The cuboid becomes a cylinder: Court documents reveal how Microsoft imagines the redesign of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
For a company like Microsoft, which weighs every word in its communication and meticulously monitors the choreography of product announcements, today’s Tuesday is probably a bit of a nightmare: in connection with the Activision-Blizzard takeover and the ongoing struggle with the antitrust authorities FTC in US courts are classified as ‘confidential’ Documents made public – including images, schedules, forecast sales figures and precise technical information about the planned redesign of the Xbox Series X, which has been on the market since November 2020.
Important: The documents that first appeared in the US magazine The Verge published, dates from May 2022 – isolated information and plans may now be outdated. For example, the price increase of the Xbox Series X from €499 to €549 in August 2023 has not yet been taken into account.
Nonetheless, the data provides a breathtakingly precise and detailed look at Microsoft’s short, medium and long-term Xbox future:
The Refresh project operates under the code name Brooklin and is planned for the end of 2024. From the typical cuboid of Xbox Series X becomes a cylinder that looks like a loudspeaker box. Microsoft wants to do without a Blu-Ray drive: the entire Xbox portfolio is in the future “all digital”. In addition, the new model should have more internal storage (2 TB instead of 1 TB), a more stable WLAN connection (Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2) and higher energy efficiency.
The ‘new’ Xbox will be delivered with a revised, wireless Xbox wireless controller (Codename Sebile), which has the usual dimensions, but will offer haptic feedback for the first time – analogous to the DualSense controller of Sony’s PlayStation 5. In addition, an acceleration sensor (accelerometer) and speakers are installed; The gamepad should also be more robust and the buttons can be pressed more quietly. With sustainability in mind, recycled materials are used; the battery can be exchanged and replaced.
Which I’m also revising Xbox Series S (Codename Ellewood) will continue to offer a cost-effective entry into the Xbox console world – with a recommended retail price of under $300 and an apparently unchanged design. The new Xbox controller is also included in delivery. The S-Class will now have 1 TB of storage as standard – similar to the Carbon Black Edition, which has been sold since the beginning of September for €349.
With the innovations described, Microsoft says it is responding to customer requests, for example with regard to storage space and the functionality of the controller, which is catching up with the PlayStation 5.
According to further court documents, the actual successor to the Xbox Series X will not come onto the market until 2028 – the console cycle would therefore span eight years. Seven years have passed between the Xbox One (2013) and the Xbox Series X/S (2020).
Microsoft has not yet commented on the XXL leak.
Post is continually updated.