Microsoft Xbox Streaming Console on Hold Due to High Costs; Console Gets Discord Voice Chat in New Update and More

Xbox’s streaming-only console, Project Keystone, has been put on hold by the company because making it is just too expensive.

Xbox head Phil Spencer told The Verge that Microsoft was unable to create a streaming-only console cheaply. Spencer was hoping for the console to be in the range of $99 to $199, but it ended up being too costly to produce.

“The console we built that people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside,” he said. “We decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app.”

Spencer also added that the company would have to sell the streaming console in a certain price bracket for it to be a viable option.

“I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, somewhere in there for that to make sense in my view,” Spencer said.

Xbox November update brings Discord voice chat to the console

In its November update, Xbox announced that users can connect to a Discord voice channel via their console.

The feature was first made available for Xbox Alpha Insiders a month ago. Xbox owners previously had to transfer the ongoing Discord voice call from the mobile app to the console, but things will now become easier and seamless with this new update.

Noise suppression, which is a feature that has been a staple in Discord’s mobile and desktop apps, will also be available on Xbox. This means that when noise suppression is turned on, background noises will be eliminated, resulting in a clear audio stream. However, this feature is available on Xbox Series X/S consoles only.