Microsoft Confirms Xbox’s Rapid-Fire Release Era Is Just Getting Started
Set aside the Game Pass price-hike fiasco: for Xbox diehards, this has been a win-streak year, packed with back-to-back hits and surprise hardware like the ROG Ally X—but a looming twist could test that momentum.
Xbox has been on a weirdly aggressive streak lately: surprise handhelds, big Game Pass moves, and a whole lot of hardware chatter, all while fans were side-eyeing that recent price hike. If it felt random, Xbox president Sarah Bond says it isn’t. She walked Variety through what the plan actually is, and yeah, it sounds like there is one.
What Xbox says it’s doing (and why it looks chaotic)
Over the last year, Microsoft has been tinkering with its current-gen lineup and teaming up with ASUS on handhelds: the ROG Ally Xbox-flavored model and the higher-end Ally X. On the software side, Game Pass keeps leaning into day-one drops, with titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the long-promised Hollow Knight: Silksong (whenever it finally arrives) set to hit the service on launch.
The obvious question: is Xbox throwing everything at the wall? Bond says no. The idea is to make Xbox something you can drop into from multiple angles: console, PC, handheld, cloud. In other words, more doors into the same house.
There’s a ton more innovation to come, including things like further optimizing the experience here, scaling out the handheld compatibility program, offering more benefits and improvements to the experience and other features and adds that we’re going to give to people and more choices and more games.
That bit about a handheld compatibility program is one of those deep strategy details that explains the ASUS partnership. The handhelds aren’t a pivot away from consoles; they’re an extension of the ecosystem play.
Yes, a new Xbox console is already in the works
Amid all of that, Bond dropped the headline: the next generation of Xbox hardware is officially in active development with AMD. It’s in the prototyping and design phase right now. No specs, no dates, just a very clear confirmation that Microsoft isn’t backing out of making hardware.
So what about those rumors and that price hike?
October was messy. The Game Pass price bump didn’t go over well, and the rumor mill spun up with talk that Microsoft might be done building boxes. Bond’s comments are basically a direct rebuttal to that: new console coming, handheld strategy expanding, services growing.
The practical takeaway
- ASUS handhelds (ROG Ally and Ally X) are meant to be another on-ramp to Xbox, not a replacement for consoles.
- Microsoft is expanding a handheld compatibility program so more portable devices play nicely with the Xbox ecosystem.
- Game Pass will keep pushing day-one releases, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Silksong when it finally shows up.
- The next-gen Xbox is in active development with AMD, currently in prototyping and design.
- More features, more perks, more ways to play are coming, according to Bond.
Short version: the scattershot vibe is intentional. Xbox wants to be the hub, whether you’re on a console, a PC, a handheld, or all three. And yes, the next box is happening.