According to a new report, the next Xbox console is planned to be revealed this year. Of course, this won’t be the next proper Xbox console, but it also sounds like it’s not a mere revision of the current Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S either. The report comes the way of prominent Xbox insider and leaker, Nick Baker. During a recent episode of the Xbox Era podcast, Baker relayed word that he has heard Xbox is preparing to show new hardware sometime this year. Talking about this mystery hardware, Baker teases that it’s something Xbox fans won’t see coming.
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“All I was told that I’m allowed to say, is that sometime this year — or I should say maybe sometime this year because there’s a lot of stuff delaying things lately, whether it’s the Ukraine situation, COVID issues, chip shortages, all that sort of stuff… so I’m not going to say it’s definitely happening this year — but, I’ve been told it should be this year.”
Baker continued, reinforcing the “should be this year” part of the statement, which is an important thing to emphasize because things are always subject to change. Baker then capped the tease with the juicy part: “Xbox currently has some hardware to show… that falls into a different bucket than people are probably expecting.”
There are two things here of consequence. One, Xbox has new hardware to show and it could be shown this year. Two, it’s not what people are expecting, which likely rules out a hardware revision like the Xbox One got with the Xbox One S and Xbox One X. These type of revisions will inevitably happen, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what Baker is teasing. So, what could he be teasing? We don’t know. Many will be quick to jump the gun and suggest it’s something with VR, especially with the PlayStation VR 2 coming, but this conclusion ignores the fact that Xbox boss Phil Spencer has long-standing hesitations about the VR space.
Unfortunately, for now, all we can do is speculate. In the meantime, take everything here with a grain of salt. Baker is a reliable and reputable source, but he’s been off the mark in the past. And of course, as Baker says himself, everything here is subject to change. The claim could be accurate now, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay this way, which is always the danger of sharing inside information early.
