Name: Microsoft Xbox Series X
Brand: Microsoft
Price: 499 USD

Summary

Xbox confirms plans to bring four games to other platforms, including live-service and smaller titles. No heavy hitters like Starfield or Indiana Jones will be coming to competing platforms.
Xbox fans can breathe a sigh of relief as the company is not exiting the hardware business. Exciting hardware announcements are expected this holiday.
The next-gen Xbox is planned to be the 'largest technical leap' gamers have ever seen.

Xbox has put worrying rumors to rest by teasing fans about its future hardware plans. Reliable insiders and leakers recently caused a bit of an uproar when it was suggested that Xbox could be going completely multi-platform. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer promised to address the issues in an Xbox Business Update stream, which was released to the public on February 15.

The Xbox Business Update event tackled the rumors head-on. It confirmed that Xbox is looking to bring four of its games to other platforms, though the four specific games were not actually named. It was teased that two of the games were live-service titles and the other two were smaller games. It was also clarified that there are no plans to bring heavy hitters like Starfield or the Indiana Jones game to competing platforms.

When the Xbox multi-platform rumors started, many were worried that this would mean Xbox would be getting out of the hardware business. Luckily for Xbox fans, that is not the case. Xbox President Sarah Bond teased that "there's some exciting stuff coming out in hardware that we're gonna share this holiday," and that the company has also invested in the next generation of consoles. "What we're really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation."

Xbox Has Big Plans for Its Next-Generation Hardware

What we're really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation.

Unfortunately, Xbox fans will have to wait for more details about the company's future hardware plans. However, court documents and insiders have outed the existence of a new Xbox controller with features similar to the PS5's DualSense, which could potentially be what Bond was referring to when she mentioned the holiday 2024 announcement. Alternatively, the holiday 2024 announcement could be for the rumored digital-only Xbox Series X console, but that remains to be seen.

It's also possible that Xbox could be hinting at the rumored Xbox handheld console being announced this coming holiday season. Rumors have persisted that both PlayStation and Xbox are looking at developing their own Steam Deck-like handheld devices. These systems wouldn't be comparable to classic handhelds like, say, the Nintendo DS or PSP, because they wouldn't have exclusive games, but they theoretically would make it possible for one to take their PlayStation and Xbox libraries on the go. Fans should wait for an official announcement on that front before getting too excited about the possibility of an Xbox handheld, though.

As far as the next-gen Xbox goes, rumor has it that the next-generation Xbox could release as early as 2026, but official plans have not been announced yet. For now, Xbox fans can rest easy knowing that another hardware generation is on the way.

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