a handheld gamepass machine sounds enticing.
also, shouldnt GP cost less on xbox platforms? doesnt it make logical sense?
Especially now that they own a large number of studios. There are already a lot of games available on the platform (despite what console warriors would say), and these studios won't have the excuse of skipping the platform due to its lower specs. While this is something that made sense when the power gap was larger between machines, in the context of diminishing returns we are in, and with the re-emergence of handheld gaming devices, it makes less and less sens sense to avoid them, officially because they are not fit to run the software, but mostly to save costs. The only tangible difference, for me, between this gen and the previous one (granted, I started it with a One X) are the SSDs. Graphics wise, yes, there are upgrades, but compared to how it felt going from the 8-bits to the 16-bits consoles, or even from the Gamecube/Xbox/PS2 gen to the PS360 era...
CPU power may still be an issue in some cases, though (but for how long?). But between the greatly increased processing power of low-powered GPUs and the insane upscaling techs that are now available, it makes sense to include a dedicated hardware into the fold. It will pay off for the entire handheld ecosystem.
To come back to the Game Pass thing, the main issue is the availability of an internet connection for licence validation. If the device is meant to be used on a bus or a train, you can't expect people to have an available connection all the time - an can't expect them to just share the connection of their phone.
I don't know if or how offline gaming works for the current Game Pass though.
