I think Xbox Lockhart is not happening

[Legend]

Xbox Series X and PS5 are too close to each other. People online don't know how anything works but most view it as a head to head battle. They expect both systems to be more or less interchangeable, like PS4 and XB1, and expect a similar price for both.

Where does lockhart fit if this was the case? Say both PS5 and XSX are $499 and lockhart is $349. Is there really a large market for it?

[the-pi-guy]

Series S just feels like it's in a weird place.

And it's also a really hard sell because
1.) MS has been focusing exclusively on X.  This will probably end up causing S to feel like a random last gen console on the shelf with $500 competitors.  

2.) If they do push it as a good honest next gen system, then there's still a big pricing issue.  Too close to series X and it'll feel like it's a worthless system.  Why pay $350, when the main console is just a little bit more?
Too far away, and it will just eat up Series X's market share.  

In a way that might make PS5 more appealing if the main Xbox console is so much weaker.

[kitler53]

it all comes down to pricing.   let's just assume ps5 launches at $500 as that seem likely.

If series x is priced at $600 then i think series s is going to be necessary or xbox will be dead on arrival.  But the series s needs to be $400 (or less).   this would put a lot of heat on playstation but also a fairly significant amount of next gen sales could be lockhart,.. a bad thing for me personally.

if series x is priced at $500 then i think series s is a very unnecessary distraction that will confuse their marketing message.  series x at $500 has a good chance to do better than ps5 anyways.

is series x is priced at $550 then i don't know.  series s still needs to be $400 or less.  at these prices lockhart is maybe a 50/50 benefit/hindrance to xbox.   



i hope lockhart isn't a thing.  it would be a shame for all of gen 9 to be dragged down but this low spec'd machine.

[Xevross]

It depends how well MS market this with devs and gamers. If Lockheart is made so that all it does is play games exactly the same as series X but just at 1080p instead of 4K then obviously its not going to hold back any development. It would be a shame if it did, but I think MS will have worked hard in this regard.

If MS market this well to consumers they could have the gen in the bag, no matter what Sony do. If both PS5 and Series X launch at $499 then PS5 will for sure sell the most out of those, but MS will have more sales and more production when including a, say, $299 or $349 Lockheart. We already know Sony plan to sell 2m less than PS4 in the first two quarters, I expect they're going to concede an early lead and perhaps a fairly big one if they don't reconsider, regardless of how well Lockheart is received. This is just from the fact that all production will be sold through especially for a cheap new gen console and MS has the means to produce way more with two different models. Then when Xbox is ahead and has the market share lead, plus way more exclusives than this gen since they bought all the new studios, they have the driving seat and probably won't look back.

On the other hand, if MS get the marketing wrong and/ or Lockheart does handicap xbox's next gen games then Sony could easily romp to victory again. If PS5 is cheaper than XSX then Sony have some power, but if they're the same price I think MS are fully in the driving seat and its their gen to win or lose. Launching two models at the start of a gen is either brilliant or a really bad idea, I don't see it falling anywhere in between.

From a gamer's perspective I really hope MS gets this right, Lockheart seems like the perfect second console to pick up to play xbox exclusive games like Forza, especially if it is more than $200 cheaper.

[Legend]

Speaking of that...

I’ve been saying for a year that CPU and SSD are key to next-gen consoles, not teraflops. Developers are saying the same thing. I’ve also been saying Lockhart won’t undermine next-gen games... https://t.co/4ydtLbQEwQ

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 23, 2020

This is not how modern games work.

GPUs have been slowly doing more and more things beyond graphics. GPUs can do physics, ai, world generation, etc. For example Horizon uses the GPU to place trees and grass as the player moves. It also uses the GPU to calculate wind with voxels.

Also framerate is a choice made by devs, not a result of hardware.

[Xevross]

Speaking of that...

I’ve been saying for a year that CPU and SSD are key to next-gen consoles, not teraflops. Developers are saying the same thing. I’ve also been saying Lockhart won’t undermine next-gen games... https://t.co/4ydtLbQEwQ

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 23, 2020

This is not how modern games work.

GPUs have been slowly doing more and more things beyond graphics. GPUs can do physics, ai, world generation, etc. For example Horizon uses the GPU to place trees and grass as the player moves. It also uses the GPU to calculate wind with voxels.

Also framerate is a choice made by devs, not a result of hardware.

Yep, I think Lockheart will require a different approach which is totally down to MS to have gotten right. Perhaps GPU is only doing so much in this gen because its the best part of hardware and now we have SSDs and good CPUs the reliance will drop.

I can see the vast majority of devs treating Lockheart as an after-thought. They'll design games for the similarly spec'd PS5 and XSX then just limit resolution/ frame rate and hope stuff runs fine for Lockheart. If we see most devs being lazy with it and games running badly then Lockheart owners will rightly be pissed. Its a very tough one for MS to manage but if they get it right they're onto a real winner, like I said before.

[Legend]

Yep, I think Lockheart will require a different approach which is totally down to MS to have gotten right. Perhaps GPU is only doing so much in this gen because its the best part of hardware and now we have SSDs and good CPUs the reliance will drop.

I can see the vast majority of devs treating Lockheart as an after-thought. They'll design games for the similarly spec'd PS5 and XSX then just limit resolution/ frame rate and hope stuff runs fine for Lockheart. If we see most devs being lazy with it and games running badly then Lockheart owners will rightly be pissed. Its a very tough one for MS to manage but if they get it right they're onto a real winner, like I said before.

It's all a balancing act so better CPUs might take off some of the load, but lots of things are great fits for GPUs. Will be interesting to see what methods become standard.

I think Lockhart needs to earn ports instead of Microsoft forcing them for all Series X games. Switch shows just how good ports can be on weaker hardware if the desire is there. The worst thing imo would be for Lockhart to sell poorly compared to PS5+XSX sales early on. If that happens, it could create a feedback loop of poor ports and poor sales.

[BananaKing]

If there is no guarantee of all series X games coming to Lockhart then its doomed. The concept of it is a 1080p device playing all next gen games for a lower price. If it cant play all next gen games then it's done for

[Legend]

Forbes Contributor Paul Tassi: I Do Not Believe Xbox Lockhart Exists | ResetEra

Microsoft officially revealed the Series X in December. It's now the beginning of June. We have heard quite literally nothing at all about anything resembling Xbox Lockhart from them during this time, while in contrast they have not stopped talking about the virtues of the Series X. We are now under six months away from the launch of the Series X, and it makes very little sense to hide the existence of something like the Lockhart if it's also supposed to debut this November.

 Microsoft has also gone out of its way to ensure that Xbox One owners are not left behind when this new generation launches, even more than usual. In addition to the "free upgrade" Smart Delivery system for games between generations, Microsoft is also promising "forward compatibility" for its first party offerings for a while to come, where those Series X games should also be able to run on an Xbox One, albeit at a reduced capacity. If that exists as an option, then where exactly does a new console, Xbox Lockhart, fit in between current Xbox One models and the new Series X? Why does it need to exist at all?  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  

  I Do Not Believe Microsoft's Xbox Lockhart Exists  There has been one persistently weird angle to the next console generation, the idea that Microsoft, in addition to making the Xbox Series X, is also making a second, lower-spec console, codenamed the Xbox Lockhart.   www.forbes.com    
 If Microsoft continue supporting Xbox One where does Lockhart fit?

 How can they market a new less powerful hardware?

 Isn't it too late to announce it and Series X will release in 6 months?

 What do you think?