A couple of months ago, you may recall that Xbox's Sarah Bond appeared on the Official Xbox Podcast and claimed that the next generation of Xbox would feature the "largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation".
This attracted a lot of attention for obvious reasons, although there was a bit of skepticism about whether Bond might have accidentally stated something that seemed beyond the realms of possibility. It certainly wasn't a mistake though, as Bond doubled down on these plans in a message to employees just recently:
"We are moving full speed ahead on our next generation hardware, focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation."
That quote comes from a report by Windows Central, and Microsoft confirmed the correspondence was genuine. Bond did also talk about a few other topics, such as Xbox's recent achievements, and innovations in Gaming AI.
When you think of how big some of the leaps have been from generation-to-generation in the past, Xbox clearly seems extremely confident with whatever it's building right now. We're ready to be blown away when this new hardware arrives!
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know down in the comments section below.
[source windowscentral.com]
Comments 71
Let's hope so. Microsoft needs to show it's commitment to Xbox hardware or it's going to wither and possibly die.
Well biggest leap has been from One X to Series X, a 6TF increase in GPU and heavy increase in CPU capability. Are we looking at a Zen 5 machine with ~20TF GPU?
Each generation we get this crap and we all know with each generation we are getting more to the point of diminishing returns, simple as that.
You will never ever have a generation leap like from the 2d to 3d era. Say SNES to N64.
MS never seem to learn their lesson about overhyping stuff. It would be so much cooler if they just blew everyone away with a surprise reveal. Instead they spend years telling us how great something is going to be and most of the time it doesn’t live up to expectations.
Well considering some of the historical leaps we've seen I think this is a bit of hyperbole. There's been very little noticeable difference from this generation from the past one really. Particularly when so many games are on previous gen consoles too. Unless you put them side by side it's hard for the untrained eye to tell the difference.
The tech leap probably means something around cloud based things would be my guess.
Most gamers would probably agree the biggest tech leap was from snes to n64/ps. 2d to 3d.
There’s not much else that can be such a big leap unless it’s around something smaller like audio.
They said this about the Series X too and look at where we’re at there. It can be the biggest leap in hardware ability, sure, but that means nothing if it doesn’t have the games to make it the console of choice. They should work on fixing the current generation before bragging about next.
@Braindeed
technological leap, not power leap
@PsBoxSwitchOwner
It's going to have actual living brain tissue...
@Murray oh good point.
But what does that even mean. If they still fail to market it - in the UK, I cannot remember seeing an advert on TV for the Series X/S at all in 4 years!
Will it be such a leap that makes it harder for devs to make cross platform games?
She is saying this in an almost desperate bid to build up rumours and interest but surely it’s too soon. Unless that next gen hardware is coming in 2025.
I wish Xbox would stop taking in riddles and just cut to the chase.
Its good that Xbox are talking about next gen so we all know there´ll be a next gen Xbox but honestly if they dont get their first party developers to consistently start releasing some great games that are best played on Xbox/GamePass I dont think it will matter much what the next Xbox is
And I bet it still won't do 4K / 60Hz
@BaldBelper78 agreed, also living in the UK it doesn't matter what xbox make, every games store in the UK is 70% floorspace for PS, 20% for Switch and at most 2% xbox (the rest being stupid toys!!)... if nobody knows the console exists, xbox doesn't have a marketing presence, and stores don't promote it either, there will be no difference next generation.
for all the hype of xbox games finally about to arrive too, so far this year (we are into Q2 now) and still nothing yet. PS had FF, helldivers and more.
Why do I always buy the betamax/BSB squarial/sega saturn underdog haha...
XBOX Neural LINK. ?
At this point I just can't care about Next Gen, this gen just hasn't got going which would be fine if the X1 wasn't also a holding pattern.
games.
Games
GAMES!
Just doubling the Series X to 24Tflop for example would be the biggest leap as NO console hardware has jumped up by 12TF in a single generation. Even if you look at the XB1S with it's 1.4TF to 12TF in the Series X, that was only a 10.6TF jump so arguably would be beaten by a 12TF jump.
But if you look at the 360 to XB1, you had about a 7x jump up in GPU which in relative terms represents a 'bigger' leap up despite it only being a bit more than 1TF. Jumping from a XB1X to Series X had a 6TF 'jump', so despite being 7x larger than the 1TF jump from 360 to XB1S, that was only a 2x jump up despite jumping up by a much larger amount.
This could easily be misleading as NO console could have jumped up by 12TF+ in the past - therefore the 'biggest' leap. However, customers could expect a 7x or 8x jump (85-100TF) to get the biggest 'relative' jump up they believe this statement means. Largest jump could just mean that no other hardware has increased by such numbers (12TF+ for example) in the past rather than meaning a 8x or 10x 'leap' we maybe expecting...
Every beginning of a new gen we get expectations that are never met. 4K 60FPS … , 4K 60 FPS WITH RT , 4K 120 FPS , 8K 60FPS and such and within 1,5 year into that generation we all see that those things will never happen in this Gen. So we can safely say that the next gen will deliver what MS “promised” for this gen.
They've got something weird baking.
@GeeEssEff I don’t think they have much of a choice at this point given they chose the multiplatform option.
So the teasing seems targeted at trying to convince people that it’s worthwhile investing in the Xbox ecosystem even in the absence of exclusives.
That's if Microsoft hasn't spooked 3rd party devs into questioning there commitment to support there next gen console with there current strategy. As was hoping they'd push harder to cut the absence of certain 3rd party games. But lately I just need reassurance. Who were on board don't abandon ship next gen.
Microsoft badly need to advertise there products. Aggressive pricing. But again it's all for nothing if consumers & publishers abandon ship.
One thing for sure is it's going to be mighty expensive when it eventually comes
@Grumblevolcano I don’t think any exclusives will be coming day and date. It would be like a year later. And they’re also available day one on GamePass, which is a huge reason for me and many other Xbox gamers to want to play on Xbox. Why wait longer and play $70 a pop?
@Ricky-Spanish once the scalpers get them all, yes
I think the choice in wording here is quite deliberate - biggest “technological” leap. I don’t think we’ll be getting something that dwarfs the raw compute power of the series x, rather a system that goes all in on the use of AI and cloud technologies to leverage performance gains.
Chasing raw performance is not as easy as it once was - higher compute power now requires bigger chips with higher power draw which generate more heat and require more sophisticated and larger cooling solutions. All of these things result in higher costs for the producer and lower margins.
It makes far more sense for Microsoft to deliver a next generation system that augments its compute power with other technologies such as AI and the cloud to deliver a result that is close to that of a machine with higher raw power. For example, nvidia’s dlss technology can achieve image quality and frame rates of a significantly more powerful system using AI upscaling and frame generation. This comes at the cost of some image artifacting and increased latency - however, for the mass market casual gamer on console, these costs would be largely imperceptible.
Are they taking a leaf out of the Ubisoft playbook (AAAA Skull & Bones, anyone?)? The amount of times we have seen Microsoft over-promise and then significantly under deliver, you would think by now that they would know to simply allow the product do the talking for them. We only have to look at the way they have hyped games such as Starfield (which may be a completely serviceable game, but it barely garnered any Game of the Year nominations, and didn't win when it was nominated) to be left with the notion that they really need to dial back the rhetoric.
By all means, when the device is ready, release the specs, and let the techies pick it apart and tell us what we have in store. Promising such innovations is only ever likely to end in disappointment for some, and if it isn't a better machine that the PS6, Xbox will be a laughing stock, and it will be a problem of their own making due to comments such as these.
I really, really want Xbox to succeed, but I simply don't understand the need to say such things. If the device is that good, it will quickly earn its own reputation...
@Grumblevolcano Yep I agree with that to some extent but I think they could have the desired effect just by confirming that they are 100% going to still be releasing future gen hardware which they did already. It’s pretty much a given that the next Xbox will be the most powerful hardware available as it has been for the past two generations so either tell us what is going to be so great about this new console so we know why we should be hyped or shut up till it’s ready to show. With the amount of times they have made promises like this that they haven’t delivered on this gen I can’t see it making a blind bit of difference to most people’s hardware choices. The Xbox players are going to continue Xboxing, the PS players will continue playstationing and the Switch players Switching. In my mind all they are doing is setting themselves up for the usual eye rolls when they release something that, in actual fact, is not the best thing since sliced bread that revolutionises gaming.
It would be cool if I’m wrong but I lost all my trust in the Xbox hype train after the mediocre run of Redfall, Starfield and Forza Motorsport and the June 2022 “everything you see here will release in the next 12 months” showcase.
@awp69 I disagree, I think at some point in time it’ll be day and date just like what happened for PC. They’ll see the big money from shorter gaps until there is no gap.
As for your other point, the whole situation is pretty much that dependent on what people invest in the Xbox ecosystem for will decide how Microsoft’s multiplatform experiment turns out.
@GeeEssEff I think it’s to do with the news cycle, the kind of news which came after the February podcast was:
Combined with that currently the only XGS release this year before Fall is Hellblade 2 next month (which is already getting blasted for not being 60fps), I can understand the strategy for hyping up next gen to try and focus the news cycle away from stuff that can be interpreted as the end of the Xbox platform incoming.
@awp69 A lot of gamers have backlogs so large, that waiting a year for a game to come to their console doesn’t sound bad at all.
@jFug Still like getting all of them day one on GamePass personally. That’ll continue to be the biggest draw for me.
well ps5 pro is going to be 30+ teraflops
so the next console after the 12 teraflops series X will have to be a beast
@Dimey Totally this. They don’t market so nothing sells. Their marketing teams must have the easiest job on the planet. Literally do nothing, at all. Ever. Madness
I still doubt this claim. There’s no way they can release something ridiculously powerful without a ridiculous price also. Something has to give.
@trev666 30+ TF and still looks unexciting.
This generation never started though, what’s the point of hyping the next?
I’ve completely lost faith in the Xbox’s x brand and will probably move over to PlayStation.
I have a series x and have barely used it
Recently bought a steam deck and absolutely love it
@Grumblevolcano thats strange i just booted up my PS5 and i didn’t see Halo Gears or Forza on there. Silly me but i guess i need to turn on my Xbox to play those. Joking aside we still don’t know what exclusives will or won’t come to PS and we for sure don’t know what benefits this new gen console will bring to games.
Please say they are going back to Intel and NVIDA. AMD is trash with machine learning and AI. Let Sony and AMD play with that tech and jump back into the real power. That alone would make them more powerful and explain the comment about the team making sure games work well on next gen Xbox’s.
If we're just talking about higher resolution, faster SSD and more teraflops then I doubt many people will be blown away.
I think it would be much more interesting for Microsoft to utilise its massive AI knowledge to do the heavy lifting for developers. It could massively reduce the time and cost it takes to produce a AAA game. Or give indie devs the opportunity of a level playing field in creating large scale projects.
It could even be used to optimise games on the fly or create an infinite number of story branches.
A more far fetched use could be using AI to replicate previous Xbox generations so that all games become backwards compatible.
Pretty sure a full-on PC integrated into an efficient console box with built in support for 4 different prior generations of console architecture would count as a pretty significant technology leap in the console gaming space. No one's ever done that to date.
@GrandValkyrie it'll be fine, scalpers only go after popular things 😜
YouTubers and Game sites are scoffing at this and not stopping to think, as usual. Bond said the largest "technological" leap, not discernable graphical leap. What technological advances have ramped up in the last 5-10 years?
AI (NPUs doing into PCs as we speak). MS invested $10 billion into Open.AI, and billions more into their company and others.
AI supersampling effects.
Frame generation.
Ray-tracing.
Noise reduction for ray-tracing.
More TFLOPS and way more TOPS.
Even faster load times (a given)
A new controller (Will they ditch analog sticks after 27 years?)
A separate SKU for portable Xbox (possible PC-hybrid).
Bringing MILO back (LOL j/k...but they could do it for real this time)
yes of course everyone will think the leap to be graphical. but how far can you go, to be honest I don't want my games to look like real life.
Games should look like games.
from the past the best leaps where from the 8 bit era to the 16 bit ,
playing on your humble spectrum or Atari 2600 to having a Atari ST , Amiga or Megadrive was a leap.
Next would put the 32 bit era to the Dreamcast and PS2,OG Xbox as a great leap as higher resolution graphics made everything look wow.
The 7th gen was a epic leap as effects in games got major overhauls, water looked real , games became bigger generally, and Nintendo got us all jumping about.
but since the 7th Gen i don't think the leap has been all that great.
yeah we got seamless transitions in gaming. the odd new upgraded effect. shadows and reflections improved.
I still wonder why i got my Series X WHEN I HAVE A CAPABLE Xbox one. Bar having a few, very few i might add Series X only playable games.
Yes maybe they should have knocked the cross gen games a year after this generation came out.
but many new games are still cross gen.
So we will never get to see what the likes of these new consoles before the next gen is upon us.
what would i like to see for the next gen!
1) well a console with a Disc drive is a must, especially for back compatibility
2) a New bigger compacity blue ray or type of disc. 200gb minimum
3)decent storage at launch. 4TB minimum
4)AI improved games with voice control and commands as well as having full blown conversations with in game NPCs
5)Cleaner dashboard options, i have the console , you don't need to sell to me by showing me adverts all the time.
6)Don't be stingy on USB ports.
7)A cool design. transparent with LEDs, or featuring a embossed case with all the Xbox game characters like Master Chief , ect
8)Advertise the thing , feature at large events. NOT just in the USA , but across the world. let people know XBOX has arrived.
9) Priority pre-order for all Series X S owners registered on Xbox
10) Give it some colour.
I await this XBOX , where do i pick up my cheque?
Maybe now some of the sky is falling "fans" can take a breath and relax. 😂
@HonestHick We don’t know specifics but I would say that if it did end up being that multiplatform as a whole was smaller scale, their messaging on the matter was poor.
Xbox havent shown enough commitment to their latest console. If they want their next console to be a succes, they have to step up their game.
What if they release a console whose AI auto-fixes Bethesda releases before the modders do?
@Grumblevolcano To be fair their messaging said 4 games, was explicit about only 4 games, and said they'd see about others. They left it vague on purpose but they also never indicated 100% was ever the goal. The Internet pundits simply decided that was so and ran with it until it became accepted Truth. Just like politics.
What Microsoft CONTINUOUSLY does wrong though it's let's the rumors fester and doesn't get out in front of them. That's all on them.
@KITG_Group_BrunoB "4)AI improved games with voice control and commands as well as having full blown conversations with in game NPCs"
I think this one is controversial and will be limited because it needs to be optional unless it's a gimmick game built on it. For the same reasons switch and ps portal are popular and the pending Xbox handheld may be, and the reason VR isn't, a lot of people play with other people in the room and those other people don't want to listen to your having conversations with yourself for hours.
"9) Priority pre-order for all Series X S owners registered on Xbox". Yes, I agree with this one! But not limit one per household if there's multiple Xbox players with existing consoles. Ms got this right last time with the invite system unlike other companies so there's hope.
Good to hear. Personally I’m sceptical about how big the leap will actually be but they’re clearly planning on releasing new hardware, despite some of the bizarre claims elsewhere that they’re leaving the hardware business.
@Grumblevolcano
Buying a Sony or Nintendo platform to get Xbox exclusives would only make sense if all Xbox exclusives were on those platforms. However they aren’t and there is no sign of such a thing happening.
Always hot air. They should be delivering for those of us that bought 'the worlds most powerful console' first, not putting Xbox fans on a promise yet again...
That MS plans on staying in the hardware business is enough, without making the same unfounded promises..
It better be 86 TFLOP 4090 power or GTFO!!! 😁
@PhileasFragg I was going to reply was something else, but then I realized I have a trained eye.
The games will look indistinguishable from current gen which look barely any different from last gen.
@dreadful Please tell me my future as well fortune teller.
@Dimey Difference is Sony have no AAA First Party games this year or any until at least April 2025, Microsoft on the other hand have at least 4 AAA First Party exclusives this year, Sony are having to rely on 3rd party games for over 2 years(Spiderman 2 was last release in 2023)if Microsoft done that now you would probably be complaining.
Until we see something on this gen of consoles that GENUINELY couldn't be done on the last gen (and not just a largely last gen game with a higher frame rate and resolution) then I genuinely don't care. I remember playing SSX on the PS2 and being floored. There was no way that could ever have been achieved original PSOne. Same thing when I played the original Ridge Racer. Those were generational leaps you could get excited about. A genuinely new experience. My favourite game of this gen is the Witcher 3. Same as my favourite game of last gen but with a (admittedly very nice) lick of paint.
I just wish for more great games. Best game I played last year was Zelda TOTK. There's almost nothing different graphic wise from BOTW, but the game mechanics were chef's kiss.
My major disappointment with starfield wasn't that it was 30fps, but that it was a boring game.
Having said that, while it's nowhere near Zelda levels of fun, I'm enjoying diablo 4. I hope they can bring more great games now that they finished the acquisition of ABK.
@Sifi not at all, I couldn't care less what studio the games come from, doesn't make a difference to me.
This is good news but bad news at same time.
Good news in truly believe next gen Xbox will be insane over the top console and I am excited.
Bad news in majority of average public well see "Xbox" and they will continue under mindset of Xbox have no games and exclusives go to other platforms so who cares. This will hurt console sales and install base, so lot developers will not fully utilize the technology as they WILL ALWAYS develop to lowest common denominator cost to save money and resources.
So basically a heck of a lot is riding on Xbox exclusives to move that new console. And that issue has been touched on in so many ways now. Stigma, perception, reality, and business model needs to change to take advantage of the exclusives if they are amazing.
@Grumblevolcano their messaging has been poor on a lot of things i would say. I am just saying MS want’s to sell GP and they aren’t bringing GP to PS, so they need to be careful giving away the bigger franchises to Sony. Not saying it won’t happen cause well MS does MS things. But i think they are going to be very case by case games and not just here’s everything. But at the moment there is still very much a reason to have a Xbox for their games. We can’t just turn on our PS5 and play every Xbox game. 😀
@NEStalgia Surely they must have known that leaving the door wide open such that anything could be ported after the initial 4 would result in the narrative that most is coming over? So if it isn’t most, wouldn’t it have made more sense to set some boundaries to prevent that narrative.
@S-Bacc My owned library is why I stuck with Xbox (backwards compatibility both in the traditional sense and edge cases where it’s more than just being able to play old games on new hardware at no extra cost). If exclusives went fully multiplatform I’d buy the exclusives on Nintendo hardware (prefer the ecosystem over Xbox) but still use Xbox for specific 3rd party games that have always been multiplatform.
What I was trying to get across was about the news cycle. I think all this trying to hype up next gen is a result of the exclusives going multiplatform situation and all the news surrounding it. If the multiplatform situation didn’t happen I doubt next gen would’ve even been teased by now outside of the accidental September leak about 2028.
Hope it’s stronger than a 3080 lol imagine though
@Grumblevolcano Yeah I didn't say their communications are great. But there's also an in between. They were very clear to say "just 4 games" "not everything" and "more in the future/experiment". They left it open, but they also were very very clear in stating that they weren't doing everything. I think they gave leeway and very much OVERplayed the "just 4 games...but maybe more" angle to make it too vague, and they clearly don't know exactly what the plan actually is yet, but they also conveyed the general sense is to retain at least something to keep exclusive.
My interpretation of the plan is they don't want to close the door on anything going just yet, but they also don't intend to release EVERYTHING, and it'll depend on sales numbers, but also internal strategies around particular games etc. In some ways I think Xbox is operating kind of like broadcast television. Watch the metrics in real time and make decisions up to the time the cameras roll. It's a confusing look for consumers, but probably is numbers-backed that that kind of nimbleness is useful, and uncommon for goliath companies.
I'm not sure what my own expectation is. I think "nearly everything" particularly nearly everything coming from acquired publishers (ActiBlizz/Bethesda.) TES6 on PS85? Probably. Maybe 1 year exclusivity like paid PS exclusives. Exclusivity to the MS store, like EGS exclusives.
IDK about the more iconic stuff like Forza, Halo, Fable. Probably not. The rumors say Gears will, but then that's the very old Gears games, not the recent ones. PS equivalent would be like Uncharted 1-3 on Xbox but not 4 or 5 (Or maybe Uncharted 5 releases next to TES6 on PS85 and Xbox Series Omega.)
That's the trouble with the messaging. We truly know nothing enough to even guess. We know they have a sense they don't actually intend to release EVERYTHING, but even they haven't decided what that means yet, so they can't tell us.
But at the same time, they were very, very very focused on reinforcing the idea that it was a limited set of releases and very much not everything. Part of why we're framing the conversation as we are is a mix of cynicim and the pundits framing it that way. Both with that and hardware there's too much conversation about "this is what some blogger and youtuber said and it must all be true" when it conflicts with the actual statements from any figures at the company.
I think if they put someone in front of the camera to say "here's the deal" we'd still be in the same spot because they can't talk in absolutes and the internet will instantly interperet that lack of absolute as "see they're lying, they're prepping us for their inevitable going 3rd party!!"
I mean, we lived through WiiU. We've been through this rodeo before. The pundits weren't as viral back then and even back then they were insisting the rumors pointed to Nintendo going third party. For now we have a hardware roadmap for Xbox. More than we did for Nintendo back then. We keep speculating "oh, I mean of course there's the handheld. And of course there's the next console....but I mean after THAT, SURELY MS wants out of hardware!" Just like everyone said during X1. I mean eventually ALL these companies are out of hardware. PS, Nintendo, everyone. This gen plus next is, what the year 2033 at the soonest? We're actually punting if consoles will even exist in the year 2033? I'm not convinced even Nintendo hardware will exist at that point.
…and meanwhile Nintendo keeps on demonstrating game after game that technology is absolutely not the point here lol
@PhileasFragg that’s because this generation is about going from 1080P to 4K. The power increase of this current generation is just for rendering at 4kish. So that’s why it’s not so noticeable. Contrast this to previous generations in which the resolutions largely stayed the same for several years.
As long as 4K is the standard and developers don’t waste power trying to do 8K then next generation will have more tangible benefits.
Whos excited? i am clearly not on the hype train i will even wait for a year or two to see the first problems arises i'm not dumb. i will let them show us what they are cooking but witg inflation and the cost of life, the difficulty of housing i don't expect sales records.
We’ve had the smallest generational leaps of all time the last few generations. So I’m guessing it’s going to be something other than graphics (which would be a good thing—pretty graphics are destroying video games)
@OldGamer999 yep basically what I was going to say!
MS are masters at talking a big game that’s for sure.
I currently play (almost exclusively) Helldivers 2. It’s such a good game, loop is exciting and the “team work” shines. Even when you get a 500 kg nuke gifted from friends.. but; my second DualSense just started drifting.. less than a year old. Devastating! So the past week I’ve let my PC stream a higher res/fps/etc stream to my Series X instead, my old (launch day) controller has shiny sticks and is really worn down.. but without drift, still working just as I expect. In general I see Series X as the superior console, solid quality, VRR and HDR works better on my Philips monitors (LG C2 and UltraGear similar).. I get Dolby Atmos instead of basic spatial sound.. etc. It’d be a shame if Xbox is dying, it’s clearly higher tech for me.. I’m fine if it does, everything works out in the end. I play. Don’t feel the need to lock myself in to just one platform but IF I had to choose it’d be Xbox. No one seems to be talking about this and I really like Hifi Rush, Sea of Thieves and Grounded (yet to try Pentiment).. BUT.. seen the rumors of Steam coming to Xbox? That could mean Spider-Man, God of War and Horizon.. not that I’ve enjoyed them that much, I’m only about 70% in on Horizon, 60% Spider-Man and maybe 30% God of War (they’re fun, but too repetitive and I need month long breaks in between). Is it just me? I think the PC published PS5-games weigh heavier in regards to exclusives making the jump.. as for the future of Xbox; I wouldn’t be surprised if they merge back into PC space, becomes sort of a bargain mid-to-high tier PC packaged into biannual spec bumps, cross generation embodied.
As for PlayStation future I’d like them to ramp up VR efforts, I’ve yet to buy in but a reasonably priced and specced VR headset interest me way more than for example the Apple Vision Pro. Their exclusives seem to work wonders for the general public and I’m totally fine with Xbox being considered inferior (each to their own).. I know Kinect was not for everyone, but I wonder what could’ve been if they developed it further..
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