Microsoft has made cloud streaming an important part of is Xbox strategy, which has been evidenced by the way it has pushed Xbox Cloud Gaming and integrated it with Game Pass. But of course, the company has plans for cloud streaming that extend beyond that. Earlier this year, it was reported that part of those plans was to release a dedicated cloud streaming-focused Xbox console as part of the Xbox Series line, codenamed Keystone, but those plans were put on hold.
Speaking recently with The Verge (transcribed by VGC), Xbox boss Phil Spencer spoke a little bit more about that, and focused primarily on Microsoft’s plans for Keystone’s pricing. According to Spencer, Keystone was costlier than what Microsoft was aiming for, and interestingly enough, the company seems to be holding off on launching the device until it can get it to a point where its price will be in the $99-$129 range.
“The console we built that now people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it,” Spencer said. “With Keystone, [we’re] still focused on it [and] when can we get the right costs, but when you’ve got Series S at $299, and like during the holidays you’ll see some price promotion, you’ll obviously have Series X higher, I think in order for a streaming-only box to make sense, the price delta to S has to be pretty significant.
He added: “I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, like somewhere in there for that to make sense in my view, that we just weren’t there.”
Microsoft has nonetheless been expanding to additional devices where its streaming efforts are concerned, having launched Xbox Cloud Gaming on Samsung Smart TVs earlier this year. What that means for Keystone and how far away the streaming device is from an actual release remains to be seen, but it’s clear that even though it’s currently on the backburner, it’s still very much part of Microsoft’s long-term plans.
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