Another Microsoft executive has talked about the next Xbox console, reinforcing the idea that it will be a PC hybrid.

Over the past few weeks, Microsoft bosses have been out in force to promote the recently launched ROG Xbox Ally X – which has been touted as a tease of its next generation plans.

What that means exactly is open to interpretation, but combined with recent leaks, it suggests Microsoft is leaning into a console and PC hybrid of some kind. A device that will, based on Xbox president Sarah Bond’s recent comments, be very expensive.

All these hints, however, have been matched with baffling claims about the industry at large, such as exclusives being ‘antiquated’ – a concept which the other execs seem to have learnt from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

In an interview with tech talk show TBPN (at 44:53), Nadella discussed how Microsoft sees the future of its gaming division, between its role as a publisher and in the hardware space.

‘So to us the way we are thinking about gaming is let’s… first of all we are now the largest publisher after the Activision [deal] so therefore we want to be a fantastic publisher, similar to the approach of what we did with Office,’ Nadella said.

‘We’re going to be everywhere, on every platform. We want to make sure, whether it’s consoles, whether it’s the PC, whether it’s mobile, whether it’s cloud gaming, or the TV, so we just want to make sure the games are being enjoyed by gamers everywhere.’

This all falls in line with Microsoft’s ‘This Is An Xbox’ marketing push with Xbox Game Pass, but when discussing its future gaming hardware, Nadella said he wants to ‘revisit’ the connection between consoles and PC.

‘Second, we also want to do innovative work in the system side on the console and on the PC,’ he added.

‘And it’s kind of funny that people think about the console-PC as two different things. We built the console, because we wanted to build a better PC, which could then perform for gaming.

‘And so I kind of want to revisit some of that conventional wisdom. But at the end of the day, console has an experience that is unparalleled. It delivers peformance that’s unparalleled, that pushes I think, the system forward.’

If the message sounds muddled, that’s because it is. A closer connection between console and PC is clear, but Nadella goes onto suggest they’re looking into creating ‘new interactive media’ as well.

A vision of Xbox’s future (Asus)

‘So I’m really looking forward to the next console, the next PC gaming, but most importantly the game business model has to be where we have to invent maybe some new interactive media as well,’ he added. ‘Because, after all, gaming’s competition is not other gaming. Gaming’s competition is short-form video.

‘And so if we as an industry don’t continue to innovate both how we produce, what we produce, how we think about distribution, the economic model – [the] best way to innovate is to have good margins. Because that’s the way you can fund.’

The last part appears to reference Xbox’s unreasonable 30% profit goals, which were imposed by Microsoft, and presumably by Nadella himself, in the wake of the Activision Blizzard acquisition in autumn 2023.

The short-form video comments, meanwhile, echo Xbox executive Matt Booty’s recent remarks about TikTok and other entertainment forms being a key rival to gaming companies. Which seems a nonsense given how little the two media have in common, and the fact there have, obviously, always been other forms of entertainment rivalling for gamers’ time.

It’s unclear what this ‘new interactive media’ is, but it’s either a hint at some sort of new project targeting TikTok users or Nadella trying to use buzzwords he doesn’t fully understand.

The most revealing part might be the fact Nadella doesn’t refer to Microsoft’s gaming arm as ‘Xbox’ once, with Windows being the primary focus. Dropping the brand entirely might be too bold a move at this point, but it’s perhaps telling of how Microsoft management sees its gaming business moving forward.

Aside from these vague assertions, there aren’t many concrete details about the next Xbox console – only that it will be in partnership with AMD. Rumours suggest it is on track to launch in 2027, around the same time as the PlayStation 6.

A multi-platform future for Xbox (Microsoft)

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