A brand new found patent exhibits precisely what the Keystone console from Xbox would’ve looked like if it hadn’t been cancelled.
Back at the start of this generation, it seemed like Game Pass and streaming would come to dominate the future plans for Xbox, but reality hasn’t quite worked out like that.
Game Pass, and game subscription services in general, haven’t taken off quite the way that was expected and streaming is now rarely even mentioned in terms of gaming, even though Microsoft has an enormous advantage with the technology.
At one point they were planning to make a dedicated streaming box, that could be used instead of an Xbox Series X/S to stream and play games, but it was later cancelled and it’s only now that a patent has described exactly what it would’ve been.
Codenamed Keystone, the device was never formally announced, although a prototype did cameo in a video from Xbox boss Phil Spencer and was, as you’d expect, just a small innocuous looking box.
The whole point of streaming is that you need nothing special in terms of hardware, just a device to stream through and, ideally, a controller.
A smartphone or tablet would do fine, and is what millions of people use for videos and music, but if you want to play on your TV then some kind of set-top box is ideal, and that’s what Keynote would’ve been, according to the patent.
Although it was by no means introduced to the general public, Spencer did brazenly acknowledge that Keystone exists, admitting in 2022 that it had been cancelled as a result of it couldn’t be manufactured cheaply sufficient.
Microsoft wished to promote it for round $100 (£80) however on account of element prices they weren’t in a position to take action. Of course, that’s the official motive given, whether or not it’s really true is unattainable to say – however since then they’ve not often ever introduced up the topic of streaming once more.
Only just a few months later they had been describing cloud gaming as ‘immature expertise’, though that was as a part of their authorized battle with the Federal Trade Commission, with a view to be allowed to amass Activision Blizzard, so once more it’s most likely greatest to not take their feedback at face worth.
Although streaming is assumed to be the way forward for gaming, and what is going to ultimately make conventional consoles out of date, it’s very tough to say precisely when that is perhaps.
The major downside is the velocity and reliability of broadband connections, that are removed from uniform internationally and even inside particular person nations (given its dimension the US, specifically, stays extremely variable).
Without a everlasting high-quality connection video games would undergo from inconsistent visuals and efficiency, or not work in any respect, so till that’s not a problem streaming will solely ever be an non-compulsory further, used primarily at dwelling.
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