Last week saw Shawn Layden say sayonara to Sony after calling the company home for many a year, and that’s a departure that’ll be joined by Microsoft’s own corporate vice president as Mike Ybarra bids a fond farewell to the global brand.

The current consoles – at least their upgraded, more powerful counterparts – have 4K as on of their great big, back of the box marketing bullet points. And it’s true! Both the PlayStation 4 Pro and the more powerful Xbox One can push out 4K graphics, natively and using fancy rendering techniques to lighten the load. While it’s easy enough to find games that are rendered in 4K (with concessions, of course), it’s a lot harder to find games that are both 4K and run at the fabled 60 frame per second.

So what’s on the horizon for Microsoft with the Xbox Scarlett? Could we see multiple systems come 2020, paving the way for a broader ecosystem of consoles? According to Xboss Phil Spencer, Xbox Scarlett will be the only console from the Big M out in 2020, as every effort is being made currently to create a true flagship device.

Going forward, Microsoft isn’t looking to kick off the next generation of console gaming on the technical backfoot again.

So long as you have the cash to flash, the industry doesn’t care who you are, which is a fact that is sadly lost on a small subset of gamers who have developed a god complex around certain games and believe themselves to be the gatekeepers of their favourite franchise. Xbox wants to change that.

At E3 2018, the Xbox press conference outside of the Los Angeles Convention Centre got right to business. Just game trailer after game trailer, new reveals and plenty of updates. This year? It sounds like Team Green wants to take advantage of the void left behind by Sony’s absence, and hold a press conference that will steal the show.

Even with some heavyweight talent behind them, Microsoft is still likely to struggle in one market that has always been a Sony and Nintendo stronghold: Japan. Team green has never truly managed to establish a beachhead in the land of the rising sun, with weekly sales of the Xbox One being utterly dismal in comparison to any other gaming hardware sold there. That might change with the next generation of Xbox consoles.

Microsoft is hedging bets on the future of streaming console gaming, and their change to the subscription based Game Pass is evident that it's closer than you think.