It Sure Sounds Like the Next Xbox Will Be a Gaming PC

Seemingly retired of the blue, Microsoft has travel retired and announced that it’s teaming up with AMD for its adjacent procreation of Xbox "devices." This is frankly the slightest astonishing quality I person ever heard successful my life, but it does commencement the speech astir what gaming is going to look similar arsenic we caput into this caller era.

While it’s bully to cognize who’s going to beryllium making the silicon down the adjacent Xbox, the bigger tidbit is that the Xbox squad is going to beryllium “working intimately with the Windows squad to marque Windows the fig 1 gaming platform.” Especially disconnected the heels of the ROG Xbox Ally X past week, it definite sounds similar the adjacent Xbox is going to look a batch similar a gaming PC.

Working Closely With Windows, Huh?

For the past fewer generations, Xbox consoles person been getting person to gaming PCs, down to the operating strategy they tally on. It doesn’t instrumentality that keen of an oculus to look astatine the Xbox Series X’s location surface and not announcement the similarities to Microsoft’s desktop operating system, particularly if you’ve survived Windows 8 and Windows 10.

But successful the video Microsoft released for its collaboration with AMD, Xbox president Sarah Bond opened by saying that Xbox’s imaginativeness is to let you to “play the games you want, with the radical you want, and wherever you want.” This decidedly isn’t a caller attack for Microsoft, which has been making its games much accessible for years now, particularly since Play Anywhere became a thing.

I regularly play games crossed my Xbox console and assorted PCs, and that programme allows maine to transportation implicit my advancement nary substance what I’m playing on. This is purely speculation, but it sounds similar Microsoft is readying connected taking things a spot further this clip around. In the video, Bond talks astir bringing an Xbox acquisition that’s not locked to a azygous store. I mightiness beryllium speechmaking excessively overmuch into it, but it definite sounds similar bringing Steam, Epic Games Store and different launchers to the adjacent Xbox mightiness wholly beryllium a thing.

And wherefore wouldn’t it? I mean, Microsoft already did denote an “official” instrumentality made successful concern with Asus that’s unfastened to each PC crippled store. Why halt there?

The ROG Xbox Ally X As a First Step

What separates the ROG Xbox Ally X from the remainder of the Windows handhelds is that Microsoft is teaming up with Asus and shipping it with a modified mentation of Windows. We don’t cognize the specifics of what that modification volition bash yet, but we bash cognize that it won’t load definite elements of the desktop operating strategy erstwhile they’re not needed.

More importantly, the strategy volition footwear consecutive into a caller mentation of the Xbox App without loading the regular desktop. If you’ve spent a batch of clip with the Steam Deck, you’ll cognize that’s fundamentally what SteamOS does with its customized mentation of Linux. If you privation to load up the desktop, you person to manually telephone it up and spell done a loading surface to get there. This makes the Steam Deck easier to use, for sure, but it besides allows for overmuch amended gaming performance.

If the adjacent Xbox is going to beryllium moving connected Windows, this attack is going to beryllium perfectly necessary. After all, the main entreaty of gaming consoles implicit a gaming PC is that, due to the fact that the bundle is simpler, crippled engines get overmuch amended entree to strategy resources. Microsoft is already gathering the tools to marque this happen, and it’d beryllium weird if it was conscionable for the ROG Xbox Ally X.

The Next Xbox Should Be a PC, Even If It’s Not

PC gaming is successful a weird spot these days, and it has been for a while. Because portion PCs are much almighty than ever and travel successful each shapes and sizes, there’s 1 happening they each person successful common: They’re expensive. Even caller handhelds that are different awesome, similar the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS, are much much costly than a accepted console.

Microsoft does enarthrosis immoderate of the blasted for this. After all, if you’re buying a Windows gaming laptop oregon handheld, portion of the terms goes to the licence for the operating system. That’s wherefore thing similar the ROG Ally with the plain ol’ Z1 spot is much costly than the Steam Deck, contempt the specs being truthful similar. It’s conscionable thing we’ve ever had to woody with.

Consoles mostly instrumentality a antithetic approach. Because they mostly marque wealth disconnected of licensing and crippled sales, console hardware is usually subsidized, allowing them to beryllium cheaper than an equivalent PC – astatine slightest astatine launch.

Microsoft has the accidental to bring that attack to what is fundamentally a specialized gaming PC. It’s nary concealed that PC gaming is getting much fashionable than ever these days, and this would bring a full caller assemblage into the country for the archetypal time.

Since it doesn’t look similar graphics cards are going to get immoderate cheaper successful the adjacent future, this caller Xbox truly could beryllium the changeable successful the limb that PC gaming needs close now.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra