Head of Xbox Phil Spencer commented on the status of "Project Keystone," the reported Xbox streaming device in development during a recent podcast. Phil Spencer shared his ideal price tag for the device but gave a worrying hint on when it could finally be sold.
Ever since the prototype of the Project Keystone device showed up behind Xbox's Phil Spencer in October, speculation began on how long it would take for Microsoft to get the product to market. The device was later revealed to be an early prototype, so its design may change from its Xbox Series S form factor in the future. When Phil Spencer was asked about Keystone on a recent podcast, his comments suggested that the device still has a long way to go before it will get to consumers.
On The Verge's Decoder podcast, Phil Spencer spoke on many things including Call of Duty remaining on PlayStation, the impact of the economy on Xbox's immediate future, and other things. The Verge's Nilay Patel brought up Project Keystone and wanted an update on the project. Spencer admitted that Keystone is farther away than he and Microsoft expected. Keystone is also more expensive to make than the company would like at the moment. Spencer's ideal price for the device would be $99-$129 and he would've liked for the product to also ship with a controller. But many of the bespoke parts the device would need to ensure that everything runs smoothly and packaging a controller with it currently costs much more than Microsoft would like in order to make a profit.
It was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside. We decided to focus that team’s effort on delivering the smart TV streaming app. It was really just a direction, 'Okay, we’re going to focus our effort on our partnership with Samsung and where that app might continue to show up in different places over time.'
Project Keystone has been de-prioritized and any hopes for the device may be years away. Instead, Microsoft is pursuing a smart TV streaming app with Samsung, which Phil Spencer says is progressing nicely, and would like to expand into other brands in the future. But the development of a smart TV streaming app has its own challenges and nothing is imminent from Microsoft on that front.
Phil Spencer's openness to discuss the things that he's excited about within Xbox Gaming is refreshing. In an industry that can seem very rigid at times, Spencer happily offers insight while also being realistic. The first prototype of the Xbox streaming device may be shelved for now, but as he stated in the interview, some members of the team designing the device took a few home for testing. Years in the future when Microsoft harnesses the capability to cost-effectively produce a streaming device, gamers can see how far Project Keystone came like early versions of other Xbox devices.
Source: The Verge