Xbox rubbishes reports that it plans to quit consoles

There have been a host of historical gaming rivalries, Sonic vs Mario, Crash vs Cortex, Link vs Ganon and Switch owners vs Joycon drift - all iconic. The one that has defined my time in gaming however is the battle between Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation.

For years they've been competing for gamer's time (and wallets). This generation however has been a bit one-sided. The PS5 has significantly outperformed the Xbox Series X, so much so that rumours have even emerged that Microsoft could skip to the next generation or pull out of making consoles altogether. At least one of those rumours has been rubbished by Xbox chief Phil Spencer. 

Journalist Shannon Liao reported that Mr Spencer has reassured Xbox employees that the company will not stop producing consoles. This comes in the wake of "The Future of Xbox" set to be decided this week with an imminent announcement. Perhaps then we could see Xbox announce new hardware, perhaps a Pro version of the Series X? Or even something completely new?

What could the announcement be?

While new hardware would be pretty exciting, it's most commonly believed that Microsoft will reveal plans to go multi-platform with some of the biggest games on Xbox (and Game Pass). 

The likes of Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves are some of the biggest selling points of the Xbox Series X so this is an interesting move. Fans of developers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard who merged with Microsoft might be relieved as this would all but assure that the likes of Call Of Duty and Fallout have a place on PlayStation still. 

That does however leave a question of why would you buy an Xbox over a PlayStation going forwards? Especially as there is no talk of Sony (or Nintendo) doing the same with its exclusive titles. 

Certainly the gaming world's eyes are all on Phil Spencer right now.