Update on October 5, 2025, at 9:50 p.m.
Microsoft has denied the possible cancellation of its next home console.
“We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox. For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD.”
Original article
This rumor has been circulating for several years now. Since the Xbox One generation, Microsoft has been lagging behind in hardware sales. So much so that many are talking about the disappearance of the manufacturer’s consoles.
This sentiment has been reinforced by the acquisition of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, which could push the American firm to become a simple publisher. Microsoft has even chosen to release its games on competing machines and is expected to continue in this direction.
SneakersSO, a little-known insider who has revealed several accurate pieces of information about the manufacturer’s future strategies, went further in a message posted on NeoGAF. According to him, Microsoft is preparing a new wave of layoffs for the first quarter of 2026. The goal would be to gradually replace employees with AI tools.
What’s more, plans for the next Xbox console could have suddenly gone from “definitive to uncertain”. So much so that Microsoft could scrap its entire hardware division to focus on Xbox Cloud Gaming, which would become “the new home of the Xbox ecosystem”. There’s likely to be a particular focus on lucrative franchises such as Call of Duty, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Forza Horizon, and Candy Crush.
As a result, the next-generation Xbox, which was expected to arrive relatively soon (rumors suggested as early as 2026), may never see the light of day. Of course, this rumor should be taken with a grain of salt for now.
