Xbox has given us a small sneak preview into the subsequent era of its {hardware}, and it sounds as if the multi-device, multi-storefront method will proceed throughout the subsequent few years, at the least.
In a brand new video, Xbox president Sarah Bond discusses what’s subsequent for Xbox and its {hardware}, and whereas it feels like there shall be new consoles from the corporate, they’ll look fairly totally different from what we’re used to.
Bond says that Xbox has shaped a “multi-year partnership” with AMD to create chips for its new units, together with “next-generation Xbox consoles”. Stated machines will even embody backwards compatibility with previous-gen Xbox video games, by the sound of issues.
In keeping with Bond, that is all in service of constructing a platform that lets you play video games that are not constrained to a single gadget or a single retailer ecosystem.
Whereas we do not know precisely what meaning, it sounds as if next-gen Xbox units will can help you entry shops outdoors of the Microsoft Retailer. That would imply PC shops like Steam, GOG, or the Epic Retailer turn into accessible on Xbox units, which might give console players a much wider spectrum of video games to play.
In closing, Bond says the Xbox staff is working carefully with the Home windows people to make sure that “Home windows is the primary platform for gaming”. It is arguably telling that she says “Home windows” moderately than “Xbox”; that might suggest that next-gen Xbox {hardware} will run on the Home windows platform moderately than a bespoke ecosystem for consoles.
Lately, Xbox has been shifting away from its personal unique ecosystem in favor of releasing its video games on different platforms; titles like Forza Horizon 5, Grounded, and Gears of Warfare Reloaded, all of which both have been or would have been Xbox exclusives, have been launched on different platforms.
It is truthful to say Xbox has roundly misplaced the most recent “console wars”, if such issues are nonetheless ongoing (which Xbox would love you to consider they don’t seem to be); if final 12 months’s gross sales figures are to be believed, then the Xbox Collection X|S vary is promoting a lot worse than the PS5, which might be why Bond and her firm wish to get out of the unique enterprise.
In fact, we’re nonetheless most likely an excellent few years away from next-generation Xbox {hardware}, so we’re most likely going to have to attend some time to find what the corporate’s imaginative and prescient for its new path is. Keep tuned for extra.