There won’t be a dedicated “console” for Xbox Cloud Gaming, at least not for several years. Phil Spencer, the big boss of Microsoft Gaming, showered the hopes of all players who do not want a full Xbox, but who would have liked to try the game in streaming on the living room TV. The “Keystone” project was buried when it was almost ready, he reveals to The Verge.
Vault Boy left the shelter and stopped by my office to celebrate the #Fallout25 Anniversary. Congratulations to the @Fallout @Bethesda teams on this major milestone for an iconic franchise. pic.twitter.com/hGoN1sAQRK
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) October 10, 2022
The prototype, built in nine months, looked like an Xbox, with the same interface as on the console ” and everything was working really well “, describes Spencer. He is now hanging out on his desk, the sleuths have also been able to flush him out in a photo shared on his Twitter account!
But lo and behold, the device was more expensive what we wanted because of the equipment it was carrying. The idea was to market a streaming box between $99 and $129, but adding an Xbox controller bundle as Microsoft wanted. The price would then have been too close to that of the Xbox Series S ($299). Strangely, selling the device solo, without a controller, was not considered although it would have been possible to use any controller.
Microsoft preferred to forge agreements with TV manufacturers, starting with Samsung, to to integrate an Xbox Cloud Gaming app. Which isn’t the worst solution, but we’ll have to wait for this application to become widely available.
All is not lost, maybe Microsoft will come back to this project in a while: ” Will we make a streaming game device? I think we might do it, but not for several years », a affirmed the same Spencer at Wall Street Journal.