Production notes for what may be either the so-called Xbox One and a Half or a slimmed-down Xbox One may have recently leaked out to popular video game forum NeoGAF, reports IGN. The notes name drop the “Xbox One Second Generation.”
Continuing, they allege that this second-gen Xbox One has been in the workings since 2014 — the year after the Xbox One first launched — and indicate that mass production of the units began this past February, with expected capacity being 400,000 units weekly. A 2014 development kickoff would align with a Eurogamer report from late that year that chip maker AMD had experienced a breakthrough on a smaller and more cost-effective 20 nanometer version of the Xbox One’s main processor.
These are just the latest in a long line of rumblings intimating that an incrementally upgraded Xbox One and/or a slimmed down Xbox One are in the works. Rumors leaked out last month that Microsoft was testing prototypes of new “Xbox devices.” Just days before that report, GameStop revealed that it was expecting new consoles in the “near future.” And only about a week before that, a pair of FCC filings seemingly betrayed the existence of both an Xbox One and a Half and an Xbox One Slim.
Of course, none of these leaks or rumors have emanated from official Microsoft sources, at least not any who have been willing to attach their names to them. But that doesn’t mean Microsoft has been entirely silent on the matter.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer said last month that he was “not a big fan of Xbox One and a Half.” That being said, it was Spencer himself who got the ball rolling on this whole thing back in February, openly stating at the Xbox Spring Showcase that Microsoft would eventually “come out with new hardware capability during a generation.” Whether or not that generation is this generation remains a matter of debate, but evidence that it is continues to mount.
The Author
