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The streaming-only Xbox would have gave the impression of a smaller, squarer relative of the Collection S.
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The console had cutouts at the backside and again, probably for air cooling.
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Entrance-mounted Xbox button and USB port, similar to the Collection S.
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Rear-mounted Ethernet, HDMI, and tool. The console would most likely have labored over Wi-Fi, too, however stressed Ethernet does lend a hand with latency and consistency when streaming video games.
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Controller sync button at the facet.
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There used to be an emblem and a Collection S-ish circle at the best of the Keystone Xbox, however there aren’t any cutouts depicted, so this may occasionally had been a stylistic selection slightly than a spot for the console to vent sizzling air.
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Microsoft’s mid-generation plans for the Xbox Collection S and X consoles appeared a complete lot other a few years in the past than it does now. A leaked slide deck from the FTC v. Microsoft case ultimate 12 months defined detailed plans for a spruced up Collection S, an overhauled Collection X, or even a redesigned controller. Some other a part of that roadmap integrated a streaming-only model of the Xbox, codenamed Keystone, that used to be designed to hook up with Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming servers slightly than rendering video games in the neighborhood.
Microsoft has talked brazenly about this model of the Xbox sooner than. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer advised The Verge that the Keystone console used to be designed and entirely practical, however that it wasn’t introduced as a result of Microsoft had a difficult time getting the fee down low sufficient that it made sense subsequent to the $299 Collection S (which already every so often is going on sale within the $200 to $250 vary).
Now we have already noticed glimpses of the Keystone design—as soon as on Spencer’s shelf, and once more within the FTC v. Microsoft paperwork. Either one of the ones depictions have been partial, or noticed from a distance. However a brand new design patent record (PDF) unearthed by way of Home windows Central displays much more detailed renderings of what the cloud Xbox would have gave the impression of.
Collection S meets Apple TV
Keystone’s styling used to be strongly harking back to the disc-drive-less Collection S, with the similar boxy white design and front-mounted Xbox button and USB port. There is additionally a identical round cutout on best, despite the fact that it will not be an air vent as it’s within the Collection S—all the holes depicted within the patent are at the again and backside, and a streaming field unquestionably do not need wanted the similar cooling capability because the AMD-designed CPU and GPU within the Collection S.
The console additionally would had been square-shaped and significantly smaller than a Collection S—now not fairly as small as a devoted video-streaming field like an Apple TV or Roku Extremely, however now not too a long way off both (the patent record does not record dimensions, however we now have carried out a coarse measurement comparability the use of the HDMI and Ethernet ports at the Keystone field and an Apple TV 4K). The console’s controller sync button would had been fastened on its facet, slightly than in entrance, as it’s at the Collection S.
Apple/Microsoft/Andrew Cunningham
Within the trade truth of the FTC v. Microsoft slide deck, all of those new consoles and the brand new controller would had been introduced or introduced by way of now. However as Spencer mentioned in a while after the ones paperwork leaked, the corporate’s plans have modified considerably for the time being. A disc-less model of the Collection X is coming, nevertheless it appears to be like precisely like the present model of the console with out a disc power; Microsoft could also be pursuing a technique the place it takes extra of its internally evolved video games multi-platform slightly than proscribing them to the Xbox and to Home windows PCs. Those strikes are a minimum of in part in accordance with sliding earnings from Microsoft’s console industry, which has noticed its earnings decline by way of double digits 12 months over 12 months for the ultimate couple of years.
Neither Spencer nor Microsoft has ever mentioned by no means concerning the Keystone console, leaving the door open to an eventual unencumber if and when the cost of production the console comes down. Within the period in-between, the streaming-only Xbox lives on as an app for more moderen Samsung sensible TVs.
Record symbol by way of Microsoft
