Xbox One won't be Microsoft's last console, exec suggests

[KMJ_84]

Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer has suggested Xbox One won't be the company's last console.

The executive was responding to a fan on Twitter who had asked about the future of console hardware in light of the growth of cloud computing.



Bandwidth caps will limit the feasibility of running processor-intensive games solely through the cloud, Spencer said. He believes hardware and software engineers working together "will find local [hardware] scenarios critical" for the foreseeable future.

Microsoft pushed its worldwide network of servers as a strong developer incentive for Xbox One, letting studios offload certain calculations to the cloud or use its servers for dedicated multiplayer.

Sony revealed its own cloud-based gaming platform called PlayStation Now on January 7. It will be used to stream classic PlayStation games to a range of devices, from PS4s to televisions and tablets.

Xbox One sales hit three million units in 2013, according to Microsoft. The first major Xbox One system update will largely focus on improving the Xbox Live experience.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/444970/xbox-one-wont-be-microsofts-last-console-exec-suggests/

 

[Linkzelda41]

Yeah, the over the cloud integration that both consoles are planning to utilize more in the future definitely will have to face bandwidth caps. But I would presume that those caps would just be anything gamers would download. If there’s actually heavy usage to play games through the cloud rather than just downloading them however, that’s going to pose a problem for many.

Of course, I doubt that may be a problem, unless you have an internet service provider that gives horrible bandwidth caps. I guess for foreign areas, this may pose an issue because I know some friends in Australia have low bandwidth caps. I guess this will probably tempt people to treat their next-gen consoles as an all-in-one home entertainment system. I’m not too surprised that Microsoft isn’t giving up with consoles because that’s just stifling easy profits for them.