-
The streaming-only Xbox would have regarded like a smaller, squarer relative of the Collection S.
Microsoft -
The console had cutouts on the underside and again, presumably for air cooling.
Microsoft -
Entrance-mounted Xbox button and USB port, very similar to the Collection S.
Microsoft -
Rear-mounted Ethernet, HDMI, and energy. The console would doubtless have labored over Wi-Fi, too, however wired Ethernet does assist with latency and consistency when streaming video games.
Microsoft -
Controller sync button on the aspect.
Microsoft -
There was a emblem and a Collection S-ish circle on the highest of the Keystone Xbox, however there aren’t any cutouts depicted, so this may occasionally have been a stylistic selection fairly than a spot for the console to vent sizzling air.
Microsoft
Microsoft’s mid-generation plans for the Xbox Collection S and X consoles regarded an entire lot completely different a few years in the past than it does now. A leaked slide deck from the FTC v. Microsoft case final yr outlined detailed plans for a spruced up Collection S, an overhauled Collection X, and even a redesigned controller. One other a part of that roadmap included a streaming-only model of the Xbox, codenamed Keystone, that was designed to hook up with Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming servers fairly than rendering video games regionally.
Microsoft has talked brazenly about this model of the Xbox earlier than. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer advised The Verge that the Keystone console was designed and totally useful, however that it wasn’t launched as a result of Microsoft had a tough time getting the value down low sufficient that it made sense subsequent to the $299 Collection S (which already often goes on sale within the $200 to $250 vary).
We have already seen glimpses of the Keystone design—as soon as on Spencer’s shelf, and once more within the FTC v. Microsoft paperwork. Each of these depictions had been partial, or seen from a distance. However a brand new design patent doc (PDF) unearthed by Home windows Central exhibits much more detailed renderings of what the cloud Xbox would have regarded like.
Collection S meets Apple TV
Keystone’s styling was strongly harking back to the disc-drive-less Collection S, with the identical boxy white design and front-mounted Xbox button and USB port. There’s additionally an analogous round cutout on high, although it is probably not an air vent as it’s within the Collection S—the entire holes depicted within the patent are on the again and backside, and a streaming field definitely would not have wanted the identical cooling capability because the AMD-designed CPU and GPU within the Collection S.
The console additionally would have been square-shaped and significantly smaller than a Collection S—not fairly as small as a devoted video-streaming field like an Apple TV or Roku Extremely, however not too far off both (the patent doc would not record dimensions, however we have achieved a tough measurement comparability utilizing the HDMI and Ethernet ports on the Keystone field and an Apple TV 4K). The console’s controller sync button would have been mounted on its aspect, fairly than in entrance, as it’s on the Collection S.
Apple/Microsoft/Andrew Cunningham
Within the alternate actuality of the FTC v. Microsoft slide deck, all of those new consoles and the brand new controller would have been introduced or launched by now. However as Spencer mentioned shortly after these paperwork leaked, the corporate’s plans have modified considerably within the interim. A disc-less model of the Collection X is coming, but it surely appears to be like precisely like the present model of the console with out a disc drive; Microsoft can be pursuing a technique the place it takes extra of its internally developed video games multi-platform fairly than proscribing them to the Xbox and to Home windows PCs. These strikes are a minimum of partially in response to sliding income from Microsoft’s console enterprise, which has seen its income decline by double digits yr over yr for the final couple of years.
Neither Spencer nor Microsoft has ever mentioned by no means in regards to the Keystone console, leaving the door open to an eventual launch if and when the value of producing the console comes down. Within the meantime, the streaming-only Xbox lives on as an app for newer Samsung good TVs.
Itemizing picture by Microsoft
