'I think Xbox hardware is dead,' says original founding Xbox team member

One of Microsoft's original gaming leads believes that Xbox hardware is effectively dead.

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Microsoft is exiting the hardware business and will stop making Xbox consoles--at least that's what tech legend Laura Fryer believes. Fryer was one of the original few who fostered Microsoft's gaming ambitions in the late 90s with Microsoft Game Studios, and helped produce key software for the Xbox console in the early aughts. She saw the original Xbox ship, working alongside other names like Xbox console creator Seamus Blackley, and also helped lead Xbox's Advanced Technology Group (ATG) in its early days.

"From my perspective, the Xbox strategy has been chaotic," Fryer said in a recent video, going on to say that she believes "Xbox hardware is dead."

In the video, Fryer expresses her disdain with Microsoft's current position and supposed strategy--this strategy has not been made expressly clear to consumers or fans, but The Verge's Tom Warren believes this confusion might actually be the point.

The recently announced Xbox Ally X handheld is proof of this, Fryer believes. It's expected that Microsoft will just rely on third-party OEMs to make their new hardware for them, including the next-gen Xbox PC + console hybrid.

"Obviously, as one of the founding members of the Xbox team, I'm not pleased with where things are today. I don't love watching all of the value that I helped create slowly get eroded away.

"I'm sad because, from my perspective, it looks like Xbox has no desire to--or literally can't--ship hardware anymore.

"So this partnership is about a slow exit from the hardware business completely.

"Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead.

"The plan appears to be to just drive everybody to Game Pass. And let's be clear, it has a lot of value. I'm thinking that might be why they decided to charge $80 for Outer Worlds 2."