After significant speculation spread over the span of years, Microsoft has finally spoken on-record about its next Xbox. During an interview with The Verge focused on Microsoft’s new Outlook email service (embedded below), general manager Brian Hall name-dropped a “new Xbox.”
“We’ve had Hotmail and operated Hotmail for about 16 years, we obviously have Exchange, and Outlook, that people use at work. We just decided it was time to do something new and bring the best from each of those and put them together and release it right in time for the new wave of products that we could have coming out with Windows 8, with the new version of Office with the new Windows phone and the new Xbox,” Hall said.
Hall did not share further details on the next Xbox. Windows 8 will launch on October 26 alongside Microsoft’s new Surface tablet line.
[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, Microsoft issued a statement to GameSpot on the matter.
“Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend the console lifecycle by introducing controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships,” reads a line from the statement. “We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention.”
The analyst consensus is that the next Xbox, as well as the PlayStation 4, will be on store shelves for holiday 2013. A recent 56-page document supposedly originating from Microsoft said the next Xbox would launch in 2013 at $299 bundled with the second iteration of Kinect, among other updates. As for the PS4, PlayStation executive Andrew House said in June that Sony’s new console would not be shown until a “significant leap” over the PlayStation 3 could be demonstrated.
