Microsoft has no plans to leave the console business anytime soon. The company has reiterated for some time that it will build at least another generation of Xbox consoles. It has now been confirmed that AMD will power the upcoming hardware just like the Xbox series X/S.
Xbox CEO Sarah Bond made the announcement in a short video. With years of partnerships, Xbox and AMD “advance state of the art in gaming silicon to enable next-generation graphics innovation; to unleash deeper visual quality; and have the ability to have AI while maintaining compatibility with existing Xbox Games libraries, with AI capabilities, and immersive gameplay and player experience,” Bond.
The introduction of leaks starting in May 2022 (part of the following year’s massive Xbox leak) suggests that Microsoft has not yet made a decision on the processor and GPU of the next Xbox console, which shows that it plans to reach an agreement with AMD to provide AMD’s agreement to provide AMD and that “ARM64’s decision” must be made. As we know now, the company is doubling with AMD.
On the surface, the AMD agreement is the main news of Bond’s announcement. But if you read between two lines, there are many other interesting details to figure out from what she says in the short video.
On the one hand, Bond’s elaborate statements have had details on the leaks (and other developments) of Microsoft’s adoption of AI and machine learning in future Xbox games, including things like AI proxying. Therefore, the company may continue to go this path.
Bond said Microsoft and AMD will “co-design silicon in your living room and in your hands, including our next-generation Xbox consoles,” meaning the company is planning more handhelds beyond the Xbox Branded Rog devices later this year. These are also powered by AMD.
Additionally, Bond said the next generation of Xbox devices will remain “compatible with your existing Xbox game library.” Xbox is committed to backward compatibility, but it is still welcome to hear it.
There is no doubt that these are pretty interesting Nuggets, but Bond said, I think these things have begun to learn more about the future of the Xbox ecosystem. First, she said her team “builds a gaming platform for you that is always with you so you can play games from each device anywhere, giving you an Xbox experience that isn’t locked to a store or tied to a device.”
The wording is chinstroker, especially given that Xbox’s new user interface is being used for ROG handheld. Windows-powered devices can not only play remotely and play games from the Xbox PC app in the cloud, but also Xbox consoles. They will integrate games from other PC storefronts such as Battle.net (run by Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard), Steam, GoG, and more. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass users have long been able to access EA Games as part of their subscription. ubisoft+ is also on the Xbox console.
Perhaps this notion of being “locked to a single store” will start working in other ways. Valve said a few years ago that, for example, would be happy to include game passes into Steam. Similarly, Microsoft said it would welcome Steam and Epic Games Store apps to its PC App Store (although Valve and Epic may not want to cut game sales for Microsoft). Maybe we may eventually see these results in the next few years.
But how do these integrations work on the Xbox console? Bond also hints at this. Xbox, she said, “works closely with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming.”
Of course, this may be a reference for PC games. But Bond doesn’t make this clear, which makes me wonder if the next Xbox console might be more like a Windows PC under the TV. This will be consistent with the comments from a few months ago Windows Centralhe said the next Xbox is “essentially a PC, but with a TV-friendly case.”
With products like Steam decks and other handheld computers, this may provide game developers with a specific set of specifications (although ensuring their games optimize for as many desktop and laptop configurations as possible is still a complex task). Perhaps the UI Xbox debuted on an Ally X device is a sign of something to appear on a larger display.
Additionally, Xbox and Windows teams are removing unnecessary aspects of the Xbox Ally handheld operating system to make them run more efficiently. What prevents them from doing the same in the next Xbox console? This can enable Xbox to provide a more unified ecosystem across all platforms, while simplifying developers who want to make games for PC and Xbox. Don’t forget that Microsoft has been working hard to make Windows run smoother on ARM-based processors, as part of its Copilot+ PC push.
We may have to wait two or three years to make Microsoft’s vision for the future of Xbox consoles more fulfilling. However, it certainly has the opportunity to weave its platform closer together and play Xbox (and PC) games on the device for a more seamless experience.
