‘Keystone’: Xbox cloud-based console plans revealed in patent filing
At one point, Microsoft had plans to produce a streaming-based console that would have less hardware and rely entirely on the SOIP operating model to play games via Xbox Game Pass. It was later canceled due to pricing issues – but it’s rumored to ‘be’ priced between $100 and $130, which comes with a controller.
In a recent discovery, a long-lost patent filing containing some ‘blueprint’ images of Project Keystone, the codename for the streaming-based Xbox console, was discovered.
Small but mighty
Windows Central dug up some documentation showing the Project Keystone, which could be small enough to fit on any television set or neatly behind a monitor and rely on a controller and an Internet connection to stream games.
In pictures, we’re treated to a few facets of Keystone:
It’s nothing too spectacular to look at, but it lines up pretty well with the current generation of Xbox consoles. It has the blocky aesthetic of an Xbox Series X|S unit and all the trappings of a low-power, low-resource gaming device. The back of the Keystone has a power port, an HDMI port and an Ethernet port – handy. There’s a single USB port on the front of the console to hold an accessory or charging cable for the controller, and that’s it.
Windows Central revealed This patent was filed in 2022 – but it eventually fell flat and fell into the abyss, destined never to see the light of day.
In last year’s massive FTC leaks, it was suggested that Keystone was still on the cards at Microsoft, with the project sitting on the list and tagged ‘funded’. It is not known what happened to that claim, but the consensus is that it is outdated information.
Do you think Project Keystone is a good idea or should it have gone the way of Google Stadia and Ouya?
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