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The next generation of consoles is almost here.
Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and lower-priced S Series hit the market on November 10 (two days before their competition, Sony’s PlayStation 5 debuts), and the hardware giant is taking a very different approach to this new one. hardware round than in past generations. Microsoft has been touting the impressive specs and performance of the X Series, but there are also its exclusive services, specifically Xbox Game Pass, which allows more flexibility in Xbox games than ever before.
Xbox Game Pass, which originally launched in 2017, has become an integral part of Microsoft’s gaming ecosystem. For $ 10 / month, subscribers get access to over 100 games on their Xbox or PC consoles. For $ 15 / month, Game Pass Ultimate offers an upgraded version – subscribers can access all of those games on their Xbox consoles, PC, and recently their Android devices via xCloud, and they can collect and play on their save files. on any of those devices. A subscriber not even need An Xbox Series X (or any Xbox) to take advantage of Microsoft’s great subscription game, a strategy that may seem counterintuitive as you prepare to introduce your new hardware.
Yet despite the flexibility, Microsoft still views console games as its signature experience, says Liz Hamren, director of hardware and platform engineering. Variety. It’s just about taking that to other places.
“We continue to see the console as our flagship experience, [and] the living room as the best and most immersive place to play, ”he says. “I think the idea is that we have developed this ability to deliver incredible, immersive gaming experiences to people in their living room with dedicated hardware, and we want to take that elsewhere, and we want to bring that Xbox experience to the core of the game. Xbox experience, elsewhere. “
Part of that strategy, he says, is the Xbox Series S, a smaller, paired version of the next-gen console that doesn’t include a disk drive and costs $ 300. And for the past three years, it’s been included in big, too. Game Pass measure.
Hamren says that Microsoft’s priorities haven’t changed since the introduction of Game Pass and xCloud. As she puts it, the company has “become more and more player-centric rather than device-centric, and thinking about how we deliver games to gamers wherever they play.”
And it’s not like the company is rolling out to the next generation on November 10 and leaving its old consoles and games behind. On the contrary, Hamren emphasizes that the backward compatibility offered by the X Series, which allows users to play their previous games with next-gen graphics, was something in particular that fans had asked for.
In a blog post in July, Xbox Director Phil Spencer noted that gamers “will not be forced to move on to the next generation,” especially as Xbox Game Studios titles in the next few years will be available on both Xbox One as in Series X.
“We really think of it more as an entire Xbox ecosystem, not just a difficult transition from one generation to the next,” says Hamren. “We have seen a great demand for next generation consoles. That said, people will update when it’s ready. “
As it embarks on the next generation (and as games have become more and more common), Hamren says that Xbox focuses on three things: “performance, games and your community.”
“I think we keep looking at what matters to our players, and that is performance, games and playing with their friends,” he says. “As we continue to make investments … we always keep that in mind.”
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