Subsequent-Gen Xbox {Hardware} Will not Be Tied to One Retailer or One Machine

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 very least.

In a brand new video, Xbox president Sarah Bond discusses what’s subsequent for Xbox and its {hardware}, and whereas it seems like there might be new consoles from the corporate, they are going to look fairly totally different from what we’re used to.

Bond says that Xbox has fashioned a “multi-year partnership” with AMD to create chips for its new units, together with “next-generation Xbox consoles”. Mentioned machines will even embody backwards compatibility with previous-gen Xbox video games, by the sound of issues.

Based on Bond, that is all in service of constructing a platform that permits you to 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 let you entry shops exterior of the Microsoft Retailer. That would imply PC shops like Steam, GOG, or the Epic Retailer develop into accessible on Xbox units, which might give console avid gamers a much wider spectrum of video games to play.

In closing, Bond says the Xbox group 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” slightly than “Xbox”; that might suggest that next-gen Xbox {hardware} will run on the Home windows platform slightly than a bespoke ecosystem for consoles.

In recent times, 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 honest to say Xbox has roundly misplaced the most recent “console wars”, if such issues are nonetheless ongoing (which Xbox would love you to imagine 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.

After all, we’re nonetheless in all probability a great few years away from next-generation Xbox {hardware}, so we’re in all probability 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.