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Even as consumers struggle to pick up a new console, Microsoft is looking towards the future. Today, the tech giant has announced that new Xbox hardware is currently in development, although we won’t see it for quite some time.
That’s according to Liz Hamren, Microsoft’s CVP of Gaming Experiences and Platforms, who also said in a press briefing that cloud-based development would be essential to the company going forward. “Cloud is key to our hardware and Game Pass roadmaps,” Harmen said, “but no one should think we’re slowing down on our core console engineering. In fact, we’re accelerating it.”
“We’re already hard at work on new hardware and platforms, some of which won’t come to light for years.”
With the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S just half a year old at this point, it’s more of a surprise that Microsoft is already publicly acknowledging its new hardware. Until the company is ready to reveal that new tech, it will be doubling down on cloud-based and streaming services. Along with revealing that new hardware is in the works, Microsoft also revealed that it will be building Xbox streaming tech into TVs, and producing Xbox streaming devices.
It should come as no surprise that, with the success of Game Pass, Microsoft and Xbox would want to make its streaming services widely accessible, even to consumers that don’t necessarily own an Xbox console. In a video released today, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, said that Game Pass is “transforming how our entire industry thinks about Xbox and how we can reach a wider audience.” Naturally, part of Game Pass’s success has been the constant addition of games the first day they launch. That won’t be slowing down anytime soon, as Microsoft has said that it wants to launch at least one new first-party title every three months.
While Microsoft is working on new Xbox hardware, the company is clearly pushing for Xbox to be something much larger. Whether that’s a larger gaming service of some kind has yet to be seen. Regardless of how Xbox changes its approach to gaming in the coming years, it still seems like players will be able to put a console down next to their TV.
While we probably won’t see any new Xbox hardware soon, we will get a peek at some of the new releases coming from its first-party developers. The joint Xbox & Bethesda Show is just around the corner, set to air on Sunday, June 13. If you’re not looking forward to Xbox’s showcase, there’s a ton more to expect from E3 in terms of shows and games.
