The Console Wars are BACK

- For the last couple of years, there's been a pretty clear story in gaming. Xbox was putting their games on PlayStation, Sony's bringing exclusives to the PC, and Valve is building tech that could run Windows games on basically anything. You could play "Fortnite" on your iPad against someone on a $5,000 gaming PC, and the future seemed wide open. Play what you want, where you want, with whatever hardware you've got. Except that the future, well, it's just a little too good to be true. In the last couple of weeks, almost all this has been thrown into question. Bloomberg reported that Sony are canceling PC ports. Xbox has a new CEO who's rethinking their strategy. With all of this, is Steam becoming too powerful? This next console war is about to look very, very different. I gotta say, when I read the report from Bloomberg that Sony are pulling out of their major single-player releases on PC, it was a pretty big surprise. This has been a huge, huge point of focus for them over the last few years. "Ghost of Yotei" and "Saros," PS5 exclusives, even though supposedly "Ghost of Yotei" was pretty much complete. "Wolverine," "God of War, "Ratchet & Clank," I mean, if this report is correct, they're all staying on PlayStation. This would be a big shift. I mean, just a couple of years ago, Sony was publicly talking about putting a huge chunk of their games on PC by 2025. They purchased Nixxes, a studio they tasked with specifically porting PlayStation games to the PC. This helped give us "God of War," "Spider-Man" "Horizon," "The Last of Us," "Returnal." I mean, it felt like PlayStation on PC was really becoming a thing. So why stop now? Well, the surface-level answer is that the PC ports weren't selling as well as Sony had hoped. "Spider-Man 2" drew fewer concurrent players on Steam than their first game. And considering that these games launched on PlayStation months, even years before the PC, it definitely hurt the hype. Well, at least that's what Sony would probably tell you. And it is true, but I think there's a much bigger reason that they don't want to admit. At GDC, Microsoft unveiled Project Helix, their next-generation Xbox. And there are a lot of good details here. We know that it will be compatible with earlier Xbox games. It will be a significant step forward on the performance side, thanks to their collaboration with AMD. They're talking about an order of magnitude better ray tracing performance. But I think the real selling point here is the fact that the Xbox is a PC. It is a Windows platform that also has the Xbox mode on top. So you should have a console-like interface, but importantly, the ability to play not only games from your Xbox library, but also from third-party stores, such as Steam. I think that is the real key here, because the next generation of Xbox I think is truly going to kick off the console war yet again. The problem is, I think this one is going to look a whole lot different. All right, so don't freak out or anything, but your personal information is everywhere online. I'm talking home address, phone number, email, family members. I mean, it's all just sitting there on data broker sites for literally anyone to look up. That's where the sponsor of this video, Incogni, comes in. Basically, they track down and remove your personal data from hundreds of these data broker sites. You set it up once, authorize them to work on your behalf, and they handle the rest. And because this stuff can pop back up, they keep removing it every time they find your information. Now, if you want a more targeted approach, the unlimited plan is for you. You can send them a specific link and the custom removals feature will work to get it taken down. 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Any one of these individual problems on its own probably wasn't enough to make them change course, but with their games losing steam, the extra PC revenue just wasn't worth it anymore. (mouse clicking) (tomato splatting) And if you think exclusive games don't really keep people locked in, just look at Nintendo. The Switch is one of the most popular consoles of all time, and the Switch 2 is already looking incredibly successful. Let's be honest, it's probably not because of the hardware, but rather the massive exclusive franchises. I mean, you've got to lock yourself into the Switch. I don't think we're gonna see Nintendo dropping "Mario Odyssey" on Steam (laughing) anytime soon. Now, there is an important caveat to all of this. Sony isn't pulling everything back behind the wall. Multiplayer and live service games like "Marathon" do seem like they're still launching on multiple platforms. Makes sense, these games need massive player counts to survive. You just cannot make them exclusive. But for the single-player stuff, the system sellers really, these seem like the kind of games that Sony's decided are just too valuable to share. I think something we should be clear about is that while Project Helix is currently official, the strategy is very likely being reconsidered now that Phil Spencer's out. That plan to make a console that's essentially a PC was probably locked in years ago. The idea of giving away their exclusives, that's something a little bit more inside their control. In the era of, "Everything is an Xbox," their stance that console exclusives are antiquated made some sense. But now that they have a new CEO, Asha Sharma, the message has changed. The return of Xbox. And we've already started to see it. A lot of the old, "Everything is an Xbox," marketing has been scrubbed off the internet, which I think is a smart move. It detracted from what an Xbox actually stood for. Not a toaster, I'll tell you that. (toaster rattling) As for exclusives, when asked directly by Windows Central, Asha Sharma said something that I think is telling, "The plan is the plan until it's not the plan," which sounds an awful lot like some serious corporate speak, but in reality it does mean that their options are wide open. And I think that that's the right move. To be clear, nothing's officially changed yet. "Fable," "Forza Horizon 6," "Halo," and "Gears" are all still coming to the PlayStation, as far as I know. On one hand, Microsoft is pushing Xbox mode to all Windows PCs starting in April. They're turning Xbox into a platform that lives everywhere Windows does. I mean, it's the most open version of Xbox imaginable. It's a pretty big deal. But Project Helix is actually the key here. I think they figured out that if you've built an open console, you need a reason for people to actually buy it, especially if it turns out to be as expensive as it's been rumored. And so unless Project Helix is so obviously revolutionary that it takes a ton of gaming PC market share, the obvious answer unfortunately might just be bringing back exclusive games. - [Alex] Boo. - So in a world where Sony is pulling back on the PC and Xbox is becoming a PC, the elephant in the room really is Steam. Now, look, I'm probably not alone here in having a lot of warm feelings toward Valve. We just did a whole video about how they're quietly building a real alternative to Windows, between SteamOS, Proton and FEX, they've basically made it possible to play Windows games on pretty much anything. It's honestly incredible. But Valve's success has created a problem that feels like the undertone for this next console war. Look, Steam basically has a monopoly on PC games, and Valve take up to 30% of every single sale on the platform. That is a lot of money that publishers and developers are losing out on. And that 30%, I mean, it makes sense for a console. I mean, as a developer, you give up a chunk of money to Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft, and in exchange, they build an entire console platform that's relatively affordable. While Steam does offer a platform, it's not really the same thing. You're really paying that 30% to Steam because PC gaming is synonymous with Steam. You're paying to get access to users, not really for the tech or the platform. If you're Sony, putting games on Steam means you're putting your PlayStation titles on an Xbox, on a Steam Deck, on a Steam Machine. These are all devices that are direct competitors to PlayStation. They're not just releasing games on PC, they're losing control over where people are playing their titles to begin with. The context behind all this is that gaming actually isn't in a great space right now. Matthew Ball recently released his excellent "State of Gaming" breakdown, and there's some concerning numbers in there. The PC is doing fairly well, but while revenue is up, that growth is almost entirely from them squeezing more money out of the existing players. The share of American gamers is actually lower today compared to before the pandemic, which is kind of wild. I mean, there's a lot of reasons for this, games are getting more expensive, but ultimately it really feels like there are plenty of other places to get your entertainment. Like the Austin Evans channel. That's really it. I don't make the rules, but I am a direct competitor to the Xbox now. But it's more than just economics, I think gaming has really split into two. You've got single-player games like "Zelda" and "God of War," these are the system sellers. Then you've got multiplayer and live service games like "Fortnite" and "Call of Duty." These are the games that just need to be everywhere. They stay open because they have to be. So what does the next generation actually look like? To me, we're looking at three very different visions. Nintendo is gonna keep doing what they've always done. And honestly, good for them, right? They don't need to go chase specs or multi-platform. It's clearly working. Sony seemed to be doubling down on the traditional console model. Keep the big exclusives locked to PlayStation, make the hardware as compelling as possible, and let the games sell the box. It's worked for them for 30 years. I think pulling back from the PC is a sign that they're recommitting to that classic playbook. Microsoft is doing something genuinely different. Project Helix is likely going to be a premium device. They're betting that by making the most powerful hardware that can also play your entire PC library, they can carve out a space that's part console and part gaming PC. Now, whether that works, probably depends on what happens below it in the lineup. A Series S successor or maybe partners like Asus filling in the gaps at lower price points. But the wild card in all of this is still Valve. Because here's the thing, Sony pulling back from the PC doesn't hurt Valve much at all. Now, sure they lose some high-profile ports, but Steam's dominance is not built on PlayStation games, it's built on being the place where everything lives. With the next Xbox supporting Steam directly, Valve are at the very least in a stronger position out of all this, and in some ways, they're becoming the real competition for PlayStation. I've had conversations with companies who seem to treat working with Valve as generally pretty good, but there's also this sort of wariness about just how much control they have. For now, nobody has a better alternative, and honestly, Steam is a pretty good platform for gamers. But as Valve continues to expand, you know, SteamOS on third-party handhelds, like the Legion Go, the Steam Machine as a true console competitor, and especially if tech like FEX eventually brings Steam games to phones, should one company really have that much control? Put it all together, and I really think we're seeing the return of a very different console war. And I get it, that it sounds frustrating. You know, we had a few years where everyone could play pretty much any game wherever they wanted, but at the end of the day, the companies are beholden to the shareholders. Well, except Valve. But GabeN's gotta fund his yacht somehow. I really think that this is an important moment for gaming. What Sony, Xbox and Valve do next is going to define not just the next generation, but probably the next decade. And we are gonna be covering all of it. So make sure to subscribe to the channel and ring-a-ling that ding-a-ling if you want more. We also recently covered the issues that Sony had with the PS6, as well as whether or not the Steam Deck is still really worth it in 2026. Strap in, my friends, it's gonna be a wild ride. (transition beeping) that can also play your entire PC library. PC library. The PC library. (upbeat music)