Microsoft has rejected reports it plans to step away from the console hardware business by re-emphasising its commitment to manufacturing new first-party gaming consoles.
Given Xbox is building a powerful cloud infrastructure capable of 1440p streaming, and also boosting the potential revenue from subscriptions by raising Game Pass Ultimate prices, some speculated there’s less of a requirement for a successor to the Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X consoles.
However, Microsoft has reassured worried fans it has no plans to force them into a streaming-only environment. There will be next-gen home console devices moving forward beyond the rumoured Series X refresh codenamed “Brooklyn”.
“We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox,” Microsoft said in a statement (via Windows Central).
Earlier this summer Microsoft announced a wide-ranging partnership with chip-maker AMD to “invest in our next generation line up across console, handheld, PC, cloud and accessories.” It’s a multi-year agreement to co-engineer the processors required to power the next great gaming advances “in your living room and in your hands,” Microsoft said at the time.
Since then, Microsoft has announced the Xbox-branded ROG Ally handheld console with ASUS, which we’re greatly looking forward to fully testing in the months to come.
Although plans can change very quickly, it’s highly unlikely Microsoft would backtrack so quickly on plans for a full home console update. Despite that, rumours gained traction over the weekend when a noted leaker on the NeoGAF forums claimed plans for a Series S/X successor were now “up in the air.”
The cost of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription in the United States is the very ironic (for gamers of a certain vintage) price of $360 per year. In the UK it’s still a pretty substantial £276. At this point you don’t need a console to play the entire Game Pass library to a high standard. And for those buying both the console and subscription, it’s a significant outlay before even considering the new games that aren’t part of Game Pass. A certain forthcoming release of GTA 6, for instance…
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