That is what Xbox’s ill-fated cloud gaming console may have seemed like, in response to a newly surfaced patent

Keep in mind Microsoft’s Xbox cloud gaming console, codenamed Keystone? That was introduced in 2021, canceled in its authentic kind a yr later, after which confirmed up on Phil Spencer’s shelf, wowing everybody? Properly, if you happen to’ve ever puzzled what it will have seemed like in additional element, a newly surfaced patent may need some solutions.

the The patent in question It was initially filed with the US Patent and Trademark Workplace in June 2022 — a number of months after Microsoft introduced it will not use Keystone in its present kind — and options renderings of a proposed system referred to solely as an “digital management unit system.” Nothing within the doc explicitly hyperlinks to Keystone, nonetheless Windows Central He claims that that is precisely what it’s.

A side-by-side comparability with the “previous prototype” model of the Keystone that confirmed up on Phil Spencer’s desk in October 2022 additionally helps this declare, as each the patent and the prototype model function the identical entrance panel.

Nonetheless, the patent reveals lots of the design that Microsoft was apparently contemplating at one level for its cloud streaming gaming console. It bears lots in frequent with the present Xbox Collection S, though that system’s horizontal footprint is compressed right into a sq. form. It is also pictured with the Xbox Collection

As for the ports on this proposed mannequin — attributed to Microsoft lead designer Chris Kujawski — there’s an Xbox button and USB port on the entrance, a controller pairing button on one aspect, plus HDMI, Ethernet, and energy connectors on the again. Apart from an entire bunch of holes that dissipate warmth, that is your lot – no particulars of the machine’s internals had been revealed within the patent.

When Microsoft addressed the Keystone’s progress in Could 2022, it mentioned it had “made the choice to maneuver away from the present iteration” of the system, and would refocus its efforts on a “new strategy.” Xbox President Phil Spencer It was later confirmed The challenge was arrange as a result of it was “costlier than we wished it to be after we really constructed it with the {hardware} we had inside it” – and Microsoft’s “new strategy” was its Xbox TV app, enabling customers to stream Xbox cloud gaming titles at 1080p and up. to 60 fps.

So, whereas Xbox’s square-shaped desires of a devoted cloud gaming console could also be lengthy lifeless, its recreation streaming ambitions are removed from over.