Huge Xbox leak reveals Microsoft’s plans for the future of the console

A new, ‘adorable’ Xbox Series X could be followed by an entirely different kind of ‘hybrid’ console, documents suggest

US Microsoft Xbox Starfield (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A major leak has seemingly revealed Microsoft’s plans for the future of the Xbox.

The company is planning a new version of the Xbox Series X that will be shaped like a cylinder and not include a console, according to internal documents. Codenamed “Brooklyn”, the new console will have the power of the more expensive Xbox, with more storage but without the option to use discs.

But that will then be followed by an entirely new kind of console, planned for 2028. That aims to create a “hybrid” experience by streaming games online but combining them with local hardware, to get the best of both.

That is according to new documents that were published as part of the legal hearings between the US Federal Trade Commission and Xbox, which were first reported by The Verge. The documents appear to have been uploaded accidentally, and have since been pulled down.

There is no guarantee that either of the consoles will actually arrive, and the documents appear to show the internal planning of the hardware. But the new “Brooklin” version of the Xbox Series X appears close to completion, with an estimated 2024 release date.

It will also come with a new controller, nicknamed Sebile and planned for later this year. It will include new features such as an accelerometer so that the console can wake up just by being picked up, and a white and black mixed colour scheme, but otherwise keeps the same design as the existing controller.

The “next generation” console appears to be more speculative, and comes from a 2022 pitch ahead of a possible 2028 release date. It says that the company is aiming for its cloud gaming platform and physical consoles to achieve “full convergence” through games that would be described as “cloud hybrid”.

“Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences,” the documents read.

It suggests for instance that players could buy a small puck that would plug into their television and include some of the processors and other hardware required to play games. But much of the game itself would stream over the internet.

The hardware design would begin next year, ahead of kits arriving with developers in 2027, and then the console itself arriving a year later. The first games would start being developed for the hybrid platform from next year, the documents suggest.

But it also notes that a range of things are yet to be decided. The company needs to build a “thin” operating system that could play the local parts of the games, for instance.

The documents mention “hybrid Windows”, suggesting that similar technology could come to the desktop.