Xbox is in a state of flux at the moment, with no one sure what the company's plans are after another pretty disastrous generation. With the next PlayStation reportedly starting production in 2027, all eyes are on whether Xbox will actually bother to release a console this time around, or whether it has another unique strategy up its sleeve.
There are many rumors, of course. It has been hinted that the next line of Xbox consoles could be all that traditional, with the Xbox/PC hybrid being talked about several times, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Thankfully, Mashable was on hand to squeeze Xbox president Sarah Bond for more information in a recent interview, and while she remained tight-lipped as usual, she did reveal a very small nugget of information.
Xbox's next console will be a “very premium, very high-end” system
“… the next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience,” says Bond. “You're starting to see some of the thinking we have in this handheld [ROG Xbox Ally]But we don't want to give it all away.”
It's not something that goes a lot, but personally, my mind goes straight to the word “premium”. We know that's usually a buzzword that the industry uses instead of 'expensive', and Bond seems to suggest that Xbox's next-gen console could actually cost a pretty penny when it launches. However, the huge price point means it will likely have the tech to back it up, and a high-end Xbox/PC hybrid will definitely be on the pricier end of the console spectrum.
It also lines up with what Moore's Law insider Murray recently said about the next PlayStation console, as he claimed it would be less powerful but cheaper than the next-gen Xbox console. With the way Xbox is going, by pricing people out of buying traditional Xbox consoles, I can definitely see the company moving towards the PC market, and building a powerful console/PC hybrid to try and bridge the gap.
Whether it works or not is another matter. Xbox has recently been raising the prices of everything, including its own developer kits, so it may find that it has a much smaller audience if it plans to make its product “premium,” as Sarah Bond puts it. At least we won't have to wait too long to find out what Xbox has planned.
- brand
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Microsoft
- Original release date
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November 10, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499
- operating system
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Proprietary (Windows based)
- processor
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Custom AMD 8-core Zen 2 3.8 GHz
- resolve
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720p – 4K UHD
