Xbox boss Phil Spencer has continued to be a surprisingly transparent communicator in the lead-up to the release of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Now that information about Microsoft’s next-gen consoles is being widely shared and embargoes for preview coverage are dropping, Spencer’s going out of his way to talk about a range of Xbox-related topics. One particularly important topic being Xbox’s plans for eventual Xbox Series X hardware revisions.
Speaking with Kotaku, Spencer was asked specifically about potential Xbox Series X hardware revisions that might currently be planned or in development. Specifically, he’s asked if Xbox consoles might eventually offer faster solid-state drives, with the PS5’s SSD configuration specifically noted. Spencer, obviously, doesn’t commit to anything, but does leave the door open to potential console iteration in the future. However, he doesn’t appear to be referencing the kinds of improvements mentioned in the question.
“We will iterate on hardware,” Spencer makes clear, referencing Xbox’s past generations of consoles. Xbox is well-known for both mid-gen refreshes like the Xbox One X as well as hardware iterations like the Xbox One S. Spencer says that the Xbox console development team “doesn’t go away” when a console’s hardware is locked down. It’s constantly evaluating how to drive down hardware component costs, as well as targets for the next Xbox console.
Spencer never directly references the PS5’s SSD or Microsoft’s plans for Xbox consoles with regards to its storage solutions. That’s likely because it wasn’t necessarily important to do. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S both feature a custom NVMe solid-state drive that will significantly improve loading times for both current and next-gen games. That SSD’s performance will likely improve with future console iterations.
As for whether Microsoft will adopt Sony’s unique SSD hardware configuration, it’s all but guaranteed that Xbox won’t adopt that either. That’s because Xbox’s focus on PC and console parity means that Xbox consoles will likely prioritize PC hardware configurations going forward. Changing Xbox hardware significantly would make development more challenging and would lead to a performance imbalance between PC and Xbox. Of course, Spencer doesn’t clearly state this and anything is possible far enough into the future.
The news shared by Spencer shouldn’t be surprising to Xbox fans and hopefully won’t be offputting. Just like there will always be a new iPhone, Xbox will continue producing hardware iterations. Purchasing an Xbox Series X or an Xbox Series S will still allow Xbox fans to play next-generation games for many years into the future, regardless of whether a mid-gen refresh is released.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S release on November 10.
Source: Kotaku
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