I was listening to Friends per Second (game industry podcast) the other day and they were discussing the future of Xbox. They addressed some of the common stuff everyone is talking about, like is Microsoft going to stay in the console business, squandered IP’s, shuttering financially successful/critically loved studios (Tango with Hi-Fi Rush), things like that. But as usual they had a more nuanced take that also introduced some things I hadn’t considered.
One of the host’s said (more or less) “it seems like we’re no longer seeing a distinct brand and mentality with Xbox, and instead are seeing the transition to ‘Microsoft gaming.’”Just calling if that made a lot of things click into place, and it makes a lot of sense watching that occur while also seeing what they are doing with windows 11 and AI integration/ad saturation.
It’s not as simple as “Microsoft wants everything to be a subscription.“ They want a lot of pulls at the fountain. They want to put ads in front of you, they want to image your computers and scrape every bit of data that isn’t bolted down, they want to trap you in their ecosystem, they want it all. Take any single or two-pronged strategy by any similar company and just dump it into the pile: Microsoft wants all the revenue streams of all kinds at all times. And even if someone doesn’t fully recognize exactly what’s happening, I think a lot of us are getting the sense that they are just getting greedy in a very real sense and that it’s accelerating.
I don’t know if there will be any consequences, I don’t expect some massive exodus from Microsoft/windows any time soon, but it does make me happy to see articles condemning their moves almost every day and a lot of chatter in my own communities about people wanting to find ways to reject these changes, even if their pushing back is small and isolated. Even my parents are asking me about ways to better protect their privacy and deal with these changes, and they are not the most tech savvy in the world (good enough to get in trouble lol).
It’s interesting to say the least.
but it does make me happy to see articles condemning their moves almost every day
Did you read this article? It’s a pro-Microsoft article published on MSN (Microsoft Network).
Ya got me. I didn’t read it actually. I was just musing because the title made me start thinking about it.
Downvoting because that’s a crappy site that makes me expand the story because I ignored the button to load the story in the app. Oh and auto play video. Sorry but no thanks.
I don’t know why an MSN link was used instead of a direct link to the article:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-is-warping-the-pc-industry/
Microsoft is warping the PC industry into something unrecognizable
Ironic this is on MSN
Headline is probably not wrong, but it’s definitely overdramatic compared to the actual story. Everything awful MS is actually doing is there barely a millimeter under the surface, but the story is more directly about how they’re jerking AMD and Intel around.
Still, it’s an impressively clear showcase of how much power Microsoft really has. It’s taken two companies that usually have their product cycles planned years in advance and kicked them into panic mode. Hopefully we don’t see a repeat once Microsoft finds it fit to bring Copilot+ to desktops.
Microsoft’s goal has always been to turn your PC into a locked-down console, loaded with their spyware and rent-ware. I’m surprised they’ve allowed 3rd party software on our PCs for this long.
