Just yesterday, we reported that the PlayStation 5 might turn out to be Sony’s final console as gaming moves in the direction of streaming only. But where does Microsoft weigh in on this matter? Xbox boss Phil Spencer has just spoken up. And to those who love gaming on traditional consoles, he has good news. He doesn’t think that the Xbox Scarlett is likely to be the final Xbox console.
Phil Spencer Says Xbox Scarlett is Unlikely the Final Xbox Console
Spencer was talking with Giant Bomb when he mentioned that he doesn’t think that Scarlett is going to be the last traditional console that Microsoft makes, though it all depends on whether a console after Scarlett could offer fresh value.
Spencer explained, “We’re not planning for Scarlett to be our last console.” But if the company does make another traditional console, “It would be something that would come along and say what I had before doesn’t feel like it’s fulfilling state of the art experiences that I have in my home. That’s what we’re planning for. We’ll always be eyes wide open.”
So that should come as a relief to gamers who prefer physical consoles and media. But even with these comments, it is clear that Microsoft is invested in going at least partly in the streaming direction. After all, they have Project xCloud, which is a console-less service for streaming games.
But Spencer doesn’t think that streaming is necessarily the end-all-be-all. He said, “I don’t think [by that time] that I’m going to be playing games that feel like my Scarlett games that are streamed on a screen that’s 60-inches. I could be wrong, but we’re going to continue with our xCloud work… and the magic that’s being put in there.”
Meanwhile, Jim Ryan over at Sony seemed a bit more unsure as to whether PS5 would or wouldn’t be Sony’s last console, saying, “I just don’t know.” But he also emphasized that in the past, it was thought that even the PS4 might be defunct because of mobile technology, and that wasn’t true. So he doesn’t think streaming will necessarily kill traditional console gaming either. You can find out everything he had to say about the matter in our report.
So as we move forward into the future of gaming, be sure and keep up with all of our Xbox and PlayStation news here on VGR.