Xbox president Sarah Bond has hosted a rare tour of Microsoft's gaming hardware development offices, including the briefest of looks at where the company's next-generation consoles are being built.
In a segment broadcast today on Good Morning America highlighting this week's launch of the Xbox Ally handheld, Bond took ABC News reporter Becky Worley around an area normally off-limits to all but a select few.
"This is Microsoft Building 87," Bond says, taking Worley into one of the company's most secretive areas — which, somewhat anticlimactically, is really just an area filled with a forest of desks and screens. The pair then examine a large 3D printer, used to create test versions of Xbox hardware products.
"This is where the team is actually designing, prototyping and testing for the next generation of Xbox," Bond continues. "It is top secret. So we very, very rarely take people in here."
At one point, Bond and Worley inexplicably sit down in a replica section of an airplane that's also included in the building, though there's no explanation given for what this space is used for. A place to test wireless signals within a mocked up cabin, or just a themed seating area? It's unclear.
(Fun fact: Building 87 once held the Guinness World Record for being the quietest place on Earth, within a noise-canceling anechoic chamber that's so quiet it can make occupants begin to hear their own heartbeats.)
Today's visit feels well timed, beyond being just a simple photo opp for the Xbox Ally handhelds. Earlier this month, after a bruising summer of layoffs, price rises and rumors around its future in the hardware business, Xbox issued a statement that attempted to clear the air by re-committing to its plans to build next-gen console hardware.
"We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox," Microsoft said in a statement to Windows Central. "For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD."
Exactly when Microsoft will launch its new console(s) remains unclear, with the expectation among fans being that the current Xbox Series X and S will remain the company's current offering for a couple of years yet.
As for the Xbox Ally X, IGN's freshly-published Asus ROG Xbox Ally X hardware review has dubbed the device as "the new handheld gaming PC to beat."
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