A cheaper variant of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox – reportedly codenamed Lockhart – has been in the rumour mill for a long time now. Just recently, references to it were found in notes for Microsoft game development kit, and following up on that, VGC have dropped some new details on the rumoured system.
VGC’s report claims that further development documents by Microsoft seen by the site refers to Microsoft’s next-gen hardware simply as “the Scarlett family of consoles”- Scarlett, of course, being the codenamed with which the Xbox Series X was originally revealed, and prior to that, internally worked on. VGC states that that family of consoles refers to two SKUs- Lockhart and Anaconda (“Anaconda” was the codename used for the more powerful variant that was later revealed as the Xbox Series X, originating in leaks dating all the way back to 2018).
The report further adds that the Xbox Lockhart will feature support for various Xbox Series X features, including the likes of Smart Delivery, enhanced backward compatibility, and more. Meanwhile, Microsoft also expects developers to support the Lockhart and the more powerful Xbox Series X concurrently, in spite of the power difference between the two consoles- similar to the situation with the Xbox One X and Xbox One S.
This isn’t the first time the Xbox Lockhart has come up in recent reports. Earlier this month, references to the alleged next-gen SKU were found in the Windows OS. Reports have also suggested that Microsoft were planning on revealing it in an event originally planned for June, before pushing those plans back until August. Finally, Microsoft recently also filed separate “Xbox Series” trademark– which lends credence to the belief that the Lockhart’s final name will be Xbox Series S (or something along those lines, at any rate).