News

The Next Xbox Console May Be A Streaming Device

With the current generation of consoles entering their twilight years, speculation is growing as to what form the next ones will take. At present, we are not expecting any solid news in this regard until at least next year, but it seems that reports have suggested what Microsoft plan for their next console.

In a report via PCGamesN, unconfirmed rumours have suggested that Microsoft may release multiple versions of their next console including one that will solely be designed as a streaming device.

Hardware and Streaming Versions

While Microsoft will still plan on releasing a hardware dedicated console, the report has also suggested that a streaming dedicated device is also planned. In fairness, this does make a lot of sense. Game streaming has proven to be both viable and popular (particularly with products such as the Nvidia shield).

In addition to this though, a streaming platform could open the doors to the next generation sticking around for a lot longer. You see, a streaming device wouldn’t be limited to the hardware of the console itself. As such, games could continually look to push the boundaries as long as the bandwidth is available for people to be effectively able to play them. This would, of course, require users to have a good internet connection. Hence, why a hardware version will likely still be released.

Scarlett Cloud

The streaming concept, known as Scarlett Cloud could be set to arrive as early as 2020. It’s certainly an interesting new direction for the next generation of consoles. It’s a format which I expect could potentially be the future of gaming. We will, of course, at this point have to wait and see. The potential is though that Scarlett Cloud could be an inexpensive way to play AAA games.

What do you think? Is a streaming platform the best future for consoles? Would you still prefer a console with the hardware in-built? In addition, PlayStation or Microsoft? – Let us know in the comments!