Microsoft's hardware strategy looks more and more traditional | Opinion

gamesindustry.biz:

For all the interest piqued by the information accidentally revealed in Microsoft's FTC submissions this week, there's little in the way of surprising revelations in these documents.

In fact, if you'd been asked last week to predict Microsoft's hardware and software strategy over the coming years, pretty much the safest, most default answers would have lined up perfectly with the plans that emerge from the court filings.

We see, for example, an eight year life-cycle for the Xbox Series consoles with a fairly minor mid-cycle refresh due next year, and a pipeline for Bethesda's studios which has a handful of unknown titles but largely matches expectations in terms of sequels and remakes for the company's major franchises.

The only actual surprises, as such, are things that we knew about but thought the company had abandoned – such as its plans for a Game Pass console device in the $99 range (this was originally on the cards when Xbox Series X|S launched, but the idea was dropped, or at least pushed out into the long grass), or its ambition to buy Nintendo.

This latter is like some kind of memetic zombie that stalks the Xbox leadership from generation to generation. Perhaps Nintendo of America's headquarters being right next door to Microsoft's campus in Redmond makes this idea impossible to kill ("You know, I drove past the Nintendo building on the way in this morning, and I was thinking…"), but whatever the reason, the lunatic idea that the insanely cash-rich and successful Nintendo is a possible acquisition target for Microsoft – despite its shares still largely being owned by its founding family and current top executives – is one that is handed down from generation to generation of Xbox leadership. It's more