There are reports of a new Xbox development kit being certified, which has lead to many thinking a new Xbox Series X model is imminent.
It makes sense considering the recent PS5 Pro leaks that suggest Sony will also release a mid-generation upgrade this year.
The past week has seen a major flurry of news and leaks around a claimed 2024 launch for the highly-anticipated PlayStation 5 Pro, but Xbox might not be sleeping this year either.
Canny observers have noticed the addition of a new entry on the South Korean National Radio Research Agency's device database.
The device registration in reality tells us very little about what is being made, but it carries the model number 2089, and this is a process that Microsoft has had to follow in previous years for its existing consoles.
The device is listed as an "XDK Console", a standard abbreviation for "Xbox Development Kit Console", which does whisk away a fair portion of the ambiguity about what it is.
국립전파연구원, 3월 18일 MS XDK Console 인증통과 (출처 : XBOX 정보 카페 | 네이버 카페) https://t.co/c3VmTd1n7R Microsoft's new Xbox Dev Kit (XDK) console was certified by the National Radio Research Agency in Korea today. This means that you can use the device in Korea. It is… pic.twitter.com/jZAuYlynV4March 18, 2024
The most widespread interpretation of this news is that it'll be connected to the all-digital Xbox Series X revision that was leaked in documents that were discovered in late 2023.
This indicated that a console codenamed "Brooklin" was on the way, similar to the Xbox Series X but without a disc drive, in the same vein as the less powerful and discless Xbox Series S.
Of course, if Microsoft is indeed making development kits for its new console, this might suggest a different plan, since there would be less need for new kits if the console were identical in specs to the existing Xbox Series X.
Still, whether it's a brand-new console in terms of power or a revision of the Xbox Series X that brings the price down and sacrifices a physical disc drive, either way, it looks like Xbox is gearing up for something later this year.
The last time it registered a console's dev kit like this, the Xbox Series X and Series S launch was only about five months away, so you'd be on relatively safe ground expecting to learn more from Xbox in the next few months.
That announcement looks more important than before, too, given the big leaks around the PS5 Pro have given everyone the impression that Sony is working on a beast of a console, one that will outstrip the base PS5's graphical capabilities by almost three times. If Xbox is looking to compete, it had better get a move on.
