Did you catch Sunday’s Xbox Games Showcase? A smorgasbord of world premieres and exciting announcements left fans salivating throughout the evening. But in the avalanche of high-octane announcements, there was a very subtle hint that slipped under most radars—a next-gen Xbox console.
The showcase was a hit parade of titles; we saw the introduction of Gears of War: E-Day, a gripping prequel featuring the iconic Marcus Fenix. These surprises kept coming when DOOM: The Dark Ages crashed the party and Starfield‘s Shattered Space expansion showed off its debut trailer. Further, the news that Fable is targeting a 2025 release, and the announcement of Life is Strange: Double Exposure. And for the nerds among us who love the zombie pointing, Activision confirmed that OG round-based Zombies will be making a return to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
But that’s not all; as the event neared its end, Sarah Bond, head of Xbox, showed off three exciting products. Everything Xbox fans have to be excited for, from the sleek white all-digital Xbox Series X to a 1TB expanded-storage Xbox Series S, and the special edition of 2TB Xbox Series X.
But among these two announcements was a small but very interesting teaser from Phil Spencer. In his interview with IGN after the show, Spencer left his viewers with another potential game changer– a rumored handheld Xbox. Spencer was asked whether he believes the rumors are more fact or fiction and replied, “I think we should have a handheld too” before saying that he’s going to “kick this to Sarah Bond” when asked for more details. He still seemed excited for the future though, as he teased, “But the future for us in hardware is pretty awesome. And the work that the team is doing around different form factors, different ways to play, I’m incredibly excited about it.”
Things got interesting when McCaffrey asked what type of handheld this would be. Is this a solo gaming powerhouse like the Steam Deck, or is it a device that requires WiFi for streaming? Spencer had an interestingly sober response, praising the local gaming possibilities of products such as the ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. He responded, “I’ll put it this way: I like my ROG Ally, my Lenovo Legion Go – fantastic – my Steam Deck. I think being able to play games locally is really important.”
Though Spencer has refrained from giving any specifics, his excitement does indicate that the Xbox is worth keeping an eye out for. While the focus was on the games and the new hardware iterations, it’s obvious Xbox is looking toward the future. Whether or not this means a new handheld console is on the way, one thing is certain: Xbox is not fading into adolescence and its future in gaming hardware may be even brighter (and possibly more transportable) than ever.
I’m already on board with whatever Xbox is simmering behind the curtains. How about you? Are you excited too?
