Microsoft has confirmed that a new Xbox is in the works, and PC gamers are excited. Yep, PC gamers.
Just a week after the Nintendo Switch 2 release, we have news that sounds like it will shake up our guide to the best games consoles. But will we even be able to define the next Xbox as a console? What Microsoft's describing sounds like a gaming PC in disguise – and perhaps even multiple devices.
In a one-minute video on YouTube (see below) Xbox president Sarah Bond says Microsoft is working with AMD to co-engineer silicon for a "portfolio of devices, including our next-generation Xbox consoles in your living room and in your hands.”
Get past phrases like "strategic multi-year partnership" and "portfolio of devices", and the announcement is pretty exciting. Sarah says the next Xbox will be backwards compatible with Xbox games, so a big tick there, and it also seems Microsoft's going all in on Xbox Cloud Gaming with multi-device and multi store support.
“This is all about building a gaming platform that’s always with you, so you can play the games you want across devices anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device,” Sarah says.
Support for third-party stores would presumably mean that PC gamers could access their Steam libraries. That would be massive for those people who would like to play games in their living rooms but not on a fully-blown gaming PC build.
Sarah also says the Xbox team is "working closely with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming," which makes it sound like the next Xbox could run on Windows. Suddenly, I see that weird 'not an Xbox' campaign in a new light, since this makes me think the next Xbox might be not a single console but a collection of devices that can access the Xbox experience, perhaps including third-party devices?
Just this week, Microsoft announced a collaboration with Asus to release two Xbox Ally handheld devices later this year. These will run on Windows and allow access to stores like Steam. This could be a model for the main Xbox to follow.
It would be a logical expansion to the Play Anywhere philosophy, and would give Xbox and edge over Nintendo and PlayStation. If Microsoft licenses the Xbox name to other brands, we might even get gaming laptops that have a console mode that could be activated via an Xbox button to provide things like full-screen game libraries. It could be the best of both worlds: PC functionality and console in one.
With Apple also increasingly eyeing the gaming market, it's starting to sound like the two system giants will be battling it out in gaming as they do in other areas. There's just one big ask that's coming up again and again in the comments on the YouTube video: for many, the inclusion of an optical drive will be a game breaker.
What do you think about Microsoft's announcement? Is this the right direction for Xbox? Let us know in the comments section below.
