Next Xbox Might Focus On Game Streaming, Could Arrive Within 3 Years

A new report is claiming that Microsoft might introduce its next-generation Xbox console within three years. However, the company may not be in a hurry since the Xbox One X is still pretty new, and it’s currently more powerful than Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro.

The potential release window for the next Xbox was reported by Thurrott contributor Brad Sams, who cited three different sources. He said that Microsoft may be planning on deeply integrating game streaming into the next Xbox console. However, Sams believes that the company may not be focusing on streaming entire games in real-time from a cloud server.

Sams said Microsoft could use its cloud servers to let in-game environments change dynamically. This is said to be currently being explored by Microsoft and it doesn’t necessarily mean that the next Xbox will only be for the game streaming service. Local gaming is still needed as a viable option for the long term.

Last month, it was reported that Microsoft has a new gaming cloud division headed by Kareem Choudhry. The new division is intended to get developers and game publishers to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud services. The company’s ambition is to introduce a service that can be considered as a “Netflix for video games.”

“We believe there is going to be 2 billion gamers in the world, and our goal is to reach every one of them,” Choudhry said. “We’re looking at ways to make that content available to anyone no matter what device they’re on.”

Aside from game streaming, Sams said that the next Xbox will be backwards compatible. This shouldn’t be all too surprising to a lot of Xbox gamers since Microsoft has been actively re-releasing older Xbox and Xbox 360 titles as backwards-compatible games for its current Xbox One consoles, as pointed out by Game Rant. It just makes sense for Microsoft to make backwards compatibility a priority when it comes to its next-generation console.

There’s currently no exact timeframe given as to when Microsoft will confirm the existence of the next-generation Xbox console. Analysts estimate that new console might not launch until 2020. This still falls in line with Sams “within three years” estimate and it could mean an official reveal could happen as soon as 2019. This timeframe also works for the rumored PlayStation 5. A couple fo weeks ago, Kotaku was able to interview dozens of developers, with some also proposing a 2020 release date for the next PlayStation console.