Microsoft once worked on a streaming hardware called “Keystone”. After development was put on hold, a patent shows what the Redmond-based company had in mind with the hardware.
A recently surfaced patent may provide a glimpse of Microsoft's shelved Xbox streaming device. Also known as “Keystone,” the device was announced in 2021 and was intended to give gamers the ability to play Xbox games without owning an Xbox console or switching to PC.
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Microsoft later put the project on hold because it could not be manufactured cheaply enough to be commercially available at an affordable price.
“I don't want to give specific prices, but I think it would have to be $129 or $99, somewhere in between, for it to make sense in my opinion. We just weren't that far,” Microsoft's Phil Spencer once explained.
This is what the Xbox streaming box could have looked like
A Patent filed in June 2022that from Windows Central was discovered, now shows how Microsoft imagined the streaming device back then. The box was designed as a flat and square piece of hardware. A round element can be seen on the top, similar to the Xbox Series S.
The front of “Keystone,” once seen in a photo posted by Spencer, was intended to house the Xbox power button and a USB-A port, while the back would house HDMI, Ethernet and power ports.
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For the right side of the streaming box, the designers had planned a button that resembles the look of a controller pairing button. On the bottom, the patent drawings show a round plate that serves as a stand, similar to the Xbox Series X console.
The patent was filed in June 2022, when the first information about “Keystone” became known. However, this particular Xbox will probably never be realized. At least we now have an idea of what it would have looked like.
Microsoft also reportedly experimented with a cloud handheld:
The cloud continues, but differently
The latest partnerships have shown that a standalone streaming box from Microsoft is not necessary. Just this week we reported that new Fire TV sticks will receive corresponding support, after new Samsung TVs have been delivered with Xbox cloud support for some time.
Microsoft told Windows Central during the Xbox Showcase 2024 program that it has seen significant growth in terms of the TV app. However, it will probably be many years before consoles become completely obsolete. In any case, the Xbox cloud is not running convincingly, as a comparison with PlayStation’s streaming offering showed.
More news about Keystone, Microsoft.
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