Phil Spencer wants Epic Games Store and others on Xbox consoles

EGS isn't any good on PC. What makes them think a workable console version is coming any time soon?

Yeah, they still haven't fixed the slow ass scrolling performance in the client and have barely introduced any platform features to their store. It's so bad.
- I've been using Heroic launcher and it's made a massive difference fwiw.

Yeah, to be honest, if Apple's model is not legal, then neither is Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo...

It's a good argument.

It's not the same model though, is it? I can buy XBox, PS an Nintendo games in a shit ton of physical or digital stores. So there are different channels. There is no equivalent on iOS. If you don't want to publish in the app store, no one will be able to install your app (developers with own certs and enterprise customers with mdm excluded).
- A chunk of those sales go to the platform, regardless of where they're bought. And you can't just sell an Xbox/playstation game without permission and royalties
- This is true, but they're also now selling digital-only consoles. For some customers, the digital store is their only choice.
if Apple’s model is not legal, then neither is Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo…
Except it's not about the model itself, it's about market power. Neither game console maker has a monopoly, not even Nintendo.
- Are there any other virtual stores on the console? There's obviously physical store fronts, but I'm pretty sure there's only the one digitally on console.
- I agree that it is about market power, but one could make the argument that Xbox/PlayStation have a duopoly similar to iOS/Android.
  Although I think PlayStation dominated with roughly a 70/30 split worldwide (higher in Europe). Nintendo is somewhat in its own category imo, since they mostly do their own games and don't directly compete in that sense.
  But I guess in a way consoles also compete with PCs.
- Microsoft is edging closer to a monopoly, which may be why they're making this move.

my steam library on my xbox, yes please 🙏

Can Win32 programs run on the xbox? I know there's Edge, but iirc, that's packaged in some unique way.
- I thought all xboxes were x86 hardware running some variant of windows under the hood?
  Edit:
  "The Xbox system software is the operating system developed exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox home video game consoles.[1] Across the four generations of Xbox consoles, the software has been based on a version of Microsoft Windows"
  "Though initial iterations of the software for the original Xbox and Xbox 360 were based on heavily modified versions of Windows, the newer consoles feature operating systems that are highly compatible with Microsoft's desktop operating systems, allowing for shared applications and ease-of-development between personal computers and the Xbox line. "
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_system_software

The Series X would make a great Steambox

Indeed. I'll definitely consider buying one if I can turn it into a Steam box.

Yeah, well I want game pass on Steam and Linux, but we can't get everything we want, Phil.

I think it's gonna get there very soon. Steam on Xbox, and also Xbox on steam deck.
The only issue with the latter is Valve is using proton translation to bypass windows and make their own thing, it's a tremendously grey area that Microsoft has said NOTHING about, only because Steam is legit and game sale money go to publishers.
Imagine if Yuzu was legit and game sales still went to nintendo or 3rd parties, the tech behind proton and yuzu nce aren't dissimilar!
- Proton should be called PINE instead because PINE Is Not an Emulator.
- How is Valve using Proton a grey area?

Steam suspicously absent from this conversation, but I'm willing to be patient and see.

It's a positive attitude for Spencer to take, but would have to see it in practice to be able to make judgment on if he really stands behind those words or if he is simply making a strategic business decision whose real motives are simply masked by these words.

The latter is par for the course for corporations, so we don't have a lot to lean on in favor of him truly holding these values, sadly. One can hope, however, that miracles can and do happen.

I think Valve in particular has more incentive to make a console-esque PC that runs Steam than they do to make a storefront on someone else's console.
- That's not where Valve makes their money from though. Their money primarily comes from store purchases, so anything to expand Steam's reach is better for them. Plus, keeping Steam as relevant and ubiquitous as possible will in turn promote sales of the Steam Deck. The Xbox and Steam Deck cater to fundamentally different use cases anyways.

Damn that'd go hard for Itch.io

Might as well allow me to install a other OS at this point

Playstation let you do that for a while.
- I remember Linux for PlayStation 2 back in the days.

And how much of a cut would you be taking Phil?

It's finally happening? Console manufacturers realizing that the old model, that's worse for the consumer, doesn't make sense anymore?

No, there won't be another xbox. Phil Spencer is angling to get gamepass on nintendo and sony. But he's going to have to force it through the courts and government legislation, much like epic is doing with mobile stores now.
It's a play for gamepass, not the consumer
- It's a play for the consumer's money, and when the consumer has better options than the traditional console model, the console model breaks down. They've got at least one more Xbox in them, whether or not that next Xbox is just a PC with different branding.

Fun fact: Microsoft can already do that: Just ship a Windows ~~container~~ VM on Xbox.

Edit: Apparently "container" is the wrong term.

Have you ever tried to setup a Windows container let alone one on an Xbox? Even Microsoft knows windows containers are fucking shit, just look at azure Linux, it's the entire reason for it's existence
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_Linux
- Even Microsoft knows windows containers are fucking shit
  The Xbox System Software contains a heavily modified Hyper-V hypervisor (known as NanoVisor) as its host OS and two partitions. One of the partitions, the "Exclusive" partition is a custom virtual machine (VM) for games; the other partition, the "Shared" partition is a custom VM for running multiple apps including the OS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_system_software#System
  Xbox already runs two VMs. Just throw in a third with real Windows.