i think you’re right, but I think they’re kind of just facing reality. Games cost too much to make, and they aren’t making enough on hardware sales to justify exclusivity. Although, I think the door is still open for them to stay in the console space, and maybe even overtake Sony in the next gen if some weird stuff happens between now and then. More likely, I think they just become another Sega like you said, except they still sell a small batch of hardware on the side, for people that want a Game Pass console.
i heard very similar remarks on Jeff Gerstmann’s podcast on Tuesday. He’s an old GameSpot/Giant Bomb dude. Sorry if my original reply came off as snarky in any way, reading back i can see how maybe it comes off like i’m accusing your response of being not your own.
Technically they just announced the 9070 and the 9070 XT, so there are two different designs that could be considered part of the “9070-series”. They could also be saying “series” because most of the 9070s on the market will be AIB boards with slightly different feature sets.
the article is mostly reporting on “a Q&A on the InstalBase forums” with “business journalist Christopher Dring”. The headline kind of makes the 80% figure sound like a bad thing, but I think it’s more meant to share info with the public that industry insiders already know about. No producer working at EA is shocked by this figure, but the headline is not for them. This info is still helpful for many groups, like maybe new devs who aren’t yet industry insiders, but need to know what they are getting into before they sign a shitty Game Pass deal with Microsoft.
you’re definitely on to something. I think they got scared by the surge of unions and strikes post-COVID, and now they’re trying to push us into a recession to make us desparate again.