It seems even though the purchasing of Xbox consoles keep going down every year Microsoft assured its player base it won’t stop making new generation Xbox consoles but now Xbox executives seemingly confirmed that along with a next generation console after the Series X they are also planning to enter the handheld space to compete against the massively successful Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch.
The Current Generation Of Xbox Consoles
With their latest generation of consoles Xbox introduced two versions Series S and Series X, Series S being the cheaper alternative to the Series X, being quite literally smaller. The Series X being the pinnacle of Xbox’s console generation. Yet the sales paint a significantly different picture with its direct competitor the Playstation 5 significantly outselling both generations almost everywhere. Then what was observed was Xbox marketing its Game pass subscription advertising the line up there with the low initial price of 10 dollars which has now changed.
What is the most surprising response by Phil Spencer the current Xbox head is that they won’t stop producing Xbox consoles anytime soon stating that the consoles will continue to be a part of the strategy to bring the experience to multiple kinds of devices. Shortly after, during Microsoft’s trial with the FTC leaks emerged that Microsoft were planning a mid generation refresh with a cylinder shaped Xbox series X but Phil stated that those plans are out of date.
Rumors Of Their Handheld
Xbox executives did confirm that a handheld may be coming sometime next year which may stand alongside the series S or take its spot as the cheaper alternative but recent reports as per purexbox’s article confirmed that the handheld will be its own separate venture and not something that will replace Xbox’s home consoles. This is no doubt good for the consumer as competition breeds innovation but Microsoft hasn’t exactly had slam dunks in the past with their exclusives or new ventures in general.
While all of these are rumors and therefore should be taken with mountains of salt, it provokes the possibilities of what games could come on the handheld and could it perform better than the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch or Switch 2. Microsoft has the chance to innovate and achieve this outcome and potentially reach the number of sales that the Steam Deck or Switch has achieved these past couple of years.
The Game pass Adds So Much Potential
The game pass is no doubt one of the wildest offerings from Xbox, the prices have increased from what it was previously from 17 dollars a month for game pass ultimate to 20 dollars a month now but as of August 2024 there is a total of 34 million players. Microsoft has the chance to offer game pass for 12 month on buying their hand held, they can keep adding indie type games or old games that today’s generation would much rather play sitting on the couch or lying in their bed and if they can advertise these sorts of lineups for their game pass or as launch titles it will no doubt make a significant number of people consider owning an Xbox handheld.
Microsoft Isn’t Backing Down Anytime Soon
Microsoft has been in a spree of acquiring multiple big studios and companies most notable being Activision-Blizzard which Sony was as it seemed, hellbent on making it not happen citing the the fate of the Call of Duty franchise and whether Microsoft would make it exclusive to the Xbox and PC or not but alas Microsoft did acquire it and so many more studios and this could mean that they took the sales difference between the Xbox and Playstation consoles as a matter of the lineups and exclusives offered at launch. A lot of people preferred the playstation due to the launch lineup Playstation had compared to Xbox’s lineup.
Alas almost all of the games available on Game pass is mostly due to Microsoft acquiring all those studios and while there are some major questions being asked about the viability of Game Pass as a subscription service, there is no doubt Microsoft may come into 2025 or 2026 swinging with notable lineups, mid generation refreshes and possibly a new handheld.
