Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

medusas-oblongata t1_iqz1cpf wrote

it's pretty easy to explain... the hardware duopoly is ending and they need to own more content if they want to continue making money on gaming

28

Doggleganger t1_iqz68bz wrote

Why is the hardware duopoly ending?

12

Dornith t1_ir0lana wrote

Since when did we have a duopoly?

I know Nintendo and PC aren't strictly seen as competing with XBox or PS, but realistically they are very comparable. At least enough that fans of Microsoft and Sony could switch to a different system entirely if they had reason to.

7

sykot1c t1_iqzb7pr wrote

Steamdeck is a pretty huge improvement in the hardware sphere for gaming, it's paving the way for Linux to become a reliable OS for average users for gaming, when historically it hasn't been.

1

Doggleganger t1_iqzf6lf wrote

That would be nice, but I'm not sure I'm ready to declare the duopoly over because of the steamdeck.

18

epic_null t1_iqzctfd wrote

Steam OS may be a contributor, but so is Steam taking over the DRM mess and convincing developers to use wine-compatible DRM systems while also conveniently rolling out Steam Play (Wine, but with some additional setup).

Seriously, the ability to launch a wine-based game straight from my normal launcher is a GAME CHANGER.

10

sykot1c t1_iqzrsmv wrote

Yeah, honestly the only thing keeping me from dropping windows all together is lackluster support for gaming on the current Linux distros.

I'm hoping the steam deck helps drive that support. Guess we'll see!

3

epic_null t1_ir0rkgk wrote

As long as Steam pushes to use primarily libraries that other distros can get (meaning avoiding proprietary packages), I'm good with that.

Those who have never used linux are always worried about which distro to support (completely missing that usually supporting any means the community can usually port really easily)

3

Veilmurder t1_ir0fhpp wrote

Look the steamdeck is cool and all but it has sold 1M copies, its too soon to call the duopoly dead

10

medusas-oblongata t1_ir0ow53 wrote

take a look at what samsung is doing with their TVs.. they keep putting smarter and smarter chips in them.

in 5 years, consoles will have gone the way of the Cable TV set top box. they're just not necessary anymore.

0

[deleted] t1_iqz5ach wrote

Yep, this is it. Only explanation you need.

0

leopard_tights t1_ir00erd wrote

lol if anything game pass will eventually be so good that buying a PlayStation won't make sense anymore. This is Microsoft's end goal, they're bleeding money with it to get rid of Sony. Next gen the Xbox will be the popular console, and the next one there won't be a PS7. Add to this that Microsoft has the engineering to add all the old catalogues.

This is something Sony simply can't compete against.

−7

timtot23 t1_ir0klie wrote

What evidence do you have that they are bleeding money? Xbox division revenue has been extremely high, but I can't find any sources that show net income. I'm not sure your assumption they are bleeding money is accurate. Do you have data to back that up? Curious...

0