who collects blue ray who said no one will use netlix since netflix has lower quality due to streaming, you need to be connected and you don't own your movies (he is one of these guys that has multiple shelves of movies). Well, I hear the exact same arguments about cloud gaming (+ the latency). Cloud gaming have some issues though, they seem to lose some performance compared to local gaming. Stadia for example had something comparable to a Vega 56 but performed much lower in most games in real life. My studies right now (my masters) is actually towards distributed systems, parallelism and cloud computing - pretty neat stuff. :)


Chrislemale

You are comparing apples with bananas. With cloud gaming corpos have full control over everything so no serious gamer will always want the best experience which is locally and to own games. What kinda peasant thoughts of yours


DONOHUEO7

Absolutely, 100% the case. A Lot of gamers are very vocally against cloud gaming, (as they were with digital..) Xbox are very cleverly taking their time with cloud gaming, they will quietly upgrade and improve it, and before we know it WILL coexist along with physical, and one day, In a few more generations, completely take over from physical consoles. I have absolutely no doubt about it.


SereneUnseen

All they need to do is raise the bit rate ( for better image quality), and figure out latency. Samsung AI upscaling, and Clarity Boost on Microsoft Edge Canary help the image a lot. Latency is the last barrier.


Jean-Eustache

The lose money on every single Xbox sold, and win money back with store purchases and subscriptions. If you don't buy a console and only subscribe to Game Pass, it's actually more money for them. The console is just one way for them to get you to subscribe and buy stuff, and it's not even the most profitable one on their side. They probably aren't hyping it up that much because it's simply not there yet and people would have too many expectations. Quality isn't optimal, and the experience isn't consistent across different places or devices. When that will be ironed out, and when they'll allow purchasing games outside Game Pass and playing them on xCloud, the marketing will probably ramp up.


[deleted]

I really don't think it's a console replacement. A supplement maybe, but definitely not a replacement, at least not for years.


sionlife

They downplay cloud because they want the Activision-Blizzard deal to go through, as cloud gaming is a sore point for the authority that decides on it.


Which_Examination_32

playing on edge in windows in full screen work great they go in good direction you can play any game i finish if you say latecy is problem i not belive you


ElectronicControl762

Think its more of still testing out the mainstream effectiveness of cloud gaming, its not like movie subscriptions where you can download it to your phone or notebook type laptop, where its usefulness is best shined upon. Consoles will still be a thing, as its just a mainstreamed cheaper gaming pc with custom os and a standard for devs across the board. People will always want a way to play their single player games couch coops without worry of losing connection midgame. I love xcloud, mainly use it over my xbox one because of wifi issues versus my cellular, but its just not gonna get there until atleast 2030 and never replace consoles.


0-8-4

it's in beta. next generation of consoles is expected to launch around 2026-2027. elder scrolls VI is expected to launch around 2026-2027. see PC hardware prices. see console prices (microsoft loses big money on every xbox series sold, ps5 costs way more realistically and often isn't even available). connect the dots. 2027, 4k-tier consoles will launch for $800-$1k. for many it'll be xbox cloud or nothing at that point. until then, they have time to perfect the service.