Xbox’s streaming console is still ‘years’ from release despite being finished

HEAD of Xbox gaming Phil Spencer has revealed that it will be years before it releases its streaming-only console.

The console, codenamed Project Keystone, connects to your TV or monitor, to play games streamed via Game Pass.

Xbox is aiming to create a budget-friendly console, so that everyone can afford to play the latest games.

The Xbox Series S is one of the most affordable latest-generation consoles on the market.

Design and development for the Keystone is complete, and the model that Spencer showed the public is fully operational.

As transcribed by , Spencer said: “The reason it’s on my shelf is the team rolled up their sleeves and in nine months they built that thing.

“And a bunch of us took it home and it worked. It worked really, really well.”

However, Spencer has admitted that the release of the Keystone may be many years from becoming a reality.

This is because the cost of development would make the retail price too similar to the Xbox series S.

He continued: “The console we built that now people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside.

“With Keystone, [we’re] still focused on it [and] when can we get the right costs.”

“But when you’ve got Series S at $299 (£240), and during the holidays you’ll see some price promotion

“I think in order for a streaming-only box to make sense, the price delta to S has to be pretty significant.

Spencer wants the Keystone to come with a controller, so people can play games on day one.

However, this is driving up the cost of the hardware, to the point where the company is not comfortable releasing it at that price.

He explains: “I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, (£85-£110)like somewhere in there for that to make sense in my view.”

“That we just weren’t there. We weren’t there with the controller.”

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of .