Xbox
A new Halo, a portable Xbox, and a new mainline console are reportedly Microsoft’s next big steps
A new report seems to indicate that Microsoft is gearing up to celebrate 25 years of Xbox with the announcements of a new Xbox, a portable gaming device, and a new Halo title.
The PS5 Pro announcement took many fans by surprise, as some consider that the base version of the console hasn’t been squeezed enough of its performance and capabilities to justify the arrival of the new revision. However, it seems to have been the push that Microsoft needed to begin hinting at their mid-generation refresh… or perhaps at what’s to come after.
According to a report by Windows Central, it seems like Microsoft is preparing not one, but two new Xbox Consoles: one a powerful home machine that builds upon the Series X, and a portable device in the line of the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch. And to top it all off, they also appear to be gearing up to announce the next Halo game.
Microsoft hints at the future of Xbox hardware
The report claims to originate from internal sources within Microsoft, and assures that this upcoming announcement is a response to Sony’s PS5 Pro revelation. In a way, it appears that the new hardware of their competitors has forced them to respond in kind, and now we could be seeing a revival of the usual “console wars” of the industry.
According to this insider info, there is already a possible release window for both of these new Microsoft consoles: November 15, 2026, which marks the 25th anniversary of both the Xbox brand and the Halo franchise, which famously was a launch title for the original Xbox.
The reasoning they follow at Windows Central is as follows: John Friend, Head of Consumer Products at Xbox, recently revealed to License Global that indeed the company is preparing “something” for the quarter century of the Xbox and Halo brands. To this, we should add some statements from the beginning of the year by the President of Xbox Sarah Bond regarding the fact that the next Xbox will be “the biggest technological leap ever in a generation”. And to finish the job, Phil Spencer has been very interested during the last few months in exploring the terrain of portable hardware, following the example of successful consoles such as Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch.
The conclusion is that taking into account all these “clues”, the ideal occasion to present this new hardware of the brand would be its 25th anniversary, in addition to being accompanied by a new release from the Halo saga that would make many remember the golden era of the company where one of these launches transcended the video game sector and became a social event.
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