Microsoft launched a “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign, showing hardware that can run the Xbox platform. This got fans nervous the company is moving away from traditional consoles but a new interview confirms the Xbox maker will keep making hardware.
The new marketing campaign showed platform-agnostic hardware like laptops, virtual reality headsets, and even smartphones – all of which can run the Xbox app and/or stream games from Xbox. This circumvents the need for Xbox hardware but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has pledged they will keep making Xboxes.
“We’ll definitely do more consoles in the future, and other devices,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a new interview (via Rolling Stone).
Microsoft previously teased they were moving “full speed ahead” on their next generation Xbox console, while also teasing the new Xbox will be the “largest technical leap in a hardware generation.”
Another shock for diehard Xbox fans was the news that big Xbox console exclusive Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PS5, and not long after it launches for Xbox. The company also previously said there’s “no red line” when it comes to first-party games coming to rivals Sony and Nintendo, with the Xbox maker bringing four other big exclusives to non-Xbox consoles.
Previous leaks for purported new Xbox hardware teased that we could see the new devices as soon as 2026 and that Microsoft is even cooking up its own Xbox competitor to Nintendo Switch – a portable Xbox of some kind. Nonetheless, it seems Microsoft is committed to traditional gaming consoles for the next 5-10 years.
Elsewhere in the new interview Microsoft took jabs at Sony’s recently launched PS5 Pro, which costs a whopping seven hundred dollars. Spencer had a flat rebuttal to this, confirming there won’t be future mid-generation Xbox releases like the Xbox One X.
“We think about hardware that can create unique value for our players or creators on our platform,” he said. “We don’t need to do incremental hardware for our own benefit.”
Spencer continued, “Does a new device really give you a unique experience onscreen in some way? [It’s] less like the old days, going from the original Xbox to 360; that was standard definition to high definition. Now, [it’s] harder to show the benefits.”
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