Summary
Plans and technical specifications for the nextXboxconsole have just been leaked by the Federal Trade Commission during its recent legal battle with Microsoft. This court investigation is the latest in a series of legal disputes brought about byMicrosoft’s potentially landscape-changing buyout of Activision Blizzard, which was announced in January 2022 and has since been the source of much scrutiny and discussion among industry insiders and outside observers. Several regulatory channels from around the world have weighed in on the deal, and now America’s FTC is looking into whether Microsoft’s planned purchase will create a monopoly in the gaming industry.
The resulting courtroom debate has led to several emails and chat messages among Microsoft executives being leaked to the public, dating as far back as May 2022. These virtual meetings cover a wide range of topics and unannounced plans, such asNintendo discussing its next consolewith Activision head Bobby Kotick and a native Xbox Series X version ofRed Dead Redemption 2being included in a list of planned releases that may or may not see the light of day. However, one of the biggest reveals to come from the FTC’s findings involves potential plans for Microsoft’s next console, which might launch in 2028.
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Further documentation sheds light on the technical specifications for thisnext Xbox gaming system, which could be a console/handheld platform similar to Nintendo’s massively successful Switch. According to an unredacted court attachment from the FTC’s case against Microsoft, this alleged console aims to utilize cloud technology to “deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences” that will supposedly go beyond the limits of conventional hardware.
Powering this new, untitled Xbox console will be either an ARM64 or x64 AMD Zen6 processor, which according to the leaked documents will be coupled with an AMD Navi 5/RDNA 5 GPU. Graphics-wise, Microsoft’s new system will look tonext generation DirectX raytracing, micropolygon rendering optimizations, ML-based super resolution, and an extensibility model for faster iteration and innovation. Lastly, Microsoft is looking to include a lacking thin operating system that will cost less than $99.
There is still much about Microsoft’s supposed nextXboxsystem that players don’t know, and most of the information shared during the recent FTC investigation stems from discussions among corporate executives dating little over a year ago. Plans for this nextXboxconsole might have changed since then, but it looks like Microsoft is planning an interesting blend of traditional hardware and cloud technology for its next gaming platform.
