Microsoft's using the Xbox brand as its catch-all for everything gaming, dedicated consoles seem to be losing ground to mobile devices, and what the heck do you even name the system after Xbox One? Xbox Two? Don't be ridiculous. Add all that up and you may get concerned about Microsoft's future in dedicated gaming hardware, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer is certain that the company has at least, erm, one more Xbox left in it.
"I fully expect that you’ll see another console from us," Spencer told The Verge. "Our best customers are Xbox console customers, and I want to keep those people engaged both on the Xbox One and anything we might do in the future. I’m 100 percent committed to that."
Microsoft's contributions to games began long before it established the Xbox brand in 2001, publishing influential PC series like Age of Empires and Microsoft Flight Simulator (not to mention Minesweeper and Solitaire). Since then, it has folded more and more of its entertainment projects into the Xbox brand, though not all of them - like Xbox Music, now Groove, and Xbox Entertainment Studios, now closed - stuck.
Microsoft is pushing back toward PC gaming 14 years after the arrival of Xbox with projects like Fable Legends and Halo Wars 2 doubling up on Windows 10. But Spencer pledges that consoles will remain an essential part of the experience. "I don’t want to dilute what the Xbox console customer feels," Spencer said. "I want to expand what we’re able to do for more customers."
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