Imagine the future of video games, and more specifically, video game consoles. That is the message with which Microsoft presents us with Xbox 2042, a platform that obviously does not exist, and that may never materialize, but that is presented as a very interesting concept with which the Redmond giant tries to give us a vision of what your console could offer in 20 years. That Xbox 2042 is part of a Microsoft promotional campaign focused on Battlefield 2042, but it’s very well done, and it’s worth checking out.
It goes without saying that taking a look at the future of technology with such a long term is almost crazy, but the Redmond giant has dared to give itself that license, and the truth is that it has left us pleasantly surprised. That hypothetical Xbox 2042 would have a holographic interface, and it would have hardware that would be capable, in theory, of interacting in a way never seen before with humans, both through their eyes and their brain.
Interesting, but the most striking thing is the potential it would offer at the hardware level. As many of our readers will know, to this day gaming in 4K has not yet been standardized, and with that Xbox 2042 Microsoft is talking about games in 32K resolution, that is, in 30,720 x 17,280 pixels. If we do numbers, this is equivalent to moving more than 530.8 million pixels. Doesn’t it surprise you? Well it should, since in 4K a total of 8.29 million pixels move.
Xbox 2042: Breaking the Exaflop Barrier
32K resolution, plus 240 frames per second. Yes, it sounds too good to be true, even if we talk about a 20-year-old concept, but Microsoft goes further and says that that Xbox 2042 could reach 480 FPS without latency problems, and that it would reach a power of 1 exaflops, that is, nothing more and less than one million teraflops. If you wonder if this is a lot, remember that a GeForce RTX 3090 is capable of delivering a power of 35.58 teraflops in FP32.
Interesting, right? Well wait, there is more. That Xbox 2042 could achieve that enormous performance thanks to the quantum computing, a technology that has been making important advances for several years, although it is still at a fairly early stage. Their games would also not have loading times, they would work instantly.
In the video we can also see some curiosities, such as the promise of full backward compatibility, new ways of experiencing videogames and greater integration between the user and the game console. I know that it is only a concept, and that it is likely to be over-ambitious and that is why it does not materialize, but it is so impressive that I did not want to miss the opportunity to share it with you.
What do you think of this concept? Do you think that in 20 years we will have been able to advance as much as Microsoft says? It is a very interesting topic, so I invite you to comment in the comments. In a personal capacity, I don’t think we can make such a huge leap in such a short time, but looking at what we have achieved in the last 20 years it is clear that I can be wrong.
