With the release of the Xbox One console hardly more than a month away, Microsoft is keeping anticipation high by revealing new details about the console, and how it will evolve into a premier gaming platform with the help of cloud. New reports are claiming that the Xbox One's performance will be increasing over time, apart from its evolution in the digital content sphere.
Recently, Microsoft Corporate VP Phil Harrison was in an interview with MCV, where he showed his confidence over the new console and detailed a little more on how the performance of the console will improve down the line.
On asked whether Xbox One will see a bit of decline at the end of a five year cycle based on the console's life cycle, Harrison stated: "The way in which you keep the market fresh is keep the technology fresh and keep the development ecosystem growing so that new and exciting experiences are coming out. And with Xbox One using the power of cloud we can add features, we can add functionality, we can have performance increases over time. I think that will keep the platform very fresh over a long period of time."
"On a macro-global scale, the world is clearly moving in a digital direction. It is, I think, an unstoppable, inexorable momentum. We are going to see the world be truly digital. But with Xbox One we quite correctly give people choice. They can consume and play games on disc, and get all the benefits of that. Or they can consume games digitally. Remember our games will launch day-and-date on both digital and physical, so it's up to the user to choose which medium they want and have the benefits of either method," he said.
Harrison was later asked if he sees a future where an Xbox no longer needs a disc drive, to which he replied that it's not really possible to say at this point of time. "It really depends on where you live. It's my favorite William Gibson quote: 'The future is already here - it's just not very evenly distributed.' If you go to South Korea, the market is entirely digital. The infrastructure that they have with broadband is so powerful that there is no physical retail distribution of games. It is going to be a slow evolution, not a revolution," he added.
The Xbox One is currently scheduled to launch on Nov. 22 across 13 territories, and will retail for $499.