I’m not disputing that subscriptions for Game Pass is how Microsoft wants to make money off of a handheld, but that doesn’t seem to support your argument. Gears of War isn’t really built for the mobile use case. I don’t really see cloud gaming taking off the way these companies pitch it to their investors. I think Microsoft’s on the right track with making it a value add rather than mandatory, but Stadia didn’t take with the market for a reason. I don’t see the author’s vision for cross-pollination between “traditional mobile games” like King’s output and what we think of as Xbox games; I feel like those markets have thoroughly evolved into pushing out the customers that don’t like what they offer. I don’t want touch buttons on my screen, nor do I want to be nagged by microtransaction prompts, and I don’t think mobile gamers want to pay $70 for a challenging prestige story experience up front.
I’m not disputing that subscriptions for Game Pass is how Microsoft wants to make money off of a handheld, but that doesn’t seem to support your argument. Gears of War isn’t really built for the mobile use case. I don’t really see cloud gaming taking off the way these companies pitch it to their investors. I think Microsoft’s on the right track with making it a value add rather than mandatory, but Stadia didn’t take with the market for a reason. I don’t see the author’s vision for cross-pollination between “traditional mobile games” like King’s output and what we think of as Xbox games; I feel like those markets have thoroughly evolved into pushing out the customers that don’t like what they offer. I don’t want touch buttons on my screen, nor do I want to be nagged by microtransaction prompts, and I don’t think mobile gamers want to pay $70 for a challenging prestige story experience up front.