Xbox game streaming device may be ‘years away’ from launch, Phil Spencer says

Just a few weeks ago, video game fans got excited when it appeared that Xbox boss Phil Spencer was teasing the product of the Keystone project. However, it now appears that Microsoft is switching gears with its planned game streaming device.

The latest update on Xbox’s plan for a streaming device comes from Spencer’s appearance at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live this week (via The Verge). But the Microsoft chief of gaming suggested that it has yet to finalize plans for an Xbox game streaming device and, if ever the project turns into an actual product, it might not launch anytime soon.

The Xbox chief confirmed that what fans saw in the image he shared on Twitter earlier this month was, indeed, a Keystone prototype. “Keystone was the codename of something we were incubating internally, which was ... a streaming console,” Spencer said. He noted, however, that Microsoft has since “pivoted” earlier this year by releasing the Xbox TV app on Samsung TVs.

This does not necessarily mean Microsoft is completely backing out of its plan to release a dedicated Xbox game streaming device. But Spencer suggested that the wait for the Keystone product could be longer than anticipated.

“Will we do a streaming device at some point? I suspect we will, but I think it’s years away,” the Xbox chief said at the event.

Spencer did not say why they pivoted away from the prototype fans saw in his Twitter post. But The Verge’s Tom Warren suggests Microsoft might want to use a different form factor for its game streaming device. The Keystone prototype fans saw looked like a smaller Xbox Series S, which would be different from other streaming devices in the market that usually attach to TVs in the form of a streaming stick or dongle.

For now, aside from Samsung TVs, gamers can experience Xbox Cloud Gaming on various mobile and Windows devices. It also requires an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription that costs $14.99 per month.

Photo by Sam Pak on Unsplash