[Zelizz]

Don't you have to boot into developer mode on Xbox to run sideloaded apps? AFAIK you also can't access any store titles when in dev mode either. And UWP apps don't get access to the full power of the console, they run under the system OS.

[kevingadd]

Every game on a modern console runs under the system OS, there's a hypervisor and dedicated CPU/RAM resources, etc. You can run actual games in that environment and the performance allocation is documented. Certainly for professional-grade stuff you don't want to be in that environment but it definitely works.

You're right about the dev mode toggle, which is unfortunate. I'd like to see barriers like that go away, and it wouldn't be appropriate on productivity hardware. I don't have any expert inside information on this but I suspect it's an absolute requirement from game studios that don't want side-loaded apps being used to cheat or exfiltrate content - I think that shouldn't require a hard reboot of the console but maybe it's similar to the situation Riot has arrived at with Valorant where they demand full kernel-level control over your system from boot to determine whether you are trying to cheat at their games or not.