We recently had an interview with Xbox marketer and lead planner Albert Penello. In our very own, Inner Circle Podcast, Penello gives us an inside look at how the Xbox team develops and deploys its products for consumers around the world. Throughout the interview we dive into topics ranging from industry origins to the upcoming Scorpio. For the full audio podcast, tune into the Inner Circle Podcast hosted by Lenwood Henegan and Ivan AKA Anchorman.
Many players like myself constantly worry about upgrading to a new console. You never really know if the games or accessories will work with newer consoles and eventually become obsolete. During our interview with Albert Penello we took the time to discuss whether or not Microsoft had a plan on how they would phase out older Xbox consoles in this new modern generation of constant upgrades.
With some hesitation, Penello answers by saying he hates speculating about the future and things that may or may not happen but looks at the world of PC gaming as an example of what might come to the Xbox family of devices. One thing Penello mentions that will not become obsolete are games.
“Have PC games really phased out? You can still really old games to this day. Of course there are exceptions with certain older games not working on pentium. There isn’t a time a game doesn’t work on PC unless you have an ancient machine.”
Penello envisions an Xbox gaming future like that of the PC. Gamers can expect every game that is currently on their Xbox One hard drive to work with future consoles. The problem of losing content in the future isn’t currently seen as a problem for Albert and his team.
These next few years will really be a testament to how Xbox listens to the fans. Instead of constantly having to wait for a new console that is either numbered 4 or 5 in a 6 year life span. Gamers can get an upgraded console that will release every few years. With each upgrade you could bring your library of games with you to each console. No longer will gamers need to store every console we ever bought just to play classic games. The “hard stops” new console generations bring that reset your gaming library will finally come to an end according to Penello.
In reassurance to current Xbox One owners, Penello does mention that they do not have plans to phase out any console in the immediate future. Does worried about their console losing support can rest easily.
For the full interview with Albert Penello, listen to the latest episode of The Inner Circle Podcast.
