A Microsoft spokesperson has hit back at rumours the company will be scrapping future Xbox consoles.
Over the weekend, rumours began to circulate that Microsoft planned to stop making Xbox consoles and would become a digital-only company.
Reliable insider SneakerSO took to the NeoGAF forums to say the latest rumblings were that “really concrete plans for actual MicroSoft Xbox hardware went from being definitive, to up in the air” which would make a reported 2027 launch for the Xbox Series X/S successor impossible.“To sum it up: the future of Xbox is software publishing,” he added. The rumours were then collaborated by The Verge’s Tom Warren. “I will say [SneakerSO] knows a lot of what goes on internally.”
We got credible rumors that a next-gen Xbox console might not happen at all from SneakerSO
Microsoft is reportedly planning to axe consoles and go full third party, with XCloud being the only platform for Xbox.
I expected this would happen but not this soon, Xbox might be over. pic.twitter.com/mSdcY7IaqF
— Synth Potato🥔 (@SynthPotato) October 5, 2025
However a spokesperson for Microsoft has shared a statement that denies those rumours. “We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox,” it reads (via WindowsCentral).
They also pointed people to the new agreement Microsoft made with hardware company AMD earlier this year. The “strategic, multi-year partnership” is for specially designed silicon, which will be used in the creation of microchips for computers and consoles. “Together with AMD, we’re advancing the state of art in gaming silicon to deliver the next generation of graphics innovation, to unlock a deeper level of visual quality and immersive gameplay and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI,” Xbox president Sarah Bond explained in June before confirming that the new Xbox console will be backwards compatible.
Back in February, Bond said that the team working on the successor to the Xbox Series X/S are “focused on delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation. That makes it better for players, and better for creators and the visions that they’re building.”
Last week, Microsoft caused outrage by announcing a sudden price hike for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, with Day One releases now only available to Ultimate subscribers who pay £29.99 a month. Defending the decision, Microsoft’s Dustin Blackwell said: “We understand price increases are never fun for anybody, but we’re trying to reinforce by adding more value to these plans as well. It’s something we don’t take lightly, and we’re listening to the feedback of players and the community to try to provide them with more of what they’re asking for.”
In other news, Rock Band 4 was removed from digital stores over the weekend, 10 years after it first released.
