Microsoft shared new particulars about its plans for Xbox {hardware}, teasing the subsequent technology of Xbox consoles and offering updates about its gaming enterprise in a particular version of the Official Xbox Podcast Thursday. While the firm confirmed that 4 Xbox-exclusive video games would launch on PS5 and Nintendo Switch, it reiterated its dedication to growing Xbox {hardware} and exclusives titles on the platform. In the podcast, Xbox president Sarah Bond stated that Microsoft was focussed on delivering the “largest technical leap” for a new console technology for the subsequent Xbox.
Bond additionally confirmed that followers might anticipate new Xbox {hardware} later this yr in the vacation season — doubtless to be the rumoured mid-generation refresh of the Xbox Series S/X consoles. “There’s some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we’re going to share this holiday. And we’re also invested in the next generation roadmap,” the Xbox president stated. “And what we’re really focussed on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have seen in a hardware generation,” she added.
Xbox at the moment affords the Xbox Series X, its flagship current-generation console, together with the lower-end, digital-only Xbox Series S.
Back in September final yr, leaked court docket paperwork from the Federal Trade Commission antitrust trial over Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard had revealed that the firm was planning a mid-gen refresh for its Xbox Series X and Series S consoles someday in 2024. The paperwork additionally included idea photos of upcoming Xbox {hardware}, together with the platform’s roadmap for future releases.
According to the leaked idea photos, Microsoft’s mid-gen refresh of the Xbox Series X is codenamed ‘Brooklin,’ an all-digital console that boasts the identical peformance and options as the authentic one, besides for the optical disc drive. The console seems to have a cylindrical design and an upgraded 2TB storage and can doubtless keep the Series X pricing — b$499, or Rs. 54,990. The leaked paperwork had claimed that ‘Brooklin’ would launch someday in October 2024. In addition to the console, Xbox additionally plans to launch an upgraded controller with gyro, haptic suggestions and adaptive triggers, similar to PlayStation’s DualSense controller.
In the podcast, the place Bond was joined by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, the Xbox president didn’t disclose a launch window for the subsequent technology of Xbox consoles, however Microsoft expects the next-gen Xbox and PS6 to launch in 2028, as additionally revealed by court docket paperwork from the FTC trial in June final yr. “This term would, in any case, go beyond the expected starting period of the next generation of consoles (in 2028),” the firm had stated in the paperwork. The present technology of consoles — Xbox Series S/X and PS5 — was launched in 2020.
