Leaked Microsoft document hints at a cheaper and less powerful Xbox console, designed to provide key improvements in Xbox Series X at a lower price point
What does it mean? Alessandro Barbosa / GameSpot : Xbox Series X's Cheaper Lockhart Companion System Appears Again In Xbox Dev Notes Luke Jones / WinBuzzer : Microsoft's Project Lockhart Shows Up in Leaked Document Tweets: TitleOS / @xb1_hexdecimal : Source: https://filebin.net/... https://twitter.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Microsoft has a second next-gen Xbox in the works. A leaked Microsoft document hints at its “Lockhart” Xbox dev plans. Here's everything I know about what will likely be the Xbox Series S console: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... @videotech_ : “We understand that includes 7.5GB of usable RAM, a slightly underclocked CPU speed, and around 4 teraflops of GPU performance. The Xbox Series X includes 13.5GB of usable RAM, and targets 12 teraflops of GPU performance” Microsoft is about to hold back next generation lmfao. https://twitter.com/... @deitaone : Leaked Microsoft document notes multiple ‘Project Scarlett consoles,’ Verge says Microsoft has been planning a second version of its next-generation Xbox Series X https://www.theverge.com/... $MSFT @alejandroid1979 : So it worst than we thought “We understand that includes 7.5GB of usable RAM, a slightly underclocked CPU speed, and around 4 teraflops of GPU performance” gimping the whole generation, what a fucking joke https://www.theverge.com/... Another Led / @justanled : I'm sorry but Xbox Lockhart is looking like it'll (at some point) gimp this generation. According to The Verge: “We understand that includes 7.5GB of usable RAM, a slightly underclocked CPU, and around 4 TF of GPU performance.” 7.5 GB of RAM? Damn! https://www.theverge.com/... Dr. Serkan Toto / @serkantoto : Launching a second next-gen Xbox console with weaker specs at the same time as the proper one would be a terrible, terrible idea. This strategy would obscure the messaging and make Microsoft's marketing a lot harder. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The Lockhart rumor has a long runway in this coverage: Thurrott reported back in 2018 on two new Xbox consoles, one a lower-powered streaming-oriented box, and Kotaku followed in December 2019 with a disc-free, budget-tier machine codenamed Lockhart riding alongside Project Scarlett. What is new today is the artifact — a leaked Microsoft developer document naming Lockhart's dev plans, which moves the second console from sourced rumor to something developers are apparently already building against.
The positioning matters because Microsoft has already rebranded Scarlett as the Xbox Series X (holiday 2020, up to 120 fps and ray tracing), leaving a pricing gap below it. A cheaper sibling would let Microsoft hold the premium spec race with Sony while covering the mainstream price band — and the arc closes soon after, when Microsoft confirms the $299 Xbox Series S as its smallest console ever.
First-order effects
- Game developers working on Series X titles now have to account for a second, less powerful performance target in their test matrices — the leak shows Lockhart already present in official dev notes.
Second-order effects
- A lower-priced entry point strengthens Microsoft's Game Pass subscription pitch, since a cheap console widens the funnel of players who can be converted to recurring revenue alongside the flagship Series X.
Third-order effects
- If the two-tier launch pattern holds — confirmed by the eventual Series S reveal — console generations stop being one-box-per-cycle and split into price tiers, pressuring Sony to respond with its own budget SKU rather than competing only at the top end.
The trend: Console launches are splitting into high-end flagships plus cheaper digital companions, as hardware becomes the low-margin on-ramp to services like Game Pass.