When is the next gen Xbox release date? Despite being a long way away from the next Xbox console, with the Series X|S still delivering the performance quality that fans and developers want, that doesn’t stop Xbox fans sitting in anticipation for the next generation of consoles. To tide you over, we’ve collected every tidbit of next gen Xbox information, including potential release dates, specs, pricing, and more.
Hopefully, the best Xbox Series X games are compatible with the next gen Xbox, or at the very least, you’ll have plenty of time to complete your backlog, which is no doubt ever-expanding with all the great new Xbox games coming out. However, with Xbox having such a huge focus on the ever-growing Game Pass games library, we imagine the upcoming generation will have a lot of titles for you to play right out of the gate. When it does arrive, it will also likely be in fierce competition, with the PS6 release date expected to land at a similar moment. Here’s all the latest news about the next Xbox console generation right now.
Next gen Xbox release date window
The expected release date for the next gen Xbox console is currently 2028, according to official court documents from the FTC and Microsoft legal battle, reviewed by IGN. Considering consoles usually release before the holiday period, we estimate that the next Xbox will arrive in November 2028.
A release in 2028 makes sense, considering that most console generations between PlayStation and Microsoft last roughly seven or eight years. And, due to the fact that the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles were released in 2020, everything lines up even before considering the documents revealed during the FTC case for Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard.
How many versions of the next gen Xbox there will be is unknown right now. Considering that Xbox has found success with two variants, it could be the same deal as the next gen Xbox, with a more budget version with reduced power and no disc drive. However, we expect there to only be one version, which would focus on being an all-digital machine. Given how focused Microsoft is on Xbox Game Pass and cloud gaming, as well as an overall market trend towards all-digital gaming, by 2028 this proposition seems even more likely than it does today. This would also reduce the price of the console, much like Xbox Series S compared to Series X, which gives the next gen Xbox a competitive edge.
Is a new Xbox coming out in 2024?
According to the same FTC documents, a mid-gen refresh of the Xbox Series X|S is set to release in mid-late 2024, those being the models codenamed Ellewood and Brooklin. The former is a Series S refresh, while the latter is a Series X refresh that is digital-only.
Funnily enough, from the images within the documents, the Xbox Series X refresh isn’t a box, but rather a cylinder-type shape. While most of the internal components are set to be the same, it may boast increased storage, better WiFi, reduced power consumption, and the introduction of a more immersive controller, likely rivaling some of the best PS5 controllers like the DualSense. The Brooklin model is set to release in late 2024.
As for the Ellewood, it looks remarkably similar to the Series S in its current form, except it also offers better WiFi, less power consumption, and it might have a 1TB option as opposed to the 500GB-only option we currently have for the Series S. According to the documents, the Ellewood will release 60 days before the Brooklin, in mid-2024.
It’s worth noting that these documents were from May 2022, so many things may have changed since then, that is, if the mid-gen console refreshes release at all. However, considering both PlayStation and Xbox are known for releasing updated versions of their consoles in the middle of generations, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them released at some point.
Next gen Xbox possible specs
We expect the next gen Xbox to improve on the existing specs of the Series X|S console line-up quite significantly, though we don’t expect it to be a game-changer. Considering the success of the Series S – which has been popular due to its affordable price, despite having less power under the hood than the Series X – we believe that the next Xbox will resemble a custom GPU which is the equivalent of a 4080/4090 now, alongside being digital-only with no disc drive.
The reason we believe this is that Xbox can make the console a cheap yet worthy competitor to the PS6, but with a focus on value rather than raw power thanks to Xbox Game Pass. Since Xbox is putting more money into growing and strengthening xCloud, it would be able to get significant boosts (in the future) from cloud services as well, similar to Nvidia’s GeForce Now service.
This way, players who want to have a high-end gaming experience can build or purchase a PC instead, of which the majority of people will install Windows on and possibly download Xbox Game Pass, a win-win for Microsoft in the end.
As for other elements, the next gen Xbox will almost certainly use an improved NVMe or custom SSD solution, as solid-state drive prices are dropping across the board. We also hope that Microsoft will take a page out of Sony’s book and make a better compression tech like the Kraken.
Next gen Xbox price estimate
Given our estimated specs for the next gen Xbox, we believe it will be priced around $349.99 or £349.99, a healthy balance between both the Series X and the Series S currently. However, this could be drastically different due to inflation, changing markets, rises in material costs, and other factors down the line.
For now, we think it’s a safe bet that Microsoft will try to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 6 by undercutting it price-wise, but at the cost of a slightly weaker console. While home consoles are still important to it, Microsoft’s focus is shifting towards growing the Game Pass ecosystem and allowing its users to play games on as many devices as possible, with Phil Spencer confirming on the Kinda Funny podcast that “[Xbox is] not in the business of out-consoling Sony.” Spencer also mentioned in the same podcast that they “have to go off and do our own thing with Game Pass.”
Next gen Xbox potential features
Alongside being a potentially digital-only experience, we expect the next-gen Xbox to support up to 120 FPS in games consistently at 1440p, or 60 FPS at 4K. We also expect the controller that comes with the next generation of Xbox to feature haptics similar to the PS5’s DualSense, or some other feature to improve immersion. If you’re unaware of the DualSense features, you can check out the DualSense trailer for PlayStation below:
Obviously, the technology market is changing and growing constantly, so it’s safe to assume that some new and interesting features will be developed between now and 2028 that the next-gen Xbox may use. Until then, we can expect that it will be, overall, stronger than the current line-up of consoles.
Until we hear more or get our hands on it when the next gen Xbox release date arrives, we can spend some time waiting for any of the new Xbox games. Or, better yet, jump into the best Xbox games and best Xbox Game Pass games while we wait – there should be enough games there to keep you entertained, even with the new consoles such a long way away.