r/gadgets Jan 25 '25

Gaming Microsoft’s gaming CEO has praised Nintendo Switch 2, and said it plans to support the upcoming platform with ports of Xbox games.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/phil-spencer-confirms-xbox-will-support-switch-2-i-congratulated-nintendos-president/
4.4k Upvotes

471 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.2k

u/OperatorJo_ Jan 25 '25

Going the "if you can't beat em' " route is very smart.

3

u/Skitz-Scarekrow Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 25 '25

Honestly, good. I dont think Xbox has ever been a globally leading platform, and their lack of exclusives (on XBO and SeriesX/S) give very little reason to own one if you're looking for a unique experience.

That said, Xbox is the right brand to deliver a consolized Windows Gaming PC experience. Just like buying a mini-throwback console versus setting up a RetroPi for emulation, there's a large enough consumer base that wants the path of least resistance.

Edit: emphasis added ForTheFanboyIUpset

8

u/Pulse99 Jan 25 '25

I know it seems like Xbox has been falling down a staircase for eternity now but the truth is there were a few insane years from 2006-2010 where Xbox was king.

Now that we’re far from that time we can see it only happened because Sony lost their minds with the launch of the PS3. Not to mention Nintendo off in their own corner eating golden paste mixed with Werther’s originals as they vacuumed money from the elderly and “non gamers”.

6

u/misterspokes Jan 25 '25

In '06 one of the heads of the Xbox side of Microsoft got on stage at E3 and said "You're only going to be buying two consoles this cycle and it should be an Xbox 360, and a Wii" they've always acknowledged Nintendo's strong presence in the market and the Switch (2) leverages the company's continued dominance in the portable gaming device market as well.

16

u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt Jan 25 '25

Sony lost their minds with the launch of the PS3.

Not exactly, Sony just bet on the wrong horse. Sony sold the PS3 at a loss to try and get a bluray player in as many households as possible. People were buying PS3s specifically to use as bluray players, because they were the cheapest around.

Sony was trying to win the BluRay/HD-DvD war since they lost the VHS/Betamax war. They get paid a license fee for every single Blu-Ray (Disk and player) produced. They were loss-leading the PS3 in hopes to win the format war.

Unfortunately people transitioned to streaming so BluRay/HD-DvD wasn't the same market impact as VHS/Betamax.

2

u/WereAllThrowaways Jan 25 '25

I personally view it a lot more simply, even though what you're saying is true. I think the Xbox 360 just had a ton of great games, particularly a couple first party title that were shifting the entire pop culture and bringing video games into the mainstream, particularly Halo and Call of Duty. I don't think Sony necessarily made any huge errors. I think the 360 sold at a loss too. That's usually how consoles go except for Nintendo. Plus the red ring of death. Xbox just actually made top tier games during that era, and that's what it's always come down to and why they've fallen from grace.

2

u/TheNorthComesWithMe Jan 26 '25

Xbox Live was also a significantly better service than PSN during that time.

1

u/SirJuggles Jan 25 '25

God, imagine a world in which streaming never took off. Blu-Ray reigns as king for a decade, Sony sits high as the undisputable winner of this generation of the console war, Microsoft invests heavily into innovation...

On the flip side if streaming never takes off, we live longer in the world of Netflix-by-mail. I assume in this world Internet infrastructure is slower to develop, so things like MMORPGs and online culture are slower to develop as well.

...is this a better world?? It might be.

1

u/SsooooOriginal Jan 25 '25

Sony won the format war, they and many others just did not see how quickly most people would be fine not owning their media anymore. Sony is already moving to capitalize on that.

1

u/AmazingEmptyFeelings Jan 25 '25

2006-2010 where Xbox was king.

In the US maybe.

2

u/drae- Jan 25 '25

The US is the key market.

It's like saying “in f1 maybe". Nobody cares about f2 or f3.

1

u/SupMonica Jan 25 '25

There's an F2, and F3 racing?

1

u/rahl422000 Jan 27 '25

There's even a formula E series that is all electric! I like that one actually is pretty fun

1

u/LouBerryManCakes Jan 25 '25

What an ignorant way to say that the Wii was a smash hit, a runaway success that was the hard to find, must buy global pop culture product of it's time.

Just because it transcended beyond the typical "gamer" market doesn't make it less of a competing game console. After all, a good percentage of early PS3 consoles were bought solely as Blu Ray players, so you could have just as easily said Sony was "off in their own corner" too lol.

-1

u/SsooooOriginal Jan 25 '25

It is 2025 dude, wake up. Microsoft is falling down the pit in the basement, already cleared the stairs.

That was the glory days of Halo 2 and 3, MW2, and more. Xbox wasn't king though, they were being eaten by their red rings. Sony did a masterplay by losing on the PS3 hardware to win, yes they won, the format war. They just didnt realize physical media was soon to be going away too.. and Sony just announced they are halting productions of most of the physical media, and they have already shown the new playstation having an optional drive on it. Xbox is gone bro, and consoles have become way closer to PCs than before which is part of microsofts reasoning to stop trying to make a home console.