For several days now, rumors have been swirling that the Xbox would be discontinued. This rumour has been reinforced by several circumstances.
The first is the accelerated optimization of Windows 11 to make it a platform compatible with the console experience. The aim is to improve the experience of portable console users. This is a segment of great interest to Microsoft, which seems intent on working with partners, as the arrival of the Rog Xbox Ally suggests.
Secondly, AMD is becoming increasingly involved, and has announced the long-term development of several X86 APUs for the Xbox ecosystem. In a way, this announcement reinforces the idea of a merger between PC and console, putting an end to the Xbox, or at least to its historical proprietary version. A strategy that will enable the company to focus exclusively on game development and distribution, making Xbox a label only.
Microsoft’s Xbox strategy is hard to understand…
But Microsoft has officially calmed things down: the software giant is working on next-generation Xbox consoles, proprietary consoles that will be “designed and manufactured by Xbox”. So abandoning the traditional console market is not part of its strategy… at least not in the short term. While this statement means that a future Xbox made in Microsoft is well and truly in the pipeline, it does not mean that other Xbox products manufactured by other partners will not be on the way.
Indeed, while Microsoft is a flourishing company, one dark spot persists and that is clearly the disappointing sales of its Xbox. With its partnership with Asus, Microsoft could be looking to multiply the means of entry into its universe, whether via a classic console, a computer, an associated mobile device or with its cloud gaming offering. At this point, it’s hard to see what strategy Microsoft has been trying to develop since its takeover of Activision. And this denial is obviously having trouble to convince, all the more so as a new wave of redundancies is scheduled for early 2026, affecting the Xbox console ecosystem in particular…
