New Report Suggests Xbox Is Not Out of The Console Game Yet & Plans To Launch A Handheld In Late 2025

Source: Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty / Xbox

Even though Xbox is not doing so well in the console market this generation, don’t count out the Microsoft gaming division just yet, they still have something to offer.

Windows Central’s Jez Cordon exclusively reports that Microsoft plans to launch the next-gen Xbox console in 2027 and an Xbox-branded handheld sometime in 2025.

According to the website, a partner PC gaming handheld codenamed Keenan is currently in the works for late 2025 while a next-gen successor for the Xbox Series X and S consoles is two years away.

IGN reports that Microsoft has yet to comment on the report, but company executives have been dropping breadcrumbs about Xbox’s plans in numerous interviews.

Per IGN:

Microsoft is yet to comment on the report, however its gaming executives have spoken publicly about both devices in vague terms across various interviews. In January, Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of ‘Next Generation,’ told The Verge that the company plans to combine Xbox and Windows experiences together for PC gaming handhelds made by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), otherwise known as third-party hardware manufacturers. Existing PC gaming OEMs include Asus, Lenovo, and Razer. Keenan does not relate to a first-party Xbox handheld, which Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer recently indicated is years away.

As for the next-gen Xbox, Windows Central said it is fully greenlit by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The console is reportedly a premium successor to the Xbox Series X, and this console, alongside a first-party Xbox gaming handheld and new controllers, are set to round out Microsoft’s console offering in 2027. The suggestion, then, is Microsoft does not plan to release a direct next-gen successor to the less powerful Xbox Series S. Perhaps Microsoft expects its handheld to occupy the cheaper, less powerful console space. 

According to Windows Central, the next Xbox will be more like a PC and will support third-party storefronts like Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. Backwards compatibility, a popular feature, will also return.

We are curious to see this handheld. There is also that other console that leaked, Brooklin, which is still up in the air, with some wondering if Microsoft canceled it.

Only time will tell regarding what the gaming company has up its sleeve as it concedes this gaming generation, and looks forward to the future.