As Xbox owners try to make sense of the idea of Microsoft going multiformat, multiple reports have emerged of new console hardware plans.
This month could end up being the most important in Xbox’s 20+ year history. If the rumours are true then multiple games, including big hitters like Starfield and Gears Of War, are coming to PlayStation 5 and while Microsoft has confirmed nothing they have said there’ll be a ‘business update event’ next week.
There’s no date for that yet and, to be honest, it would probably be better if they tried to ease some of the panic amongst fans before that, but no doubt execs weren’t expecting everything to leak out the way it has.
That doesn’t mean every element of the rumours is true though, especially as they all come from different sources, and the same is definitely true for Xbox’s hardware plans.
According to one set of rumours, that have so far proven accurate, Microsoft intends to licence out Xbox hardware to other companies in the future, to allow them to make their own Xbox branded consoles. Which certainly sounds like a prelude to Microsoft giving up making its own hardware.
However, rumours only days before that suggested that Xbox still has plans for new hardware, as was previously leaked during its legal battle with the US Federal Trade Commission. Rumours shortly after that suggested that Xbox is actually planning to kickstart the next generation early, since they got off to a bad start with this one, with a possible launch in 2026.
The only obstacle to that is that apparently Microsoft was late in signing contracts with chip maker AMD and, since Sony has already done so for the PlayStation 6, that could mean that the next generation Xbox arrives later than that – so perhaps sometime after 2028.
These are all just rumours, with YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead suggesting that Microsoft’s tardiness is because it was also talking to Intel and Nvidia, in hopes of getting a cheaper deal.
In contrast to that, a new rumour today suggests that 2026 is still the target and that the launch will include both a traditional Xbox console and a Switch style hybrid device with a dock.
That claim comes from YouTuber Magg, who is a far less proven source, but it’s just one of many rumours claiming that Microsoft is not only still going to make consoles but has several new ones planned for sooner than would be expected.
Just last week, Windows Central’s Jez Corden claimed that Xbox has ‘greenlit several new hardware projects in the past couple of weeks’, although he gave no indication of what they are or when they might be released.
Unfortunately, not only is there no way to tell if any of this is true but the plans are likely to be in flux. Supposedly, not all Microsoft execs are keen on the idea of Xbox going multiformat and it could be that they win their argument in the end, and the games don’t come to PlayStation 5 after all.
We won’t know anything definite until the announcement event next week, although given all the mixed messages Microsoft has been sending lately it’s unlikely the situation will be fully clarified even then.
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