Xbox Head Phil Spencer Says Microsoft Is Planning on More Consoles After Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S

According to Xbox head Phil Spencer, Microsoft is still planning to release gaming hardware following the launch of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, despite the games industry leaning more towards an all-digital, cloud-based future.Speaking to Yahoo! Finance, Spencer confirmed that Microsoft is still planing on developing dedicated gaming hardware, at least in the short term, even though services like Xbox Cloud Gaming, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna are changing the ways the world plays games.

“In terms of future hardware, absolutely I think we’re going to see more console hardware down the road,” Spencer stated, “Just like in video, just like in music, it’s not that streaming has cut off device innovation. I think we’ll continue to see that, and that’s absolutely what we’re planning for.”

Obviously, things can always change in the future, but it appears Microsoft isn’t quite yet ready to fully commit to this digital future. Where Microsoft’s innovation lies, however, is clearly in Xbox Game Pass.

With Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft has been building a strategy that will allow you to play Xbox games on many different devices, including PC and mobile devices. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to see Xbox Game Pass eventually make its way to TVs or other platforms as well.

We may not know what the far future holds, but we do know that Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will be released on November 10, 2020, and will cost $499 and $299 USD, respectively.

As for Xbox Game Pass, its value continues to rise with the announcements like that of Microsoft buying Bethesda, meaning all future Bethesda games, including Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield, will launch on Xbox Game Pass on day 1.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.