Microsoft is now officially hiring for the next Xbox One (or Xbox Two, which they almost definitely won’t call it), with the company posting a job listing that doesn’t even try to hide its intentions. Whereas most hardware manufacturers remain firmly secretive about their plans for the future, Microsoft has instead opted to take the bold stance of outlining to applicants that it wants them to be a part of the next wave of Xbox consoles.
The job listing for a Sr. Electrical Engineer / DRAM Memory Lead was posted on April 10th, with it requesting an engineer to “lead the DRAM solutions for the Xbox console hardware development team.” These solutions include DDR3, GDDR5, GDDR6 and future DRAM technologies, with GDDR5 being currently implemented by the Xbox One.
“Our teams ship tens of millions of hardware products every year including the Xbox One X, Xbox One S, a full accessories lineup, and more,” the job description reads. “Microsoft is the destination for the brightest minds in gaming device design. Come be part of what’s next.”
“The successful candidate will be the primary technical focal point for existing and leading-edge memory technologies on currently shipping and future Xbox design projects,” the listing continues. “The focus will be integrating the right memory solutions into the console based on a variety of constraints such as power, cost, reliability, signal integrity and performance requirements.”
Neither Sony nor Microsoft has officially stated that they are moving ahead with the next generation of consoles, with both having been focused on getting the most out of their current-gen hardware. However, with the Xbox One struggling to gain the same forward momentum as the PS4 or even the Switch, it’s not exactly surprising that the company is looking to the future. With Xbox Head Phil Spencer having righted a lot of the wrongs in terms of the brand’s outlook, it will be interesting to see what an Xbox console led by Spencer’s vision from the outset will look like.
