Fairgoers play on the Xbox sales space on the Cologne Commerce Honest Middle throughout the opening day of Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 20, 2025.
Ying Tang | Nurphoto | Getty Pictures
Microsoft mentioned Wednesday that it’ll ship online game builders prototypes of its next-generation Xbox console in 2027, as the corporate tries to slim the hole with Nintendo and Sony.
The {hardware} will characteristic a customized chip from Superior Micro Units, Jason Ronald, a vp in Microsoft’s Xbox division, mentioned in a weblog submit.
“It delivers an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing efficiency and functionality, integrates intelligence instantly into the graphics and compute pipeline, and drives significant good points in effectivity, scale, and visible ambition,” Ronald wrote. “The result’s extra real looking, immersive, and dynamic worlds for gamers.”
Microsoft’s announcement comes weeks after the corporate mentioned longtime gaming head Phil Spencer was retiring, and would get replaced by synthetic intelligence government Asha Sharma. In a message to workers, Sharma mentioned the corporate would make a renewed dedication to Xbox, beginning with console gaming.
Simply over 7% of Microsoft’s income got here from gaming within the December quarter, with Xbox {hardware} income falling 32%. The corporate took an unspecified impairment cost in its gaming enterprise throughout the quarter.
Xbox consoles have undersold options from Nintendo and Sony because the flagship Xbox Sequence X and extra reasonably priced Sequence S got here out in 2020, in line with estimates from online game web site VGChartz. Within the fall, Asus launched hand-held Xbox-branded units.
The Xbox Sequence S and X, initially launched in 2020, additionally contained AMD processors.
“I am excited to share we plan to ship alpha variations of the {hardware} to builders starting in 2027,” Ronald wrote.
Microsoft is reportedly pushing for its online game unit to succeed in a 30% revenue margin. Final 12 months, the enterprise laid off some workers and scrapped titles that had been in growth.
Sharma made reference to the next-generation console, identified internally as Mission Helix, in an X submit final week.
“Mission Helix will lead in efficiency and play your Xbox and PC video games,” she wrote.
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