It’s a bold strategy Cotton.
Microsoft seems to be planning to focus on their hardware for the Xbox brand in the coming years.
This might seem a bit odd to anyone actually following announcements from the brand. They’ve spent the past decade somewhat devaluing their hardware even as they put it on the market. You have their “everything’s an Xbox” approach, which is predicated on Game Pass being on as many devices as possible, along with their cloud gaming. But you also see them putting their former exclusives on their competitor’s hardware, like Forza Horizon 5 heading to PlayStation.
While this may be profitable, at least in the short term, it does leave very little reason for users to actually buy an Xbox console. It’s also a little bit brand-damaging, unless they’re planning to pull a Sega in the next 5-10 years.
That said, they plan to push new hardware anyway. And the first piece they’ve got on the way is a handheld, codenamed “Kennan”. And, believe it or not, it’s slated for a release later this year. Little is known about this handheld, other than the fact that it will look unmistakably “Xbox”, and that they’re partnering with a PC OEM (currently unnamed) to produce it. It might be the sort of thing you’d consider when you hear “handheld Xbox”, but it’s more likely, given the partnership producing it, to be a Windows handheld. There are obvious benefits to that, like being able to install other storefronts and mods for PC games.
As for the next-gen console, that’s already been greenlighted up to current CEO Satya Nadella. Alongside the handheld, this new console seems to be heading in a Windows-forward direction. And it’s said to be on the way in 2027, along with several new controller options.
And Windows might not be the worst option compared to the designated systems Xbox has used in the past. It’ll make ports much faster and easier for developers. They do claim to want to keep backwards compatibility in mind though, so it’s anyone’s guess. There are a host of other features that may be in mind, like AI integration and easy device switching via controller. But all of that is tentative at this point, and may just as easily not come to pass.
The future, though, is somewhat uncertain. This generation has seen their hardware adherents decline by over half the previous generation. If hardware is such a focus for them going forward, they really need to win back the crowd. This new console and the handheld? They’ll need things that make them stand out. Right now, though, everything is just speculation.
Source: Windows Central
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