With the Xbox One X release date set for November, all eyes will be on Microsoft for launch day.
There will be plenty of games to try out on the new console, with pre orders suggesting that interest is high.
But when it comes to the future, Microsoft have ruled out certain tactics to take on Sony’s PS4 Pro and future PS5 console.
This generation has seen the PlayStation dominate and Microsoft forced to play catch-up.
And while it may have helped to have had the Wii U as a weak rival, the Nintendo Switch is off to a roaring start.
So in the years to come, Microsoft will be hoping to come out ahead against the likes of the PS5.
But one way they will not be trying to reclaim the top spot will be through yearly upgrades.
While the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro have proven that mid-generation refreshes can prove popular, there appears to a limit to Microsoft’s ambitions.
Albert Penello, the senior director who leads marketing for Xbox consoles globally, revealed to MCV UK that Backwards Compatibility bonuses will only be going so far.
“I’m certainly not an advocate of ‘we’re going to do a new console every year’,” Penello explained.
“But consumers are more used to this idea that they can buy devices with different performance levels, when a new generation of hardware comes out, their old stuff still works.”
“We care a lot about compatibility, we have a huge effort around compatibility, and that’s not just backwards compatibility.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that we care a lot about compatibility and in this day and age people have shifted to caring more about their community and their apps, than caring about the piece of hardware that they’re on, and we have just moved with that.
“Some might say that Windows is the ultimate compatibility platform, Windows is backward compatible all the way back to the very beginning in many cases.”
With these comments in mind, it appears Microsoft’s next console will be part of a new generation of consoles that will be facing off against the PS5 and others.
It also means that we probably won’t see something like the Xbox Two arriving until at least 2019, perhaps even later.
Some analysts believe that Sony won’t look to launch a PS5 console until 2020, filling the gap by slashing the costs of the PS4 Pro and making that their main unit, moving forward.
Penello does believe that the Xbox One X will help to sell more 4K TV, which has already seen a smooth rise in sales in recent years.
“We have momentum on our side, which helps,” Penello told MCV.
“The majority of TVs sold this year will be 4K TVs, there are all kind of analysts reports, and within the next few years everything will be 4K. So it’s coming, in terms of retail of displays.”