Is there a more erratic publisher/console manufacturer in the industry than Microsoft? Yes, we only have the Big Three when it comes to the latter, but neither Sony nor Nintendo have inspired such mixed feelings as The House That Windows Built.
On the one hand, you have this year, where Xbox Game Studios is pulling out all the stops to deliver perhaps the most diverse and exciting line-up of video games in its history. Gears of War: E-Day, Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Towerborne, Halo: Campaign Evolved – and that’s currently what we know.
Clockwork Revolution sounds better and better with time, from having folks who worked on Arcanum aboard to ensuring the most reactive world possibly ever. Grounded 2 is already a hit in early access, despite Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 failing to meet expectations. Toys for Bob is working on what we can only hope is the next Crash Bandicoot (or Spyro, we’re not picky), and Blizzard may finally make our dreams come true with that mythical StarCraft shooter that never was.
It’s an eclectic line-up of first-party greatness that already looks like it could best PlayStation and Nintendo for the year. And yet, there’s the other side of the Xbox equation – where the rules are made up, and the points don’t matter. Declining hardware revenues every quarter. The price increase for Game Pass (with rumors claiming that PC Game Pass could soon no longer be its own tier). Shuttered studios. An increasing emphasis on AI from the head honchos at Microsoft. And for every exciting release this year, you have to look back and remember what never will be, like Everwild, Perfect Dark, Contraband, and more.
Perhaps that’s why I’m not as super-hyped for the next generation of console gaming as it tends to inspire. Despite concerns of its delay, AMD CEO Lisa Su outright stated, “Development of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC is progressing well to support a launch in 2027.” Windows Central would subsequently report that said SoC is codenamed Magnus, which is Latin for “Great” in typical Microsoft fashion, but internally, Microsoft has apparently not committed to launching that year.
Reports from last year circulated about how the company is working to integrate Windows 11 into the next Xbox more than ever. Third-party storefronts will seemingly have a home on the console, with Epic Games Store stating that it would be there on day one (no doubt for everyone looking to claim their free games). But nailing that integration between Windows and Xbox is key. As a result, 2027 is viewed as a “best-case scenario” for the team. And pricing? That will apparently depend on how the global RAM economy, supplies and other global issues pan out.
An insanely high price isn’t necessarily mandated. But after Xbox president Sarah Bond said it would be a “very premium, very high-end” console, current hardware could look like a bargain in comparison. Which brings us now to one of the more intriguing – and bizarre – parts of the report.
Microsoft is allegedly tapping other OEMs to create a range of Xbox hardware solutions for various price points. While the company’s own console is a middle-of-the-pack, standard option, it’s possible – key emphasis on that – that other manufacturers produce cheaper or more expensive versions of the Xbox alongside it. ASUS, which worked with the company on the Xbox Ally and Ally X, is apparently one such manufacturer.
Keep in mind that this is in tandem with the company’s efforts to release its first-party titles on other platforms. Bethesda is bringing all its biggest hits to the Switch 2 in the coming months, and before I can say “We don’t talk about Starfield,” that’s also allegedly set for PS5 this April. Never mind that Forza Horizon 6 will be arriving on the platform later, or that Fable and Kiln are available on day one. But then you also have Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the myriad of devices it’s expanded to over the years. With its Xbox Play Anywhere initiative and third-party stores available on its future consoles, including Steam titles on Xbox consoles, it apparently wants this massive interconnected ecosystem.
It’s an ambitious plan, for sure, and yet, I can’t help but wonder what the endgame is. Go ahead – build your massive Xbox superstructure and let it tower upon a hapless populace. But when you’re not so much giving the keys to everyone else to create their own Xbox hardware as outright helping them, all while de-emphasising your own console more and more over the years, you have to ask: Why? Why continue to create hardware if no one will buy it in the long run?
If the end goal is for Microsoft to gradually move away from Xbox hardware manufacturing altogether and more towards being a multi-platform publisher who licenses its proprietary version of Windows to other OEMs, then I can somewhat see the vision. Spread Game Pass even further beyond, netting even more subscribers. Limit it to your own hardware, thus forcing other consoles to purchase the games in full and make up for any cannibalised sales.
However, that assumes its ecosystem is attractive enough to draw in newcomers, much less those on other platforms. Furthermore, if this generation has proven anything, it’s that there’s little appeal to Xbox consoles. How much will that change just because other manufacturers are involved? If Microsoft’s own cheaper solution, the Xbox Series S, didn’t have a significant impact, then how will other similar devices? What about feature parity concerns, which caused more than a few issues for developers like Game Science, and more in bringing their titles to the Xbox Series?
Granted, we don’t know just how different each variant of the next Xbox could be, or how many there will be. However, developers have enough headaches optimizing across the endless configurations of PC setups. Even if the next Xbox isn’t as varied across as its various SKUs, it’s extra work that they may not see the value in.
Also, as excited as I am about all the high-quality releases coming up, one good year doesn’t make a console brand. It’s a steady stream of releases; partnerships with third-party developers and timed exclusives; popular high-quality IPs that you can’t play anywhere else; and, perhaps most importantly, rewarding brand loyalty. To say that Microsoft has been erratic on all those fronts would be an understatement – look no further than its fumbling of Halo and Forza Motorsport among other IPs.
And while PlayStation and Nintendo have made their fair share of mistakes, they’re the market leaders – such problems have barely caused a dent in their bottom line. Microsoft doesn’t need to catch up so much as prove that it can execute a plan like this with hiccups that won’t affect the big picture.
When I first heard about Microsoft’s designs to integrate Xbox with Windows more, branching out into areas that other competitors had very little reach – namely, the handheld PC market – I was somewhat optimistic. Now, I’m left to wonder whether its reach exceeds its grasp, and whether the brand itself, whatever it’s worth, will just be a label slapped onto a random machine. If everything is an Xbox, then nothing is an Xbox – and at some point, it may be wiser for Microsoft to cut out the middle man for its grand hardware vision.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
