this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2025
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I think the idea is hilarious that in 2025 people would still trust Microsoft to competently launch a product and then not enshittify it until it is nearly unrecognizable.
Microsoft has zero capacity, competency or even desire to stand behind this over things like game streaming.
It's not a Microsoft product. It's an Asus product with a bit of Xbox sponsorship.
That doesn't make it any better
Whether or not it's better wasn't the question. The claim was that Microsoft was launching the product and being in charge of defining the price. They aren't because it's an Asus product with Xbox branding, just like https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-3-mode-controller-xbox/ is a regular 8bitdo controller with Xbox branding and not a Microsoft product.
That's all.
That wasn't the claim from the comment you replied to. It was about Microsoft botching a launch and making the product worse over time which Asus is just as guilty of doing.
And Microsoft isn't launching the product because it's not a Microsoft product.
Yes, fair enough
That's almost worse, Asus also makes a lot of garbage.
That's not the point. The point is asking Microsoft about the price of a branded 3rd party product.
It's both. It was co-developed by the companies.
No, the actual hardware wasn't. That's the point of the entire exercise to not develop the product in-house. Microsoft only develops Windows game mode. https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-3-mode-controller-xbox/ is not a Microsoft product (or "co-developed with Microsoft) either. It's yet another 3rd party product with Xbox branding and why would Microsoft have a say on the price then?
Asus ... Well that's half the problem right there. The other half being Microsoft
Well I hope Microsoft has next to no input on it then, for all our sakes not just the people at Asus.
Microsoft develops Windows game mode, so the user-facing bit of the system and of course such a major sponsor surely has general "don't do anything that hurts our brand" clauses in the contract with Asus but other than that there has been not a single piece of evidence that the handheld will be anything but a more high-profile version of https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-3-mode-controller-xbox/ which is also just branded 3rd party hardware. IMO there is a decent chance the identical hardware will also launch as a SteamOS version with the buttons then carrying Steam branding.
Said like someone who doesn't understand why Microsoft are in gaming to begin with.
To rip people off, apply surveillance capitalism to kids and strangle associated competition from gaining a foothold?
Honestly it seems like Microsoft is making enough profits from aiding Israel in its Genocide of Palestinians with Microsoft Azure I am actually not sure why they bother with the comparatively less lucrative video game industry.
I also don't know why Asus would want to brand their gaming devices with a label deeply associated with genocide.