Xbox's AMD partnership sheds light on the future of the division's ecosystem
Your Yahoo privacy setting is blocking social media and third-party content You can Allow your personal information to be shared and sold. Something went wrong. Try again. You can update your choice anytime by going to your privacy controls, which are linked to throughout our sites and apps. This page will now refresh.
Microsoft has no plans to get out of the console business anytime soon. The company has been reiterating for a while that it's going to make at least one more generation of Xbox consoles. It's now been confirmed that AMD will power the upcoming hardware, as it did with the Xbox Series X/S .
Xbox president Sarah Bond made the announcement in a short video . Under the multi-year partnership, Xbox and AMD are "advancing the state of art in gaming silicon to deliver the next generation of graphics innovation; to unlock a deeper level of visual quality; and immersive gameplay and player experiences enhanced with the power of AI, all while maintaining compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games," Bond said.
A leaked presentation from May 2022 (which was part of the massive Xbox leak the following year) indicated that Microsoft had yet to make a decision about the processor and GPU for the next Xbox console(s), suggesting in one slide that it planned to strike an agreement with AMD to supply those and in another that it yet had to make an "Arm64 decision." As we now know, the company is doubling down with AMD.
On the surface, the AMD agreement is the main news coming out of Bond's announcement. But, if you read between the lines, there are lots of other interesting details to tease out from what she said in the short video.
For one thing, the AI aspect of Bond's carefully crafted statement lines up with details in the leak (and other developments ) about Microsoft embracing artificial intelligence and machine learning in future Xbox games, including for things like AI agents. So the company is likely to keep going down that path.
Bond said that Microsoft and AMD will "co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices including our next-generation Xbox consoles, in your living room and in your hands," implying that the company is planning more handhelds beyond the Xbox-branded ROG devices that are coming later this year. Those are also powered by AMD.
In addition, Bond said the next-gen of Xbox devices will maintain "compatibility with your existing library of Xbox games." Xbox has made a commitment to backward compatibility, but that's still welcome to hear.
Those are fairly interesting nuggets, no doubt, but there were two other things Bond said that I think are starting to shed more light on the future of the Xbox ecosystem. First, she said that her team is "building you a gaming platform that's always with you, so you can play the games you want across devices anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device."
That "single store" phrasing is a chin stroker, especially in light of the new user interface Xbox is making for the ROG handhelds. The Windows-powered devices won't only allow users to play games from the Xbox PC app, Xbox consoles via remote play and the cloud. They'll integrate games from other PC storefronts, such as Battle.net (which is run by Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard), Steam, GOG and more. Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass users have long had access to EA Play games as part of their subscriptions. Ubisoft+ is on Xbox consoles too .
Perhaps this concept of not being "locked to a single store" will start to work in other ways. Valve said a few years ago that it would be happy to integrate Game Pass into Steam , for instance. Likewise, Microsoft has said it would welcome Steam and the Epic Games Store app onto its PC app store (though Valve and Epic probably wouldn't want to give Microsoft a cut of game sales). Maybe we might finally see those come to fruition in the next few years.
But how might those integrations work on an Xbox console? Bond hinted at that too. She said Xbox is "working closely with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming."
Sure, that could be a reference to PC gaming. But Bond didn't explicitly state that, which has me wondering if the next Xbox console might be more of a Windows PC that sits under your TV. That would align with comments made a few months back by Jez Corden of Windows Central , who said the next Xbox is "a PC, in essence, but with a TV-friendly shell."
As with the likes of the Steam Deck and other handheld PCs, this would potentially give game developers a specific set of specifications to work with (though ensuring their games are optimized for as many desktop and laptop configurations as possible will still be a complex task). Perhaps the user interface Xbox is debuting on the Ally X devices is a sign of things to come on larger displays.
Moreover, the Xbox and Windows teams are stripping out unnecessary aspects of the operating system in the Xbox Ally handhelds to make them run more efficiently. What's to stop them from doing the same in the next Xbox console? That could enable Xbox to offer a more unified ecosystem across all platforms, while streamlining things for developers who want to make games for both PC and Xbox. Don't forget that Microsoft has been making a real effort to make Windows run more smoothly on ARM-based processors as part of its Copilot+ PC push.
We might have to wait two or three more years to get a fuller sense of Microsoft's vision for the future of Xbox consoles. But it certainly has the opportunity to knit its platforms more closely together and make playing Xbox (and PC) games across devices a more seamless experience.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bernstein SocGen Lifts MSFT Target to $540 on AI-Driven Cloud Outlook
Bernstein SocGen has raised its price target on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) to $540 from $520, and kept an Outperform rating for the stock a couple of weeks ago. Shares are trading at $477, near their 52-week high, with a market cap of $3.55 trillion. The firm sees longer-term upside tied to Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI. If OpenAI's roadmap unfolds as projected, Azure stands to capture a sizable share of the resulting demand, particularly in cloud infrastructure. Bernstein believes this could materially boost Microsoft's top line by 2029–2030. Image by Tawanda Razika from Pixabay To account for this, the analysts raised their revenue forecast for FY27 and increased earnings estimates for FY26 and FY27. They've also bumped Microsoft's valuation multiple from 28.5x to 29.5x. Most of the expected gains fall outside the near-term forecast window, but the analysts argue the long-range potential is strong enough to justify the upward adjustment. Azure's position in the AI supply chain remains central to that view. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Vanguard Growth ETF Is a Great Choice for Most, But I Like the Invesco QQQ Trust Better
The Vanguard Growth ETF has been a strong performer over the years. However, the Invesco QQQ Trust's performance has been even better, and its holdings are less top-heavy. That said, investing consistently in these exchange-traded funds is just as important as picking the right one. 10 stocks we like better than Invesco QQQ Trust › The Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: VUG) is one of the most popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) around, and it's a great choice for many investors. The ETF tracks the performance of the CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index, which includes stocks representing the growth side of the S&P 500. Notably, the ETF holds around 166 stocks, while its value counterpart, the Vanguard Value ETF (NYSEMKT: VTV), carries 331 stocks, since fewer large-cap stocks are classified as growth stocks. Stocks will also sometimes bounce between the growth ETF and the value ETF. For example, last year, Broadcom was one of the top stocks in the value index, but it has since shifted to being a top-10 holding in the growth ETF. The Vanguard Growth ETF is very tech-heavy, with such stocks accounting for 58.5% of its portfolio. Its top three -- Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple -- represent almost 32% of its holdings. Growth and technology stocks have been helping lead the market higher for a long time, which can be seen in the outperformance of the Vanguard Growth ETF compared to both the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) and the Vanguard Value ETF. Over the past decade, as of the end of May, the Vanguard Growth ETF has produced an average annual return of 15.3% versus 12.8% for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and 10% for the Vanguard Value ETF. Overall, the Vanguard Growth ETF is a great option for investors; however, there is one growth-focused ETF I like even more. The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) has been one of the best-performing non-leveraged or sector-specific ETFs around. This ETF has outperformed both the Vanguard 500 ETF and the Vanguard Growth ETF over the past decade. As of the end of May, it has generated an average annual return of 17.7%, outpacing its rivals. ETF 5-Year Average Annual Return 10-Year Average Annual Return Vanguard Value 13.9% 10% Vanguard S&P 500 15.9% 12.8% Vanguard Growth 17.2% 15.3% Invesco QQQ Trust 18.1% 17.7% Source: Vanguard and Invesco websites. The Invesco QQQ Trust's outperformance against the S&P 500 isn't just due to a couple of big years. It has been able to consistently outdo the benchmark index over the past decade. In fact, during this period, it has outperformed the S&P 500 more than 87% of the time on a rolling-12-month basis. That's impressive. Like the Vanguard Growth ETF, the Invesco QQQ Trust is also heavily weighted toward tech, with 57.2% of its portfolio classified in that sector as of the end of March. However, the Invesco ETF is actually less top-heavy than the Vanguard Growth ETF, with its top three holdings representing less than 25% of its portfolio (versus almost 32% in the Vanguard ETF). While they share many of the same top holdings, they are more spread out in the Invesco QQQ, which is another reason I prefer it. Here are the two ETFs' top 10 holdings and their weightings: Vanguard Growth Weighting Invesco QQQ Weighting 1. Microsoft 11.3% 1. Microsoft 8.8% 2. Nvidia 10.3% 2. Nvidia 8.7% 3. Apple 10.1% 3. Apple 7.3% 4. Amazon 6.3% 4. Amazon 5.6% 5. Alphabet 5.8% 5. Alphabet 5% 6. Meta Platforms 4.4% 6. Broadcom 4.8% 7. Broadcom 4% 7. Meta Platforms 3.8% 8. Tesla 3.3% 8. Netflix 3.2% 9. Eli Lilly 2.2% 9. Tesla 2.9% 10. Visa 2.2% 10. Costco 2.7% Note: VUG holdings are as of May 31, and QQQ holdings are as of June 17. Growth investors can't go wrong with either the Vanguard Growth ETF or the Invesco QQQ Trust, although I prefer the latter due to its track record of outperformance and its currently being less top-heavy. That said, regardless of which ETF you pick, the key to creating long-term wealth will be consistently investing in it using a dollar-cost averaging strategy. In the long run, this is just as important -- or perhaps even more so -- than trying to pick which is the better ETF right now. Before you buy stock in Invesco QQQ Trust, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Invesco QQQ Trust wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $664,089!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $881,731!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 994% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Alphabet, Invesco QQQ Trust, and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Costco Wholesale, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, Tesla, Vanguard Index Funds - Vanguard Growth ETF, Vanguard Index Funds - Vanguard Value ETF, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Vanguard Growth ETF Is a Great Choice for Most, But I Like the Invesco QQQ Trust Better was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Advances While Market Declines: Some Information for Investors
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) ended the recent trading session at $128.24, demonstrating a +1.14% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.22% loss on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.08%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.51%. Coming into today, shares of the chipmaker had gained 14.52% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 2.98%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.45%. The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Advanced Micro Devices in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Advanced Micro Devices to post earnings of $0.54 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 21.74%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.41 billion, up 27% from the prior-year quarter. For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $3.92 per share and a revenue of $31.75 billion, demonstrating changes of +18.43% and +23.15%, respectively, from the preceding year. Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Advanced Micro Devices. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook. Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model. The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 4.68% lower within the past month. At present, Advanced Micro Devices boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should also note Advanced Micro Devices's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 32.37. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 19.27. Investors should also note that AMD has a PEG ratio of 1.32 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Computer - Integrated Systems industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.81. The Computer - Integrated Systems industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 57, finds itself in the top 24% echelons of all 250+ industries. The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1. Don't forget to use to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
