Xbox President Reveals First Details Of Next-Gen Game Console

There will definitely be another Xbox console and it's going to deliver a "very premium" experience, according to remarks made by Xbox CEO Sarah Bond. During an interview with Mashable's Timothy Bech Werth, Bond shared the first details about what to expect from Microsoft's next-gen console, essentially confirming that there will be at least one more major round of hardware for the living room.

That hasn't exactly been a foregone conclusion. Amid multiple sweeping price hikes for Xbox consoles in the U.S., Microsoft's collaboration with ASUS on its ROG Xbox Ally X and Ally handhelds, increased emphasis on its Xbox Game Pass streaming service (which also recently went up in price), and trailing sales compared to rival Sony and its PlayStation 5 hardware, it was fair to wonder if Microsoft would bother with releasing another living room console.

Fear not, Xbox faithful, because Microsoft is planning to go toe-to-toe with the eventual PlayStation 6 and all its path-tracing goodness.

The interview (embedded above) was largely focused on promoting the ROG Xbox Ally X and Ally handhelds, which Microsoft is obviously excited about. However, at the 6min16sec mark, Werth brought up the rumor that Microsoft's next living room console will be "almost more like a gaming PC in a lot of ways," further bridging the gap between console and PC gaming. Basically a gaming PC and console in one, with high-end hardware inside.

Bond stopped well short of confirming or denying the rumor, but did share a little nugget about Microsoft's next-gen console plans.

"Well, I can tell you you're right, that the next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience. You're starting to see some of the thinking we have in this [ROG Xbox Ally X] handheld, but I don't want to give it all away," Bond said.

From our vantage point, the key term there is "next-gen console," which should put to rest any notion that Microsoft is leaving home consoles behind to shift its focus towards handheld collaborations and game streaming.

The other takeaway is the teaser of a premium and high-end experience. It is anyone's guess what the final hardware makeup will look like, though in case you missed it, AMD and Microsoft in June announced a "strategic, multi-year partnership" that will see the former develop custom silicon for the latter's gaming devices, both "in your living room" (read: home consoles) and "in your hand" (read: handhelds).

"Together with AMD, we're advancing the state of art in gaming silicon to deliver the next generation of graphics innovation, to unlock a deeper level of visual quality, and immersive gameplay and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI, all while maintaining compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games," Bond said at the time.

As for when we can expect a new round of consoles by Microsoft and Sony, the best guesstimate is within the next couple of years. For context, seven years elapsed between the release of the Xbox One in November 2013 and Xbox Series X|S in November 2020. Same goes for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Based on that timeline, we could see a new generation Xbox and PS6 in November 2027, though that's obviously not a given.