It has been 25 years since post-apocalyptic role-playing game Fallout was released to the world. Xbox boss Phil Spencer, much like a proud father, decided to commemorate the day by showing off everyone’s favourite Vault Boy Bobblehead atop his equally impressive and legendary shelves of memorabilia.
Eagle-eyed viewers on Twitter were more drawn to a peculiar device sitting on the top most shelf, next to an Xbox Series controller. Speculation started to circulate that the Xbox executive was teasing an unreleased device called Project Keystone, an Xbox Cloud Gaming device currently in the works at the company. And get this, the official Xbox account was quick to respond to these claims in a Tweet referring to it as an “old prototype.” Meanwhile, I’m slightly envious of the Logitech G Cloud placed beside the bobblehead figurine.
In the time since, Microsoft did release a statement via Digital Trends, confirming that the device in question indeed was an early prototype with no plans of releasing to the public. Instead, resources have been shifted toward the broader Xbox Cloud Gaming service.
A representative at Xbox went on to explain, “Earlier this year, we announced that we made the decision to pivot away from the current iteration of Keystone and are taking our learnings to refocus our efforts on a new approach that will allow us to deliver Xbox Cloud Gaming to more players around the world in the future. We have nothing more to share today.”
As many of you may know, Spencer is quite fond of cryptically revealing new hardware or exclusive games and anything in-between from Xbox via his social media posts, often even throwing a red herring in the mix.
Much like when Phil hid an Xbox Series S on a bookshelf during a GameLab interview and no one noticed. Or the time a selfie revealing a Nintendo Switch sitting proudly atop the wall of memorabilia sent the entire gaming industry into a frenzy but eventually, just turned out to be a gift from Nintendo America’s Doug Bowser. No wonder eagle-eyed Twitter followers are so eager to examine each picture in search of something brand-spanking new.
I can’t leave without mentioning Fallout, its 25th anniversary is a tremendous milestone for the developers. Who would of thought the game would eventually grow into the iconic franchise it is today? The folks at Bethesda are currently running a month-long celebration, with various new content, freebies and rewards planned for the weeks ahead, be sure to check the Fallout25th web page to keep up to date on the festivities.
Additionally, a heart-felt retrospective on the original Fallout featuring its co-creators can be viewed down below, we raise a glass of Nuka Cola in honour of these industry veterans.
