Microsoft sees things in a bigger picture.
Microsoft Gaming CEO sat down with Polygon during the annual Game Developers Conference and expressed ways he’d like to bring everything gaming to one place: Xbox. Spencer doesn’t like the traditional setup, which feels like a walled garden that limits players from purchasing from first-party stores linked to the consoles themselves.
Part of the reason this is still up for discussion is cost. Spencer mentioned that console makers usually subsidize the cost of the console hardware up front and make that back in software and accessories purchased for the console. However, due to rising costs, the cost of producing a console isn’t falling through the console generation like in the past.
The console experience must also be more like the PC experience instead of the console feeling left out of the ecosystem or a watered-down experience. It should be a seamless transition.
