A few weeks ago, Microsoft held an internal Xbox event called START FY14 at a Seattle Marriott. Attendance was by invitation only and we might never have known what was to transpire at the hotel between March 4 and March 7 had somebody not leaked the agenda.
The agenda listed numerous events to be held during the three-day conference, with titles like "Xbox Platform Deep Dive," "Xbox Games," "Xbox Retail Services" and "Xbox Gold & Entertainment." Lots of Xbox. No 720. What gives?
The description of the event, as spotted on message board NeoGAF is as follows:
"The purpose of START (Strategies, Tactics and Regional Targets) is to bring together all levels of employees from CCG to share high-level corporate direction as well as Business Group and segment product strategies and details necessary to build out timely, comprehensive and integrated business plans."
We'll remind you that the "720" designation was invented entirely by the public. Certainly, it would make sense for Microsoft's next-gen system to be named Xbox 720, but the company has never made any statements to that effect.
We might have an idea why, now. A leaked photo, probably originating from the Marriott event, purports to show Microsoft's new Xbox logo. The image is making the rounds online, and surprise, surprise — there's no "720" designation to be found anywhere. In fact, there's nothing in the name besides xbox (all letters are typeset lowercase). Perhaps Microsoft is going minimalist this time around. Next to "xbox," there's a redesigned "x" graphic and toward the bottom, a message reads "Introducing a new way to play."
The image is nothing flashy, but it appears to be of a rendered graphic on a screen of some sort captured with a camera. The style of the image also fits in well with the Windows Live Tiles interface.
