Microsoft shelved its planned Xbox streaming box because it couldn’t make the unit price low enough for it to be viable.
The much-touted ‘Keystone’ box was confirmed by Microsoft Xbox boss Phil Spencer earlier this year, but has since been nixed, as production costs didn’t allow for the targeted price point of A$150-A$190.
“It was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside,” Spencer said on The Verge’s Decoder podcast.
“We decided to focus that team’s effort on delivering the smart TV streaming app.”
He didn’t completely rule out the idea, once the price is right.
“With Keystone, we’re still focused on it and watching when we can get the right cost,” Spencer says.
Spencer confirmed that Keystone had been shelved indefinitely a few weeks ago, mentioning it during the WSJ Tech Conference.
“Giving people choice – whether they want to play on their tablet, on their smart TV, on Xbox, a PC – we think that’s really critical to where we’re going,” Spencer said.
“Will we do a streaming device at some point? I suspect we will, but it’s years away. I still have the prototype – it sits on the shelf behind my computer.”
