Xbox’s latest marketing campaign has set tongues wagging, its claims of “This is an Xbox” only furthering the idea that Microsoft is moving toward becoming the world’s biggest videogame publisher. Now, according to a new report, they may also be considering allowing other people to make Xbox-branded hardware.
That’s according to Samuel Tolbert of Windows Central, a typically very reliable site. In the article, Tolbert discusses the new marketing campaign and Phil Spencer’s comments regarding Xbox actively developing a handheld machine.
Talking about how Xbox is looking to partner with various companies, Tolbert says: “We’ve even heard that Microsoft is exploring options around letting third-parties build Xbox-branded devices, something that could extend as far as letting them directly use the Xbox operating system.”
Tolbert goes on to speculate that this could include such things as an ASUS handheld machine with Xbox branding an an Xbox operating system.
In theory, it could even include consoles make by third-party manafacturers, much like Steam did previously with the ill-fated Steam Machines. It has been speculated that Xbox’s increasing move toward publishing games across multiple platforms and their lacklustre console sales numbers could be a sign that they won’t create a next-gen console, ceding the space to PlayStation and Nintendo. That said, I’m not sure anyone would be interested in making a console using the Xbox name.
What do you thing? Will Xbox license its name to third-parties going forward?