Doubts about the future of the Xbox have been quite present for some time now. Let’s recall that last February, in a special edition of the official podcast of the platform, Phil Spencer himself publicly confirmed that there would be a next generation console, shortly after doing so behind closed doors, in an email he sent to employees of Microsoft’s gaming division. And yes, it’s important that he clarified that, but that already gives us a good overview of the context at the time. To put it more clearly, we can’t imagine anyone from Sony having to publicly confirm that there will be a PlayStation 6, we all take that for granted.

Xbox as a console reached its peak with its second generation, the still well-remembered and beloved Xbox 360., which managed to put Sony’s rival in this generation, the PlayStation 3, on the ropes. However, the accumulation of bad decisions made with the Xbox One has plunged the console from Redmond into a hole that even the company itself realizes is capable of exiting. And despite the fact that the Xbox Series X is more powerful than the PlayStation 5, Sony’s console has once again won the console war this generation.

today though The plans for the future generation seem to be quite exciting, with a desktop model that could represent a huge technological leap (although, yes, without an optical drive), accompanied by a highly rumored and no less expected notebook. Now, probably the smartest move on Microsoft’s part is to make the Xbox ubiquitous… even if that means giving up on the console in its physical form.

A few days ago, we told you that Xbox Cloud is coming to Amazon Fire TV Sticks, the best-selling devices, which therefore extend the reach of the platform in an exceptional way. So now Microsoft released a promotional video in which we can hear «You don’t need an Xbox to play on Xbox«. The sentence said by anyone else would be an effective commercial hook, but signed by those from Redmond confirm beyond any reasonable doubt the commitment that their console will stop being (at least exclusively) a device and become a service.

With the purchase of multiple studios and distributors, notably Zenimax and more recently Activision Blizzard King, Microsoft has acquired an excellent catalog of games, which is now easier than ever to access with Game Pass, and the ability to pay a monthly fee for titles and a cloud gaming platform is becoming attractive to more people because they can access it from more places. And while the next generation will still be led by consoles, it seems likely that the service modality will be the one to play, at least on one front, in its next evolution.