According to The Verge, Microsoft Games CEO Phil Spencer revealed why the company delayed the launch of the Xbox cloud gaming “set-top box” Keystone plan, mainly because of the price issue.
Keystone on a shelf by Phil Spencer
When discussing the Keystone prototype device that recently appeared on the shelf in his office, Spencer said: “When we actually built it with the hardware in it, it was more expensive than we wanted. It was decided to focus the team’s efforts on delivering smart TV streaming apps.”
Microsoft turned to Samsung to launch the Xbox TV app, but that doesn’t mean the end of the Xbox cloud gaming “set-top box” plan. “With Keystone, we’re still watching it and seeing when we can get to the right cost,” Spencer said.
Spencer said Microsoft hopes to target a price of around $129 (about 908 CNY) or $99 (about 697 CNY) for the Xbox streaming media device, and hinted that counting the gamepad and so on, it has pushed its price up to Closer to the $299 Xbox Series S.
Spencer also said that the Keystone prototype interface “looks like the Xbox UI, everything just works,” and that the device is now on a shelf in his office, saying “it’s on my shelf because the team rolls it up.” Rolled up our sleeves, built this thing in nine months, a bunch of us brought it home, it worked, it worked really, really well.”
Now it seems that the Keystone is still quite some time away from actually launching. “Are we going to do a streaming device at some point? Probably, but I think that’s a few years away,” Spencer said in a recent The Wall Street Journal said at a live conference.
