Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : AMD, ARMH, INTC, NVDA -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: combjelly who wrote (71948)	10/28/2025 6:52:05 PM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71957

A big problem facing the gaming industry is that the games themselves - the big budget AAA games have turned into DEI vomit. One of the recent big ideas Microsoft XBox came up with was the the subscription plan, where you get to play all the games, and you can go from one to another in quick succession. If one were to play a number of AAA games, some of which now retail well over $50, some close to $99. If one were to play 1 or 2 per month, the subscription would be a brilliant idea. But when the game are garbage - not so much. It turns out that most gamers buy a small number of games, and then spend a lot of time playing those games. Which is a far better fit for buying and owning the few games gamers actually want to play. Which is 180 from XBox Game pass subscription. Maybe Microsoft is now more worried about Steam, SteamBox, SteamOS and Linux. If that were to take off, the damage to Microsoft could be irreparable. No more reason to have Windows... So a tough problem for Microsoft to navigate. As much as it pains me to say this, the approach Microsoft is taking may actually be the best way out of the pickle. XBox branded Gaming PCs, consoles and handhelds, if Microsoft manages to execute. Sharing components with PC ecosystem, could end up having the flexibility to offer more choices faster upgrade cycle. And this can lead to other large OEMs offering their own XBox branded hardware.

To: combjelly who wrote (71948)	10/29/2025 12:37:46 AM
From: Joe NYC	Respond to of 71957

Sorry, I mixed up SteamBox, which was indeed stillborn and SteamDeck, a niche hardware that is servicing that niche, with minimalistic effort and hardware. Steam indeed has far superior business model. What Microsoft should have done, is instead of buying all these game studios, they should have bought Steam, (and then not ruin it, like most of Microsoft's other acquisitions). Which is quite a tall order. XBox was, IMO, going to zero, if it continued its previous course unchanged. If you extend it further, it intersects zero, so you can just as well consider it to be a Zero on your books now. If you assume that XBox will have to fundamentally change its business model, what would that new model be? I think some sort of merger of declining XBox gaming and WIndows gaming is the way to go. If Microsoft is to sell gaming hardware, ability to run both may be a way to go. Which seems to be the intention.