The dam has broken wide open for Microsoft this week. In a batch of court documents leaked from the Microsoft vs. FTC case yesterday, we learned that the massive gaming company is targeting a 2028 release for their next-gen Xbox console.
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In a couple of slides included in the court documents, Microsoft revealed that their current timeline is targeting a 2028 release for the next Xbox console. With this, they also revealed what sort of things they’re looking to accomplish with said console, including cloud-console hybrid gameplay and potentially even AI technology.
You can check out the images from the leaked court documents below:
Xbox’s “vision” for the next generation is as follows:
Develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences. Optimized for real time game play and creators, we will enable new levels of performance beyond the capabilities of the client hardware alone.
This part isn’t all that surprising, given that Xbox has been pursuing cloud gaming for a while now. They seem utterly determined to make it work for them. If they can pull it off, it’ll certainly allow a much wider audience to game on whatever platform they own. As of right now, however, the general sentiment is that gamers prefer to play their games directly off their devices. Having to be connected to the internet lessens the appeal for most gamers. It might take a while to warm up to the cloud ecosystem.
The really intriguing part of this particular leak is Microsoft’s plans for AI. We can see in the images that Microsoft is hoping to fully implement AI and machine learning into the next generation of gaming. Listed amongst their next-gen features are neural network super resolutions, AI game testing, and even NLP dialogue generation, which could mean entire game dialogues that respond reactively to anything the player might say via a learned language AI like ChatGPT.
We’ve seen the idea of AI dialogue tested in indie games before to middling results. With enough attention, care, and time, Xbox could potentially pull it off. It does, however, raise some concerns regarding the future of voice acting and the potential loss of well-written scripted content. Regardless, Xbox seems keen on closely intertwining AI and machine learning with their next system.
How will Xbox react to all these leaks? It remains to be seen. We’ll make sure to keep you posted right here on MP1st.
To take a peek at the Xbox Series X Refresh that was leaked, click here.