Molyneux wants next Xbox to be "the ultimate gaming console"

22Cans creative director Peter Molyneux believes Microsoft's next Xbox should concentrate on doing what consoles do best: playing games. The former Microsoft creative director told IGN that all the additional media and social features tend to confuse a console's focus.

"I think, for me, it's very simple with the Xbox; I just want the ultimate gaming console. Okay, there's a lot of things they could shove in that box which are kind of about the living room: Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, and stuff like that. Well, I don't want any of that. I just want the ultimate gamer's device," he said.

"The big question left in my mind and lots of people's minds, I think, is are they going to be saying this is the ultimate gaming console or this is something everyone should have in their living room? Because those two messages...trying to mix those two messages may just end up confusing people. But if anyone can get that message clearly across, they can."

"There's always this talk about making consoles 'input one' on the TV. It's the fight over moving from it being your Sky box to your Xbox or PlayStation 4, and for me, as a gamer, I don't want that. I want my 'input two' to be my games console, and I just think all that stuff tends to confuse it," he explained to Edge.

Molyneux left Microsoft in March of 2012 to join 22Cans. He has some insight into Microsoft's plans due to his time there, but he's currently just an interesting bystander in their coming reveal of the next Xbox.

"Well, it's a weird one for me because of course I was there and I knew what the original plans were, and that's a year old now. It'll be fascinating to see how much they've stuck to those original plans and how much they've deviated," he told IGN.

"I'm sure they'll have put a lot of time and thought and rehearsal into that press briefing, but I'm going to be fascinated to see what the hardware is, and how it will fit into this new world that we're in now - this new world of hyper-connectivity, of super-portability. Or whether they'll double-down and say 'you know what? We are the games console, and that's what we define ourselves as' and say [they] don't really care about hyper-connectivity or hyper-portability. It'll be fascinating which way they jump," Molyneux said to Edge.

Despite having little to do with his former employer, Molyneux may be making an appearance at the Xbox reveal event on May 21. He insisted to Eurogamer that he won't be coming for Microsoft or stepping up onstage at the event.

"There's this opportunity that's come up for me to be involved - it's not from Microsoft by the way - in the Xbox announcement, and I'm probably going to take up that opportunity," he said. "I'm sworn to secrecy here. It should be really good fun, and maybe slightly contentious."

[Image via Telegraph]