Today's Xbox roundtable brought us news on the next generation of Xbox, but what about hardware plans for the here and now? While the standard Xbox Series X and S consoles are still Microsoft's 'new' gaming machines, the team appears to have plans for some sort of Xbox hardware refresh later this year.
Again speaking on the Official Xbox Podcast, Microsoft's Sarah Bond announced that the team has hardware plans for Holiday 2024. Now, it's not 100% clear whether Xbox will announce new hardware during that time or release it - but we're leaning towards the latter. Here's what Sarah had to say:
"So we're giving them [developers] an easy way to access as many players as possible. And we actually have more creators right now building for Xbox than ever before, thousands of them, by nature of those investments. And we got more to come.
There's some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we're going to share this holiday."
A big reason we're leaning towards this launching in late 2024 is because of more comments via The Verge. The outlet's Tom Warren casually mentioned "new console and controller options are coming this holiday" in a question posed to Phil Spencer - and the Xbox boss didn't deny what Tom said. Tom's mention of this hardware was tucked into a question about last year's FTC leaks, which Phil laughed about - sarcastically responding that he "doesn't know about any leaks". Cheeky!
Whether or not those leaks are still accurate remains to be seen - but they did mention both a console and a controller refresh for 2024. We'll have to wait for later in the year to have all of this confirmed, but for now, feel free to read up on those leaked hardware plans down below.
Are you expecting a Series X refresh to land later this year? Talk all about it down in the comments.
[source news.xbox.com]
Comments 17
The 2TB digital-only Series X refresh from the leaked court documents or a PS5 Pro competitor? I guess the former is looking significantly more likely, but I personally hope for the latter.
They are bringing out new consoles sooner and sooner it seems. I am still happy with my Series X and don't feel that I need a new console anytime soon.
Please don't tell me we have to wait until then for the new controller revision.
With all the leaks around an Xbox portable (and Philly Spence liking tweets about it), that seems like a safe bet.
That and the Dualsense-esque Xbox controller.
I don't think that it will be a "Pro" console, but do we know for sure if a PS5 Pro exists and when it will launch? No. I guess it's Series X All-Digital Edition, but it would be awesome if there was an Xbox handheld in the works. I almost bought a Steam Deck and I almost bought a Rog Ally, but with Microsoft owning the hardware, Windows OS, Xbox and Game Pass, an Xbox handheld is no-brainer. Even more today that they talked about more screens to play on. I don't know what are they waiting for.
@InterceptorAlpha I really really hope not. That was rumored for May 2024. I hope that is still the case and then they can just package it in with the console after. I am hoping it’s a big improvement and makes it a lot more quiet. Not as quite as all the PS fans thinking they were getting Gears, Halo and Forza today. But still less clicky noise.
@InterceptorAlpha agreed. First thing I thought was a new controller revision. I’d prefer not to wait until the end of the year.
I'd like a portable Xbox but only if it can run games locally and not just on the cloud.
@DesertRanger My worry about an Xbox handheld is that is "just" a Windows-powered handheld. Theres already a bunch of them, I want something that will play my actual Xbox library.
New console ! They still haven't given us anything that resembles next gen, and I mean both xbox and ps5 , remember when they really pushed consoles to there limits, xbox seems to be happy with crappy indie games on game pass , and ps5 with remasters , thank god for 3rd party.
@abe_hikura that would sell like hot cakes, why can't they make one that takes discs
@ParsnipHero well it needs one to be fair , the dual sense is far better
Juicy indeed. Can't wait to see if I should upgrade.
i want games, where is the 1st quarter xbox game for gp? am i the only one asking this?
@abe_hikura
All XB is, is a Windows PC with a TV friendly user interface. That is why MS is able to ship all its games on XB and PC at the same time. They have mostly the same base OS.
I would suspect an XB portable would have a similar interface more to the XB console then a Windows PC. Hence calling it XB rather than a MS Surface Windows mobile gaming PC.
If xCloud / Xbox Cloud Gaming were accessible through something like a dedicated RetroArch "core" it would bring modern gaming to a ton of people who would otherwise only be able to retrogame on cheap PCs and SBCs like the Raspberry Pi...
I know many people want a Xbox handheld, but I honestly don't know how such a device could be viable. To make this work, it should at least be as powerful as the Series S, which would drain the battery in no time. Alternatively, the handheld could be weaker than the Series S, which opens up a third performance budget developers had to cater to.
First issue, the Series-S-is-holding-everything-back-crowd would go nuts over this new thing - this includes some inapt developers, spewing false claims. Second issue, developers who know what there are doing would then ask themselves whether it is financially feasible to go back and port their older titles to this new platform. I doubt many would do it. What's left? Game streaming, which is, as of yet, not very prevalent. Looking at the PS Portal this tactic doesn't hold much potential.
So, how would you make this work? How do you prevent it from becoming a dud? The only time this might work is at the beginning of a new console generation, so that the device is immediately in the loop regarding new games (like with the Series S). And even then the selection of older titles would be limited, due to the probably weaker setup of a handheld, and missing backports.
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