Unlike Sony, Xbox Will Not Have a Mid-Gen Console Refresh

Considering how the last console generation went, everyone had sensibly expected an upgraded Xbox Series X or S and a PlayStation 5 Pro a few years after their release. But it seems that Microsoft might not be on the mid-season refresh boat after all. Phil Spencer has been speaking a lot about the future of Xbox at Gamescom, and according to what he said in an interview, there are zero plans for a mid-season console refresh for the Xbox.

Upgrading The Current Generation Xbox

Phil believes this is not a reasonable time for a console rerelease, and for the team at Microsoft, this is “the end of the beginning” of this generation. Spencer continued that if consoles get hardware upgrades every two or three years, they would be more like PCs than traditional consoles. It is worth noting that this does not mean that the Xbox consoles will not get slimmer versions of higher storage options because that could become a reality within 2024.

Another thing that Phil did not mention is that this console generation has been completely different compared to any other in the past. Usually, a new generation would draw a hard line between the games that came for the new console and those that went on the old one. This time, both Microsoft and Sony opted for a more cross-generational approach for their most prominent titles. And since some people are still happy and content with their PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One X, muddying the waters further by introducing even more powerful consoles would further divide the console player base.

On the other hand, leaks suggest that Sony is working on a slimmer version of the PlayStation 5 and the Pro version. Sony has also announced the PlayStation Portal, a confounding handheld device limited to locally streaming PlayStation 5 games and nothing else. But is priced at $199.99.