Microsoft opens a crack in console gaming's decades-old walled garden

One thing I would love to happen is the opportunity for third party stores to open on older consoles that are no longer supported by their manufacturer. Imagine still being able to buy games for the 360, PS3 and Wii without having to source aging discs.

If you’re interested in this, I’d highly recommend checking out the Hoeg Law channel on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@HoegLaw

He’s done a bunch of analysis on the Microsoft / Activision merger, as well as all the Epic lawsuits.

It’s an interesting shift in Microsoft’s position, but I think they see where the winds are blowing, and most importantly, they’ve set themselves up to not be as impacted by an opening up of store ecosystems.

Windows is obviously huge for gaming, and Game Pass is the way that they’re bridging the gap between the more “open” Windows ecosystem, and Xbox. Microsoft marketed Game Pass heavily, and even with my distaste for subscription-based rental services, I have to admit, it’s a pretty good deal for now.

I’ve seen many of my friends use Game Pass and like it. I think it passes the sniff test for a no-fuss service that has games people actually want to play. I wouldn’t be surprised if Valve treated it as much more of a threat than the Epic Games Store. Nobody I know takes the EGS seriously, but a subscription service could represent a paradigm shift.

Currently a discussion theme about XBox as platform on the community, is that ultimately Microsoft will follow SEGA footsteps and XBox will be an umbrella brand for its game studios.

So even if they bring Epic in, that might not change the current trends regarding Game Pass and XBox Cloud.

I guess he was tired of making an awkward argument about how locked-down gaming on consoles was OK but locked-down gaming on smartphones wasn't.

There really is not much different between Xbox and ps5 anymore anyway. Xbox more open platform makes me want to trade the ps5 for an Xbox