7 ms·

> Microsoft probably wants to make more from the hardware itself(ala Android devices). This is pretty much the opposite of their stated strategy, which is to m

> Microsoft probably wants to make more from the hardware itself(ala Android devices). This is pretty much the opposite of their stated strategy, which is to make money off services like Game Pass by ensuring that the consoles are accessible and all of their first-party games work across multiple generations / levels of consoles [0]. The PS5 was reportedly "considerably" more expensive before xbox announced their price [1], and Sony has been clear that game prices will go up for next gen and they're not focusing on cross-generation compatibility, so I do believe you're right that Sony at least expects to get it back on the games. [0]: https://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-vs-playstation-microsoft-strategy-2020-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-vs-playstation-microsof... [1]: https://bgr.com/2020/09/11/ps5-price-and-release-date-vs-xbox-series-x-s/ https://bgr.com/2020/09/11/ps5-price-and-release-date-vs-xbo...

Red_Leaves_Flyy 6y ago
Microsoft shot themselves in the foot by announcing pricing first if true. Not that I'm complaining. $300/500 and monthly options to boot is very consumer friendly. The hype over the proprietary memory card is overblown. I'm sure either Microsoft will release a compatible adapter that takes any m2 drive and or a Chinese factory will make them and sell them on Amazon.
- nsriv 6y ago
  The proprietary memory card is going to be necessary for storing/accessing new titles designed to make use of their Velocity Architecture, any old external will do for games Xbox One or back-compatible games.
  - stirlo 6y ago
    Not sure why they didn't enable storage tiering for regular external HDDs. It would be far faster to move a game from external HDD back to the Velocity SSD before playing than to download the entire game again from the internet. Feels like a money grab tbh.
    - chrisfosterelli 6y ago
      > Not sure why they didn't enable storage tiering for regular external HDDs. They did: "A USB 3.1 drive can also carry Xbox Series games as storage, which can be transferred to Series X or S's internal SSD or Storage Expansion Card to then be played." https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-series-ssd-expansion-card-size-speed-price-6300#section-1 https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-series-ssd-expansion...
  - kumarharsh 6y ago
    That's not entirely correct. You can use any regular old SSD: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-games-on-an-external-hard-drive-will-be-playable-straight-away-on-the-xbox-series-x-s/1100-6482760/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-games-on-an-external-...
- freeone3000 6y ago
  It's also got a 1TB internal drive, with the memory card being *optional.
- vbernat 6y ago
  Sony had user-replaceable hard disk since PS3. Microsoft never proposed this. I don't think it will change with this generation.
  - anon73044 6y ago
    Even the PS2's optional hard drive bay!
    - stas2k 6y ago
      PS2 was soft-locked to Sony supplied drives. Nowadays that bay is very useful for booting games off any HDD. SATA is also supported by using a IDE->SATA board.
      - byte1918 6y ago
        PS5 drives must also be pre-approved by Sony, supposedly due to strict hardware requirements, like 5.5GB/s[1] sustained bandwidth. I personally think it's silly, sure, bigger numbers mean better performance but I would be surprised if most games wouldn't work perfectly fine with a nowadays average SSD. [1] https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/which-ssd-drives-will-be-compatible-with-ps5 https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/which-ssd-drives-will-be-c...
        xbmcuser 6y ago
        Ah no ps5 and xbox both have been designed for fast loading of game textures. Even the new nvidia and amd cards support the same so current games might be okay with slower drives but texture loading has been a bottleneck for 4k gaming which this solves.
  - kingbirdy 6y ago
    FWIW you could put in a new HDD in an original Xbox, and put a 2.5" HDD in the 360 hard drive enclosure, but neither were officially supported.
- cheschire 6y ago
  During the last gen consoles, Sony folks have said on camera how they were quietly cheering when MS announced a price point way above what the PS4 was targeted at. Maybe Sony expected MS to aim higher again, and this time it was MS who undercut.
egsmi 6y ago
> This is pretty much the opposite of their stated strategy, which is to make money off services I’m sure their internal strategy is to make money on the hardware, software and services. Basically everything. As Apple has shown, it’s not necessarily the worst plan.
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  Yes, and also say that you're not making money on any part that people complain about being expensive. Salesmanship!
- emodendroket 6y ago
  If that were really their strategy then they've got a strange way of pursuing it.

Red_Leaves_Flyy 6y ago

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot by announcing pricing first if true. Not that I'm complaining. $300/500 and monthly options to boot is very consumer friendly. The hype over the proprietary memory card is overblown. I'm sure either Microsoft will release a compatible adapter that takes any m2 drive and or a Chinese factory will make them and sell them on Amazon.

nsriv 6y ago
The proprietary memory card is going to be necessary for storing/accessing new titles designed to make use of their Velocity Architecture, any old external will do for games Xbox One or back-compatible games.
- stirlo 6y ago
  Not sure why they didn't enable storage tiering for regular external HDDs. It would be far faster to move a game from external HDD back to the Velocity SSD before playing than to download the entire game again from the internet. Feels like a money grab tbh.
  - chrisfosterelli 6y ago
    > Not sure why they didn't enable storage tiering for regular external HDDs. They did: "A USB 3.1 drive can also carry Xbox Series games as storage, which can be transferred to Series X or S's internal SSD or Storage Expansion Card to then be played." https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-series-ssd-expansion-card-size-speed-price-6300#section-1 https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-series-ssd-expansion...
- kumarharsh 6y ago
  That's not entirely correct. You can use any regular old SSD: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-games-on-an-external-hard-drive-will-be-playable-straight-away-on-the-xbox-series-x-s/1100-6482760/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-games-on-an-external-...
freeone3000 6y ago
It's also got a 1TB internal drive, with the memory card being *optional.
vbernat 6y ago
Sony had user-replaceable hard disk since PS3. Microsoft never proposed this. I don't think it will change with this generation.
- anon73044 6y ago
  Even the PS2's optional hard drive bay!
  - stas2k 6y ago
    PS2 was soft-locked to Sony supplied drives. Nowadays that bay is very useful for booting games off any HDD. SATA is also supported by using a IDE->SATA board.
    - byte1918 6y ago
      PS5 drives must also be pre-approved by Sony, supposedly due to strict hardware requirements, like 5.5GB/s[1] sustained bandwidth. I personally think it's silly, sure, bigger numbers mean better performance but I would be surprised if most games wouldn't work perfectly fine with a nowadays average SSD. [1] https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/which-ssd-drives-will-be-compatible-with-ps5 https://www.pushsquare.com/guides/which-ssd-drives-will-be-c...
      - xbmcuser 6y ago
        Ah no ps5 and xbox both have been designed for fast loading of game textures. Even the new nvidia and amd cards support the same so current games might be okay with slower drives but texture loading has been a bottleneck for 4k gaming which this solves.
- kingbirdy 6y ago
  FWIW you could put in a new HDD in an original Xbox, and put a 2.5" HDD in the 360 hard drive enclosure, but neither were officially supported.
cheschire 6y ago
During the last gen consoles, Sony folks have said on camera how they were quietly cheering when MS announced a price point way above what the PS4 was targeted at. Maybe Sony expected MS to aim higher again, and this time it was MS who undercut.

egsmi 6y ago

> This is pretty much the opposite of their stated strategy, which is to make money off services I’m sure their internal strategy is to make money on the hardware, software and services. Basically everything. As Apple has shown, it’s not necessarily the worst plan.

jjoonathan 6y ago
Yes, and also say that you're not making money on any part that people complain about being expensive. Salesmanship!
emodendroket 6y ago
If that were really their strategy then they've got a strange way of pursuing it.