Microsoft denies rumours that it has cancelled future Xbox hardware plans

Over the weekend, a rumour began doing the rounds claiming that Microsoft's next-gen console plans were now ‘up in the air' and that there may no longer be another first-party Xbox console. Now, Microsoft has responded, stating that its plans for a next-generation Xbox remain in place. 

The insider, a forum poster who has managed to get a few other Xbox-related predictions correct in the past, claimed that while Xbox consoles may continue to exist, Microsoft adopt a licensing strategy instead, asking third-party companies to keep the Xbox brand alive with their own ‘console' systems, utilising the new gaming UI for Windows. Such a future would not be hard to predict, as Microsoft recently outsourced the creation of an Xbox gaming handheld to Asus, resulting in the Xbox Ally system.

However, Microsoft has now responded to the rumours. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson told Windows Central that they are “actively investing” in “future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox”. Microsoft points back to its previous partnership announcement with AMD, in which Microsoft will purchase millions of AMD-made chips to power new Xbox devices.

The statement may also pour cold water on another rumour – one from a known hardware leaker, KeplerL2, who made the claim that Microsoft cancelled plans for its own first-party Xbox handheld due to AMD requiring a high number of custom chips to be ordered.

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KitGuru Says: Microsoft PR has had a lot to deal with in recent months, as consumers begin to lose confidence in the brand after a string of studio closures, game cancellations and most recently, a 50% price hike for Game Pass Ultimate. A number of these recent ‘leaks' do feel more like predictions, as people put the pieces together to try and make sense of some of the company's more controversial moves over the past two years. 

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