Despite what you might hear online, Microsoft is indeed working on a next-generation Xbox. While it’s far too early for the Xbox team to share anything concrete about this upcoming machine, Xbox President Sarah Bond teased some vague details about what to expect.
Speaking to Mashable in a video interview, Bond addressed rumors that the next Xbox will function similarly to a gaming PC, saying that “the next-gen console is gonna be a very premium, very high-end curated experience.”
Bond added that with the recently released handheld ROG Xbox Ally, we’re “starting to see some of the thinking that [the Xbox team has], but I don’t want to give it all away.”
Even with Xbox Series X|S struggling in sales numbers compared to PlayStation 5, it would be shocking if the next console from Microsoft were anything but a “premium” and “high-end” device. But Bond’s comment about a “curated experience” should inspire speculation, as she didn’t directly address murmurs of the next Xbox being PC-like.
Executives on the Xbox team have previously stated that the company is focused on building dedicated devices with optimized gaming experiences, with the ROG Xbox Ally being a big part of that initiative. The new handheld emphasizes the Xbox full-screen-experience UI, which also allows users to access games from other PC storefronts, such as Steam. Bringing this interface and functionality to a console would mark a wholly different approach from the competition.
Of course, based on what we’ve seen of the Xbox full-screen experience, the software needs a lot more work. GameSpot’s impressions of the ROG Xbox Ally described the operating system as “undoubtedly frustrating” to use.
No matter how flexible or functional the next Xbox console might be, Xbox still needs to win back some goodwill from consumers after price hikes for the Xbox Series X|S consoles and Xbox Game Pass.
