Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box - Eurogamer.net

UPDATE: Xbox confirms aged Keystone prototype.

UPDATE 11/10/22: Xbox has confirmed that the instrumentality connected Phil Spencer's support is an aged prototype for Keystone.

"The instrumentality connected Phil's support was an aged prototype of Keystone. Earlier this year, we announced that we made the determination to pivot distant from the existent iteration of Keystone and are taking our learnings to refocus our efforts connected a caller attack that volition let america to present Xbox Cloud Gaming to much players astir the satellite successful the future. We person thing much to stock today," reads a connection to Eurogamer.

Keystone, arsenic the instrumentality was codenamed, was a tiny gadget intended arsenic a instrumentality susceptible of streaming Xbox Game Pass titles to immoderate show oregon TV surface without other hardware.

Back successful May, Xbox confirmed it was pivoting distant from the Xbox Game Pass streaming box. It seems that Spencer was conscionable leaving a cheeky motion to the past connected his shelf, then.

ORIGINAL STORY 10/10/22: Phil Spencer's support is astatine it again. Ever since it was discovered the Xbox brag had secreted an Xbox Series S successful plain sight down him during a video interrogation months earlier the console was announced, fans person been scouring his furnishings for teases of much aboriginal reveals - and speculation is present mounting that Spencer has conscionable revealed Microsoft's long-in-the-works Xbox Game Pass streaming instrumentality connected Twitter.

Spencer shared his latest support photo earlier today, writing, "Vault Boy near the structure and stopped by my bureau to observe the Fallout 25th Anniversary." Conspicuously, though, the Vault Boy statue that's supposedly the absorption of the tweet is acold from the absorption of the image. Instead, the photograph continues respective shelves upward, revealing a mysterious Xbox-branded container fans person truthful acold struggled to place - and which galore are speculating mightiness beryllium the Xbox game-streaming box, codenamed Keystone, announced successful 2021.

As described by Microsoft successful an update connected the task successful May, the as-yet-unseen Keystone is intended to beryllium a low-cost instrumentality enabling users to play Xbox Cloud Gaming titles done immoderate TV oregon show without the request for a console. Reports connected its nonstop quality person varied - immoderate claimed it was a stick-like dongle, others a container - but immoderate it was previously, Microsoft said it was 'pivoting away' from the then-current iteration to refocus connected "a caller approach".

Little has been heard from Keystone since, but the task has present returned to the spotlight acknowledgment to the mysterious achromatic Xbox-branded container present glimpsed successful Spencer's latest photo. It's surely tiny capable to beryllium immoderate benignant of game-streaming box, being hardly wider than the Xbox controller beside it, and it's intelligibly inspired by the Xbox Series S aesthetic - but frankly, without much to spell on, it could beryllium anything. And indeed, guesses person gone mode beyond a streaming box, with immoderate suggesting it could adjacent beryllium a mentation of the Xbox Series S outer disc drive that popped up successful a Microsoft patent earlier this year.

Of course, present would beryllium possibly beryllium a shrewd clip to statesman promoting a subscription-based crippled streaming box, fixed the salient sermon astir the exertion pursuing Google's caller determination to unopen down its ill-conceived Stadia service. But for Microsoft's part, the lone follow-up it's provided connected Spencer's tweet and the enigma support entity truthful acold came from the authoritative Xbox Twitter account, which wrote, "Now what did we accidental astir putting aged prototypes connected your support boss". So yes, immoderate it is remains a enigma for now, but consciousness escaped to articulation successful the speculation amusive until Microsoft makes it otherwise!