Besides a traditional full-fledged Xbox, Microsoft is currently developing a cheaper version designed to work with the company’s upcoming game streaming service, according to a report by Thurrott.

An Xbox for game streaming
Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has already confirmed that his team “is deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles”. Those consoles are rumored to launch in 2020.

One of these consoles will be a traditional Xbox with lots of graphics muscles under the hood. A second console will be “a streaming box that is designed to work with the company’s upcoming game streaming platform”, according to a report by Thurrott.

This streaming-only Xbox will be connected to Microsoft’s servers, or the “Scarlett Cloud” as one person described it. The codename for the next generation of Xbox is believed to be Scarlett. The servers will lift the heavy weights to render and stream games onto your TV screen via the less powerful Xbox console. 



Microsoft seemingly believes that it has solved the issue of latency. The report describes how the “cloud console will have a limited amount of compute locally for specific tasks like controller input, image processing, and importantly, collision detection”. A “slice or splice” of the game runs locally while the rest is being streamed over the internet.

It was also noted that all games will run all versions of the new “Scarlett” Xbox consoles.

Microsoft has on more than one occasion said that it is planning to launch a cloud gaming service. This service will eventually be available as an app on all types of devices, including non-Xbox consoles, as Microsoft aims to reach a wider audience of gamers across the globe.

- Source: Thurrott