Games
Microsoft are working on the next Xbox, but what'll it be, what games will we get and when’s it coming?
It’s as inevitable as the tide going in and out again, but Microsoft are working on the next Xbox hardware. As the company that can proudly (and correctly) claim to be behind the most powerful games console ever made in the Xbox One X, it’s a far more difficult task for them to outdo themselves than it is Sony with the PS5, because people will be asking why it’s even needed.
But outdo themselves they must, and Phil Spencer, executive president of gaming at Microsoft gave us our first hints that the next console isn’t that far away, even offering some suggestions as to what’s to come in the future with an off-the-cuff remark at E3 2018. Here’s everything we know, and a hefty portion of things we can safely assume, about the next Xbox.
What’s in a name?
It’s far too early for Microsoft to have announced a name for the next console. In fact, if you think back, the Xbox One X didn’t have a name until a few months before launch. Codenamed Scorpio, many wish that the Xbox brand had gone with the codename, rather than the “X”. But we can look at this naming convention and formulate ideas.
First of all, it’s absolutely unthinkable that Microsoft will call the next console either the Xbox One Two (2), or Xbox Two. It’s also hard to imagine that they’ll make the same mistake Nintendo made with the Wii U, and just change a letter or add something to the end, which rules out the Xbox One Y, or Z. Actually, thinking about it, maybe they might just go with “Xbox 2”, in an Apple style, confirming that the “Xbox One” was indeed a rebrand, and reboot of the line of products. At least they won’t call it the “NeXtBOX”, right?
Perception is king
Like it or not, Sony’s PS4 has led the current generation of hardware. Mistakes were made early on with the Xbox One’s marketing, and despite now having the better hardware and even trying to get more games on the system, perception is key. Microsoft will look to launch with not only the most powerful hardware possible, but a high volume of games that run best. Expect Game Pass to continue, potentially merging with Xbox Live itself, offering great value for money and a built-in Netflix style library.
Expect Xbox as a brand to continue on the route the company are heading down: consumer-friendly, cross-play, play anywhere – the works. The team behind the Xbox One know exactly where they went wrong previously and will be working hard from now on to reposition Xbox as the consumer-friendly console. Given the recent furore over Fortnite on PS4 locking out accounts elsewhere, Sony are even giving Microsoft a helping hand.
The power and the glory
In terms of hardware, it’s hard to know precisely what’ll be in the next Xbox. Like we said regarding the PS5, the next Xbox console will have to do 4K visuals, with HDR lighting, and 60 frames per second as standard. The thing is… the Xbox One X isn’t that far away from achieving this already. But Xbox are clearly looking to improve in other areas. At the start of the current generation we were promised games would be ready to play quicker, but instead what we got is the ability to boot a game up, and then stare at a menu while the rest of the game downloaded. With fast-start being announced, Xbox is, again, looking to improve in that area.
Graphics cards are still at a premium thanks to the bitcoin craze, so it’s impossible to know what NVIDIA’s 11-series cards will retail at, price wise, and despite not using the exact same consumer-ready cards that we have in our PCs, that'll surely be the route Xbox goes down. After all, 11 is better than 10. One better. Xbox ONE better. Wait, they’re going to call it Xbox Next, aren’t they.
When can we expect to see it?
Given the state of graphics cards right now (as mentioned above), it’s unlikely Xbox will be looking to bring a new console out before 2021. That said, they can’t be late to the party, and are in a difficult situation. With the Xbox One X being the most recent console hardware in the “power” fight, it may well be seen as “too soon” if they were to announce the next console in 2020. If Sony announce early, though… well, we could be in for one hell of a console war between 2020 and 2021.
Phil Spencer also recently revealed that the Xbox team were working on a lot of streaming tech. The idea being that, revisiting the cloud tech touched on years ago, now, games could stream on phones, computers, or anywhere, really. Right now, though, while some of us are able to stream, for example, the football in 4K resolution, not everyone is so lucky. In a few years time maybe more internet service providers will have removed data caps so more people can enjoy more content. Sony purchased game streaming company Gaikai a few years ago, and do stream games via PS Now. What if Xbox enables a similar idea when the rest of the world has caught up on internet speeds and data allowances. These things will come, but not overnight. The later the better for this kind of tech.
But what other games will there be?
At E3 2018, which you can catch up on in the video above, we saw a glimpse of Halo Infinite, which is apparently Halo 6, but the naming convention has been dropped. This makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. If you’re a younger gamer buying a new console, the idea of starting a series at the sixth entry is daunting, whereas “Halo Infinite” sounds like a game anyone can play. With that in mind, we’d expect to see Forza Motorsport 8 (or maybe 9 by then?) drop the numbers and rebrand with a subtitle for the new console launch.
Likewise, Microsoft will go hard after third-party publishers for marketing deals that show their games as “best on our platform”. After acquiring Playground Games (and remember, they have that unannounced RPG being developed: what if a Fable reboot was a new-gen launch title?), Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory (the thoughts of that studio developing a game with even more graphical grunt is tantalising), Undead Labs (State of Decay 3 as a launch game?), and brand new studio The Initiative, which Spencer even said is at the very early stages of making games, there could be quite a few exclusives ready for launch, assuming they all get a good two-year development cycle to prepare.
This all adds up to a rather mouth-watering future for Xbox. On top of games like Gears 5 and CyberPunk 2077 (which we’re convinced is going to be a cross-generation game), if Microsoft can stand there with the most powerful console, with plenty of studios making games, and with huge third-party support, perhaps even from the likes of Bethesda with Starfield or The Elder Scrolls VI… well, the next generation of consoles is going to be very exciting indeed. Roll on 2020/2021!
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