With the emergence of another level of gaming in the industry – augmented and virtual reality – fans of consoles are wondering what improvements Microsoft and Sony will implement in their upcoming systems.
For now, it seems that Microsoft is planning to at least refresh the Xbox One with an upgradable model.
According to GameSpot, Xbox head Phil Spencer has gone on record that he hopes for the future of Xbox consoles to become upgradable, with the same console having components that can be replaced with improvement parts instead of coming out with an entirely new follow-up.
However, instead of the new consoles being upgraded by owners themselves, or Microsoft coming out with improvement parts for Xbox One, Microsoft seems to be thinking differently. Spencer clarified, "What I'm saying is as hardware innovations happen we want to be able to embrace those in the console space."
Will this mean that an Xbox Two is already on its way? Spencer doesn't think so, however. The Xbox head added, "But right now, we're not announcing hardware. I'm happy with the console we have and the platform we built on top of that console and the constant innovation and the games that are there."
As for existing improvements for the Xbox One, some owners upgrade the system themselves. Eurogamer reported that upgrades – at least in terms of speed and memory – for the Xbox One are much more user-friendly than the PS4. This is because Microsoft's console has a full-version USB 3.0 support that makes it possible to connect enclosures with SSD or hybrid drives in them, which makes for faster loading times.
In the meantime, Xbox is still improving the Xbox One by providing needed updates and tweaks as soon as they are available. There are upcoming firmware updates soon, as well as content for the Microsoft console. This includes a number of new games such as "Quantum Break," as well as universal apps that connect to both the Xbox One and Windows 10-run PCs.
