Xbox Streaming Console Patent Unearthed, Showing What Cloud Gaming Could Have Been

Microsoft was previously working on a console that would stream Xbox games through the cloud. It was codenamed Keystone but it will likely never see the light of day. However, a patent of Keystone was uncovered and it shows what it could have looked like.

Found by Windows Central, the patent was filed in 2022. It shows the Keystone’s potential shape and internal functions. It looks to be about half the size of an Xbox Series S, being a square with a large circular vent, just like the Series S has. It’s reminiscent of the first PlayStation console, which had its disk drive on the top.

The front has both the console’s power button as well as a USB-A port, while the back has ports for HDMI, ethernet, power. There’s also what looks like a pairing button for the Xbox controller.

Back in 2022, Xbox chief Phil Spencer revealed why it had not released Keystone, saying that it was more expensive than Microsoft expected it to be when the device was actually built out. Spencer said that the device should have costed between $99-$129, but Microsoft couldn’t achieve that price point, partially because it would have also come bundled with a controller, which typically costs between $50-$60 by itself. The Series S already was $300, so the potential price delta between it and Keystone was not large enough.

Instead, however, Microsoft refocused those efforts toward creating Xbox streaming apps for Smart TVs, such as the ones in the 2022 Samsung models. That’s not to say that Xbox won’t try again in the future.