Microsoft Xbox

The next Xbox, despite what public statements made by Microsoft over the last couple of years might lead the uninformed to believe, is coming. We don’t know exactly when, but common sense places its release at some point during the fall of this year. We don’t know exactly when it will be announced, but rumors are pointing to an April event. We don’t know exactly what the machine will be capable of, but an Australian hacker claims to know what’s inside the box.

The Wii U is out. Sony has shown its hand with its PlayStation 4 event last month. Valve spent January telling the world about what the press and public have not-so-cleverly dubbed the Steam Box, which may or may not be competition for the Xbox brand.

Still, Microsoft has issued nothing but denials or no comments each time it has been questioned about a next-generation rumor. But Microsoft is discussing the Xbox — not necessarily the next one — right this very moment.

As this article was being written, the company was busy holding an internal meeting with select partners at its Redmond, Washington headquarters. The invite-only session is titled “Xbox Platform Deep Dive” and is part of a series of meetings that make up the 2014 fiscal year version of a conference Microsoft holds annually.

Is the next-generation game console said to be codenamed Xbox Durango being discussed? We have no way of knowing, since, as OXM reports, no members of the press got an invite.

However, it would seem an ideal time to discuss and possibly show the machine to Microsoft’s development, publishing and retail partners. To that end, Microsoft is also holding sessions focused on retail, games and Xbox Live services and entertainment today. There are three groups of invitees that are permitted to be in attendance to some of these meetings, with all of them getting an invite to a Q & A session that closes things out at day’s end.

Who exactly are the individuals comprising these groups? It’s difficult to say exactly, but Kotaku’s Superannuation reported on Twitter over the weekend that Rare, the internal Microsoft development studio that was responsible for creating the Xbox Live Avatars, would be sending Senior Studio Director Craig Duncan to Redmond this week. Certainly he is joined by other members of the industry, but XBLA Fans is unable to say who, precisely.

Examiner.com reached out to Microsoft directly in regards to this week’s meetings, and it received exactly the type of response it was likely expecting. “The rumored ‘event’ is an internal meeting that happens every year,” reads the company-issued statement. “We have nothing further to share at this time.”

So Microsoft isn’t talking, but Microsoft is talking. Maybe about Durango. Maybe not.

Sources: Fusible, @supererogatory, Examiner and OXM