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Microsoft's Next-Gen Xbox for 2028 to Combine AMD Zen 6 and RDNA5 with a Powerful NPU and Cloud Integration

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Microsoft Xbox Series X/S, their hardware refreshes, and variants, will reportedly be the company's mainstay all the way up until 2028, the company disclosed in its documents filed as part of its anti-trust lawsuit with the FTC. In a presentation slide titled "From "Zero Microsoft" to "Full Microsoft," the company explains how its next gen Xbox, scheduled for calendar year (CY) 2028, will see a full convergence of Microsoft co-developed hardware, software, and cloud compute services, into a powerful entertainment system. It elaborates on this in another slide, titled "Cohesive Hybrid Compute," where it states the company's vision to be the development of "a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences."

From the looks of it, Microsoft fully understands the creator economy that has been built over the gaming industry, and wants to develop its next-gen console to target exactly this—a single device from which people can play, stream, and create content from—something that's traditionally reserved for gaming desktop PCs. Game streamers playing on consoles usually have an entire creator PC setup handling the production and streaming side of things. Keeping this exact use-case in mind, Microsoft plans to "enable new levels of performance beyond the capabilities of the client hardware alone," by which it means that not only will the console rely on its own hardware—which could be jaw-dropping powerful as you'll see—but also leverage cloud compute services from Microsoft.



Before all else, the hardware. Microsoft dropped its first confirmation that its partnership with AMD for the semi-custom SoC at the heart of its consoles, will continue into the late 2020s. AMD holds both x86 and Arm licenses, and the CPU component of this chip could feature either Arm or x86-64, and if Microsoft picks the latter, it expects to use AMD's "Zen 6" microarchitecture" for its CPU. Given that AMD plans to launch "Zen 5" in 2024, "Zen 6" is highly likely to not only release, but also mature by 2028. Microsoft will definitely look to have a hybrid CPU core admixture (similar to Arm big.LITTLE), where there are two or more kinds of CPU cores in an SoC that operate at entirely different performance/Watt bands from each other.

The GPU will either be co-designed with AMD, or be licensed from it; and will be based on "Navi 5," which is very likely the generation of AMD GPUs based on the RDNA5 graphics architecture, which is at least two generations ahead of the current RDNA3. Microsoft also wants the silicon to feature an NPU for on-device AI acceleration. AMD's XDNA NPU driving the "Hawk Point" mobile processor already claims performance at par with Intel's NPU driving the Core Ultra "Meteor Lake," with the company expected to step up performance in 2024 with XDNA2 that debuts with "Strix Point."

As for the graphics software stack, Microsoft is expected to release the next generation DirectX API sometime between now and 2028. The company's 2024 release of the Windows 12 PC operating system could serve as a good springboard for a new DirectX version. The slide references a "next generation" DXR component. It also talks about dynamic global illumination; a generational uplift in geometric fidelity with micropolygon rendering optimizations; and a proprietary super resolution technology that leverages AI. The company also touches upon its next generation universal controller, codenamed "Igraine," with a "direct to cloud" connectivity.

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And by 2028 it's hardware is meh....
 
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Kinda misleading article title.
The slide refers to a "Strategic Decision" between ARM64 (in-house) vs Zen 6 (AMD). Nothing seems to be set in stone yet... Same with GPU!
 
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The only all digital console I accept to have is an open one (aka: PC or hacked). If I cant resel my very expensive games, I won't buy either.
 
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Again, neither DLSS™ nor RTX™.
This is madness, Microsoft will be crushed by Nintendo if they managed their way so poorly.
 
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Again, neither DLSS™ nor RTX™.
This is madness, Microsoft will be crushed by Nintendo if they managed their way so poorly.
They already support Ray Tracing
 
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Some of these slides seem pointless to me. Who would even suggest ancient Bluetooth 5.2 in hardware coming to market in 2028? This also applies to other versions of technologies described in the slides, which in 2028 would be too outdated.
 
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I jumped onto Windows 10 for DX12 support for native Multi GPU love. AOTS was a great example of the potential but that Game got maligned for being a space based RTS with huge Maps and a sleepy Campaign. I think they are going to have a much harder time selling Windows 12 with DX12.5 or 14 (I wonder it they will use 13).
 
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The slide refers to a "Strategic Decision" between ARM64 (in-house) vs Zen 6 (AMD). Nothing seems to be set in stone yet... Same with GPU!
It would be a monumental fuckup if they decide not to go with AMD, given the number of game devs/studios they've bought just recently! The GPU (IP) thing is curious but I'm guessing if they go with AMD they'll get great IP for relatively cheap, anything else & they'd likely have to overpay especially if they go with Nvidia ~ so going with custom/in house ARM+Nvidia(?) would probably be more expensive in the long run!
 
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Kinda misleading article title.
The slide refers to a "Strategic Decision" between ARM64 (in-house) vs Zen 6 (AMD). Nothing seems to be set in stone yet... Same with GPU!
This post confirms that Microsoft will be paying for and helping develop the next RDNA card after 8000 and 9000. That can only be good for AMD and Windows Gamers. Xbox seems like a restricted PC and my experience with Gamepass has soured me on Xbox services. As for AMD I thank Sony and MS for helping develop RDNA and make Gaming so enjoyable at all resolutions.
 
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Good raytracing? I think not.
You have no idea what Ray Tracing will look like in 2028. How do you know that Ray Tracing and Upscaling won't be a part of MS next DX?
 
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You have no idea what Ray Tracing will look like in 2028. How do you know that Ray Tracing and Upscaling won't be a part of MS next DX?
OH! I thought you were talking about currently. In 2028 I imagine RT will look very reasonable on an AMD GPU by then. They have made a lot of progress, credit where it's due. They have a long way to go though.
 
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While I agree with you, it is making them money..
No, they don't.

See? The same proof you provided. Also, why does it matter when they are failing so miserably or Xbox's division is growing in single digits while it isn't flat? They are already behind Xbox ONE sales and behind PS5 sales on a 3.5:1 ratio (>5:1 in Europe).

It's also worth mentioning that over half of the Series sold are the "S" variant (up to 75% going by the court documents). Pair that up with Game Pass and you have a public entirely composed by cheapos.
 
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That doesn't prove anything ~ the games, subscriptions/services is where all the money is these days!
aapl-4q23-line.jpg
aapl-4q23-pie.jpg
 
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No, they don't.

See? The same proof you provided. Also, why does it matter when they are failing so miserably or Xbox's division is growing in single digits while it isn't flat? They are already behind Xbox ONE sales and behind PS5 sales on a 3.5:1 ratio (>5:1 in Europe).

It's also worth mentioning that over half of the Series sold are the "S" variant (up to 75% going by the court documents). Pair that up with Game Pass and you have a public entirely composed by cheapos.
Nothing has changed in the console space. Japan still rules the roost. There is nothing that would inspire me to get a Xbox anything but I would buy a PS5 if the price was right. This year's Video Game awards were dominated with previews from Asian studios.


There is something I have noticed with MS getting heavy into Game production. PC Games from them have gone from $69 Canadian to a cool $99 Canadian. F me don't even think about the deluxe version of Games, they may cost more than the drive you are storing them on. I also love how Gamepass promotes buying DLC for a Game you don't even own. OF course everyone else is drinking the koolaid with Dragons Dogma 2 being $109 Canadian with 15% off due to my loyalty.

Gamepass is not even as good as Humble choice to me. This is December and all of these Games have something that makes them good and you own every one of them.

Screenshot 2023-12-19 083716.png


If they could MS would charge us for that too. Look at Office and how most of that is now subscription based. F me do you remember Visio was a part of office until MS decided to milk it?
 
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That doesn't prove anything ~ the games, subscriptions/services is where all the money is these days!
What does showing mobile data prove? Apple holds exactly 0% of the console market.

Microsoft stopped sharing Game Pass subscription numbers two years ago already and it's only because of embarrassment.
 
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Did you miss the chart where services is the one sector which is continuously outpacing all their other revenue streams' growth over the last half a decade?
Apple holds exactly 0% of the console market.
And Apple probably makes the most money off the gaming market worldwide through App store, your point?

 
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No, they don't.

See? The same proof you provided. Also, why does it matter when they are failing so miserably or Xbox's division is growing in single digits while it isn't flat? They are already behind Xbox ONE sales and behind PS5 sales on a 3.5:1 ratio (>5:1 in Europe).

It's also worth mentioning that over half of the Series sold are the "S" variant (up to 75% going by the court documents). Pair that up with Game Pass and you have a public entirely composed by cheapos.
That doesn't prove anything ~ the games, subscriptions/services is where all the money is these days!
aapl-4q23-line.jpg
aapl-4q23-pie.jpg
I think the two of you are having a problem with context, as in you both missed it.
 
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Not really, if he's saying that just based on the hardware numbers Xbox is a flop I can't agree with that given outside Nintendo probably no one makes anything substantial on console hardware! And with the number of studios MS has bought just in the last 5 years there's no effin way their software/game/subscription sales through Xbox(division) is down or flat. If MS shares these numbers separately you can easily look that up.
 
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Maybe, but not everyone spends money in the app store, Apple or Google.

Not really, if he's saying that just based on the hardware numbers Xbox is a flop I can't agree with that given outside Nintendo probably no one makes anything substantial on console hardware! And with the number of studios MS has bought just in the last 5 years there's no effin way their software/game/subscription sales through Xbox(division) is down or flat.
But that's has NOTHING to do with what I was saying when they quoted me, which then had nothing to do with what you said.. Grasping at straws is what it seems you're both doing.
 
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What does showing mobile data prove? Apple holds exactly 0% of the console market.

Don't take me as an Apple fan but they really have zero need to make a console. They already have a very solid gaming platform in the form of ipad / iPhone with the Appstore.
 
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Not really, if he's saying that just based on the hardware numbers Xbox is a flop I can't agree with that given outside Nintendo probably no one makes anything substantial on console hardware! And with the number of studios MS has bought just in the last 5 years there's no effin way their software/game/subscription sales through Xbox(division) is down or flat.
It's as easy as understanding why Apple makes money through the App Store. You sell hardware and lock customers to it. Sony is selling hardware and Microsoft isn't.

I think the two of you are having a problem with context, as in you both missed it.
It's easy to miss whatever you mean because you don't even know and you are probably change it anyway in your next post. There is no way to prove that Microsoft is making money with Xbox because they simply don't share the numbers.

Don't take me as an Apple fan but they really have zero need to make a console. They already have a very solid gaming platform in the form of ipad / iPhone with the Appstore.
A completely different and casual one.
 
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