We’re already steadily into the second half of this console generation, meaning rumors have already begun concerning the next phase of bothPlayStationandXboxconsoles. Even though many of us are already nauseated by thetrain of rumors, the news and status aroundmassive consolesoften determine the entire industry’s future.
So, you may have heard rumors about a supposed “Xbox Prime” console that would be released in late 2026, with an Infinity WardCall Of Dutytitle being a likely candidate for a first-party release on the platform. But, as theposters themselvesstated, “Take this with a huge grain of salt.”
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With knowledge of the gaming industry, this rumor already seems relatively untrustworthy.A notable Xbox insider, Jez Cordon, contributed tothe post, saying, " It’s not true,” shutting down any credibility behind the short-lived Xbox Prime.
That said, the original poster’s main goal was to inspire talks about the future of Xbox hardware, meaning the actual result of the “leak” was a success. With how the current market seems to be headed, they’ve formed an honest conversation aboutXbox’s true intentionsin the game console market.
With PlayStation releasing thePlayStation 5 Pro, many assumed Microsoft would respond with something massive. Even though the original Xbox Series X was technically more powerful than the PlayStation 5, its lack ofinnovative featuresand first-party exclusives led it to perform relatively worse than the Sony competition.
The only notable change to Xbox’s console ecosystem has been thestandard console redesign, which, under the hood, barely boosted the performance of the Xbox Series X and S systems. This all corroborates how Microsoftadmits tolosing the console war, but that doesn’t mean they aim to fade into obscurity.
While Jez Corden says the rumored Xbox Prime is completely false, they still maintain Xbox is likely in the works on a potential upcoming console. Despite there being no massive upgrade for the Series X/S, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer himselfpreviously statedthat:
We’ll definitely do more consoles in the future
However, even though Phil Spencer says that Xbox will continue to be in the console market for future generations, in the current one, their consoles seem to be the last thing on their mind, leading us to wonder what the state of any future console would be.
The Actual Future Of Xbox Consoles
Microsoft has been complacent with a new focus on thewhole Xbox ecosystem, which, along with their standard edition consoles, includes PC, mobile, and cloud service platforms, along with first-party releases andXbox Game Pass.
As previously mentioned, Xbox has admitted to “losing” the console war, only doing the bare minimum for the latest console redesigns. Yet,one could argue that the Xbox ecosystem has been flourishing, with an increased presence in the industry rivaling that of companies like Nintendo.
The Xbox business model now combines many platforms, services, and first-party titles to create various ways to play Xbox. For instance, you can play massive releases likeIndiana Jones And The Great CircleorBlack Ops 6Day One on various platforms through a Game Pass subscription.
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The leaks of the Xbox Prime show that fans still want a massive Xbox console, so demand is still readily apparent. However, unlike PlayStation, which rarely putsexclusive titles on Steam, Xbox has continued diversifying investments instead of banking on console demand.
We can assume the next Xbox Console will reflect the company’s new standards.While a powerful Xbox system is on the way, you can think of it more as another cornerstone of the Xbox ecosystem and less of theexperimental devicethat PlayStation and Nintendo seem to invent every generation.
So, while the Xbox Prime likely won’t see the light of day, you can still count on an upcoming Xbox console to release sometime in the future, serving as a benchmark for Xbox’s gaming ecosystem.
