A new report has outlined Microsoft’s video game hardware ambition, alleging a full next-gen Xbox is set for 2027 and an Xbox-branded gaming handheld is due out later in 2025.
Windows Central reported on a partner PC gaming handheld codenamed Keenan, which is apparently in the works for late 2025, and a successor to the Xbox Series X and S now “fully” in production and due out in two years.
Microsoft is yet to comment on the report, however its gaming executives have spoken publicly about both devices in vague terms across various interviews. In January, Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of ‘Next Generation,’ told The Verge that the company plans to combine Xbox and Windows experiences together for PC gaming handhelds made by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), otherwise known as third-party hardware manufacturers. Existing PC gaming OEMs include Asus, Lenovo, and Razer. Keenan does not relate to a first-party Xbox handheld, which Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer recently indicated is years away.
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Xbox Games Series Tier List
As for the next-gen Xbox, Windows Central said it is fully greenlit by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The console is reportedly a premium successor to the Xbox Series X, and this console, alongside a first-party Xbox gaming handheld and new controllers, are set to round out Microsoft’s console offering in 2027. The suggestion, then, is Microsoft does not plan to release a direct next-gen successor to the less powerful Xbox Series S. Perhaps Microsoft expects its handheld to occupy the cheaper, less powerful console space.
Windows Central expects the next-gen Xbox will be more like a PC than any Xbox before it, and will support third-party storefronts such as Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. Continued backwards compatibility is a given.
Last year, Xbox president Sarah Bond said Microsoft was “moving full speed ahead on our next generation hardware, focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation.”
There is much speculation around the future of consoles generally. Xbox Series X and S are floundering in the ‘console war,’ and Sony has suggested PlayStation 5 is approaching the second half of its life. While Nintendo is set to launch Switch 2 later this year, there is growing concern that the traditional video game console business could be under threat.
Spencer has said in interviews that the console business has failed to grow meaningfully in recent years, offering a sizable but static customer base that is increasingly playing a handful of enormous games and leaving little room for everything else. Last year, former Xbox executive Peter Moore told IGN that Microsoft would have been discussing whether consoles have a future.
Based on this latest report, it seems Microsoft has decided they do.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
