Continuing her press tour for the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, Xbox president Sarah Bond has revealed that Microsoft is working on a high-end Xbox as part of its plans for next-gen consoles. In an interview with Mashable, Bond spoke about the system being “very premium” and “very high-end”.
While most of the conversation in the interview revolves around the ROG Xbox Ally, Bond was also asked what the future of Xbox entails for Microsoft. Answering a question about whether the rumours are true that the next-gen Xbox will also allow for some degree of PC gaming while also offering a console-styled experience, Bond said, “The next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience.”
“You’re starting to see some of the thinking that we have in this handheld, but I don’t want to give it all away,” she said, referring to the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X.
Bond also noted that Microsoft isn’t slowing down on the software side of things. When asked whether Xbox devices will get any more exclusives in the future, Bond noted that “we’re really seeing people evolve way past that.”
“The biggest games in the world are available everywhere,” she continued. “You look at Call of Duty, you look at Minecraft, you look at Fortnite, you look at Roblox. That’s actually what’s really driving community in gaming. That’s where people gather. The idea of locking it to one store or one device is antiquated for most people. You want to be able to play with your friends anywhere, regardless of what they’re on. And we’re really leaning into that with [the ROG Xbox Ally] because it just opens up another way for you to play. As does cloud, as does PC, as do the consoles that we all own and have in our living rooms.”
Bond had previously spoken about how Microsoft wants to continue making things under the Xbox brand in the future. In an interview from earlier this week, she spoke about how the company is partnering up with AMD for the chips that will power the next generation of Xbox devices.
“We are 100% looking at making things in the future,” said Bond. “We have our next-gen hardware in development. We’ve been looking at prototyping, designing. We have a partnership we’ve announced with AMD around it, so that is coming. What we saw here was an opportunity to innovate in a new way and to bring gamers another choice, in addition to our next-gen hardware. We are always listening to what players and creators want. When there is demand for innovation, we’re going to build it.”
She had also hinted at the part of Microsoft Building 87 last week where the company was working on developing and prototyping its next-gen consoles. “This is where the team is actually designing, prototyping and testing for the next generation of Xbox,” she said about that part of the building. “It is top secret. So we very, very rarely take people in here.”
