Huge document leak reveals Microsoft’s plans for 2028 next-gen “Cloud Hybrid” Xbox console.
The recently leaked documents which were part of the Microsoft vs. FTC trial have revealed new information about its plans for the future. It includes a slide that talks about “the next generation of gaming at Microsoft.”
According to the slide (via The Verge), Microsoft plans to develop a “next generation hybrid game platform” that will combine the power of the client and the cloud to “enable new levels of performance beyond the capabilities of the client hardware alone.”
The slide revealed that this upcoming unannounced hardware will include an ARM64 CPU and a GPU by AMD. There is also a mention of Forward Compatibility and next-gen DirectX ray tracing, dynamic global illumination, machine learning-based super resolution, and micropolygon rendering optimizations.
It was also mentioned in the slide that a “thin OS” for sub $99 “consumer or handheld devices”. This possibly means that Microsoft is planning to have gamers use handheld devices to play games boosted by the cloud. In another slide, the company did mention that it will have “cloud hybrid” games for its next-gen Xbox device.
In another slide, the timeline for the production of this unannounced hardware was revealed. At the current time, Microsoft is still in the hardware design phase, and it is planned for release possibly in late 2028. Do note that since these documents were submitted previously, changes could have happened along the way.