The next Xbox sounds like a departure from what we’re used to
The next Xbox sounds like a departure from what we’re used to Read More Gaming
🤔 The next Xbox may resemble a gaming PC more than a traditional console
📉 Microsoft aims to innovate due to declining hardware sales and cross-platform game releases
🖥️ The new Xbox could be a PC in a TV-friendly shell with specific specs for developers
📆 Release is expected in 2027, though dev kits aren’t available to developers
There’s no doubt that Microsoft needs to try something different with the next Xbox. Hardware sales have continued to plummet, and Microsoft’s strategy of bringing once-exclusive Xbox games to other platforms – including PS5 – means there’s little reason to pick up an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S outside of Game Pass these days.
However, according to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, Microsoft’s new Xbox console could be more like a PC in a TV-friendly shell than a traditional console.
Speaking on The Xbox Two podcast, Corden said: “I mean the whole idea of the next Xbox is that it’s gonna be a PC in essence but with a TV friendly shell that also has a specific set of specs in mind, so developers will be building for Windows PC in a way but in such a way that they know exactly what the specs will be.”
Corden also believes that the new Xbox will release in 2027, not in 2026. That’s despite rumors suggesting the next Call of Duty will launch on a next-gen Xbox in 2026.
“If the info about Call of Duty is accurate [about it launching on the next-gen Xbox in 2026], there is no dev kit right now. So, like, the idea that developers have already gotten the next-gen Xbox’s dev kit… that’s just not accurate,” Corden said.
An Xbox that’s more like a PC is an intriguing proposition, but you could argue that’s exactly what the Xbox Series X and PS5 already are. Aside from being closed systems, consoles have become more like PCs in recent years requiring games to be installed and an almost always online connection.
However, Microsoft’s next Xbox may incorporate Windows more heavily. It could also streamline development if the hardware isn’t radically different from what is commonly found inside a gaming PC. It may also bring other launchers like Steam and the Epic Games Store to an Xbox console, though that remains to be seen. This would, ideally, give Xbox players access to Sony’s first-party games on PC, though I’m sure Sony would have something to say about that.
Microsoft may want to get its PC-like console into gamers’ hands sooner rather than later. Valve is reportedly preparing a living room console that will run Linux, like the Steam Deck. It could go head-to-head with any upcoming Xbox if that is indeed the case, but Pierre-Loup Griffais, a key architect at Valve and a lead developer of SteamOS for the Steam Deck, has dismissed these rumors. Griffais said on BlueSky: “… there’s nothing meaningful to read into there.”
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
