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Despite recent rumours, Microsoft won't exit the hardware race, at least any time soon.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to another GRTV News.
Today we're going to be talking a little bit about Microsoft and a little bit about Xbox.
Because over the weekend that's just gone, a rumour started circling that Xbox are maybe looking to get out of the hardware race."
"They're looking to drop out of the console market.
They're going to pack up and not go ahead with the next generation of stuff that they were supposedly already in development for.
It all came at a time following the Game Pass price hikes."
"Basically, Xbox wasn't in a great place.
Then this rumour started doing the rounds and it made it look like maybe the future was not very bright for Microsoft and Xbox.
However, that rumour was false and Microsoft has come out and published a statement that signifies its place in the future of console creation."
"Let's have a look.
Microsoft says they're still working on their future first party consoles.
They will be powered by AMD components as previously announced and widely believed to be PC based.
It's not been a good weekend for Microsoft, which is still recovering from the shock price increase for Game Pass Ultimate, something that appears to be linked to lost revenue for the Call of Duty series."
"People are furious and many are reportedly cancelling their subscriptions at a rapid pace.
To make matters worse, a new rumour emerged over the weekend from a somewhat shaky source, but the concept was so juicy that it spread widely.
Among other things, it was said that the next generation of Xbox would be in jeopardy since Microsoft had internally decided to stop manufacturing consoles."
"This made Microsoft react. In a statement to Windows Central, they made it clear that work on the next Xbox is continuing.
We are actively investing in our future first party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox. For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD."
"And there we have it. Of course, this does not mean that plans cannot change again in the future, but this weekend's rumour appears to be false and a new Xbox is on the horizon.
Now, in my eyes, the next generation of Xbox is never at risk because I think it's closer than it is further away now.
I think you're looking at a console that is potentially going to be coming out, if not late next year, late, well, 2027."
"And the reason we say that is because this generation has not been very long for starts.
And understandably, not understandably, but you can understand the frustration from consumers in regards to that.
But next year is the 25th anniversary for Xbox.
To say they won't have some sort of hardware thing lined up would be perhaps a little bit of hubris."
"And then likewise, if it doesn't come out in 2026, it'd be 2027, which by that point, you're looking at like a seven year generation for this line of consoles, which, you know, technology is progressing at an incredibly rapid rate at the moment, especially console technology. It's very different to how it was originally."
"You know, the jumps that were made in console technology throughout the earlier generations were massive, but they were also kind of minor.
This time, it's like the changes that are being made are astronomical in the way they can take on and deal with the programs and the software that are being put through them."
"So I think that it's becoming a point where consoles can't remain stagnant for as long as they did, especially coming off the last generation, which was about eight years long or something like that.
It all feels a little bit skewed because you look at Nintendo and it's been like eight, nine years since the last, well, between the Switch and the Switch 2."
"And you look at it and think, that's been a long time.
But really, PlayStation and Xbox tend to hit for these like seven, maybe eight year periods between console generations.
So again, if Xbox don't do something in 2026 to align with the 25th anniversary of the brand, it most likely will be 2027."
"And when you're looking at a console that's probably at most two years away, to cancel it now would be, with all the research and development and planning and whatnot that they've gone into it, and the concepting, it would probably be a little bit of a waste.
So I don't think this next generation of Xbox is at risk whatsoever."
"It will be the one after that you look at, because if this next generation of Xbox doesn't sell well, if Xbox continues to go down this route of cloud gaming and whatnot, I don't know whether we'll see a Xbox next generation, should we say.
But we'll stay tuned for that until we hear more."
"Otherwise, that's all the time that I have on today's episode of GRTV News, but I'll be back now tomorrow for the next one.
So thank you for joining me and I'll see you all on the next one."
