Earlier this month, insider scuttlebutt talked up Microsoft’s plans to launch a standalone TV device in the next 12 months that would let players enjoy Xbox Game Pass titles through its xCloud streaming service – think of a Google Stadia but developed by a company that knows what video games look like. It would appear, however, that the company has elected to change course on the project in favor of something else.
This device, codenamed Keystone, was confirmed by a Microsoft spokesperson as being in development for a couple of years, but as part of its “technical journey,” the company instead will “pivot away from the current iteration of the Keystone device” and will “take [its] learnings and refocus [its] efforts on a new approach that will allow [Microsoft] to deliver Xbox Cloud Gaming to more players around the world in the future.”
What this new future iteration of Keystone will look like – be it device or separate service – isn’t outlined by the spokesperson, but we can at least confirm that whatever shape it takes, it won’t be seen until sometime much later.
