The head of Microsoft’s gaming division may not appreciate that consoles are normally presented as affordable options for players rather than as premium products.
Sarah Bond, president of Microsoft’s gaming division, spoke with Mashable in an interview largely centered on the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, where she pushed back against suggestions that the Xbox Ally isn’t a genuine Xbox product.
Bond also dropped hints about Xbox’s hardware direction, offering the clearest picture yet of how Microsoft plans to position its next console.
The next-generation console will be a premium, meticulously engineered product.
Describing the upcoming system as “premium” and a “meticulously engineered product” implies Microsoft’s gaming division may be steering its consoles toward a market that’s out of reach for many players. Fans shouldn’t be alarmed, however: in the same interview Bond said the company is moving steadily toward a multiplatform approach, calling the notion of locking a game to a single device outdated. It appears Xbox may forgo exclusives in the next generation altogether.
Bond added that some concepts destined for the next-generation console are already present in the Xbox Ally, though she declined to go into specifics.
Source: iXBT.games