Phil Spencer has commented on the status of an Xbox Series X successor in a recent high-profile media interview.
The current CEO of Xbox Game Studios, who oversees the development of new titles for the Xbox Series X among other duties, explained that he doesn’t “feel an imperative” for the company to release an Xbox successor when speaking to Bloomberg. He went on to explain: “That’s not the feedback we’re getting right now. Right now, we’re pretty set on the hardware we have”.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are now nearing three years of market availability as both systems originally launched in late 2020. The prior console generation saw a system revision in the form of the Xbox One X (in 2017) which debuted three and a half years after the Xbox One did. The decision behind the upgrade was to deliver 4K resolution to consumers, a feat that the current flagship Xbox console can do straight out of the box.
Microsoft went on to reveal new hardware during its Xbox Games Showcase, but not in the way that was typically expected. The all-digital Xbox Series S, which is currently only available in 512GB, is now getting a Carbon Black 1TB version effectively doubling the total available storage. Spencer seems content with the current Xbox ecosystem which stretches across not only the two current-generation Xbox consoles but also the previous-generation versions and PC with the continued success of Xbox Game Pass.
The Xbox Series X is one of the best gaming consoles available, being the most powerful from a purely technical point of view. The system boasts the same 8-core AMD CPU as the PS5, however, it is clocked slightly higher at 3.8 GHz compared to the latter’s 3.5 GHz among other differences. Namely, the fact that the AMD RDNA 2 GPU inside the Series X, Scarlett (10GB VRAM), is capable of delivering 24.29 TFLOPs in contrast to the rival system’s Oberon (16GB VRAM) which outputs 20.58 TFLOPs.
A mid-generational leap in hardware does make sense from a consumer’s point of view. That’s because some of the best Xbox Series X games are currently locked at 30fps, which extends to the brand’s premiere first-party titles. You only have to look as far as Redfall and Starfield, the latter of which being one of the most anticipated upcoming games of the year which are stuck at this framerate.
An Xbox Series X successor would mean that games on the platform could be able to run at the coveted 4K60 as promised by the hardware manufacturer, but it’s a feat that fewer games are reaching as the chipset and GPU inside ages. Based on Spencer’s comments, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a hardware revision any time soon, as performance and fidelity modes have become common practice for console games with little incentive to push the boat forward at this time.
If you’re interested in getting the full experience from Microsoft’s latest consoles then we’re rounding up all the best Xbox Series X accessories, as well as the best monitors for Xbox Series X, and the best Xbox controllers, too.
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