Remember Microsoft’s Xbox cloud gaming device, codenamed Keystone? The one that got announced in 2021, was cancelled in its original form a year later, then showed up on Phil Spencer’s shelf after that, bamboozling everyone? Well if you’ve ever wondered what it could have looked like in more detail, a newly surfaced patent might have some answers.
The patent in question was originally filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office in June 2022 – several months after Microsoft announced it would no longer be proceeding with Keystone in its existing form – and features designs for a proposed machine only referred to as an “electronic console device”. There’s nothing explicitly linking to the document to Keystone, but Windows Central claims that’s precisely what it is.
A side-by-side comparison with the “old prototype” version of Keystone that appeared on Phil Spencer’s desk in October 2022 also supports that claim, with both the patent and prototype version featuring the same front panel.
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