Gaming

I think this is a great move. For context, I have the Xbox consoles, but play mostly or almost exclusively on PC. I think more people can play the games, its better for the gamer and for the publisher too. Xbox has too many good franchises and games as to hold them hostage on their platform (besides PC). This is one of the best moves of Xbox in my opinion.

However, there is the other side of the coin. Because this means less incentive for gamers to buy a dedicated Xbox machine. Which first doesn't sound bad, because you are not forced into a hardware and eco system you may not want. The implication is, that the Xbox consoles will sell less and Playstation sell more. And its already a huge difference. Sony already show that they can do what they want, publish cheap remasters and sell expensive PS5 Pro and some other stuff I am not mentioning here. This will only get worse, the weaker its competition gets.

My hope is, that Valve will take its place of Xbox and Microsoft publishes for Valve consoles (based on PC technology and software of course). However this can take a decade maybe, we need to see if Valve is interested into a home console like system and what Xbox will do with their next generation. Nintendo is doing Nintendo stuff and Playstation, well we'll see too.