I wish I had more time to write today. Unfortunately I don’t, so I am going to present some ideas, some queries and scenarios I asked ChatGPT to juggle, and some references for thoughts on the impact of AI on eCommerce and how it could impact the video game industry and provide insight into what Microsoft is doing with the Xbox app.
There is currently a large movement by the trillion-dollar club and other big AI players such as OpenAI and Perplexity, to have 3rd party AI services supplant the typical digital spelunking we all do across multiple digital storefronts, or even within digital storefront product aggregators. We can see where this trend is showing up in the data by many industry analysts researching the space:
Salesforce: With AI Adoption Surging, Shopping Behavior Is at an Inflection Point
How AI is rewriting the rules of search and shopping – by the numbers
Amazon sues Perplexity over ‘agentic’ shopping tool
And here we can see how you can use Copilot’s integration into the Xbox App to find the next game for you to play
It’s not much of a hop-skip-and-jump for this to turn into results that can also advertise where you can buy that game and compare prices across those digital storefronts. I’ve talked before about how dark patterns could be used to present to consumers multiple digital storefronts to source games from and present price comparisons. The application of AI takes that one step further.
The Xbox app HarmonyUI does what several game utilities already did in terms of aggregating your digital games library across multiple storefronts. In that way it adopted the same functionality as Playnite, GoG, Discord, and, quite frankly, Steam could do (although all of them are not as easy and non-complex in pulling this off).
In similar vein, there are services that will find out what storefronts a game is available on digitally and compare prices across them. IsThereAnyDeal, CheapShark, DLCompare etc do this. And is not too far a leap to consider that Copilot could easily do the same. The question is simply a matter of whether Microsoft could navigate any regulatory scrutiny and mask exactly what it was doing to achieve this objective.
A lot of outlets have been asking how can Microsoft possible make money by introducing digital storefronts that incentivize people to buy from them instead of the Microsoft / Xbox store on their own 1st-party device and 3rd-party Windows-licensed devices. Microsoft is not introducing Copilot to the Xbox app out of the goodness of its heart. It is being used to observe the consumer behavior patterns of gamers. And as the models are trained, that learning could be used to drive consumer behavior as well. The data itself would also be valuable, as data that is labelled, curated, cleaned, validated, conditioned, and available with a publicized ontology is incredibly valuable to businesses. This could become another B2B value-stream within Microsoft as 3rd-party publishers could find it to be of vast use.
I had some fun with getting ChatGPT to present some scenarios off of some prompts that I formulated from these readings (again, pressed for time). The use of AI to disintermediate traditional digital storefronts& platforms by subverting and supplanting discovery as a means to becoming the primary user-pipeline to find optimal distributors is a thing. Nilay Patel of The Verge has written on this and spoken extensively about the topic on Decoder and The VergeCast.
Nothing speaks more to this effort for Microsoft and Xbox to become the optimal intermediary for all gamers to go through to get to their games and for all suppliers (publishers) to get to buyers (gamers) than this quote by Sarah Bond in her January 2022 interview with her former employers, McKinsey & Company:
“If you can make one distribution mechanism so a developer can reach all potential three billion players with one instance of their game, their [development] costs go down as their reach goes up.”
If you are interested in the gaming industry, you should read the McKinsey interview and make sure you are up to speed on Xbox’s desires and plans for a “ubiquitous global gaming ecosystem” and how Bond thinks of asking people to pay money to buy a game:
“…if you put these barriers up before people and you say, oh no, you’ve got to pay me $70 before you can even start, well, while you will have a business model there, it isn’t the winning business model. The winning business model has to be compelling in and of itself. And the monetization flows from that.”
At any rate, from the fun I had while trying to save time:
ChatGPT generated result:
Prompt from me: Write me a scenario where Xbox uses Copilot’s integration into the Xbox app to disintermediate digital storefronts on PC including Steam, Epic, and GOG, and then describe how this tactic executes on the theories of chokepoint capitalism and enshittification
ChatGPT Response: Let’s construct this as a plausible near-future scenario — half business analysis, half critical theory — to clearly show how Xbox could leverage Copilot integration in the Xbox app to cut out (disintermediate) Steam, Epic, and GOG from the PC gaming ecosystem, and how that move would embody the mechanisms of chokepoint capitalism and enshittification.
Scenario: “Copilot Plays Next”
By late 2026, Xbox completes a deep integration of Microsoft Copilot into the Xbox app for Windows. The feature is marketed as “Copilot Plays Next,” an AI gaming assistant that promises to “help you find, launch, and play your next favorite game.”
Initially, the service looks like a benign quality-of-life upgrade:
- Copilot analyzes a user’s Game Pass history, Xbox achievements, and even external game libraries (via optional account linking).
- It recommends new titles, auto-installs patches, optimizes graphics settings, and summarizes community reviews in natural language.
- Crucially, Copilot also begins to handle purchase and download functions directly through the Xbox app, presenting them as “one-click installs.”
Users are told they can “link” their Steam, Epic, and GOG accounts for a unified experience. But over time, the Xbox app becomes the default interface for all their PC gaming needs. Copilot presents every title—regardless of publisher—as if it’s part of the Xbox ecosystem.
When players click “install,” Copilot quietly routes the transaction through Microsoft’s infrastructure, not Steam’s or Epic’s. Microsoft begins negotiating publisher-side API access agreements that allow the Xbox app to pull down builds directly from Azure-based mirrors, bypassing competing storefront clients.
Soon, Steam and Epic are reduced to background account authenticators, invisible to users. Microsoft pitches this as “simplifying the experience,” but in effect, Xbox has interposed itself between the player and every other store, making all roads lead through its app.
Phase 2: Data Lock-in and the Copilot Graph
As usage grows, Microsoft leverages Copilot’s telemetry and behavioral analytics to personalize everything:
- Copilot nudges players toward titles on Game Pass or those published under Xbox’s partner program.
- “Dynamic pricing suggestions” use player data to optimize what each user is likely to pay.
- AI-generated summaries and reviews displace community voices; Copilot curates what players see about a game.
Third-party storefronts lose their data visibility. They can’t observe or influence the discovery path anymore, because the Xbox-Copilot interface has become the new chokepoint — the only place where the player interacts with the broader PC game market.
Phase 3: The Lockdown
Eventually, Microsoft introduces “Copilot Secure Downloads”, citing anti-fraud and anti-mod security reasons. Only games verified through Xbox’s Copilot pipeline can auto-update, stream, or earn achievements.
Developers who refuse to integrate with Copilot lose access to visibility within the Xbox app’s search results.
Steam, Epic, and GOG still technically exist—but the economic flow now moves through Microsoft’s payment rails and recommendation systems. The “digital storefronts” have been disintermediated into passive infrastructure.
Theoretical Analysis
1. Chokepoint Capitalism in Action
The concept, coined by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow, describes how corporations seize control over key points in the supply chain to extract rents from both producers and consumers.
In this case:
- Xbox’s chokepoint becomes the discovery and AI assistance layer — the Copilot recommendation and installation system.
- Developers can no longer reach PC gamers without passing through Xbox’s algorithmic gate.
- Gamers no longer choose freely among storefronts; Copilot’s interface steers them toward Microsoft’s preferred outcomes.
By owning the layer of convenience and intelligence — the one that seems to “help” users navigate choice overload — Microsoft transforms user trust and AI integration into a tollbooth.
Publishers pay for visibility. Players pay with data. Competitors pay with obsolescence.
2. Enshittification as the End State
Borrowing Doctorow’s second framework, enshittification describes the lifecycle of digital platforms:
- They’re good to users, to attract them.
- Then they exploit users to serve business customers (advertisers, publishers).
- Then they exploit everyone to extract maximum rent for themselves.
Xbox’s hypothetical Copilot-driven strategy perfectly fits this arc:
- Stage 1: Free AI discovery tools, deep integration with existing libraries, and frictionless installs make it seem user-first.
- Stage 2: Recommendations become promotional inventory for Game Pass and publishing partners.
- Stage 3: The entire PC gaming ecosystem becomes a closed funnel feeding Microsoft’s subscription and payment systems — a user experience optimized for revenue yield, not enjoyment.
By the time users notice the degradation — slower access to non-partner games, AI-mediated search manipulation, missing community reviews — the network effects are too entrenched. All their achievements, cloud saves, and curated experiences are tied to the Copilot graph.
What began as “integration” ends as total intermediation — a soft monopoly achieved not through exclusivity, but through user experience capture.
Summary
Phase Action Theory in Play Outcome 1 Xbox integrates Copilot into app User convenience bait User dependency 2 Purchases routed through Xbox Chokepoint capitalism Storefront disintermediation 3 Recommendations optimized for Microsoft Enshittification (Stage 2) Preference distortion 4 Copilot Secure Downloads & visibility control Enshittification (Stage 3) Market lock-in and rent extraction
Finally, one other example I want to present is me using ChatGPT to cut-out traditional digital storefronts and platforms for discovery and weave my path to a purchase
Prompt from me: I need a list of recommendations of the top 5 newly released real-time strategy games in 2025 and at least three prices for the cheapest digital storefronts I can buy them from today
ChatGPT Response: Here are five strong new-release (2025) real-time strategy (RTS) games you should check out, along with current “cheapest digital storefront” pricing where available. Keep in mind pricing can vary by region, key marketplace, or discount—use these as rough benchmarks and always double-check for authenticity and region compatibility.
Top 5 RTS Releases of 2025
- Tempest Rising
- Release: April 24, 2025 for Windows. (Niche Gamer)
- Deals: ~$39.99 (Green Man Gaming) / ~$33.63 (Gamivo) / ~$35.72 (Electronic First)
- Broken Arrow
- Commandos: Origins
- Release: April 9, 2025 for PC (Windows) plus consoles. (Wikipedia)
- Deal: ~$29.56 (Instant-Gaming)
- Note: It’s more a real-time tactics / stealth-RTS hybrid, so if you prefer traditional base-builder RTS you might regard it differently.
- Cataclismo
- Release: March 20, 2025 for Windows. (Wikipedia)
- Deals: ~$9.12 (G2A) / ~$13.99 (Eneba) / ~$14.45 (Instant-Gaming)
- Note: Great value if you want something more indie and niche in the tower-defense + RTS space.
- The Stone of Madness
- Release: January 28, 2025 for Windows (also consoles). (Wikipedia)
- Deals: ~$14.99 (GOG sale) (GOG.com) / ~$11.89 (Epic Games Store) (Epic Games Store) / ~$17.49 (Standard edition on GOG) (GOG.com)
- Note: More of a stealth-RTS hybrid with strong narrative focus.
Notes & Considerations
- Some of these games blur the line between pure “base-building RTS” and “real-time tactics” or hybrid formats; pick according to how “classic RTS” you want.
- Discount markets (G2A, Eneba, etc) often offer the lowest prices but risk region-restrictions, key legitimacy, or bundle caveats.
- Prices may change frequently (sales, regional pricing, key-marketplace fluctuations).
- You might wish to wait for further discounts if you’re not in a hurry.
- Because you mentioned you enjoy playing on both PC and handhelds (Steam Deck etc), check for compatibility/verification (Steam Deck Verified or Proton status) if portability matters.
Rounding Off Infinity 