Xbox President Sarah Bond Says Next Console Will be “Very Premium”

Xbox President Sarah Bond has pulled the curtain back a little bit on the future Xbox console. In a recent interview with Mashable, Bond confirms that a new piece of hardware is on the way and that it’ll be “very premium.”

Fresh off the heels of the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X launch, Bond sat down for a video interview with Mashable’s Timothy Bech Werth to talk about Xbox. During the discussion, Bond was approached about the current rumours regarding Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox plans.

Dismissing the idea that Xbox would be leaving the hardware space, Bond shares that the next-gen Xbox will be taking some cues from the ROG Xbox Ally series. “Well, I can tell you that you’re right – the next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end, curated experience,” Bond says. “You’re starting to see some of the thinking we have in this handheld [ROG Xbox Ally], but I don’t want to give it all away.”

Rumours have been circulating that the next Xbox console will have access to PC storefronts like Steam and the Epic Games Store. Bond’s comments can be interpreted in a way that this might be true. The ROG Xbox Ally series not only features the Xbox Full Screen Experience and Xbox Game Bar, by more unified access to third-party storefronts.

Bond also took time to discuss Xbox’s exclusivity strategy. In recent years, Microsoft has been experimenting with third-party publishing, bringing games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and The Outer Worlds 2 to PlayStation 5. “We’re really seeing people evolve way past [exclusives],” Bond notes. “The biggest games in the world are available everywhere. You look at Call of Duty, you look at Minecraft, you look at Fortnite, you look at Roblox. That’s actually what’s really driving community in gaming. That’s where people gather, they have experiences.”

Bond continued to express, “The idea of locking it to one store or one device is antiquated for most people. You want to be able to play with your friends anywhere, regardless of what they’re on, and we’re really leaning into that with this experience because it just opens up another way for you to play, as does cloud, as does PC, as does the consoles that we all own and have in our living room.”