Pixel 4, for one

Not necessarily, some of them do. Probably not enough to warrant developing an app for it though.

the S is not some kind of potato. It’s perfectly capable

It’s not. That’s what the OP and the comment you replied to were trying to tell you.

They explained why in the comment you replied to.

Not having lots of SKUs and a user-managed OS is kinda what the console experience is about.

I dunno what a “user managed OS” means. There’s no reason MS couldn’t port the exact same experience, considering current and past XBOXes are both built on x86.

As far as SKUs, I agree, but that’s only part of the console experience. The rest of it is a controller-first interface and streamlined processing. The various SKUs is also what attracts so many people to PC gaming, and in case you haven’t noticed, it is an incredibly quickly-growing segment.

I’m gonna refer you back to the original post.

Is it too late for that?

Why would it be?

those that do would probably prefer SetamOS…or something else that isn’t affiliated with Microsoft.

For whatever reason, millions of people obviously still prefer XBOX, in addition to or in place of, PC, Sony, Nintendo, etc. All this does is give those people more options.

or PopOS

PopOS does not deliver the console experience that I’m referring to.

You can’t buy your way past low-end hardware.

MS just needs to release a gaming OS. Just stop making XBOX hardware and make XBOX an operating system that can be installed on any PC. Like SteamOS.

We have Windows Pro, Windows Home, LTSC, etc. Why not Windows Gaming (XBOX)?

You’re wrong because of the specific words you’re choosing to use. Even if they aren’t, it doesn’t mean they can’t.

“design by committee” approach that large studios are using

They don’t have to use that.

This kind of game can only exist as a solo or very small team project.

That’s just very clearly wrong.

You can not generate the kind of money that large publishers and studios need to survive with little Indie games.

Wrong again. If anything, only large publishers can lose the kinds of money that they sometimes do.

Balatro is…not something big studios could even possibly replicate

…and why not?

What would be the point of a big studio trying to make a game that one developer can pull off?

…money?

They’re simply drawing all the wrong conclusions here:

even though Spider-Man 2 sold more than 11 million copies, several members of Insomniac lost their jobs when Sony announced 900 layoffs in February.

The layoffs don’t mean the game or company were unsuccessful, it means they found other ways to eliminate those jobs.

Warner Bros. Discovery took a $200 million loss on Suicide Squad

That’s nothing to do with graphical fidelity, it was a shit game that followed up a shit movie.

Sony closed the studio behind Concord

Lots of potential reasons for this. If you ask me, they released a $30 game into a genre chock full of “free to play” games.

Personally I appreciate “cinematic” games but titles like Balatro and Stardew Valley (neither of which I own) are proof of the simple fact that making games that are actually fun to play is far far more important, and far more profitable.