Xbox’s AMD partnership highlights the future of the division ecosystem

Microsoft does not intend to withdraw from the console anytime soon. The company has been repeating for some time that it will make at least a generation of Xbox more consoles. It has now been confirmed that AMD will feed the upcoming equipment, As did with the X / S series.

Xbox president Sarah Bond made this announcement in A short video. As part of the multi -year partnership, Xbox and AMD “advance the state of the art in game silicon to provide the next generation of graphic innovation; to unlock a deeper level of visual quality; and an immersive gameplay and experiences of improved players with the power of AI, while maintaining compatibility with your existing Xbox game library,” said Bond.

A Presentation disclosed from May 2022 (which was part of the Massive Xbox leakage The following year) said Microsoft had not yet made a decision concerning the processor and the GPU for the next Xbox consoles, suggesting in a slide that he planned to conclude an agreement with AMD to provide those and in another that he still had to make a “Arm64 decision”. As we know now, the company doubles with AMD.

On the surface, the AMD agreement is the main news that leaves the announcement of Bond. But, if you read between the lines, there are many other interesting details to disentangle what she said in the short video.

On the one hand, the IA aspect of the carefully designed declaration consists with details in the leak (and other developments) About Microsoft adopting artificial intelligence and automatic learning in future Xbox games, including for things like AI agents. The company is therefore likely to follow this path.

Bond said that Microsoft and AMD “Co-engineers silicon on a portfolio of devices, including our new generation Xbox consoles, in your living room and in your hands,” involving that the company plans more labor computers beyond the Xbox brand ROG devices which arrive later this year. These are also fed by AMD.

In addition, Bond said that the next generation of Xbox devices will keep “compatibility with your existing Xbox game library”. Xbox is committed to compatibility behind, but it is always welcome to hear.

These are fairly interesting nuggets, without a doubt, but there were two other things that Bond said that I think I am starting to shed light on the future of the Xbox ecosystem. First of all, she said that her team “you” build a game platform that is always with you, so that you can play the games you want between the devices where you want, offering you an unlisted Xbox experience in a single store or linked to a single device. “”

This phrasing “a single store” is a Stroker in Menton, in particular in light of the new user interface, Xbox manufactures ROG labor computers. Devices powered by Windows will not allow users to play games from the Xbox PC application, Xbox consoles via distance game and cloud. They will integrate games from other PC windows, such as Battle.net (which is directed by Activision Blizzard belonging to Microsoft), Steam, Gog and more. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass Users have long had access to EA games played as part of their subscriptions. Ubisoft + is On xbox consoles too.

Maybe this concept of not being “locked in a single store” will start to work in other ways. Valve said a few years ago that he would be happy to Integrate the game game in SteamFor example. Likewise, Microsoft said he to welcome Steam and the Epic Games Store application on its PC app (although Valve and Epic will probably not want to give Microsoft a reduction in games). Maybe we could finally see those who materialize in the coming years.

But how could these integrations work on an Xbox console? Bond also alluded to this. She said Xbox “works in close collaboration with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for games”.

Of course, this could be a reference to the PC game. But Bond did not explicitly declare that, which makes me ask me if the next Xbox console could be more a Windows PC which is under your TV. Who align with Comments made A few months ago by Jez Corden de Windows CentralWHO said The next Xbox is “a PC, in substance, but with a shell suitable for television”.

As with the tastes of the Steam bridge and other ordinary PCs, this would potentially give game developers a specific set of specifications with which to work (although to ensure that their games are optimized for as many desktops and laptops as possible will always be a complex task). Perhaps the Xbox user interface makes its debut on Ally X devices is a sign of things to come on larger screens.

In addition, the Xbox and Windows teams remove the unnecessary aspects of the operating system in laptops of the Xbox ally to make them work more effectively. What prevents them from doing the same in the next Xbox console? This could allow Xbox to offer a more unified ecosystem on all platforms, while rationalizing things for developers who want to create games for PC and Xbox. Remember that Microsoft has made a real effort to Board windows more easily On processors based on ARM as part of its Copilot + PUS Push.

We may have to wait two or three more years to get a more complete feeling of Microsoft’s vision for the future of Xbox consoles. But he certainly has the possibility of knitting his platforms more closely and reading Xbox (and PC) games on the devices a more transparent experience.