On February 6th, Xbox held an internal event run by Xbox President Sarah Bond and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, during which they outlined the future of the company moving forward, including the idea to make Xbox the biggest cross-platform gaming company on the market. This is ahead of a special podcast to be hosted on the 15th.
So What is the Future of Xbox?
From Inverse, during the town hall meeting on the 6th, Spencer and Bond confirmed that there will be more hardware to come from the gaming giants, which all but confirms that there will be another console at some point in the future from Xbox. There was also talk that it is likely we will be seeing a new Call of Duty game this coming October.
However, this was not the main focus of the event, with Spencer and Bond wanting the company to expand from just the console to, as Bond says, “every screen is an Xbox,” expressing the ambition to expand and take over the gaming market on other devices. To illustrate this point, images of the hit game Palworld were displayed on the screens being played on phones, tablets, and smart TV`s giving employees a better idea of what they were hoping for.
Many employees were shocked to see so much of the game at the event and joked about a new handheld Xbox console; however, the company has not made any comments thus far on this being a possibility. This is not a new idea for the company, as the goal appears to have become cross-platform as early as 2020, when Jason Ronald was quoted as saying that Xbox was “not trying to force people to use one console,” which shows the intent for the company to branch out even in the Xbox One generation of consoles.
So Why the Push for Cross-Platform on Xbox?
Cross-platform for Xbox is not a particularly new concept for the company, with the release in the last few weeks of several Game Pass titles becoming available on mobile for selected titles, and it runs surprisingly well compared to other streaming services.
Another rumored reason may be due to the Xbox exclusive situation, which is seeing several of their exclusive titles being released on other platforms.
However, all of these reports are just rumors brought about by anonymous Xbox employees, on the Special Podcast on February 15, Spencer cleared up many rumors surrounding the future of the company.
As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments.
