What comes after Xbox Series X? Microsoft's 2028 next-gen console plans revealed

Xbox Game Pass on Samsung Smart TV
(Image credit: Microsoft Gaming)

Today's massive 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Microsoft FTC leak revealed an early roadmap for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Microsoft's next gaming console – not the mid-gen 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Series X refresh, but the all-new next-gen har𝄹dware tentatively sch🦋eduled for 2028. 

In unredacted presentations dated May 2022, Microsoft describes the next Xbox console as the keystone for its plan to dꩵouble its gaming revenue by 2030 and "reach industry leadership, outside of 𒁏China."

The next Xbox is said to double down on cloud integration, enabling "larger, richer, more dynamic open worlds with increased technical demands" as well as "cloud hybr♓id games" delivering "new game genres and types, unlocked through player growth and technical innovation." 

This "hybrid compute" framework is a running theme for Microsoft's early draft, which predicts the "full convergence" of Microsoft's unified gaming vision in 2028. A timeline on one slide notes the advancements of each generation of Xbox hardware, putting this convergence int💎o context.

  • Xbox, 2001: Standalone hardware and software
  • Xbox 360, 2005: Dev tooling
  • Xbox One, 2013: Operating system and software development kit convergence
  • Xbox Series X | S, 2020: Cloud-optimized hardware, unified game development kit 
  • "Next Gen," 2028: "Full convergence"

The top-level view of what I'm calling the NextBox is: "Not a console generation. An ecosystem generation." This lines up with the increasingly broad Xbox platform, now spread across consoles, PC, Game Pass, and cloud streaming. Looking at 2028 to 2030, Microsoft is groupi🍸ng browse🐠r, mobile, smart TVs, low and high-end PCs, consoles, cloud consoles, handheld devices, and streaming sticks into one big ecosystem under its Azure cloud umbrella. 

"Our vision: develop a next-generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the c𝓀lient and cloud to deliver d𝕴eeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences," the leaked presentation reads. "Optimized for real-time gameplay and creators, we will enable new levels of performance beyond the capabilities of the client hardware alone."

How, exactly, will the cloud benefit games beyond making them playable acro🐻ss a range of devices? Microsoft flags ♔a few points of interest:

  • Graphics innovation: next-gen DirectX raytracing, dynamic global illumination, machine learning-based super resolution
  • AI and machine learning for optimized performance, as well as features like dialogue or procedural content generation 
  • Development tools that make it easier to port games to other platforms 

One of the more interesting slides groups features by type and state of development, with some being established projects, most being in the research stage, and two – frame rate interpolation and cloud resource optimiza🌠tion – labeled as "fertile future ideation" territory. 

Xbox next-gen plans

(Image credit: Microsoft)

While this next-gen roadmap is heavily subject to change, it does notably include dates for a few key development milestones that support a 2028 release. For starters, Micr♔osoft hopes to have early dev kits out in 2027, 🍌with a final dev kit seemingly targeting the end of the year. Talks with third party developers appear to be slated for early 2026. 

Xbox next-gen plans

(Image credit: Microsoft)

I'm especially intrigued by the "launch content" pipeline here. Conceptin𒉰g and pre-production for this area would start as early as this year, with games for the Xbox Series X still being the priority until 2026, when porting and optimizing for the still-unnamed "Gen 10" system starts to bleed in. 

Microsoft has predicted a 2028 launch for its next console as well as the PS6 before, so while this presentation is so soft you could spread it on toast𓃲, it's still a valuable point of reference – and on💟e that we absolutely are not supposed to know about. 

The big Xbox leak also revealed 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Oblivion and Fallout 3 remasters apparently in development. 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot o🐟f news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.