Summary
Xbox’s unannounced handheld console could be with us this year. The console is said to look “unmistakably ‘Xbox’”, and is currently known by the codename Keenan.
This comes from a report courtesy ofWindows Central. Here, reporter Jez Corden shares what he’s heard about Xbox’s hardware strategy, including both a handheld console, andthe successor to the Xbox Series X/S.
This next-gen Xbox is said to be targeting a 2027 launch, so seven years after the release of the Xbox Series X/S. Corden reports that the next Xbox will be “closer to Windows than ever before”, while also having backwards compatibility with older Xbox games.
New Report Gives Us Possible First Details On Upcoming Xbox Consoles
The handheld has not officially been announced so far, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer said back in November of last year thatthe company was working on prototypes. However, this would have suggested that the handheld was much further off than 2025, so it’s possible that Spencer wasn’t giving us the full picture.
Other than that, Microsoft’s VP of Next Generation, Jason Ronald, said thatthe handheld would be the “best of Xbox and Windows”. This is backed up in the latest report, as Corden says he expects it to be “more PC-oriented”.
As for the next-gen home console, we get a few details here. Corden reports that it’s being made with PC in mind, making porting between PC and console much easier for Xbox studios. He adds that there should be new controller options as well, although it’s unclear if they will be a drastic departure from what we’ve been used to for years.
Perhaps most importantly, this shows that Xbox isn’t ditching the console market as some had speculated. These theories came about after Xbox’s strategy for the current console generation largely fell apart, as it seems that its exclusive games failed to pull in the numbers it desired. Instead, it’s started sharing its games, withnone being off the table for ports to rival platforms. Around this time, Xbox also started emphasizing how Game Pass can be accessed on a range of devices, not just an Xbox.
In any case, we’re still waiting on official reveals. Right now, the Xbox Series X/S still has some life in it, and many games are still launching on Xbox One.
