Xbox Chief, Phil Spencer, has rejected rumours it’s working on a streaming-only console, adding game streaming is currently more aligned with smartphones.
“Last year we talked about xCloud and then we said we were working on new game consoles, but that’s all I said,” clarified Spencer in an exclusive interview with Gamespot.
“We didn’t say that [a streaming console was in the works]”
“We are not working on a streaming-only console right now”
“We are looking at the phone in your pocket as the destination for you to stream, and the console that we have allows you to play the games locally.”
The news rebuffs speculation Microsoft was working on a low-cost streaming-only console to accompany its Project xCloud streaming service.
Spencer claims some consumers may have mixed up rumours with the launch of its new disc-less Xbox.
While xCloud encourages users to take their ‘Xbox experience with them’, Spencer asserts running games on a phone when travelling is “not the same” as running games on an Xbox One X console.
“Everything works the same as it does when I’m sitting with my console from a community and content perspective but you’re running it from a cloud, which is going to feel different,” he added.
Spencer used the interview to slyly criticise rivals (e.g. Google Stadia) remarking he doesn’t think “anybody should tell you that there’s no lag.”
He asserts the company uses words like ‘trials’ to acknowledge the trajectory of tech shifts, adding its unlikely streaming games will be “a mainstream way people play” for several years.
That being said, Spencer affirms “the cloud inevitability as part of gaming is absolutely true.”
