Is Microsoft Turning the Xbox Into a PC-like Console?
If true, the next Xbox won’t just compete with PlayStation but could challenge the idea of what a console is.
Microsoft keeps dropping breadcrumbs about its next-generation Xbox, but the latest clue suggests it may not be a console in the traditional sense at all.
In a new interview with Mashable, Xbox president Sarah Bond hinted that the upcoming device will blur the lines between PC and console—a “premium, high-end curated experience” that builds on what Microsoft is testing with its Xbox Ally handhelds.
The move could finally give Xbox what it’s been missing, a clear hardware identity. The Xbox Series X and S lagged behind PlayStation 5 in exclusives and sales, but a Windows-based console could change that, drawing in PC gamers, indie developers, and hardware partners already inside the ecosystem.
Emmanuel Umahi
It’s a direction the company has been teasing for months. Bond previously described Microsoft’s vision as an “Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device,” developed in tandem with the Windows team to make Windows the ultimate gaming platform.
Combined with its renewed partnership with AMD, the chipmaker behind both Xbox and PlayStation, a clearer picture emerges: the next Xbox might simply be a PC, or at least something close to it.
That vision also fits with Microsoft’s long-running push for hybrid gaming. Xbox Game Pass already blurred platform boundaries, and now, with handhelds like the Xbox Ally X and the rise of PC-style consoles such as the Steam Deck, Microsoft seems ready to bring both worlds together.
Oluwaseun Bamisile
What’s still uncertain is how “open” this next-generation Xbox will be. Will it allow mods and third-party launchers like a PC, or remain tightly curated like today’s console experience? Bond’s phrasing, a “curated” but “premium” system, hints at a middle ground: a device that feels like Xbox but runs like Windows under the hood.
If that’s the case, the future of Xbox may not depend on selling consoles at all, but on building the best cross-device gaming environment powered by Microsoft’s software, cloud tech, and AMD hardware.
Because when your Xbox and your gaming PC finally become the same thing, maybe the question isn’t which one you’re playing on, but whether there’s even a difference anymore.
Oluwaseun Bamisile
