The next Xbox will be a reference design for third party manufacturers to build their own versions of the console, based on the latest report.
The Xbox Two co-host and Windows Central editor Jez Corden took to Twitter/X to confirm the validity of a prior Discord leak, according to which Microsoft will have third party manufacturers release their own versions of the next Xbox console, just like how there are already third party controllers available on the market.
According to Corden, the next Xbox has a “heavy” Windows slant, and will be a reference device for manufacturers making devices. He mentioned that the idea is similar in theory to Surface Pro 11 being a reference device for AI PCs. He also brought up the ASUS ROG Ally.
ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte are likely to be among the OEM manufacturers that would receive a license to build their variants of the next Xbox, and once their designs have gone through Microsoft certification, they would be clear to make and sell these units.
Given how Microsoft has begun releasing Xbox Game Studios titles on PlayStation, there’s reason to believe why the software giant would likely be looking to gradually exit the hardware business. The company is aware that there’s money to be made from Sony’s ecosystem, and it has already been testing the waters with the recent release of Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, and Pentiment on PlayStation.
During a recent Bloomberg interview, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed the company’s plans to release Xbox first party games across all platforms, including PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. He stated that Microsoft now has the ability to do what it has always set out to do, which is to build great games and deliver them to players “across all platforms”. He also expressed his desire for Microsoft to be a “good publisher” for both PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.
