“Feeling cute, might delete later.”
During at congratulatory post directed at the Fallout series, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer may have tipped the cards a bit, so to speak.
In the image he posted, sharp-eyed viewers might have noticed something high up on the shelf behind him. On the top shelf was what appeared to be the oft-mentioned Xbox streaming console, codenamed Keystone. And it seems very different to the stick format originally mentioned. Rather, it’s more of a small bar or box with aesthetic ties to its older siblings the Series X and Series S. The Xbox account on Twitter quickly pivoted to calling it an “old prototype”:
This isn’t exactly the first time Phil Spencer has done something like this; he’s snuck other things into shots ahead of an actual unveiling. The same was done with the Xbox Series S during a livestream.
That said, between the time that Spencer put out his tweet and the official brand account called it an “old prototype”, a senior editor at The Verge claimed that “it’s 100% Microsoft’s Xbox game streaming device, codenamed Keystone”. That editor, Tom Warren, would likely know, too; previously, he wrote for WinRumors, so he’s not just full of it, here. His response to the later “prototype” tweet?
The new form factor is of note, though. Keystone was originally similar to other streaming sticks, like Roku or Amazon Fire’s offerings. Seeing that it’s now some form of box, though, isn’t too surprising. It provides more space for USB ports, and potentially ethernet (valuable for a streaming platform). It does, however, come on the heels of the heat death of Google’s Stadia. You could argue, however, that while Google had the best infrastructure for streaming, the current console manufacturers have the means to make it stick. Time will tell.
Source: Gizmodo
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