Xbox head Phil Spencer has made a number of appearances on Major Nelson's podcast recently, speaking a little bit more about the brand's plans for the long-term future, including how he excited he is for the so-called "Horizon 3" plans.
The Xbox team breaks down its future plans into "Horizon 1" (immediate future), "Horizon 2" (two-three years away) and "Horizon 3" (up to 10 years away), and they're currently "refilling the pipe" for that latter portion:
"We started a bunch of Horizon 3 things [a few] years ago. [Project] xCloud was one of those, Game Pass was another one... The thing I'm excited about now is we're doing the same thing, we're refilling the pipe. What's our Horizon 3 stuff? What are the things that five or ten years from now, we're going to be so happy that we started today?"
"We've got to be constantly pushing the boundaries of what we're doing, because gamers will always demand more. We've got to be out there investing in that."
Of course, Xbox's initial batch of "Horizon 3" plans turned out to pretty much reinvent the brand following an infamously poor launch period for the Xbox One back in 2013, with Phil Spencer and his team steering the ship around with the introduction of features like Xbox Game Pass, Backwards Compatibility and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
There's no telling what they might be working on next, but we can't wait to find out what Phil has up his sleeve.
What long-term plans do you think Xbox might have in the works? Give us your thoughts below.
[source majornelson.com]
Comments 14
Need to have more than just Halo Forza and Gears
Phil Spencer is doing just an amazing job. Especially with how last generation went. Good to see PlayStation getting some proper competition again.
@Rmg0731 They will and do.
You need to do more to convince anyone you're real
In Phil We Trust.
@Rmg0731 Good job they have Perfect Dark, Elder Scrolls, Starfield, Hellblade, State of Decay, Avowed, RedFall, Fable, etc... Quite a few.
I think xCloud is going to be the future - whether you like it or not and MS will be looking at how to bring that future to the gamer. Game Pass is part of that but bringing Game Pass to more Platforms too must be part of that plan - maybe a Smart TV app or dongle - nothing more than a controller required by the gamer as the games will be played in the cloud.
I think the potential the Cloud offers to game design is unparalleled right now and removes a number of the 'limitations' that local hardware restricts developers. The limited storage, the limited CPU/GPU etc - no way could you fit the Earth on a 'disc' to sell Flight Sim.
They could create a planet, full of life with incredible AI, proper destruction, decay and regrowth etc because its all running in real time in the cloud. Cut a tree down and it dies, decays and new growth sprouts up, wildlife too could have proper life cycles with accurate AI because its all running in the cloud...
I think that's the direction things are going in and MS are at the forefront of that but may well be looking at the infrastructure, the hardware needed in the cloud, hardware/software for the home - inc Displays (what hardware displays 'need' to run Xbox Game Pass app and connect controllers with minimal lag).
Its clear they have invested in Game Studio's for the 'long' term future as we are still waiting to see the fruits of these. Some of these could still be several years before they release a game exclusively for Xbox so that was a 'long' term plan too
@Rmg0731 you will catch a few tempers in here for that one lol
Always good to hear, potentially really exciting stuff.
The obvious thing, more Horizon 1&2 stuff, is integrating Xbox + Game Pass directly into tv's and other devices via the cloud. All you need is a controller.
A few Horizon 3 ideas. Machine learning, AI and the promise of cloud compute. What if the promise of Crackdown 3 was finally realised and we could increase the power of the series S & X via the cloud.
As long as it's not Kinect... 😆
Seriously though, I know people who usually do not game but purchased an Xbox 360 just to play Dance Central.
Maybe they should bring Kinect back with a batch of back-compat titles, just not as a mandatory peripheral. And keep Rare away from it!
@themightyant I think "the power of the cloud" ten years from now means not needing to own a console to have its power increased by the cloud.
In ten years I should be able to play Xbox games from my Kindle through 5g.
@Rmg0731
"I completely agree!!"
-Me, 3 or 4 years ago.
@Magabro Maybe and that sort of thing will undoubtedly be an option, it sorta is right now.
But people have been talking about the death of the console/box for a long time. For those that want the highest fidelity I still think a box will be necessary. By then we will likely be at 8k and/or 120fps. Will the internet infrastructure be able to support this, it's always behind. Currently it's 1080p/60 max and a lower bitrate compressed video etc. compared to 4K/60 or 120fps on console.
I think there will be a place for a box for quite a long time to come for some who want the better option, though if we genuinely don't need one that would be a good thing.
Poor launch communication, price, and hardware wise. Misguided, greedy, and arrogant.
Game wise...Xbox one was making all the right moves. First year had a good few exclusives. And what they showed on the way really did look like a decent step - nothing looked as good as Quantum break imo on PS4 at the time. It's the game that had me get an Xbox one... Unfortunately the games they teased took years to come out (if they ever came out at all) and when they did hit they were revealed to be a lot of smoke and mirrors. Where as PS4 got off to a slow first year but then nothing but persistent quality since then.
Last generation revealed Xbox has a management problem. Started with one...ended with one. Still looks like they may have one - games still getting delayed, still revealed far too early. Phil's a good talking head for Xbox...but I'm still not convinced he's the right guy to be leading Xbox. For all the waves gamepass has made towards the end of the gen...halo needing a year delay, Hellblade and countless other games we know about still years away... Yeah, something's still not quite right there.
need to make all games in the Xbox library cloud enabled . not just most for the game pass library. and creating a fully functional Xbox app for smart tv's is a good start. i see Xbox entering an all cloud gaming future . removing the need for a physical console would save Microsoft and developing studio's money . they could then take that money and put it into making all our games better
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