Microsoft: Xbox with ‘streaming only’ is not on the schedule

Microsoft says it has no plans to release an Xbox that no longer accepts locally playable games. According to the company, the focus is on the phone to stream games to, but there are no plans for the time being to make the Xbox ‘streaming only’.

In an interview with Gamespot, Phil Spencer, the head of the Xbox department at Microsoft, confirms that there will be no Xbox that can only stream games and where games can no longer be stored locally. There have been rumors of that lately, after Microsoft announced xCloud and confirmed it was working on a new console.

Spencer believes cloud systems are not yet sufficient to meet the needs of console gamers. Although the CEO thinks cloud gaming will become increasingly important in the future, it still has drawbacks, such as more delay than when playing a game from a disc or as a download.

Microsoft is working on a new version of the Xbox that should be a lot more powerful than the current version. With that extra processing power, games should be able to run in 4k at 60fps. Load times should also be shortened. The company is codenamed Project Scarlett working on the new Xbox.