Microsoft Xbox head Phil Spencer recently made a huge announcement as he plans to make the Xbox One that last of its console line. Spencer is not killing the Xbox line, instead it is planning to release a modular and fully upgradeable Xbox that gamers can upgrade instead of shelling out money every time a new console is released.
This plan is also part of Microsoft's strategy to unify all of its supported platforms under a single operating system, Windows 10. In fact, Microsoft had already started releasing updates for the Xbox One in order to integrate the console into the Windows 10 platform.
In a statement acquired by Polygon, Spencer said, "Consoles lock the hardware and the software platforms together at the beginning of the generation. Then you ride the generation out for seven or so years, while other ecosystems are getting better, faster, stronger. And then you wait for the next big step function."
Spencer added that they are considering an optional hardware upgrade for the Xbox One in the future. Through this upgrade strategy, console gamers can keep up and compete with other platforms by integrating new technologies.
Many tech analysts said that Spencer is trying to apply the desktop approach on this new strategy. PC gaming is lauded for its backwards compatibility and upgradability. This means that a single PC unit can last longer than any console, thanks to PC's upgrade options.
While many analysts consider Microsoft's plan an innovative move, some are skeptical whether the tech giant can pull it off. Microsoft has yet to provide additional information about its planning and claims that they are working on how they will tackle it.
On a hardware point of view, some tech analysts are positive that Microsoft may actually deliver with its promise of releasing an upgradable Xbox One. For one, both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are running on hardware used by the PC gaming community.
The latest generation consoles are also built around low-level APIs which share a lot in common with its PC counterparts like DirectX 12, Vulkan and AMD's Mantle. In a slightly different perspective, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are essentially PC systems with integrated system-on-chips and custom operating systems, according to Extreme Tech.