After all of the Xbox drama that's unfolded in recent days, today has brought our first official response from Microsoft - with Xbox president Sarah Bond appearing on Bloomberg News to discuss the future of gaming. During the chat, Bond talked about the team's commitment to Game Pass, and even gave a bit of reasoning behind the Bethesda studio closures - but one particular part of the conversation is really sticking with us.
In and around the 11-minute mark of the above video, Bond is asked about hardware, and if she can alleviate some of the concerns that core Xbox fans may have about the future of Microsoft's console business. Bond briefly mentions this super-powerful next-gen Xbox we've already heard about, which is reassuring in the short term at least.
"My focus has really been on engineering and building that next generation hardware experience that really really taps into their [core gamers] needs. [...] Our focus is on delivering the biggest leap ever. And that's about really thinking through every aspect of what that hardware and what that experience delivers with the core gamer in mind."
However, the Xbox President quickly moves on to talk about this recently assembled 'game preservation team', and what they will be getting up to in the future. In short, Bond goes on to say that this team is making sure Xbox players can take their games with them - "wherever they want to play".
"One of the decisions I made when I came in and became president of Xbox was to establish a team dedicated to that, to game preservation and ensuring that future generations, future iterations, you get to take those things with you.
The next part of that is saying 'okay, I get to bring those games with me, I'm invested in those games, I get an incredible high-performance experience on my console', but also continuing our commitment to make sure that gamers can bring their games with them wherever they want to play. That my Xbox library is something that can go with me and that I can enjoy with others."
Of course, "wherever they want to play" could easily refer to things like cloud gaming and PC, but the fact that a whole team has been assembled to preserve our Xbox libraries does make us think what they're being preserved for. Could it be for an eventual move away from Xbox hardware entirely? Who knows, but it sounds like anything is on the table at the moment over at Microsoft HQ.
Look, we could be making a bit of a leap here - and we'd be ecstatic to see multiple new Xbox consoles come to market over the next few generations in gaming. However, after all of the recent news and rumours about Microsoft's evolving gaming business, we wouldn't be surprised if the company is starting to think about life without Xbox consoles.