Weebleman

@Coletrain appreciated my man and good to know. I didnt even think of the battery side. Do they run everything alright? Im not fussed about having all the bells and whistles graphics wise. I was listening to the giantbombcast a few weeks back and jeff grubb was saying it was a pain for signing you out of things and stuff. How do you find it?

@Gabrie @Millionski the xbox full screen thing (i agree, terrible name lol) will just be an overlay linking to all the other stores in the background. As the ROG is running windows its likely gonna be modded in days to run on them all 'unofficially'.

Im more curious that if I can basically do the same thing on a cheaper ROG, which is highly likely, I could be swung on the older model.

Although I have heard that they are a nightmare to manage in terms of updating, etc... so it would be nice if they figure that out with the overlay but I doubt it.

@Millionski will be interesting to see benchmarks of it running with and without the xbox skin. If it has minimal impact, it might be worth picking up an older (see cheaper) ROG and just downloading the skin, as I imagine it will be mere days before someone has it running on them.

Looking forward to those of you that couldn't previously play getting to enjoy this. Its a blast with pals and even works with random.

@kmtrain83 its a rog ally, not a handheld xbox. You can access any storefront you want. You just need to install it.

Hes lost some pounds has phillip. Looking trim and well.

@Sol4ris I am unsure of both your point and why you took this to be me PPS5ing anything.

Mate.

With folks building digital libraries, its harder to get folks to 'jump ship'. Xbox likely knew folks wont walk away from a library of games they've built over two generations and brought games to the eco system those players are in. While the xbox eco system may be smaller (xbox, not Microsoft as a whole), it makes business sense for Sony to do the same as folks wont simply drop years worth of games to start again, despite the initial wobblers of the vocal minority.

If this means we all continue to get games to play, we should be happy. Its not like the consoles these days are vastly different anymore. Where we choose to play is less and less relevant.

@Millionski this is true, but even in that range it means zero growth.

For the record, im not saying Gamepass is bad, its the best value out there for games if you want the big day one hitters.

Microsoft on the other hand are a gaggle of horrors that run people and companies into the floor while they chase a quick bit of profit. Same as every other corporation out there.

@Sol4ris on xbox, yes.

@Millionski if the price is higher then thats less users as it will divide into a lower amount.

I do agree that most people use loop holes and upgrades to stack, and i agree that folks should if they could, but that wont be the casual market doing that. The majority of people who would use these methods are folks like you and me who read websites like this. There are only so many of them out there. Its the casuals that are the majority, not us.

@Coletrain as with all these companies, they throw big numbers out in a way that sounds amazing but dont paint an accurate picture.

They basically cover off everything they provide by putting it under the microsoft banner. Had they said 500 million MAU playing games then that would be serious stuff. They are just talking about folks using their products which in perspective, is what you'd expect when they own one of the biggest operating systems

@Gabrie If you break the 5 billion down as others have highlighted, it comes to around 28 million users. In Feb 2024 GP had 34 million, so its actually a decline.

In March 2023 PS Plus had 47.4 million users. While these have likely dropped, its still highly possible they hold more subs than GP. it would be interesting to compare revenues over the same period.

Short version being PlayStation may not need to give an arma and a leg for a service like GP.

@Coletrain this number will include anyone logging into any product they own. Windows, mobile games, you name it.

Folks need to learn that Microsoft numbers and xbox numbers are very much different measures.

@Ricky-Spanish I would be very surprised if the rog ally increases subs as its a pretty niche product. I imagine existing users will pick it up more than new users.

Plus we really need to be clear that its not an xbox handheld. Its a Windows handheld with an xbox skin over it. Folks going into it thinking otherwise will get a bit of a shock otherwise.

Edit: hope that didnt come across argumentative, wasn't intended if it did buddy.

I much preferred the times when we cheered for the games instead of the financials of these companies.

Foamstars revival incoming.

What an utterly bizare and tone deaf thing to put out. Thanks to those that left. They didnt leave, you fired them you plum.

Im not sure why folks are saying this proves gamepass is on the up, or proving others wrong when we cant see the split. For all we know Gamepass could have dropped numbers and the surge could be from the two better selling platforms giving numbers a bump.

I absolutely think the switch two would have bumped the figure more than gamepass or ps plus.

@themightyant This was my biggest issue. There were points when a game would update and I'd start finding copies of games on my external hdd and internal ssd. First World problems I know, but frustrating all the same

@Kaloudz the big problem is if they skip their store for steam, they get no money from the sale.

@Coletrain couldn't agree more.

@Coletrain Yeah that was my thoughts. If you are gonna let folks access Steam then we are probably looking at an entry level PC in a box (if that makes sense). If that is the case then there just isnt any point making a straight up xbox branded version as it will run the PC build you already have.

When folks can buy that PC build cheaper from a different store, I just dont see that going well. Windows games is already widely disliked. If folks get a choice there will be very few who choose it over steam.

@FraserG suppose it makes sense focusing on where the sales will be if you have limited resources. Bit of a bummer but at least we know it's coming.

I imagine this will feeds those secret exclusive rumours that folks love.

@Kaloudz Yup. Sadly I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see more developers doing it as sales tend to be lower on xbox due to Gamepass. Like you say, feels a bit scummy but what can we do.

As an aside, I can see more developers skipping xbox if they make steam available on the next box. What's the point of spending money porting a game when folks can buy another version from another store that works on it.

I imagine that conversation will be around a Gamepass deal.

@Coletrain the Very code is a great tip. I used this to pick up a ps5 pro and it took a chunk off.

@Kaloudz I'd have a shop around buddy. Digital foundry did an article on the cheaper model and basically said theres no point in it at all

@Millionski I really hope they dont drop out. Competition breeds innovation and that benefits us all.

Sadly though, i think they will. Even if they bring out a box that has an xbox name on it and multiple storefronts, it won't change. While they may get a chunk more sales, most steam users will be happy with their current set up.

The vast majority of console sales are from the casual market who dont care about steam. They will just buy the machine that let's them take their digital library with them. This happened on PS4 to PS5 and will happen again as most people are even more invested.

Folks wont simply drop that to start again

Little misleading that headline, wouldn't you say?

@Kienda agreed. Whatever party it is, im glad xbox folks get to enjoy it.

@K1LLEGAL I get your points, especially when nixxes get involved, and hopefully I didnt come across argumentative (if i did, it was unintended). I just meant that there is a long way between a a third party company making an online multiplayer game of a Sony IP and something like Spiderman.

I mean, never say never, especially in these weird times, but i wouldn't be holding my breathe for them just yet.

Edit: On a side note, if any xbox folks want a bit of a support while they level up I'll be happy to jump in with you all 🙂

@K1LLEGAL this is 2nd party. Sony own the IP, the studio that make it is independent.

Tell you what wont be coming to xbox, Romero Games new project. Looks like they've shuttered the studio after MS pulled their funding. Hope all affected find work soon.

Chances are it would result in the studio getting shut down anyway, so I'd just leave it well alone.

@Kaloudz just remember this isnt a first party Sony title my man. Its a 3rd party studio hired to produce an ip sony own. What they used to class as a 2nd party title but you dont hear that as much these days. Theres a long way between this and something like spiderman.

@BacklogBrad I mean, sure, they cancelled two games. Let's not forget the thousands that lost there jobs and a studio was shuttered.

Theres a lot more to take away than two games getting cancelled.

Excellent news for those xbox only folks amongst us. I look forwarding to joining you all for some liberty

@Kaloudz every team needs a lead (or a head in this case) mate. Otherwise it will be an even bigger mess than what's unfolding at the minute.

Ultimately phil wanted ABK. He just had to get folks above to fund it, likely on the promise that the money will roll in. That decision drew consequences and Microsoft Gaming was born. Xbox will still exist as basically an os overlay on 3rd party hardware.

'Xbox is doing better than ever.'

Phil spencer, 2025.

Don't even start me on the fact he tries to say that success is because they laid people off previously.

The best thing about the xbox rog ally is it seems to be a decent machine and you can delete the OS and install a better one on it that isnt windows.

@Fiendish-Beaver I was just going to comment the same. Folks are gonna realise pretty quickly on release that the rog ally is not an xbox, despite carrying the name.

My favourite AC. Would be a rare day one purchase for me.

@Moby mate, you just come across as a fanboy using financials as a metric because your favourite box ain't doing as well as you want. Both companies used the same tactics but you only claim one is underhand. Funny that isnt it.

Enjoy your stocks mate. Have a good day.

@Ricky-Spanish who’d have thought we would miss the days of arguing about single frame drops and imperceptible differences in resolution. I much prefer those arguments to people bickering over a giant companies wealth.

@Fiendish-Beaver steam games are already optimised for various set ups. There’s no guarantee that those games will even run on the next Xbox. So many folks seem to think this is evidence of Xbox running steam and don’t understand what is actually happening beneath the hood.

The big take away from all of this is that it’s looking more and more likely that the next Xbox will run windows, Xbox will be reduced to an overlay launch screen with a sticker on a third party box, and nobody wants that.

I saw a line somewhere that said while MS are trying there hardest to be everywhere, they run a significant risk of being nowhere in particular. Thayer about sums up my feelings on them at the moment.

@HonestHick I wouldn’t celebrate the steam to Xbox guarantee just yet. What we have at the minute is windows running pc games you can launch via an Xbox shortcut. It is not an Xbox running steam or it’s games. You need steam installed in the background to buy/download games first. That won’t necessarily translate to a console running steam games. It might but it’s no guarantee as of yet.

@Millionski Yeah, I know. I just meant that on the xbox ally it won't let you access your uninstalled steam games via the app, you will need to access Steam to download them and then they will show in the xbox app and run just as you say.