Talking Point: Will We See New Xbox Hardware By The End Of 2024?

The Series X is powerful enough and I expect a large uptick in sales when Starfield is released. The problem with the Series S is that it's been advertised exclusively as a cost-effective option, but it would be a better fit for the "family" or "party" machine demographic like the Wii was in the early 2010s — if Microsoft put more of an effort into bringing games that support local multiplayer to the platform.

Of course console sales are down. You can play most Xbox games on cloud and if you are at home it’s all good. Xbox are not bothered about console sales. Xbox is a cloud company and that’s it.

Hopefully a controller with a gyro. Otherwise not interested.

I still see no reason to buy the series x.

Microsoft turned over a new leaf when the Series X|S launched. To their surprise, the other side of the leaf still just looked like the Xbox One.

I can't understand why folks think new hardware is coming. It's still hard getting chips, better than before, buy still delayed. They haven't pushed the current hardware at all and now you want even more SKUs to develop for. I expect the next hardware release to be the next gen. Only thing that could change with current gen is that they increase the memory for the S, maybe the X.

I still think they have been using Series X chips for the cloud servers. Outside of that they are just sucking ass which is less than ideal to think of lol.

@Total_Weirdo their marketing is a tweet....that's all. They are horrible at it, unless they see that the tweet generates enough interest that spending more on marketing isn't worth it?

I think they should make a discless X for $399

Don't I see Brits complain on here that there's not enough console stock going around in their shops? Wouldn't that also explain "low sales"?

The writer compares sales of Resident Evil 4 between PS and Xbox but for some reason forgets to mention that there is a PS4 version and that there isn't an Xbox One version.

The article also states that "these kinds of percentages (20% on Xbox and 80% on PS5) are fairly common for Xbox" and that's also not correct because the UK charts, which is the topic of this article, have revealed that Assassin's Creed and other best-selling games sell more copies for Xbox than for PS often. The whole article is full of misinformation.

They need games that capture the general public imagination and need to get some momentum and become the in gaming console, unfortunately not much has changed since the Xbox one days on that front. Totally different from the Xbox360 days when they started to have a winning formula.
I actually right now preferred the Xbox one days so far.

If game pass was that great more consoles would sell. The fact is most are buying the more expensive PS5 and a lot weaker and very old Nintendo Switch, and are happy to pay for new games as they are released, two gaming companies that have established IPs, a trendy gaming image and great PR.
Xbox just brings up the geeky rear of the sales, has low third party game sales and zero games that get the general public wanting an Xbox.

And now their tactic is to buy up big developers like Bethesda and ABK to capture software and control it, basically trying gain control.

Had every Xbox since day one and this series x generation so far has been the absolute worse hands down games wise for me.

They can’t even release a game Redfall with a 60fps option for the series x, what a dumb arse company Microsoft are.

At this point and being truthfully honest I wish they would sell all their developers or let them go freelance and piss off out of the games market altogether.

At that’s coming from an every Xbox day one owner since day one. They nearly lost me at Halo Infinite and last year, but they lost me early this year. Especially after the Redfall 60fps thing.
They couldn’t manage a piss up in a brewery and don’t deserve my decades of loyalty no more.

to be fair it is probably the fact that xbox just doesn't have any xbox only games coming out,like, at all.

hopefully xbox has learned they need GAMES. EXCLUSIVE GAMES so people pick up your console. Starfield will help this year i think

Like someone else mentioned. A discless X or a smaller X would be welcome, maybe. But first and foremost they need games and they need to market them properly.

Series S handheld please

@Dezzy70 "They couldn’t manage a piss up in a brewery" 😂

Seriously though if after the ABK deal goes through and they still continue to be in third or lose even more ground to sony then I think in 10-20 years time Microsoft will just be a publisher and not bother making consoles.

A handheld Xbox makes sense. Yes, you can use Cloud on any device but it's not the same. Mobile market is the biggest, Switch is a success and Steam Deck is super popular so that's something that Microsoft should consider. Something like Steam Deck specifically designed for the Xbox library.

In regard to the home console market, what they did last generation worked wonderfully. Wait for PS5 Pro and release something better the following year.

@UltimateOtaku91
Will be interesting to see if they pick up a bit after the ABK deal as nothing they have done so far with recent purchases has improved their position at all.
They just don’t seem to manage their gaming division correctly at the moment.
Perhaps the competition is just to dam good for them.

@Sebatrox
Yes Sony apart from the PlayStation range of main consoles, have released some entertaining lack lustre devices. They do keep trying thought just for fun I think 😂
Yes I’m very glad the Switch is so successful nearly TOTK time.

Microsoft could release a Series X Pro with 5x the power at the same price and it would change nothing. Games often run equally or even worse on Series X compared to PS5. The Series S consistently struggles in various games and cannot live up to its promise of "Series X but at 1440p" meanwhile our champion video game so far is Redfall running at 30fps. At this point, there is nothing to say that hasn't been said before by others.

@Kaloudz Depending on how long you have been with Xbox mate, this whole idea that Xbox will one day start firing all its cylinders (or pistons?) and it will be a great time is a promise that has been "coming" since the beginning days of Xbox One and the skepticism is warranted. The acquisitions of the way back then like Ninja Theory and Undead Labs still haven't released a single game. The acquisition of Bethesda is only now starting to bear fruits and the reception towards Redfall has been lukewarm so far. The less said about the drama of ABK the better. Meanwhile, let me bring out our good whipping boy 343 Industries, and how the Xbox mascot Master Chief is in the cryosleep again and Microsoft will wake him when they need him. Gears is supposedly coming someday and basically, Forza has been carrying the brand. Regardless of which way you look at it, the situation is dire.

@Dezzy70 Man, I totally understand your position.

What a garbage headline. Xbox sales are down? Great, the economy is junk worldwide. How does that lead to new hardware needing to be issued? This generation of gaming hasn't even begun, we are still getting Xbox One/PS4 games at a high rate. When are they going to leave behind last gen? should be the real question. NO game has even come close to tapping these new systems hardware, its all last gen games that look last gen at a higher frame rate and a sharper image, wheres the games that take actual advantage of all this new tech? We are 2 and a half years in, and I've seen NOTHING next gen, NOTHING.

@BrilliantBill
It’s a position born out of pure frustration for my once beloved Xbox brand.

@somnambulance

Water isnt wet...

@Scummbuddy yep, I was in a GameStop here in the states last week and they didn’t have any Series Xs still.

At the very least they have a really good idea of what a pro model would entail right now (specs, etc.) It's likely that they are ready to pull the trigger if the industry (sony) takes them into pro model territory. They wouldn't just sit back and let Sony release a more powerful console.

They have an entire division dedicated to researching future console hardware. It would be more surprising if they didn't have multiple working mock ups of new current gen console iterations right now than if they do.

Please for love of all that is holy, stop with this mid-gen upgrade garbage. If wanted to do the PC gaming carousel of buying things, I'd play on PC.

@grumpypotato That is what happens when have tons of different consoles in different stages of price points. Developers are going to develop for lowest common denominator.

@101Force EXACTLY!

@BaldBelper78 Yes. Nadalla is hell bent on pretty much changing Microsoft name to Cloudsoft

@Utena-mobile Thats because it has to begin to be able to peak.

@Scummbuddy stock issues haven’t been a problem in the uk for Xbox consoles for a long while. They’re easy to get hold of…they’ve even been in sales and still left available. The big problem for Xbox in the uk is marketing - non existent.

Hopefully we don’t see pro models. But we’ve dug our own grave there - we supported it last gen. And this gen we’ve gratefully welcomed compromises in the disguise of options as standard…rather than place expectations on these closed platforms being properly optimised for. So unfortunately there’s every chance we’ll again see ‘pro versions’. And given we’ve only a handful of dedicated current gen games available nearly 3yrs into the generation odds are it will be a long enough gen for gamers to ask for a ‘pro pro model’ before the generations out.

Might as well this whole Generation has been a s**t show from both Sony and MS. These machines launched 3 years ago lol

@GuyinPA75 You would have a better gaming experience lol.

@Baler Its a fantastic machine to play old games lol. But yeah it's hard to recommend when a 500 dollar pc would give you a better gaming experience and you still get 1st party games.

@Dezzy70 Same bro

@Banjo I don't think a hand-held is the answer. It needs games, console to be available and some kind of hype.

For whatever reason MS always finds itself with a foot in mouth and s**t on their shoes.

@Banjo- "these KIND of percentages are fairly common for Xbox" the article makes no mention of 80 to 20% also AC Valhalla was reported to have sold 42 percent of sales on PS4, 18 on PS5, and the remaining 40 across all Xbox platforms. The Overall performance of all games may be different with all tallies taken into account however by in large third party titles sell more copies on the PS platform so I fail to see where the article misinforms even if makes for uncomfortable reading.

i no longer trust xbox to deliver 60 fps on consoles or cloud. i'll go pc before buying an upgraded xbox.

I mean if having 2 SKU's to develop for isn't the issue when it comes to optimising Xbox games for launch then I suppose a third one can't hurt.

Redfall jokes aside, Xbox themselves are much more than just their console install base but without regular compelling exclusives, no amount of new hardware is going to improve their console sales

I think the last thing xbox needs is new hardware. The product line is already rather confusing to anyone but enthusiasts and had divided up features in a strange way. People that are more budget conscious get a XSS, but then can't take advantage of low priced disc games and their OGxbox and 360 discs. Have to buy again digital. A digital XSX would have made more sense than the S

No halo no gears of war = low Xbox sales

I'm pretty certain rumours of any new PS hardware are greatly over-stated to get clicks. It makes no sense for them or Xbox to be splitting their market further and giving Devs another headache.
Xbox needs better advertising. It seems crazy to me that they have 70 billion for Activision and yet their advertising campaign seems to rely on paying a few influencers. By and large those people are preaching to the converted and don't raise awareness with the general public.
Despite the value proposition of GP, it seems clear that people don't find the proposition of owning a series X as exciting as owning a PS5 , sales figures from all over the world seem to support this. We can hope that with some key titles arriving this year, and less reluctance from MS about advertising, that this balance will redress itself and the market becomes more balanced. I believe this would be best for gamers.

@Arthur_Morgan The article specifically addresses the UK market. The article uses the 80%/20% figures. The percentages of RE4 that doesn't even have an Xbox One version are extrapolated as "fairly common". Please check all the official UK charts of the last generation and see the Xbox One version ahead of the PS4 version in many occasions for games like Assassin's Creed Origins. I remember them very well because they were reported by gaming sites.

This article is uncomfortable to read but not because what you are assuming because of your prejudice but because it's full of misinformation. I don't care about physical sales anymore because most are digital these days. Series S and PS5D are digital. How can someone writing an article compare RE4 sales and extrapolate the percentages without acknowledging that there is a PS4 version and there isn't an Xbox One version? The article is fully misleading and awkward.

@old-dad Big games launches like Starfield always help, unless people find something else to complain about then. It's not like PS5 has much this year. It's strange that no matter what hyped games (Starfield), great hardware (Series X) and successful subscription service (Game Pass) Xbox has, you read the internet and it's like Xbox is always a failure. Xbox fans are certainly not as loud as Sony's and Nintendo's.

In any case, I guess that Microsoft is not worried because their gaming business includes PC and Cloud. Even if the sell fewer consoles than Sony, it doesn't mean that it's not a successful business for them. Game sales and subscriptions is where the money is. As a gamer, of course, what I want is as many games as possible, the games I like and the best value. This generation the best value is Xbox. No console has all games but normal people don't have time for all games.

I always say that the best games are not on PS because that's subjective. The Last of Us can be a bad game for me because of the mediocre and frustrating gameplay and the best game ever made because of the story, voice acting or whatever they love about it for another person. The best games can be on PS, on Xbox, on Switch or on mobile, depending on the person. On top of that, most people play a couple of games. A friend of mine only plays Sea of Thieves. Some people only play Candy Crash or Mario Kart or FIFA or Call of Duty or GTA. In the sixth generation, I thought that the best console was Gamecube just because of Twilight Princess. I notice a tendency to award cinematic games that I don't like lately. Those are not the best games for me.

I struggle to comprehend what more they can do to improve on the Series X (in particular). Maybe increased head-drive to 2TB or more, but the machine itself is powerful enough as is. Going to 8K would be a pointless addition right now, as TV's that support that are few and far between, particularly at an affordable price. The only thing that I could see Microsoft doing is what the PS5 has already done, and that is to have a digital only version of the Series X. Other than that, the Series X is already a beast, it's games that the Xbox needs...

New hardware can reinvigorate sales slumps but that's the last thing XB needs right now. They already have two target specs for devs, they've released.....after Redfall and Starfield, what, 3 XSXS specific games by then? And to boot pro hardware would then make their cloud service look worse than console, and they want to move people over time away from console and onto cloud. Nothing about that would be a good look, and would all be an echo of Sega releasing new consoles every time their current console sales stagnate which only creates a market perception that you shouldn't buy one, it won't be supported. They're stuck with this hardware for the long haul. Which is fine because they haven't even used it yet.

Right now, I can only see a digital Series X console along with the regular Series X. They don't need more powerful hardware now. A cheaper Series X All-Digital Edition would make sense, like they did with Xbox One S and Sony with PS5 years later.

@Dezzy70 I don’t think it ever mattered. Dorky peripherals add to the whimsy of a console. I had so much fun at uni playing Eyetoy with my housemates. With the PSVR2 its sheer presence just serves to implant the idea in the mind of the consumer that the PS5 is more futuristic than the Xbox and that’s a gained sale.

What Microsoft are missing is any appeal to families. The last time Microsoft bothered with anything aimed at a family audience was the Kinect (which was a lot of fun!). I watch the E3 streams and all I see are more shooters and more zombies. Yay.

What Sony gets is that whilst the average age of a gamer might be 30, consoles sit in the living room and are played on by people of all ages. The PS5 launched with Sackboy’s Adventure, a game I can play with my youngest son and my nephew, aged 10 and 4 respectively. What does Xbox have for those moments?

If Microsoft want to bump sales they should bring back the old style Avatars, remove the need for every user to have a Microsoft account with local user accounts (like the 360 had), maybe get some quick updates of some top older titles out the door like Motorcross Mayhem and Dorito’s Crash Course and bundle them with the Series S with 2 controllers.

@RadioHedgeFund
Totally agree the Xbox360 days and with that buzzer quiz game and Kinect was family fun.
That’s why most of this weekend as been spent with Mario Kart family time fun.
Even in the PS5 you can still play power is knowledge etc linked to your mobile, some good family and friends fun.

No variety of games is making me lose interest in both Series X & PS5. The only games they care about are in the FPS category. My pants haven't been erect for games since 2005.

I would be interested in a handheld Xbox, they could even call it Series H.

@somnambulance

Nope. Water makes things wet. Water itself is not wet.

@somnambulance

Its not me. Its the entire scientific community. A simple google search will give you literally 1000 reputable science sites that will all tell you the same thing. Learn from this or continue making inaccurate statements. Doesn't matter to me.

"Water is not wet because wetness arises from the interaction between a liquid and a solid surface. In other words, wetness is a property that occurs when water or another liquid comes into contact with a solid object."

But like you said, believe whatever you want.