The Xbox One S and Xbox One X mark an interesting departure from the norm for Microsoft, and for the gaming industry at large, as they are our first glimpse at an annual smartphone style ‘tick-tock’ release cycle for hardware. But, will this be the norm going forward? Will Microsoft invest in multiple iterative increases for its hardware with shorter time periods between releases?
Speaking to VG247, Xbox’s Mike Ybarra did not shoot down the notion- but he did say that whether or not Microsoft adopts that release model will be contingent entirely on player feedback.
“In terms of where we go from here… the early questions that we’re asking ourselves back in Redmond now… it’ll all be based on kind of the feedback we get from gamers as to what they want,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of push for just innovation in multiplayer, the kind of thing we discussed before – how does this watch, plus these scenarios of people playing together no matter where they are, and how this all fits together. I really like some of the feedback we get there.
“Certainly this is a big jump forward in terms of what the living room experience can deliver – the Tomb Raider release that they did last night I thought was a good example of… they said look, the absolute best version here hands-down is going to be on Xbox One X, and so I love what we’re doing there.”
I am not that sure what kind of release model I would want Microsoft to pursue myself- while I definitely do want them to push iterative consoles, as I think that is the way of the future, I wouldn’t want them to push out new hardware every year, that could get pretty chaotic. A slowed down smartphone style release model might be the best route they can push for going forward.
