Massive Xbox leak suggests next Xbox could be a cloud hybrid console

We know that the next generation of Xbox is (very) tentatively slated for a 2028 release. Aside from that, nothing was really known about what the next Xbox would actually be. At least, not until today’s huge Xbox leak—probably the biggest ever in the brand’s 20+ years.

The leaked information pertained to the FTC case against Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard. Part of what has been revealed in the unredacted documentation is that Microsoft’s vision for the next Xbox is to:

“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.”

The slide above is from a leaked presentation titled “The Next Generation of Gaming at Microsoft.”  The slide also shows some specs and features for the next-gen device, and also mentions sub-$99 consumer or handheld devices.

It strongly suggests a scenario in which cloud and console converge to create gaming experiences. Microsoft refers to this idea as “Cohesive Hybrid Compute” in the documentation.

Given Microsoft’s investment in its Xbox Cloud Gaming service, it would not really be too surprising to see Xbox go this route. In fact, the leaked presentation includes a possible roadmap for the technology involved, seen above. Whether Microsoft ultimately chooses to stay on this trajectory for the next version of Xbox, only time will tell.