INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
[Update: Former PlayStation chief, Andrew House, has been talking about the future of consoles at GamesBeat Summit in California recently
Though House wasn't willing to go into specifics on the next PlayStation itself, he did say that he thinks physical media will be around for
all consoles for some time to come, thanks to the need to continue breaking into new markets
One would assume this is something that would also be relevant to any future Xbox console. In his interview, House said, "I don’t have
any firm knowledge on this, but my sense is that you will see the disc around in the industry for a while
If you’re going to tap into some of these [developing] markets, then allowing for that more traditional physical purchase model as an
option is probably no bad thing."Despite this, though, House also believes that streaming will be big in the future of gaming - an opinion
which ties neatly with Microsoft's Phil Spencer's who emphasised the need for a 'Netflix for video games.' This would be, one would imagine,
a natural extension of the download-based Xbox Game Pass in the next generation.]It's been five years sine the release of the Xbox One and
in that time Microsoft has really managed to turn things around for the platform. After a somewhat difficult launch, marred by fan
displeasure at high price points, poorly communicated initiatives and an ill-received design, Microsoft's decision to listen to its fans and
be more transparent about its intentions has been a positive one
Now, Xbox One S consoles are reasonably priced, looking sleek and selling better than ever
And now that Microsoft is making a native 4K power play with the Xbox One X, we think the future looks bright for the Xbox line. It's not
easy, however, to guess where it might go next. Recently, hardware developers (Microsoft in particular) have been favoring iteration which
suggests that the Xbox Two may not be quite as large a leap forward as we'd usually expect from a new console generation. Microsoft’s own
Head of Xbox Games Marketing said in an interview with Engadget in 2016 that for Microsoft “the future is without console generations,“
and that ”We think of this as a family of devices.“So, perhaps rather than seeing a console that's leaps and bounds ahead of the last
being released every five to six years, we may have to get used to incremental improvements to hardware every two to three years instead
Improvements which will, most important, remain capable of supporting older games to prevent a consumer schism. Incremental technology
improvements doesn't mean no new console designs, though
Windows Central’s Jez Corden recently revealed on his Twitter profile that the next Xbox console is already being designed and that work
is well underway, to the point where it even has a codename (although he neglected to share what this is). That said, work hasn’t gone so
far that we can expect to see the console any sooner than 2019
According to Corden, 2 years would be too soon to expect the new console but it would likely still be backwards compatible with the rest of
Interestingly, 2019 to 2020 is around the time that analysts are predicting Sony will launch the PlayStation 5. We think it's unlikely that
Microsoft would let Sony launch a brand new console without answering with its own within a year, but we don't think the company would try
to beat Sony to the post given Microsoft’s first foray into true 4K gaming hasn't even been on store shelves even a year yet.That won’t,
however, stop us from thinking ahead to the next Xbox and what it’ll bring.What will it be calledThe hardest part of this future-gazing is
actually trying to guess what the console might be called, given the naming progression that’s come before
Microsoft isn't going to abandon the Xbox brand anytime soon, surely, but the subtitle is a little harder to pin down. If it’s a brand
new console generation it’d make sense to call it Xbox Two, but Xbox 720 made a retrospectively perplexing amount of sense at one point so
let’s not be too confident in that. If we're going to really get our tinfoil hats on, looking at the naming progression we can see the
latest console is the Xbox One X
If X were to be read as ten, the next console would be the Xbox One II or Xbox II (2)
Regardless,Microsoft is a hard company to predict when it comes to console naming. What will it be capable ofWhat’s slightly easier is
predicting the features that are likely to appear in this new Xbox. The Xbox One X is a huge step forward for Microsoft, bringing native 4K
gaming and near-PC power into a console
It's currently the most powerful console on the market so where can Microsoft go from hereWe can only imagine
So that’s exactly what we’re going to do; join us won’t youA powerful console focused on gamesWe like to think Microsoft has learned a
lot of lessons from the difficult launch of the Xbox One
The Xbox One didn’t have the advantage of being the only HD console option on the market like the Xbox 360 did, and additionally its
launch ended up being marred by a Kinect bundle that pushed its price way higher than it should have been.As a result, the PlayStation 4
took (and has maintained) a commanding lead in terms of market share. Microsoft has definitely addressed a lot of these issues with the
It's a piece of hardware that's almost entirely focused on games, and it's not bundled with any superfluous hardware
In fact, Microsoft's gone so far as to drop the Kinect port entirely
We imagine this focus will continue into the future. Budget and premium optionsWith the One S and the One X Microsoft is embracing both an
iterative and a tiered model
The company is not only launching incrementally better pieces of hardware over time, but it's also supporting previous versions of the
console and allowing them to exist as budget options.As a case in point, the One X is still expensive (much more so than the PS4 Pro), but
the Xbox One S is still being presented as a worthy and attractively priced 4K upscaling alternative that will still be capable of playing
all the same games, not just from this generation but the previous generation too.However, after each console has had its chance at being
the budget model, they've each fallen away into obscurity
We've already seen this with the original Xbox One, and it's likely that the Xbox Two will eventually have the same effect on the Xbox One
S.We imagine Microsoft may want a certain degree of market saturation for the Xbox One X (or at the very least 4K TVs) before launching the
Xbox Two but when the console does launch it’s less likely to feel like the same leap that moving from Xbox 360 to Xbox One did. Trial
and error, rather than a jump into the unknownIn some senses we feel that it’s reasonable to assume we’ll be slowly drip-fed a lot of
the technology that will end up in the Xbox Two. This has the big advantage of allowing Microsoft to establish what works and what doesn't
work over time rather than having to take a big leap of faith with a brand new piece of hardware. VR and AR support is likelyWe've learned
that certain things are unimportant for consoles this generation, like motion-sensing and touch-screen, but the new technologies like VR and
AR are proving to be very exciting fields for developers.Microsoft has already confirmed that the Xbox One X will support Windows 10 virtual
and mixed reality headsets but it’s not being forceful with pushing them
They were notably absent from the console’s presentation at E3 2017 and we still have plenty of questions.If PlayStation VR continues to
grow in strength we expect Microsoft will be more clear about the Xbox One X’s stance on these headsets and much more active about
developing the technology for its successor
Xbox Two could very well be the HoloLens console
If the technology flops, Microsoft can easily phase it out from its next generation plans like the Kinect but much more neatly and less to
the detriment of initial sales.Meanwhile, if the Xbox One X’s 4K visuals fail to make the console appeal as much as Microsoft hopes they
will, we don’t doubt they’ll still be a feature of the Xbox Two, but they may be less of a focus in the overall marketing. The latest
and greatest audio visual technologyRecently Microsoft has been really keen on integrating the latest audio visual technologies into its
consoles - Dolby Atmos support, 4K and HDR are all here
This is something we can see continuing into the next generation. It’s clear Microsoft wants gaming on Xbox to be a full sensory
experience and it’s possible that the next console will include some kind of projection system similar to Project Ariana that Razer
showcased at CES 2017 whereby gaming environments were extended beyond the screen and into the player’s room
With something like this, Xbox Two has the potential to be an immersive gaming machine and we already know technology of a similar ilk was
being considered in the Illumiroom project from back in 2013.An increasingly cross-platform ecosystemIn the way that Nintendo is bridging
the gap between its handheld and home console divisions with the Switch, we can see Microsoft moving its PC and console users closer as we
move onto the Xbox Two. Cross-platform play, accounts and digital purchases are being encouraged in the Windows 10 and Xbox stores and this
is something we can see Microsoft continuing to push into the new generation, particularly if it’s going to continue to manufacture
consoles that boast near-PC specs. Learnings from the PCIt’s likely that the new Xbox will likely have more of a Steam-esque interface
that puts games first and doesn't confuse the customer
A system with a more indie- and mod-friendly focus is also important (we’re already seeing this with Indie@Xbox), and if the console
consumer base doesn't jibe with mid-lifecycle console upgrades, perhaps a more PC piecemeal approach with more swappable parts will be in
order. When will we see itSo we can agree we’re almost certainly going to get another console but will we have to wait eight years like
we did between the previous generation and this one It might end up that way, actually, but thanks to iteration it certainly won’t feel
like it.Though it won’t come as soon as two years from now, we think it’d be reasonable to expect the Xbox Two in three years, perhaps
This would be eight years after the release of the original Xbox One and a good time, perhaps, to move onto the new generation
It'd also be around the time, or one year after, analysts are expecting Sony to release the PlayStation 5.With the steady and considered
steps Microsoft is making and the way the company seems to be listening to feedback from its users more than ever, we anticipate that the
Xbox Two could be its most considered launch yet
In the meantime, a lot hinges on the Xbox One X.We've also done some speculating about the future of the PlayStation, check out everything
we want to see from the PlayStation 5. 242df8073d4aef5ee96af66f671f05ac.png#
