Microsoft moves a step closer to taking the Xbox out of Xbox Live

There's been some excited chatter in recent days about Xbox going mobile. But if you think Microsoft sees a single type of hardware as the future of its Xbox brand, then you haven't been paying close enough attention.

Windows Phone (R.I.P.), for all its failed ambition, was meant to be, in part, an extension of Xbox. Going back further, in the twilight months of the Xbox 360's life, Microsoft tested a smartphone-style approach to hardware sales with a subscription program that gave users a console and an Xbox Live Gold subscription for $99 plus a two-year commitment to a $15 monthly contract.

Microsoft later revived that program for the current generation in August 2018 with the launch of Xbox All Access, which ditches the up-front price but carries a higher monthly cost. There are also Xbox Play Anywhere games that support both console and PC play -- including all first-party Xbox titles -- as well as Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service that prominently features various Play Anywhere games.

On top of all that, Microsoft's xCloud game streaming is out there now, waiting in the wings for what is likely to be a 2019 or 2020 rollout. Think Netflix, but for games. That's the actual face of the next gaming generation, make no mistake.

All of these different business strategies are tied together around the fundamental understanding that Xbox is more than a console. It's a brand, a banner under which various games you know can be found.

Given all of that, it's no surprise to come across this freshly announced Game Developer's Conference session: "Xbox Live: Growing & Engaging Your Gaming Community Across iOS, Android, Switch, Xbox, and PC." As the description reads:

Xbox Live is one of the largest, most engaged gaming communities on the planet with decades of experience providing managed game services to developers that save you time and unlock all of the social and engagement features that players love.Now Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger. Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK. Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs.

Don't start bracing for some big game announcement here. This is going to be much more technical than that. As industry events go, GDC is more developer-focused than consumer-focused. Microsoft's own description notes that the talk is specifically aimed at engineers and producers.

The intro to this SDK -- "software development kit," the tools developers lean on to create for a particular platform or interface -- means Microsoft is ready to equip software developers with what they need to plug in to Xbox Live on non-Xbox hardware. It doesn't automatically mean Gears of War 5is coming to iPad or Switch, but it creates an environment where such a thing could be possible.

It could also mean better Xbox Live integration for existing Microsoft products. Take Minecraft, perhaps the best current example out there. Minecrafthas been released for just about every modern computer that plugs into a screen or has one of its own. But a more widely supported version of Xbox Live could give you access to everything from Achievements to friend lists and party chat on non-Xbox hardware.

To be clear: I'm just speculating. That's all any of us can do at this point. Microsoft hasn't made a formal announcement here, but the existence of this GDC session can be fairly read as a statement of intent. The Xbox maker has found yet another way to remove its own console from the equation, and in the process further reinforce the idea that Xbox is more brand than machine.

Mashable reached out to Microsoft to see if the company has any further comment or clarification on the GDC session, and we'll update the story accordingly if/when we hear back.