Intel Looking to Grab Microsoft Xbox Semi-custom SoC Business from AMD

[nguyen]

Game Pass is their strategy. They don’t CARE how you get into their ecosystem and on what devices, just that you DO. They have no intentions of trying to beat Sony in a console war. It’s pointless. The mind share is too strong, people snatched up PS5s even when it had f**k all to play on it. But winning the subscription service for games market before it’s even fully formed? Now that is something they want. And arguing profitability is kinda pointless seeing how for MS the XBox division is something where they can play the long game and subsidize it via their different ventures. Sony is a completely washed up company, on the other hand, with their gaming division being almost the one thing keeping them afloat. That, and camera sensors. Even the strategy you mentioned with PC releases seems to be out of necessity, not anything else. And seeing how it’s accelerating (new Horizon is already coming to PC quite quickly) it seems that the increased budgets are forcing their hand.

Microsoft isn’t perfect by any means, the fact that they looked at getting BG3 on the Pass and decided against it, while valuing it only at 5 million as a “niche Stadia exclusive” shows that they are often quite blind to opportunities.

Sony is worth 120bil usd, barely twice the amount MS paid for Activision , yet Sony still won.

I would love to see MS lose some more too, GamePass is killing the fun out of games...

 

[Redwoodz]

Obviously this makes no sense in the near term. If Intel were to finally have a the world's most advanced processess like they used to, then yeah. They'd have to stop buying wafers from TSMC first. Also, TSMC will be producing wafers in the US by then too.

 

[Onasi]

@Imouto
*shrug* I am not saying that they will be successful. I have no skin in the game, never was a console gamer and I dislike subscriptions, so for me it’s all the same, really. I am just relaying what their strategy is, probably. I agree that at some point the idea of stringing along the unprofitable XBox division might become too unappealing and they will just throw their hands up and leave. I don’t THINK they will since they also probably see the gaming side as useful on Windows to push OTHER MS products too, but who even knows at this point.

Sony is worth 120bil usd, barely twice the amount MS paid for Activision , yet Sony still won.

Sony has been a one-eyed man in a blind kingdom since PS1. Winning is sorta a foregone conclusion when one of your opponents is content doing its own thing (Nintendo) and the other has been floundering and from the start failed to secure a foothold in an important at the time market (Microsoft). The only time they messed up badly was the first half of the PS3 generation when the outrageous price and hard to develop for architecture really slowed down the consoles adoption.

 

[Geofrancis]

The main advantage to intel would be to get devs working on their hardware. How much driver and software advances have AMD been able to make with the consoles leading the charge. if there was one console AMD one INTEL nvidias numbers for graphics wouldnt be that great as they would firmly be in third place when it comes to the pure number of graphics chips out there. but nvidia wont care because they have AI now.

 

[Assimilator]

They can put all the mid games they want on Game Pass and players will still play Baldur's Gate 3 for months wondering why they are paying for a subscription.

Microsoft doesn't care if you don't think Game Pass is good value or not, they only care if you stop paying for it. And the subscription model has proved amazing at user retention, regardless of the actual value delivered - because of the customers who look at their sub and go "y'know, this isn't really worth it", the vast majority then go "but it's only a few bucks a month and if I ever want it again I have to set it up again, and that's too much effort, so I'll leave it alone".

That's why this model is the holy grail of any company: it provides a reliable, predictable income stream that requires very little additional investment. As long as you don't mess with the fundamentals of that model, you can spend all of your R&D on capturing more of the market. This is where MS succeeds and Sony fails, because MS has the massive value add of being multi-platform.

As for Baldur's Gate 3, sure that was a miss... but do you know what wasn't? Palworld. And while I'm sure you'll turn your nose up at that game because it's for casuals, that's the reason it's successful and the absolute best way for MS to grow subscriptions is to get more casual gamers onto Game Pass - and they are extremely aware of this.

MS has had a lot of misses during its existence, but Game Pass is absolutely not one of them. It may not yet be a roaring success in terms of making money, but given the traditional resistance to games as a service, I'd argue it's doing quite well for itself in terms of attracting and - most importantly - keeping users. And while it's never going to be the next Azure even if it reaches profitability, I would not be at all surprised if it ends up one of the dominant models for games consumption, perhaps even competing with Steam.

 

[kapone32]

All American made chip? But their GPUs even integrated ones are made by TSMC. So it does not make sense to me. And while I think there are merits to Intel’s solution, I don’t think their software is good enough at this point. The performance is all over the place and may be a nightmare for game developers to work with.

I guess Texas is not a part of the US. So quickly we forget that AMD is already an American company.

 

[Onasi]

And while it's never going to be the next Azure even if it reaches profitability, I would not be at all surprised if it ends up one of the dominant models for games consumption, perhaps even competing with Steam.

That’s a good bet, honestly. Not like there is much competition. GOG is barely limping along, the publisher-made launchers and storefronts are dying out. And Epic? Epic will inevitably run out of Fortnite cash to keep EGS afloat. That model is unsustainable for them.

 

[kapone32]

Sony is worth 120bil usd, barely twice the amount MS paid for Activision , yet Sony still won.

I would love to see MS lose some more too, GamePass is killing the fun out of games...

Only us in the social space actually care about those things. MS is one of the richest Companies on Earth period. Gamepass is not killing the fun. They are killing the financial incentive to make Games. The fact that I have never seen the same Game on Humble Choice speaks volumes and I have been on that since 2017. Now they own some of the biggest studios and want to act like Disney without the humanistic lean. How many developers have already lost their jobs from the studios they have bought?

 

[tomc100]

Stand alone consoles are slowly being replaced by cloud gaming. New Samsung TVs have cloud gaming already built in where you can play the latest games without any consoles. MS knows this and are pushing it. Soon you'll be playing video games on the cloud and played on the latest pc gaming system without needing to buy the latest cpu/gpu. This will become reality when everyone moves to 5G.

 

[R0H1T]

That's why this model is the holy grail of any company

The real holy grail I'd argue is being the house ~ as the house always wins!

Spoiler

Look at those insane margins, especially Google

 

[AnotherReader]

Only us in the social space actually care about those things. MS is one of the richest Companies on Earth period. Gamepass is not killing the fun. They are killing the financial incentive to make Games. The fact that I have never seen the same Game on Humble Choice speaks volumes and I have been on that since 2017. Now they own some of the biggest studios and want to act like Disney without the humanistic lean. How many developers have already lost their jobs from the studios they have bought?

Perhaps they are looking to emulate Disney which is the epitome of corporate scumbags in the entertainment world.

 

[Imouto]

Microsoft doesn't care if you don't think Game Pass is good value or not, they only care if you stop paying for it. And the subscription model has proved amazing at user retention, regardless of the actual value delivered - because of the customers who look at their sub and go "y'know, this isn't really worth it", the vast majority then go "but it's only a few bucks a month and if I ever want it again I have to set it up again, and that's too much effort, so I'll leave it alone".

That's why this model is the holy grail of any company: it provides a reliable, predictable income stream that requires very little additional investment. As long as you don't mess with the fundamentals of that model, you can spend all of your R&D on capturing more of the market. This is where MS succeeds and Sony fails, because MS has the massive value add of being multi-platform.

I agree that it's the holy grail for a company and at the same time I think it's a terrible match for video-games and the stagnation for all the companies involved prove it. They'd have to spin it real hard and get literally the whole industry into it to make it work. This time they are not taking the industry by storm because it isn't what the users or the industry are looking for.

As for Baldur's Gate 3, sure that was a miss... but do you know what wasn't? Palworld. And while I'm sure you'll turn your nose up at that game because it's for casuals, that's the reason it's successful and the absolute best way for MS to grow subscriptions is to get more casual gamers onto Game Pass - and they are extremely aware of this.

I didn't mean it as something they let escape. I mean it as an absolute banger not being in a subscription like many others "must play" that keeps you occupied for months. As for Palworld, the vast majority is playing it on Steam so I don't think it's the win some people make it to be. It's hilarious to see how MS failed yet again against Steam because their console is incompatible with an Early Access game.

MS has had a lot of misses during its existence, but Game Pass is absolutely not one of them. It may not yet be a roaring success in terms of making money, but given the traditional resistance to games as a service, I'd argue it's doing quite well for itself in terms of attracting and - most importantly - keeping users. And while it's never going to be the next Azure even if it reaches profitability, I would not be at all surprised if it ends up one of the dominant models for games consumption, perhaps even competing with Steam.

Game Pass isn't a miss. It's just not the win they thought it would be. It doesn't sell consoles. It doesn't attract users. Given the recent history of developing half baked turds people is thinking that it's GP's fault. "They got Microsoft's money and released a turd because they were paid anyway" is the usual reasoning. Subscriptions stagnated to a standstill in return with Xbox's "content and services" growing a pathetic 0.7%.

 

[MarsM4N]

Makes total sense since Intel has super efficient CPU's & performance dominating GPU's /APU's (not lol). It would be a miracle if they could pull something AMD competitive out of the hat in the foreseeable future. If you said Nvidia, now that would be a theory I could believe. Not Intel.

In other news: Microsoft will most likely become a 3rd party publisher, making their exclusive titles available on all other platforms.

Would be great if they come together to make a one-for-all console with a custom OS for each party. Straight, simple & cost effective. Since they both switched to the x86 architecture it doesn't make any difference anyways, they are nothing more than a mini PC with a xBox & Playstation sticker. A unified controller & some custom controller for those who want the "legacy" feel. Done. Would also cut down the R&D and production costs.

 

[Double-Click]

^ I like it, but never gonna happen. Sony will balk at that idea until the end of time.

 

[mechtech]

“All American”. Even the money from the tax payers chips act.

I’m guessing AMD could get close to All American by using GloFo in New York.

still have to see if MS CEO gives green light once $ estimates provided.

 

[Minus Infinity]

I guess Texas is not a part of the US.

But that would be a great step forward for the US.

 

[kapone32]

But that would be a great step forward for the US.

I see you like me are someone who has read the History of Texas.

 

[TechLurker]

Eh, more likely would be AMD having Intel produce some Console-bound chips at Intel fabs, if for whatever reason Samsung and TSMC cannot. But having either console company switch seems like a very long shot. Especially since both MS and Sony have partnered with AMD for awhile and AMD's semi-custom solutions has been AMD's strong point, able to build and pair a chip for their clients (even moreso now that they have Xilinx IP, and plan to get into networking too).

 

[ThrashZone]

But that would be a great step forward for the US.

Hi,
As long as you have your electric car it is

This is just what MS needs to raise prices for those voodoo core devises, steam will enjoy it to

 

[dogwitch]

ah yes garbage reporting.
and mlid....

 

[Lycanwolfen]

Still rocking my 2006 PS3 with a 1 TB SSD with that awesome but hard to program cell processor and Nvidia Reality Engine. I also Have a PS4 Pro and looking now at a PS5 soon. But All things aside the PS3 was a powerhouse in terms of performance. But the problem was it was very hard to program. Programmers got lazy and wanted simple programming languages. But Some ppl learned how to program that PS3 and some games even on PS3 look better than the newer ones on Ps4. Even today some games like say God of War 2 on the PS2 and seeing that gameplay being soo smooth it's amazing that it's 23 years old and still look like a newer game today.