With the launch of the Asus-built ROG Xbox Ally X, Microsoft's Sarah Bond has been making the rounds giving interviews about the new handheld and what's next for Xbox. And most of the time she's focused on the new handheld while defending its high price.
But buried within these interviews Bond has given some hints about the next-generation Xbox console that we expect to launch in 2027 or 2028. In a talk with Variety, she confirmed that the Xbox Series X and S follow-up is in development. In addition, she suggested that an Xbox-made handheld is a possibility.
"We have our next-gen hardware in development. We’ve been looking at prototyping, designing," Bond told Variety. "We have a partnership we’ve announced with AMD around it, so that is coming."
Microsoft announced its multiyear partnership with AMD this past summer with a marketing push that "anything" can be an Xbox.
"This is all about building you a gaming platform that’s always with you, so you can play the games you want across devices anywhere you want," Bond said at the time.
This week, Bond appeared in a video interview with Mashable where she remained coy but did provide a few more hints at what's to come.
Addressing the rumors that the next Xbox would be more like a gaming PC, Bond said "the next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience."
She added that with the release of the Ally X, that we're "starting to see some of the thinking that [the Xbox team] has, but I don't want to give it all away."
The new handhelds emphasize a redesigned Xbox full-screen experience UI, which allows gamers to acess other PC storefronts like Steam and Epic. Presumably, something similar on an Xbox console would make for a totally different approach compared to Nintendo or PlayStation.
The Mashable interview covers the ROG Ally X, but the relevant portion is about 6 minutes in.
It's not quite there in the ROG Xbox Ally, but that device seems to be a good first step. My colleague Jason England praised it in our review of the ROG Ally X saying that Microsoft is finally on the right track.
The question is will a new console be enough to win Xbox fans back?
What's next?
Gamers are a fickle, often backlash-ready, group, but they had a right to be upset at multiple price hikes for the aging Xbox Series X and S consoles that hit this year, alongside Game Pass price increases this October — here's how to cancel if you missed that news.
The next Xbox has been tipped to target 4K gaming at 120 frames per second. At least one rumor claimed the new console would be even more powerful than the PlayStation 6. And again, there may be an Xbox-made handheld that actually plays Xbox games, unlike the Ally handhelds.
Even though we praised the ROG Ally consoles in our reviews, we still found the prices way too high. The economy isn't getting better, and it's fair to wonder if what Xbox needs is not a premium experience but a console that suddenly budget-conscious gamers can actually afford.
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