Xbox Keystone: Xbox Streaming Device Prototype Revealed

[John Elden Ring]

Xbox Keystone is the name of the protoype of the Xbox Streaming Device/Console​

​

Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has just revealed the company’s dedicated Xbox game streaming device. Spencer published a photo of the device on Twitter, where you can see it sitting on top of his shelf in his Microsoft office space. It’s a small white box, that resembles the look of the Xbox Series S and will be dedicated to accessing Xbox games over the company’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service.

Microsoft first announced it was planning an Xbox streaming device last year, and many had incorrectly assumed it would be a stick that would plug directly into a HDMI port. While Microsoft is still working on this Xbox streaming console, codenamed Keystone, it will be more of a box or puck-like device that attaches to monitors and TVs.

The Xbox streaming device will also likely include access to media apps like Netflix and a lightweight user interface to launch Xbox games. Microsoft acknowledged the Keystone name earlier this year, but revealed it was still working on a new revision of the device. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the Xbox team continues to work on its streaming device, and still plans to bring it to market.Microsoft has managed to launch an Xbox TV app, though. Available on 2022 Samsung TVs and monitors, the Xbox TV app launches games from Xbox Cloud Gaming and supports streaming games at 1080p at up to 60fps. You simply log into your Microsoft account in the app and stream Xbox games just like you would through Xbox Cloud Gaming in a browser

Microsoft hasn’t officially commented on the appearance of its Xbox streaming device, but the Xbox account on Twitter replie

 

[Sircaw]

Looking forward to seeing how good or bad this is.

I want my Grim dawn fix.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Yup, years away... because actually selling something in a box that promises game streaming will actually work for the end-user is a total clusterfuck since for a huge chunk of the populace, it basically won't work.

Stadia "kit: at least was only sold online, and they had a speed test tool they recommended you use first.

 

[Bryank75]

We all know game streaming is a joke.... but why does he have a sword with a square hilt?

You'd think someone like Phil would be able to afford a decent replica or sword worth mounting. That thing makes me cringe to look at.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

"Years away" aka this thing's probably coming late 2023 or Q1 2024 at the latest.

They can still do a streaming box while working out a GamePass app with companies like Samsung; the latter would always be gated by much pricier smart TVs whereas a streaming box could work with any TV and come in at like $99 or (most likely) $149, guarantee a controller and a media remote. Each approach has its advantages. For example, a streaming box can have hardware decode support for AV1 video format, which has insanely good compression but requires some decent processing on the local device to do. A smart TV may not have that hardware (or at least good enough), but a dedicated 1P streaming box would.

I actually kind of wish they paired Keystone with Series X from the jump instead of Series S; I've already got concerns with Sony's 1P efforts also factoring in PC more due to what the most popular GPUs seem to be over that way (which are much less powerful than PS5), but at least the floor with PC min spec can scale up over time.

Series S will always be the floor for Xbox 1P over the next 5-6 years as long as games are required to run on the system natively. Making it something more for streaming would have saved on BOM costs even more (wouldn't need as much RAM or as performant a GPU or CPU, or storage either), therefore allowing more Series X systems (which out of the two, the X definitely has more of the demand in the majority of the big markets), and/or even more Keystones than they can manufacture Series S systems, and have a more flexible performance floor over the course of the generation.

But well, better late than never. I'm interested to see what Project Keystone turns out to be in any case.

 

[riesgoyfortuna]

to think i have read people on resetera this was going to be the gotcha moment from ms ( same as hololens and kinect back in the day) i guess its the same people who thinks series s its fliuing out of the shelves when as been on sale on europe for months and still gathering dust

 

[ethomaz]

Do you mean cancelled? That is what Phil said.

 

[PropellerEar]

We all know game streaming is a joke.... but why does he have a sword with a square hilt?

You'd think someone like Phil would be able to afford a decent replica or sword worth mounting. That thing makes me cringe to look at.

Was going to make a dirty joke but it was too crude.

I think I remember one Witcher silver sword, that looks pretty similar in design... but it had white hilt.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

to think i have read people on resetera this was going to be the gotcha moment from ms ( same as hololens and kinect back in the day) i guess its the same people who thinks series s its fliuing out of the shelves when as been on sale on europe for months and still gathering dust

Reset has some very hardcore Xbox fanboys, probably the most hardcore among the three main forums TBH. The funny thing is when they go into pseudo-intellectual jargon and bring up points that contradict things they said in earlier posts on the same topic, and ironically prove talking points of some of the people they're debating.

And they all proliferate in that Xbox-ABK acquisition thread, too. I just don't understand it.

 

[BigMclargeHuge]

Reset has some very hardcore Xbox fanboys, probably the most hardcore among the three main forums TBH. The funny thing is when they go into pseudo-intellectual jargon and bring up points that contradict things they said in earlier posts on the same topic, and ironically prove talking points of some of the people they're debating.

And they all proliferate in that Xbox-ABK acquisition thread, too. I just don't understand it.

It's weird when their user base is so liberal leaning and critical of capitalism, yet shill for Microsoft of all companies.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

It's weird when their user base is so liberal leaning and critical of capitalism, yet shill for Microsoft of all companies.

Well when that capitalism can give them "free stuff" and supposedly make the hobby "more accessible for everyone", of course they'll ignore their purported stances and go high-tail hypocritical enabling cheerleading of a corporation they think is placating to them.

Basically everything for Xbox around there predicates itself off GamePass being a great value, pro-consumer and the future of the industry to bring gaming to all. Personally if someone believes those things, that's fine.

But when they use that to embellish negatives and push negatives against a perceived competitor supposedly preventing wider market acceptance of those things (instead of using common sense and realizing it's the customer market itself that may not be in agreement with those notions of its own volition), that's where the problems actually begin IMO.

Not saying that's all Reset users either, btw. But there's a rather hardcore subset who are and it feels like they control discourse in a lot of the gaming topics. Worst yet, some of the moderations and admin staff are part of that group, and influence general topic discourse in a direction favoring that hardcore subset. It's weird.

 

[Yobo]

Xbox trying to ruin gaming at record pace

 

[Yobo]

It's weird when their user base is so liberal leaning and critical of capitalism, yet shill for Microsoft of all companies.

They are all about identity politics and performativity. So a company like MS where people commit suicide in their factories where they are making a rainbow coloured controller is exactly what they want.

You will get banned there if you are anything to the left of Biden or think not everything can be viewed through the lens of race and gender. For instance they banned all Bernie supporters a couple years ago.

 

[Gamernyc78]

They are all about identity politics and performativity. So a company like MS where people commit suicide in their factories where they are making a rainbow coloured controller is exactly what they want.

You will get banned there if you are anything to the left of Biden or think not everything can be viewed through the lens of race and gender. For instance they banned all Bernie supporters a couple years ago.

Lol. Thy banned me few years ago when that toxic gamer chick (forgot her name) said that her gamer BF at the time did stuff to her. All I said was "we need to let this go through litigation before we point fingers and find out what's true" but of course these fake ass progressive sjw jumped down my throat. Mind you a few weeks later alot of info came out tht she was toxic asf and full of shit and trying to get money for her patreon.

It's disgusting over there. Everything is politically tainted in the convos.

 

[Gamernyc78]

We had an article on this already and talking about how it was put on stand still.

 

[riesgoyfortuna]

It's weird when their user base is so liberal leaning and critical of capitalism, yet shill for Microsoft of all companies.

Because they are all the epitome of the Word hipócrite, every one of them in all subjetcs of life