- Xbox president Sarah Bond has formally announced the next generation of Xbox
- Xbox maintains its ‘play anywhere’ mantra with new consoles, handhelds and accessories
- The company is partnering with AMD for its next generation hardware
Xbox is beginning to talk about its next generation hardware in earnest now, as president Sarah Bond has announced a “strategic multi-year partnership” with tech giant AMD.
In a video uploaded to Xbox’s official YouTube channel, Bond accentuates the ‘play anywhere’ mantra that’s formed the nucleus of the Xbox brand for the past few years.
“At Xbox, our vision is for you to play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want,” explains Bond, adding that Xbox is now “investing in our next-generation hardware lineup across console, handheld, PC, cloud, and accessories.”
Bond says that by partnering with AMD, Xbox promises to “deliver the next generation of graphics innovation to unlock a deeper level of visual quality and immersive gameplay and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI”.
‘AI’ is a buzzword that Microsoft likes to throw around a lot, and it’s understandable if the notion of it prevailing on Xbox has you feeling a little uneasy given the rise of generative AI content in recent years.
In truth, the use of AI here will likely boil down to helpful technologies, such as resolution upscaling (like we see with PS5 Pro‘s bespoke PSSR) and frame generation for smoother performance overall. As such, we could see something similar to PSSR implemented on next-generation Xbox consoles.
As for handhelds, we’ve already seen the announcement of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X, two gaming handhelds designed around playing Xbox Game Pass games on the go. Both are set to launch sometime in 2025, as per last week’s Xbox Games Showcase.
In better news, Bond also seems to confirm full backwards compatibility with Xbox’s next generation, stating that new hardware will maintain “compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games.” It’s reasonably safe to assume that counts Xbox Series X|S games, though the jury remains out on Xbox One and classic Xbox and Xbox 360 titles.
Lastly, it seems that Xbox will be sticking to the Windows ecosystem for its next generation of hardware. Bond confirms Xbox is “working closely with the Windows team, to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming.” So don’t be expecting a return to the iconic Xbox 360 ‘blades’ dashboard that millions have a fondness for.
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