Next Xbox Codename Is Scarlett and Will Launch in 2020: Report

At Microsoft's Xbox E3 2018 event, Xbox boss Phil Spencer hinted that the company is working on its Xbox One successor. Barely a day later, it's now reported that the next Xbox is codenamed Scarlett and is due for a 2020 release date. The news comes via Xbox insider Brad Sams, he previously leaked the official name of the Xbox One S and stated that the Xbox One X would be out in 2017. He also was partially correct in revealing what the next Halo game would be called prior to Microsoft announcing it at its E3 2018 conference.

Aside from the next Xbox codename, it appears that Scarlett is a "family of devices" which Sams speculates that "we may see multiple pieces of hardware released that year."

Furthermore, it's unknown if Scarlett will be backwards compatible with all games available right now. But given the investment Microsoft has put into backwards compatibility, it probably would as well as be aligned with the company's streaming efforts.

A next Xbox release date of 2020 seems close when you consider that the Xbox One X just launched barely seven months ago. Sams claims that "Microsoft is aggressively moving ahead with hardware in the console space to shake up the industry."

At E3 2018 Phil Spencer said that the Xbox One X hardware team is "deep into architecturing the next Xbox console, where we will once again deliver on our commitment to deliver the benchmark of console gaming". Naturally, he brought up Microsoft's work in AI and cloud technologies as well as its new studios as factors that will help towards making the Xbox a success.

With the Xbox One turning five this year and the Xbox 360 lasting for eight years until the Xbox One showed up, Microsoft talking up next-gen is odd but not unheard of. Perhaps this serves to keep its die-hard fans within the ecosystem. After all, the Xbox One hasn't sold as well as the PS4 and doesn't have as many exclusives either. Though we won't be surprised to see that change with the next Xbox.