Perhaps there’s a reason why Microsoft hasn’t revealed their next-generation Xbox as of yet. It could be that the company is waiting for the right moment to break the bad news to its fan-base. According to a recent report, the next Xbox will require its users to be always online. What started as a rumor from Kotaku’s editor-in-chief, turned into a conversation, and it’s one that has a handful of developers and creatives dropping hints about the Xbox 720.
Games that have gone down the always online path in recent years have crashed and burned badly. Blizzard’s Diablo III and EA’s SimCity are the two most noteable failures with this common trait. And while some developers are moving away from rights management to become more consumer friendly, if these rumors hold true, Microsoft could be doing the exact opposite. It’s important to note that these are just rumors at this point, but it would be shortsighted to think that Microsoft hasn’t at least considered the possibility of a next-gen Xbox that is always online. Whether or not this will be a feature of the new console is still anyone’s guess.
Microsoft is expected to reveal their next-gen hardware by E3 2013.
- This article was updated on March 9th, 2018
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