Windows Central’s Jez Corden has reported on a recent internal email sent out to all the staff by Xbox executive Sarah Bond. Corden says Microsoft has since confirmed the veracity of the message, making it a very interesting read.
Sarah Bond looked back to the first half year in her new role as president of Xbox, overseeing hardware and software. She complimented the team on the progress made thus far while reiterating that Microsoft is keen on crafting a next-generation console capable of delivering the biggest technological leap ever.
It’s been nearly six months since we came together as an organization. Our collective achievements in that time frame are tremendous. Everyone should feel incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and excited about the opportunities ahead. We are moving full speed ahead on our next-generation hardware, focused on delivering the biggest technological leap ever in a generation.
Bond had first mentioned this during the infamous official Xbox podcast, where Microsoft confirmed rumors that a few games (Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Grounded, and Sea of Thieves) were headed to other consoles. It could have been read as a way to soften the blow for Xbox fans, but it seems like Microsoft is actually doubling down on that promise.
How could they achieve such a feat at a time when silicon performance jumps are slowly but surely shrinking? Likely, Microsoft will beat heavily on AI to do the heavy lifting with some sort of frame generation technique. Even Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro, rumored to launch later this year, reportedly uses a machine learning-powered upscaler called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
On that note, Microsoft is rumored not to be doing any mid-generation refresh, which begs the question: will they launch their next-generation console earlier than Sony? After all, the only time the Xbox brand was truly competitive in that market was with the 360, which launched a full year ahead of the PlayStation 3. If that were the case, it would be even more important for Microsoft to deliver a massive technological leap, keeping as close as possible to the performance of a PlayStation 6 potentially launching later.
Going back to Sarah Bond’s internal message to Xbox employees, the executive also said a new team has been created to ensure game preservation and backward compatibility remain top goals for the foreseeable future.
We have formed a new team dedicated to game preservation, important to all of us at Xbox and the industry itself. We are building on our strong history of delivering backwards compatibility to our players, and we remain committed to bringing forward the amazing library of Xbox games for future generations of players to enjoy.
As a side note, the executive mentioned that work continues integrating Activision Blizzard games into Microsoft’s services, adding that Diablo IV’s top platform is now Xbox after the game’s debut on Game Pass in late March. Microsoft is also preparing the launch of a new wave of first-party titles, starting with Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II as well as Obsidian’s Avowed and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle by MachineGames. More news and announcements will undoubtedly be shared at the Xbox Showcase on Sunday, June 9.
