Xbox head Sarah Bond has teased that a future Xbox console will be “very premium,” amid speculation Microsoft might be considering leaving the traditional console market altogether.
As part of an interview with Mashable (embedded below) intended to big-up the ROG Xbox Ally X, Bond had a few words to say about the next mainline Xbox console.
“The next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience,” said Bond.
“You’re starting to see some of the thinking that we have in this handheld.”
This also suggests the next Xbox is probably not going to be a traditional console in the way the Xbox Series X and S are. The ROG Xbox Ally X is basically a handheld Windows gaming PC, but one with an Xbox frontend that gives it a more console-like feel.
It also has haptic feedback triggers, just like those of an Xbox pad.
Bond talks up how most people are playing games that live across platforms and devices, downplaying the important of console exclusivity.
“The idea of locking it to one store or one device is antiquated to most people,” Bond says, talking about games like Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite.
The important background to this is current Xbox console sales are not even close to those of the PlayStation 5. While Sony is estimated to have sold upwards of 80 million PS5s, the last solid figure we heard for the Xbox family was 28.3 million, back in summer 2024. Xbox has lost the console war, leaving Microsoft trying to find a way to make the business work.
This new era of “everything is an Xbox” downplays the importance of singular central hardware, putting the focus on games. And Microsoft certainly has a lot of game-makers under its umbrella, including Call of Duty creators Activision Blizzard.
The next Xbox, then, could basically be a somewhat standardised handheld or living room friendly PC, but one with a friendlier interface than a classic gaming desktop. Tech veterans may be reminded of Valve’s Steam Machines initiative, which tried and failed to get a similar idea off the ground a decade ago in 2015.
Since then, of course, Steam pivoted to bring back similar concept with the brilliant Steam Deck.
All this also means, though, Xbox gaming in future may get more expensive. And we’ve had our fill of that recently, after Microsoft bumped the cost of Game Pass Ultimate from £14.99 a month to £22.99 a month.
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