While some players are still calling the Xbox Series X and S “next-generation consoles,” the truth is they’ve been out for so long that they’ve really become markers of the current generation rather than the future. Alongside the PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch, these are the consoles of today, and they’re not going anywhere soon.
At the same time, players are always curious about what the next generation of hardware will promise. In Microsoft’s case, new consoles generally include improved entertainment functions and more raw power to render impressive detail. Computer and architecture advancements between the time of the current-gen Xbox’s release and that of its next-gen predecessor will determine just how far into the future a new console will take us.
Excited? We don’t blame you.
Here’s everything we know about when the next Xbox will be released.
Next-gen Xbox release details
As of this writing, there is no set release date, window, or even year for the next-gen Xbox consoles. Despite that, documents published as part of Microsoft’s ongoing attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard revealed that the company is already thinking about its next console.
In a statement given to the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of its defense of the proposed acquisition, Microsoft shared that it doesn’t plan to launch the next-gen Xbox until at least 2028.
Microsoft stated players deciding to purchase a new console is “an event that only occurs approximately every eight years.”
The current generation of consoles, the Xbox Series X and S, have been out since Nov. 2020, meaning that if Microsoft defines console generations as eight-year-long periods, the next Xbox will arrive sometime around 2028.
“The next new generation of consoles are not expected to be released before the fall of 2028 at the very earliest,” the corporation shared in the same document.
Because the Xbox Series X and S are still relatively new in terms of average console age, it will likely be a very, very long time before players hear anything substantial or official about a next-gen Xbox console. There’s little doubt the company will make one, considering how successful its Xbox Game Pass service has been—it’s simply a matter of when.
