New Xbox Prime Rumor is “Not True,” Says Insider

According to a reputable Xbox insider, there is no new Xbox console planned for 2026. Xbox is one of the big three gaming giants out there next to PlayStation and Nintendo. It has carved out a healthy piece of the industry for itself and has continued to push against norms for a while. For a decade or two, many saw Xbox and PlayStation has near identical machines where the only difference was the exclusive games they offered. Now, the two are doing pretty different things despite having somewhat comparable hardware and it is creating a fairly unpredictable industry after years of very structured generations.

For a while, you’d get a console, support it for a few years, release a mid-gen refresh with a new console that was typically smaller and offered quality of life improvements, and then release a new generation of consoles a few years after that. Things have gone a bit differently this generation, though. People are still playing on consoles like PS4, PlayStation did release a PS5 Pro, but Xbox hasn’t even teased any kind of mid-gen refresh. Instead, Xbox seems to be focused on expanding itself in other places such as the cloud gaming arena where Xbox games are available without a console on things like tablets, TVs, and more.

However, there was a rumor floating around that Xbox is gearing up to have a new next-gen console in 2026 called Xbox Prime. The original leak came way of TheGhostofHope on Twitter, a notable Call of Duty leaker who has accurately leaked things related to the FPS franchise before. His information likely came from someone working on the Call of Duty franchise, as the series and its developers is now owned by Microsoft. As such, Microsoft would likely want to ensure that its biggest franchise can be used to heavily promote any upcoming hardware and developers would be in the loop.

Unfortunately, noted Xbox insider Jez Corden stated that there is no such thing as an Xbox Prime coming in 2026. He disputed the information, but also said there’s always a chance he looks silly come next year if such a machine is announced. Both are pretty trustworthy sources, but Corden is extremely well-connected when it comes to Xbox. Of course, given these are unconfirmed reports either way, it’s always worth taking with a grain of salt. Xbox hasn’t indicated that it is ready to kick off the next-generation quite yet and it would be pretty early.

While there have been generations that only last five or six years, the Xbox 360/PS3 and Xbox One/PS4 generations both lasted about eight years. As consoles become more powerful and expensive, users stay attached for much longer and demand them to stay relevant as long as possible. It would be a bit surprising if Microsoft would be interested in ditching the Xbox Series X|S after just six years.

That said, Xbox does seem to be interested in changing how we think about generations. Instead of just abandoning a console, it’s possible there are just more powerful variants of hardware like a phone or a computer. Games could still feasibly be released on Xbox Series X|S, but those looking for more power could get it from something like an Xbox Prime if it were to exist. Games are still releasing on the PS4 over 11 years after its initial release, so it’s not like developers aren’t willing to put games where the players are at the cost of scaled power.

Either way, it’s likely going to be a while before we hear about any plans for a new Xbox. Even if there’s something coming in 2026, we likely won’t hear about it until next spring at the earliest. If there isn’t a new console coming next year, we may be waiting another three or four years before hearing any kind of news on the next Xbox or PlayStation.