What’s the point of Xbox?
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
What’s the point of Xbox?
Xbox announced a new partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices including our next-generation of Xbox consoles in your living room – and in your hands. Xbox President Sarah Bond confirms that future Xbox hardware will not be locked to a single store, meaning that players will be free to access and purchase their games from multiple third-party storefronts – think Steam, Epic, GOG and potentially more. These new devices ‘will maintain compatibility with your existing library of Xbox Games’ Microsoft’s new slogan is ‘Play what you want, with who you want on the device you want’ – not catchy, but it works for me. Xbox are tearing down the walled-garden traditions of console gaming, with the next generation of Xbox not only giving gamers a choice on where and how they play, but if they’re on Xbox – access to multiple storefronts, not just the Xbox Store. This is a ground-breaking announcement, and – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – one that is likely to completely redefine the home console market.
Breaking New Ground
I have to admit, it’s nice to see Microsoft at least appearing more agile than they’ve traditionally seemed, with Xbox President Sarah Bond getting out ahead of the rumour mill and setting the stage for the next generation of Xbox themselves, rather than fans making assumptions via disparate bits and pieces from various sources.
In case you missed it, Xbox dropped a new video announcing a “strategic, multi-year, partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices including our next-generation of Xbox consoles in your living room – and in your hands.” Despite only just announcing a handheld in partnership with ASUS, there’s further confirmation that native handhelds are indeed planned after all, putting to bed recent rumours they’d been delayed or cancelled outright.
What’s the point of Xbox? The Next-Gen Hardware Revolution | Image Credit: XboxEra
Next up, Xbox dismantle the next major sticking point of debate around the Xbox Ally X. As it’s just a handheld PC, it can’t play the 1000+ digital Xbox games I already own. Plenty of folks have been very vocal about this, and there’s some good news here. These new devices ‘will maintain compatibility with your existing library of Xbox Games.’
On the surface, so far so good – but Sarah Bond and team went a little further, finally confirming the rumour we’ve been discussing for months now. “This is all about building you a gaming platform that’s always with you, so you can play the games you want across devices anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience that’s not locked to a single store or tied to one device.”
It’s a ground-breaking announcement, and – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – one that is likely to completely redefine the home console market. Either way, it’s for sure going to rustle some jimmies.
Tearing Down Walls
What’s the point of Xbox? The Next-Gen Hardware Revolution | Image Credit: ASUS/Microsoft
We’ve been hearing all sorts of rumours, conjecture and theorising on this new strategy for months now. Now it seems Microsoft are willing to get out in front of those rumours and say it publicly.
Say goodbye to the way that gamers, the media and the industry itself have considered the console market ‘should’ be – Xbox have made it clear that it’s time to tear down the traditional walls that have boxed in players for decades. And I think finally, it’s time for gamers to come to terms with it.
These announcements outline a pretty ambitious future, but I understand why Microsoft are doing it. PlayStation are the default platform when it comes to console gaming, and they’re more than happy to continue the status quo – even recently, they’ve reiterated their belief in the ‘exclusive’ software for their hardware strategy. Microsoft have been trying for 20+ years to ‘win’ the console war – they came very close to victory with the Xbox 360, but then some seriously foolhardy decision making squandered every piece of goodwill they had, and they’ve never recovered. And Microsoft know, that playing that game, as it exists today – they never will win.
Now, in a massive departure from industry-norms, Bond confirms that future Xbox hardware will not be locked to a single store, meaning that players will be free to access and purchase their games from multiple third-party storefronts – think Steam, Epic, GOG and potentially more. Microsoft position the idea with their oft-repeated slogan – play what you want, where you want, with who you want on the device you want. It’s not catchy, but it works for me.
Is This The Point of Xbox?
What’s the point of Xbox? The Next-Gen Hardware Revolution | Image Credit: XboxEra
This openness of course mirrors Microsoft’s PC dealings, where Windows is the default operating system, worldwide. The lines between PC and Console are closer and more blurred than ever before, and this move finally gives Xbox a really solid answer to an often posited headline -‘What’s the point of Xbox?‘ – I’ve read that headline, or variants of it, for a few years now. I feel like they’re finally starting to make an argument that’s hard to ignore – The point of Xbox is a player first place to play, driven by player choice. Yes, Microsoft didn’t get to this point willingly, but nonetheless, this is where they are – and it sounds pretty great to me.
As a consumer of video games, the idea that I can have a console that allows me to shop around for the best prices, take advantage of the latest Steam Summer Sale or hell, even just access to my existing library on PC while still getting the best of a platform holders offerings – Game Pass, Play Anywhere and of course, access to the 1000’s of games I already own on Xbox.
Seriously now, tell me what’s ‘bad’ about this? Let me know in the comments below why this is something we should doom over, because right now, I’m struggling to see the downsides. The idea of what a console is, or what it should be – is changing. It’s not just about the box under the TV, it’s the device in my hands, or the app built in to my TV in a hotel room – it’s my games, where I want them to be.
Change is Hard
What’s the point of Xbox? The Next-Gen Hardware Revolution | Image Credit: XboxEra
All these changes come at a time of turbulence in the industry. Discoverability is harder for developers than ever before, and we’ve all seen the studio closures, the lay-offs. Sony is preparing themselves for the PlayStation 6, Nintendo have just launched the Switch 2, and right now it seems that both platform holders still believe, to varying degrees – in the walled gardens and closed hardware that have defined the console industry since it began.
Xbox, for whatever missteps have led them here, are finally doing what they have to do to compete. We live in a world where every device is connected, where almost every modern game is cross-platform or cross-play in some fashion. Xbox are embracing a far more open, flexible, player-first strategy that puts my library and my choice of device first. I find that incredibly difficult to argue against.
What’s the point of Xbox? Playing great video games. That’s the point.
Source: https://xboxera.com/2025/06/18/whats-the-point-of-xbox/