Microsoft today announced XBOX Labs, a team of developers, scientists and gamers who will be tasked with researching and developing new technologies across the company's entire gaming ecosystem: from new levels of compatibility to bring XBOX games to other environments, to the study of mods and projects born from artificial intelligence, which are literally invading the web.

In fact, among the team's goals is the creation of new compatibility systems, with the idea of running XBOX titles also on Apple Silicon and in WebGL. At the same time, XBOX Labs will closely observe the phenomenon of games reconstructed through reverse engineering and mods made with AI, an area that has already produced striking cases such as the Halo-based project with 128-player games, which has gone viral on the net.

It is certainly not the first time that Microsoft has tried to innovate in the world of video games: the first XBOX was the first console to have a built-in hard disk as standard, XBOX Live was the first large-scale online service and introduced the concept of Achievements, but even more recently innovations such as the disc-to-digital program or the backwards compatibility program make it clear how the Redmond house has always pushed for innovation. With XBOX Labs, the company now aims to gather under one roof this kind of features, potentially able to change the cards on the table.

The move is part of a broader strategy, with which Microsoft, like much of the industry, is looking for new ways to expand its audience. In recent years, Microsoft has struggled to keep up with the competition, both on consoles and PC, and has responded with a long series of acquisitions, aiming at least to sell its games elsewhere as well. Series such as Call of Duty, Minecraft and Forza Horizon also dominate outside the XBOX ecosystem, but the decline of the platform has been a bitter pill for many fans. During a town hall with XBOX employees, Asha Sharma stressed that the company can no longer rely on past successes to build its future. After all, AI and other technologies are rapidly reshaping what gaming will be in the next decade, with attention and accessibility put under pressure by the so-called RAMpocalypse generated by artificial intelligence. Complicating the picture is also the pace of content publication, destined to saturate the available audience and dilute its attention and spending.

Sharma therefore focuses (also) on technological innovation to face this new scenario; we are curious to find out what news will come out of the new XBOX Labs!