MS, just cancel Lockhart. It's redundant. There's no
genuine purpose for it. XSX and Xcloud are enough. If people want to get in on next-gen cheaply, literally just let them use Xcloud streaming on their One X/XBO or Samsung phone.
Just focus on XSX and price it right, because the more I hear about Lockhart (especially in light of the already great Xcloud and Gamepass services), the more I dislike it. The whole thing is feeling like a stopgap and a constant road bump to a smooth next-gen with XSX, Xcloud and Gamepass.
Hearing it could have critical next-gen features cut back just makes it sound even worst. Put that Lockhart production budget towards XSX, more software development or securing 3rd-party deals (or even a VR/AR headset). All of those would be better use of that Lockhart money, IMHO.
Game design will not be affected since the GPU is mostly used for graphics. It literally is toggling which graphics are enabled and which aren't. Gamplay on the other hand is more CPU heavy.
But that's the thing; GPU isn't just for graphics. Asynchronous compute will be a massive thing for next gen, arguably more than the SSDs IMHO, and while non-graphical features of games are very scalable these days, there's a point to where you scale down so much it becomes a completely different gaming experience.
Just my opinion, but the whole thing with Lockhart feels very 32X-ish. A potential long-term anchor solution for a short-term problem (recession and casuals not able or willing to jump in @$450/$500). It just feels redundant now thanks to stuff like Xcloud streaming.
Maybe the ONLY way I could see Lockhart being justified is IF it's a streaming device, perhaps they could get it to $199. In that case, I can see it being of some value and not have any big impacts on XSX. But you don't need 4TF for a streaming device IMO....not even for 4K60 I would assume.