New Xbox rumored to get a handheld add-on and forgo paid multiplayer services

After Sony re-entered the handheld market with the PlayStation Portal, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer announced in June 2024 that he was working on a handheld himself. This naturally led to the assumption that the new Xbox home console could be a hybrid device - similar to the Nintendo Switch (available on Amazon for $300). However, Jez Corden, who works as Managing Editor at Windows Central and is considered a very reliable source when it comes to Microsoft, has other informations.

As the Microsoft expert explained in the Xbox Two podcast on August 6, the successor to the Xbox Series X will be a standalone console and the handheld will be an add-on:

"There's going to be a separate handheld and there's going to be an Xbox Series X successor. It's going to be two different things. They're not just going to try and go all in on handheld only; they're going to do a more traditional console for the Series X people and then a handheld."

No more paid multiplayer services

Currently, Xbox gamers need a Xbox Live Gold/Game Pass Core membership for around $10 per month in order to play online. Another interesting prediction from Corden is that Microsoft will abolish the paid multiplayer service. This should make the new Xbox much more attractive for online gamers.

I'm predicting a Series X successor, a handheld, and the end of the paywall for premium multiplayer games. That's my prediction.