Xbox Hardware Might Be Done, Says One of Its Original Creators

Xbox has been shifting toward a multiplatform future for years, but now one of its original team members is saying what many players have suspected: the hardware side might already be done.

In a recent video, veteran developer and founding Xbox team member Laura Fryer laid out her concerns about where Microsoft is taking its gaming brand. She pointed straight at the company’s new strategy—working with third-party hardware makers like ASUS, Meta, and AMD—as a sign that the Xbox we knew is changing into something entirely different.

This isn’t just speculation from someone on the sidelines. Fryer helped launch the original Xbox and worked on major first-party projects like Gears of War while leading the Xbox Advanced Technology Group. After Microsoft, she held senior positions at WB Games Seattle and Epic Games Seattle. So when she says something like this, it hits differently:

“Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead.”

Fryer made the comment in a YouTube video breaking down what she sees as a long, slow move away from Xbox-branded consoles and toward a broader cross-platform model. She said the recently announced ROG Xbox Ally—a Windows-based handheld made by ASUS—isn’t an exciting new console, but rather a portable PC with Xbox branding slapped on.

The Xbox Ally can run Steam. It runs Xbox Game Pass. It runs Epic Games Store, if you want. But what it doesn't do is act like a real, unified Xbox platform. It feels like Microsoft is pointing users toward Windows, not a new Xbox console.

And that’s the core of Fryer’s argument. Microsoft is still making noise about hardware, but what it’s actually doing is pushing players to the Xbox ecosystem no matter where they play. Phones. PCs. Handhelds. Cloud. Everything but a traditional console.

She describes the “Xbox Anywhere” messaging as surface-level.

“Just marketing. Style with no substance.”

It’s not hard to see why she’s frustrated. During her time with the company, Xbox was about building hardware and a platform from the ground up. Now, with Game Pass acting as the hub for Xbox content across nearly every device, the hardware isn’t the centerpiece anymore. It’s an optional portal.

Microsoft’s recent hardware announcements only reinforce this shift. In June, the company revealed the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition, a collaboration with AMD for future graphics integration, and a direct partnership with ASUS to deliver Xbox handhelds. But there’s still no sign of a traditional follow-up to the Xbox Series X or Series S—only a vague promise of a next-gen device in the works.

That hasn’t stopped Xbox leadership from talking about the future. Microsoft’s gaming president, Sarah Bond, said this month that the company is “working closely” with the Windows team to make Windows the “number one platform for gaming.” That doesn’t sound like a pivot—it sounds like a realignment.

“Our vision is for you to play the games you want, with the people you want, anywhere you want.”

That sounds good. And it probably will work for many players. Game Pass has become a solid value. Fryer even said that herself. She thinks the service has huge upside, especially with remakes like Oblivion performing well and Xbox’s deep catalog of older hits. But that doesn’t replace the sense of identity that hardware used to give Xbox.

She pointed to Clockwork Revolution as one of the only recent reveals that got her attention, but she questioned whether that alone can carry the brand forward.

“Where are the new hits? What will make people care about Xbox 25 years from now?”

Xbox will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year. You can expect Microsoft to put on a show, drop some big announcements, and roll out some kind of vision for the future. But if you’re a longtime fan who grew up with the idea of Xbox as a console-first brand, the shift might feel jarring.

Fryer’s main issue isn’t about the tech. It’s about direction. She doesn’t see hardware innovation. She sees branding on devices that someone else built. She sees a company outsourcing development, re-releasing its classics, and keeping everything running through subscription funnels.

That strategy might work fine in 2025. But she’s asking what happens in 2030. Or 2040. When the nostalgia dries up. When Game Pass isn’t enough on its own. Will Xbox be just a launcher on Windows? Will it matter whether a game launches “on Xbox” at all?

If you look at where Microsoft is putting its resources, the trend is clear. It’s all about infrastructure. Cloud. PC integration. Unified game access. In that sense, the ROG Xbox Ally is the perfect mascot for the new Xbox: flexible, connected, and not really an Xbox at all.

You can still feel that shift in other corners, too. From our past coverage on the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X price and games which will be available, to the growing dependency on Game Pass-first releases, Xbox feels less like a console brand now and more like a subscription ecosystem that just happens to still have consoles, for now.

Fryer ends her video with a cautious bit of hope. Maybe next year will make the bigger picture clearer. Maybe Microsoft has a long-term strategy it just hasn’t fully revealed yet.

But for now, she’s not convinced. And she’s not alone.