Xbox One's mysterious hardware upgrades won't involve screwdrivers

Xbox One may offer you some sort of upgrade option before the next generation, but you won't have to strip off and wear an anti-static wristband to take advantage of it.

As I'm sure you remember, Microsoft's Phil Spencer made some baffling comments about Xbox One being upgradeable in the future.

After a week of silence from Microsoft and confusion from everyone else, Spencer has finally clarified that a little, mainly by explaining that Xbox One won't be going modular like a PC.

"The feedback I’ve received about, ‘Hey, am I going to break open my console and start upgrading individual pieces of my console?’ That’s not our plan,” the executive said during Major Nelson's latest podcast.

Spencer went on to say that not having to build and upgrade the damn thing yourself but having it "just work" is what makes consoles "special".

"It’s not like I’m going to ship a screwdriver set with every console that comes out," he said.

When Spencer talks about upgrading hardware, it seems what he actually means is stuff like adding backwards compatibility to Xbox One, or Sony's support of virtual reality with PlayStationVR. Spencer wants that sort of thing to happen more often, rather than only with new console generations - a cycle everyone now expects to last about eight years at a time.

So, uh - it looks like Spencer wasn't really saying anything at all besides "well done all round". Welp.

After a week of fielding requests for comment and clarification, Microsoft's probably a little exasperated with how vague Spencer's original comments were. The good news is it doesn't sound like we'll ever have to buy another Sega 32X, a prospect that filled us with horror.