Microsoft is planning a “hybrid” Xbox platform for cloud gaming for 2028.
According to documents leaked earlier this week by the FTC, and as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, said platform would run cloud-based titles on a device setting consumers back less than $99, and has been in discussion since at least May 2022.
The leaked presentation (see below), entitled ‘Cohesive hybrid compute’, read: “Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences.
“Optimised for real time game play and creators, we will enable new levels of performance beyond the capabilities of the client hardware alone.”
As reported by The Verge, the slides also included a timeline, showing that dev kits for the platform would be sent in 2027.
“We are building four types of computers: (1) cloud everything, (2) a hybrid Xbox, (3) hybrid Windows, and (4) hybrid HoloLens,” reportedly wrote Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in the leaked documents. “We need to bring the company’s systems talent together to align on a unified vision. We can’t go from big idea to big idea. We need a single big idea to rally the company around.”
The news came as part of the extensive leaks that Xbox has been experiencing since the beginning of the week, of documents that were part of the ongoing FTC lawsuit to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Among the many revelations, we’ve learnt that Microsoft is planning on having a successor to the Xbox Series X|S in 2028, that mid-gen refreshes code-named Brooklin and Ellewood are expected next year, that the majority of Game Pass subscribers pay full price and use the service on console, that Microsoft was interested in acquiring Nintendo, and more.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has responded to the leaks, saying that “so much has changed” and adding: “We will share the real plans when we are ready.”
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