Xbox's Next Console Will Feature The 'Largest Technical Leap Ever' In A Generation

Great to see Microsoft still invested in Xbox hardware. Very excited to see what they'll come up with.

If it’s such a big leap, I doubt it would be 2026 then as people were suggesting recently.

If the FTC leaks are legit, which based on what Digital Foundry people said they kind of are and makes sense. They plan to use Deep Learning upscaling and AI frame generation plus more advanced raytracing. A fully retraced locked 60fps 4K game sure sounds very possible.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner That one is probably as true as the Halo on PS5 rumours. this year Sony does PS5 Pro, they release an all-digital SX and then in 2027 both show up with new consoles I think.

I think you've got your info wrong. Xbox is dead and it's not gonna keep making consoles. 😂

Right??????????

In terms of pure numbers it will no doubt be the biggest technical leap but the reality is that all the big leaps in gaming happened a long time ago and will never be matched.

My PC isn't far off being 4x the power of a Series X and I wouldn't say its a huge leap over the console, I just get better framerates and good ray tracing. Not to mention the more powerful these get, the longer it seemingly takes to make games for them

I guess that means we aren't getting a XX (pro), cool.

All I really want from the next generation is ending this era of choosing between graphics and FPS options. It is too much to ask that the "biggest leap ever" means we can have games that both look good and play smoothly?

There is very little chance the next gen will be the largest technical leap we have ever seen unless the whole platform is AR or something wild like that. Hope I’m proven wrong but this very much feels like standard MS corporate rubbish.

As long as they use its power to its full potential.

I’m not sure as I’m not a developer but either this current generation is weak ish or developers have not used all its power of the series x and PS5.

However they need to watch development costs, as using all the power of the consoles cost lots in development time and money.

That sounds like AI and ML will be a big part of the next generation to me. Makes sense as that's where PC has been for a little while

This has to be some sort of AI or some other tech mention here. I would guess that the generation gap will be even smaller than the microscopic leap we took from ps4>ps5 xb1>series.

The bottleneck right now is games. They cannot fully utilize the hardware we have without being $500 million dollar, decade long projects. That's where the leap needs to happen, not hardware.

There's no way. It literally cannot be a bigger leap compared to 4th to 5th gen or 5th to 6th gen. Or even 6th to 7th or 3rd to 4th. Video game console generation powers jumps have done nothing but get smaller in the past 25 years. How on earth is that going to change now?

Ok, but I just hope that they have a bunch of games ready for launch, rather than make us wait 2-3 years into the console before we get some quality games.

Taking this statement with a huge grain of salt. I think if anything it’ll be related to streaming and using that to compute instead of the just hardware inside the box. Sort of like how g force now attempts to give you 4090 levels of performance. AI is also going to play a huge part going forward.

So much for pulling out of the hardware market.
Was also mentioned a couple of times that Xbox hardware will remain the best place to play Xbox games on, optimising the hardware. Glad to hear it.

Some users on this site claimed that they were "worried" about the death of Xbox and this site 🤦‍♂️.

I'm happy with my Series X and I'm fine with everything they shared today, because as I expected and had said, the Xbox hardware and the Xbox libraries are safe. Of course, none of them will admit that they were wrong.

Is Microsoft now the biggest publisher in the world? You can't expect a publisher that size to focus on one thing only. They even revealed their next-gen plans and I couldn't like those plans more. I will play on console because I like it more than PC and all multiplatform games that I will play next generation will be on Xbox.

@OldGamer999 There was an interesting bit when they discussed how more developers than ever before are working for Xbox because it includes console, PC and Cloud, all running on the same OS (obviously, Cloud games remotely). Think of Xbox as a PC/Xbox combo. With more raw power on console, everything will be easier, not more expensive.

Define 'technical leap'.

Once you've done that, go back and count how many times you said the words 'creators', 'players' and 'grow'. It was almost as if you are desperate to convince people it will grow. Just like when you said 'TV' a gajillion times when launching the XBone.

Just start off by releasing at least 5 non-Forza games that are genuinely worthy of 85+ metacritic scores. Show us that, after 10 years of false hope and empty release schedules, you are actually still capable of producing great games.

The technology is not in the pipeline to do that natively, and platform holders depend largely on chip makers for these advances. So, unless they have made secret leaps in their quantum computing field (which they wouldn’t waste on games consoles yet), this just means the “power of the cloud” (again). Which is something she kept banging on about today. I can’t believe, as others have suggesting, it has to do with upscaling tech, that doesn’t count as a giant leap.

@HammerKirby The biggest leap in that sense would be from the fifth to the sixth in my opinion, but those are our different perceptions and what do we think it was the greatest leap in terms of graphics. The way she described it was from a technical point of view, difference in raw numbers. Basically saying that the next Xbox will be a beast, that's all. You'll never feel what you felt when you played a Gamecube game for the first time regarding graphics, e.g., Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Sunshine, etc.

@Banjo-
Well I hope it is, but seeing this generation so far I don’t think the consoles have used their full power and with the cost of massive AAA games to take full advantage of that power keeps going up.

@OldGamer999 I agree, Series X and PS5 haven't given the best of them, but maybe next generation there is no need to choose between ray tracing, quality mode, frame rate mode, etc. The best thing about the current generation, in my opinion, is that 60fps is the standard compared to last generation when 30fps seemed to be the rule. There are many other things that I love such as Quick Resume, Dolby Vision and short loading times, but 60fps is the best that this generation has given me, even with older games, e.g., Sea of Thieves was 4K and 30fps on Xbox One X. Last generation, 30fps was my biggest complaint.

@Banjo-
I agree 60fps is the god this generation, I didn’t play Redfall until it went 60fps and what a difference it makes.
However you have a point but sacrifices are made to get the 60fps, graphics wise.
When I see top PC say run Avatar I wish these consoles had that power.
Already to me these consoles seem weak.

@OldGamer999 Hopefully, next generation we won't have to choose. Yes, they could put in more graphical nonsense and make games run 30fps again, but nobody would accept that in a few years or so I hope. I would have preferred to play Sea of Thieves in 1080p 60fps on Xbox One X, but last-gen CPUs were all ancient and a bottleneck, so don't complain about the current-gen chips 🤣.

If it isn't shaped like an X or has a X shape be the main design of it will be the 5 Xbox console that isn't an X box. Stupid request I know but atleast the competition is sticking to what their consoles are named. The the switch can indeed switch and the PlayStation still matches its titles as its a station that can be used to play media. Surely it can't be too difficult to create something that has a X on it without including the logo or power button.

@HammerKirby that was my first thought as every generational leap has diminished…

My second thought was are they gonna announce next gen already? Like this year?! Seems way too early…

So I’ll need to buy a new tv too…

@Banjo-
I play Switch the most and there is me going on about this generation being weak.
But I think it’s more than that, this generation is so so so the same as the last almost with a tiny tiny nudge in a little direction.
Almost rinse and repeat for me, like if I play a very good graphical last generation game, it’s like this still holds up even after over three years of this generation. Admittedly I have a top end tv that probably helps a bit, but there is not really that much difference, that makes you go wow.

@OldGamer999 Dolby Vision on LG OLED is what impressed me the most this generation regarding graphics.

@datamonkey They said that they were announcing new hardware this year and then mentioned the next-gen plans as a separate thing, so it's either the Series X All-Digital Edition or a handheld Xbox what will be formally announced this year.

8K, power, streaming, subscriptions, not really that interested. 8K on the PS5 box, I think is on the Series X box. Where is it? No Indies do other than the Tourist the said it would but whether Shinien actually did. They make so many smaller scale games like Fast Racing or Art of Balance I don't see it really.

They can say a bunch of things to sound impressive but till we see it or actually make us care why should I or anyone else about more power. Who cares about hype if we actually think and go, so what this or this has or hasn't been achieved.

Reach and a console to fill in the space for Xbox console owners then mobile/PC/TV apps for Gamepass will be there. Anyone into back compat, digital storefront (apps and games) or using a console will keep getting one/using one.

They need games with more creativity for me to care first I have two smart delivery titles, the rest are old Xbox One or back compat old. Certain genres too. But eh trends.

Customers making it clear what sells and what doesn't. RIP Aveum. I was interested in you, did support you but man talk about too expensive, a veteran Indie studio trying to return and too hard, asking for too much (Judas learn from this to stand out or compete with Bioshock 4, same as Callisto) and a game too different when Indie WW1 or modern shooters exist alongside COD, BF and more. IP and theming. Modes. Whether a new BF Hardline/SWAT style game if one did happen for example than the fantasy scifi of Aveum and to find another non-military shooter angle. Indies may but big studios doubt it. Anything not trending for shooters shows the genre is too focused and it's why I don't care for any of them. I dropped off the genre in the modern sense and went for the older shooters from 5-7th gen. One offs or well known IPs older series entries.

Outriders and Crackdown 3 are fine games, not much for me though. Enjoying my time with them though starting this year.

All multiplayer focused shooters yet I'm playing none of them. Bright Memory Infinite is an Indie oddity of singleplayer but that's the thing not any big studios will do that or succeed by that level of support from it.

If the staff want too much and won't scale/go back up that's on them. 720p sure but I mean too much garbage of ray tracing and this and that or not used to the engine. How early are some games or not refined or whatever possibility so more power means nothing if they don't even make games suitable. So 4K 120/60/30 sure but the worlds, the RAM/CPU/GPU, they can increase it but who cares if the scale is a too much or too complex and messy, cutscenes so wasted.

Others made smaller titles to test the waters (they also fill out release periods for gamers to buy them any little bit counts or new audiences wanting theming wise something different to get some little games), some trending (Song of the Deep metroidvania, Gamestop publishing, don't think sold well or marketed well), some not (no idea if Pentiment is I guess in a adventure/walking sim kind of way, story telling of it's sort). Or DLCs with roguelike modes we saw of the PlayStation big games doing it. Bayonetta Origins may be different but even as a fan of the series and didn't like 3, Origins is different but fixed things while also just being a fair prequel and new audience appealing probably like Song of the Deep, a more family friendly adventure. Tiny Tina was more toned down Borderlands and fantasy it's still a big game but still audience focus.

VR hmm, studios want a lot of money and 'all games must sell' what a joke or the tests/experiments with PSVR1 or other headsets they dropped off quick after gauging numbers there. Zombi U, hold back Rayman Legends, different audience but whatever idiots, AC Nexus not enough sales when it's one of the biggest VR userbases Ubisoft you stupid.

At least Square didn't complain with FF16, but they have Front Mission 1st Remake (that barely got advertised and Square has so many projects and wastes money on them probably, I bought up their 2022 games in 2023 NEW and cheap) handed off to a shovelware or not as well loved EU Indie publisher. Gear Club Unlimited 2 was good but I don't know enough about what else Microids publishes.

The industry is just weird. It's trends/licensed IPs, nostalgic Indies (or unique Indies) or just oddities if possible of starting a new trend at the right time or Indies that do their own thing and stand out.

Gamepass can do with third party particular hits sure.

PS3/360 we saw big and Indies do 1080p, some 1080i on PS2/Xbox even.

To me a handheld Xbox doesn't make a lot of sense. They had a streaming box, that would have competed with PS Portal, sure not remote play or a handheld but either way. It's not like Wii U, Vita remote play/Playlink for PS4 games with smartphones or SmartGlass were all the same method they all had the same goal though.

They could but a Digital Series X seems more likely. Sigh. Streaming future sigh here we come.

Having 8K, Dolby Vision and more I mean eh. I just don't care for it personally. The creativity needs to be there.

I don't want consoles to be phones we throw out quickly every few years keeping them to 6-7 or if unsuccessful 4-5 if they have to. Or as far as they see it being possible of support but still console production for as long (Wii U/Vita had production of disks/consoles for a while just differing support from studios).

They can push 'power' but if the games aren't exciting, or still taking too long to come out from many studios due to their scale, the staff varying in skill level and more factors.

@Banjo-
I’m sure the Xbox one x was doing Dolby atmos and Dolby vision. Last generation there.
Don’t forget there are hardly any games coded in full real Dolby Vision meta data like 4K films.
It’s mainly fake Dolby vision running standard HDR from the games HDR coding, so it’s static HDR really.

@Fenbops yeah I can deffo see it being a hybrid between on device and cloud processing

@OldGamer999 Well, they certainly look better than Tears of the Kingdom whose graphics and frame rate shocked me 😜. For instance, Resident Evil Village on Series X. As a huge Resident Evil fan I disliked it, but the graphics really impressed me, especially with Dolby Vision on, even though I had Xbox One X and the C9 last gen, with a Series X and a C1 (and the C9 elsewhere) this gen. Flight Simulator also impressed me very much.

Hopefully it isn't a third console to make Xbox even more convoluted this generation.

@HammerKirby Sarah Bond could have meant cumulatively. The next box will have much higher native compute no doubt. Xbox could also leverage cloud computing, AI, new controller technology, portability, etc. Maybe even VR or AR. In those way ways it could prove to be a larger technological leap.

Consider the leap we've had in recent years with DLSS1-3, DLSS, frame generation, GPT-4...

If we are speaking pure CPU cycles, IPC, TFLOPS, and RAM, then the next Xbox would have to have a greater leap than OG to 360.

@theduckofdeath I think it’s most likely that they’re referencing AI and cloud capabilities rather than raw compute power.

Sony stated recently that they’re struggling to get the same returns on the ps5 compared to previous generations as the cost savings just aren’t there, despite being years into the console’s lifecycle. Unless Microsoft are planning on a $1k machine I don’t see how they can make it affordable from a compute power perspective.

Technologies such as ai upscaling, frame generation and cloud compute would enable it to achieve an equivalent performance of a raw computational system significantly more powerful than that currently available at a relative price point.

It will be interesting to see what sort of machine Xbox release as a successor to the series x/s. Microsoft were rumoured to have been in discussions with both Nvidia and intel in addition to AMD regarding SoC manufacturing.

The switch 2 is said to have a custom Nvidia chipset that uses dlss and may also have frame gen features. I’d quite like to see what Nvidia could bring to Xbox regarding their AI technologies - they’re a full generation ahead of AMD with their ray tracing capabilities, and leading in upscaling and frame gen tech thanks to their tensor cores.

@carlos82 I mean, consoles essentially hold PC gaming back. The PS5 is the lead platform, so most developers use that as their base and then scale up from there.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. Microsoft is in a position where it can really push hardware further than Sony can at a bigger loss (since Microsoft essentially prints money for existing) and hopefully make it back in software sales and Microsoft just being Microsoft.

No doubt I am sure developers would love a closer match to mainstream PC specs, but if Sony still takes a commanding lead, developers will still target that system.

Microsoft needs to make a bold move with the next system. If it could make it more of a PC-space (where it can run not only Microsoft Store games but also Steam, GOG, Epic, etc) and still support previous generation games, that would be a huge advantage! It could then run both Xbox exclusives AND Sony games (unless Sony somehow tells Steam that Nextbox is blocked from being allowed to download their games).

But it would be a pretty funny loophole to essentially get the competition's games on your console if they won't do it themselves. 🤣

@GamingFan4Lyf You just reminded me that Sony even blocks Edge on Xbox! But yes, it would be funny if the next Xbox also plays Windows games including Sony games that Sony tries to keep away from Xbox. Steam, Epic and GOG are shops that sell Windows games. They just need to sign an agreement to allow Steam, Epic and GOG accounts on Xbox.

Like this current one?

The main takeaway from this comment (as ridiculous as it is) is that xbox is still aiming to have the most powerful console on the market. This should ease the concerns people had about them shifting away from consoles.

Don't be surprised if xbox has a console that is more expensive than what we are used to for the flagship consoles and more expensive than whatever playstation is offering. Then another more budget console for people not looking to make the Tim the Toolman grunts when they boot up the powerhouse. Fingers crossed the budget one is dockable handheld like rumored.

Every console vendor over hypes the next generation of consoles. PS3 was supposed to be an HD console but very few games and no AAA games ever shipped in HD. Both XBO and PS4 first iterations talked up 4K gaming but neither really got there until the Pro versions came out. XB Series and PS5 have bragged about the greatness of this generation but up until late this last year all the same games were shipping on the previous gen consoles as well.

Yada, yada, yada, when the next gen comes out I will buy it, but I don't expect it to be much different in leap then previous gens. I do expect the addition of AI though which could be a game changer.

I'm struggling to see how this claim could be anything besides hyperbole. We're obviously not going to see a huge leap in subjective fidelity, considering how good today's games already look, but even on the technical side, the 6th gen (original Xbox, etc.) was a massive leap over the 5th (by what, 50-100x?), and has never been matched since.

I guess they could go, "Our new system will be 20 teraflops, and that's an 8TF increase over the Series X. There has never been an 8TF jump before!", but that's the dumbest way to look at it, as that'd only be a 67% improvement- arguably the smallest generation leap in the history of gaming.

Ridiculous claims aside, it's good to see them still taking the console market seriously- keeping the "box" in "Xbox".

@NeoRatt ironically 7th generation was still the biggest leap in gaming of all time in every aspect. even more than the n64.

the OG PS3 was well worth its price - bluray player with bluray games, AV and HDMI support, packed in wireless rechargeable controller with gyro, built in wifi connectivity, spacious harddrive, memory card slots with native BC allowing it to play 3 generations of games in one, the first all-in-one media machine, 4 usb ports - all of this in 2006 is pretty freakin next gen

When you see what an RTX 4090 can do on PC bold statements like this do start to make sense. The upcoming RTX 5090 will further widen the gap with current consoles.

Problem for Microsoft is that AMD are behind the curve on these technologies compared to Nvidia. The other problem for Microsoft is that Sony will have access to the exact same technologies too so they will have to get creative to successfully differentiate their hardware.

It feels like once a console becomes more powerful than PS3/360/Switch, more power makes a game library worse. Like with Xbox the 360 lineup is better than the XB1 lineup which is better than the Series X|S lineup.

Whether that ends up true for Nintendo is yet to be seen as Switch's successor hasn't even been announced but for the others it's true.

@Banjo- ah ok thanks I missed those details!

@nomither6
I agree completely. The last two generations have been somewhat disappointing in my view in comparison. XBO/PS4 were for the most part graphical and framerate leaps forward and that was not even fully realized until the Pros came out. PS5/XB Series the leap forward was in drive performance and size of games. To me that has not been all the great yet though because the developers have only started making games that are next gen only.

@NeoRatt we’re at a point of diminishing returns.

Absolute hogwash! Changes between generations are becoming more marginal than ever... I'll believe it when I see it.

@nomither6
I do think we are at a point of diminishing returns for many parts of games such as graphics, sound, physics, etc. But there are many other places of improvement to come. More intelligent baddies thru AI, more interactivity with the world in games, broader game worlds, etc.

I like to describe it as the games don't look better, they will feel better. That can be evidenced with frame rates. 30 fps is all the human eye can see, but 60 fps games feel a lot better, you can really see a visual difference. The game just feels smoother.

@NeoRatt disagree about framerates - 60fps is definitely noticeable , like , very noticeable. just switching from 30fps to 60fps with my iphone camera is night & day. the human eye can see more than 30, trust me - if you woke up one day seeing at 30fps you’d be phoning your doctor quick fast . good luck even driving to their office at 30fps 😂😂

MS cloud strategy is a non starter for lots of people. Unless you live in a big city with giga broadband then cloud will not work well. All the talk of apps for platforms instead of consoles in the future is just rubbish. If you want to still grow the gaming industry large growth areas such as india and south america have underdeveloped internet structure. Large citys in the developed world with fast internet will quickly reach gamer saturation for sub services but whole demographs will be left unable to play which i am sure Phil would hate. I live in the uk have xbox game pass ultimate i use it as much as possible my ps 5 now gathers dust at the moment. Game pass is awesome value, but downloading games takes hours on a 70mbps connection (my ps5 games are on disc so installs are a bit faster barring updates). If downloads are bad for me, streaming on my connection is a stutterfest with horrendous screen tearing.

What i am getting at is everyone is so keen to ditch the hardware for a utopia off amazing games over a internet connection. We can do digital downloads for most people world wide ( to varying time to download) but the chances of a inclusive world wide interntet infastructure that will allow all of us to play via streaming in 10 years time is unrealistic at best.

I am for for MS strategy to have straming and cloud as a extra not an essential. How would cloud based ai powered next gen xbox work for those with a poor connection? It would force users to go to playstation if they dont use cloud ai, or be left behind on there xbox series consoles. If Phil and Xbox wants to make sure that "if every one plays we all win" then consoles will be around to stay for ablong time to come.