By now you’ve all heard about “Project Scorpio”, Microsoft’s beefed up Xbox One that has been enthusiastically billed as the most powerful console ever created. E3’s big announcement didn’t actually reveal much; we don’t know the full specs or even what the console will look like. It also leaves plenty of questions about how this affects the Xbox One. Here’s everything we know so far.
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What is it?
Project Scorpio is a new Xbox One console that sits somewhere between an incremental upgrade and an entirely new console. While it’s not the Xbox Two (or whatever the hell it ends up being called), Project Scorpio will significantly enhance the graphical capabilities of new Xbox One games. It will also usher in a host of new improvements, ranging from true 4K gaming to high fidelity virtual-reality.
You can watch a handful of devs wax lyrical about its capabilities below:
What’s different?
In addition to (presumably) sporting a snazzy new design, the Scorpio will boast some significant improvements under the hood. While the full specs haven’t been released yet, Microsoft confirmed it will come with six teraflops of computing power and an eight-core CPU with 320 gigabits of memory bandwidth. (The original Xbox One also packs in eight cores, so presumably the point of difference will be in the clock speed.)
According to Microsoft, this will enable true 4K gaming and high fidelity virtual reality. The latter is significant, as the current Xbox One is going to struggle to deliver a VR experience that’s on par with a PC-powered Oculus. If you’re into virtual reality, you’ll pretty much need Project Scorpio to get the full effect.
We expect it will also ship with the new Xbox Wireless Controller which features textured grips, sturdier thumbsticks and improved wireless signal performance with up to twice the wireless range. Either that, or it will come with Elite controllers as standard, which would be pretty nifty.
Will it play old Xbox One games?
Yes. What’s more, existing Xbox One games will experience performance improvements similar to how Blu-ray players upscale DVDs. Don’t expect any vast improvements beyond slightly higher resolution. In addition to games, all existing Xbox One accessories will work on Scorpio consoles. So there’s no need to go out and replace your steering wheel, or whatever.
How much is it?
Microsoft is keeping schtum on the price for now. We’d expect it to be priced slightly above the Xbox One. If Microsoft is smart, they’ll make Project Scorpio roughly the same price as the Xbox One and reduce the RRP of its predecessor. Here’s hoping!
When is it coming out?
Project Scorpio is slated to hit stores sometime in “holiday 2017”. So just before Christmas, probably. In the meantime, you can pick up the newly slim-lined Xbox One S.
So does this mean my Xbox One is already obsolete?
No. Well, not really. Here’s the official spiel from Microsoft: “Project Scorpio will join the Xbox One family and coexist alongside Xbox One and Xbox One S and all of your Xbox One games and accessories are compatible.”
Moving forward, all Xbox games will need to work on both versions of the console so nobody is getting left behind. It will be interesting to see how this works in practice. Will Scorpio gamers be given access to additional content that harnesses the full capabilities of the console, or will developers be forced to cater to both consoles simultaneously, which could potentially hold the Scorpio back? We’ll be chatting to various Microsoft boffins during E3 and will endeavour to get an answer.
Kotaku attended E3 at the invitation of Microsoft.
Comments
20 responses to “Here’s Everything We Know About Project Scorpio So Far”
You forgot the most important detail. The new Scorpio killed the Xbox One S before the presentation was even over.
Not based upon what I’ve seen. From a marketing standpoint and interest standpoint. IGN revealed the Xbox One S leak info was their most popular article around E3.
Pretty much every reaction I’ve seen is, “Why bother buying an S when Scorpio is coming out next year?”.
Not all people have a use for Scorpio though. Especially considering
a) it’ll cost a lot more, probably more than the Xbox One Elite, whereas by that time the Xbox One S would probably be ~500 or less, and the first Xbox One super cheap.
b) Keep in mind that the Xbox One S will also be one of the cheapest 4K blu-ray players too. If you have a look around there aren’t many 4K blu-ray players in existence. It’ll be a cheap 4K entertainment centre.
c) Also, if for some reason you don’t have an Xbox One now, and you want to play Gears 4? You’re not gonna wait 18 months, but you probably would wait 2 months for a Xbox One S, the devs have even said that Gears 4 will run better on the Xbox One S.
Maaan I strongly disagree, everyone I play Xbox One with is upgrading to a S, infact most of us already have pre orders down..
a lot of people are keen on things like the 4K blu ray player, output res makes it a perfect 4K media centre too
the X1S has a new GPU and CPU which has supposably improved frame rates for newer titles like Gears4… so I can see why there is a lot of interest, oh and it’s out Very very soon unlike the scorpio
If you already own an Xbox One, then the answer would be “don’t bother”. If you don’t own an Xbox One, then the answer would be “because I want to play Xbox One games now”.
For all we know, selling the smaller Xbox One S is going to save Microsoft more money over the year than it spent in developing the update.
I’m getting a distinct feeling of deja vu here as I remember back to Nintendo and the New 3DS. Basically the same machine but with slightly more grunt while not being enough of a distinctly new generation to render the original machine irrelevant. It could be good or it could be bad but I don’t think a huge number of people will upgrade if they’ve already gotten an Xbox One.
Is Microsoft releasing the Scorpio because they’re worried the Nintendo NX might be more powerful than the XBone, or because they just love money. My guess, a little from column A, a little from column B.
Will I buy it? Hell no! Consoles used to be about ease of use, just jump in and play, now they’re increasingly trying to become PC’s with mandatory installs and constant updates etc, and it’s pissing me off.
Also, game performance will be held back because they have to make them compatible with two consoles of different specs, so all that extra grunt won’t mean shit. Either that or they’ll look and perform great on the Scorpio, but completely suck on the vanilla XBone.
Really wish Microsoft put they’re money into making more great games or maybe into the Hololens than investing it into an XBone 1.5.
But wouldn’t it just be comparable to pc games having multiple graphics settings, but easier because they don’t have to take all the different hardware configurations into account?? Or is that a grossly over simplified way of thinking about it?
No I think you’re 100% right.
There is no reason why the games can’t perform fantastically well on both consoles (with reduced graphics on the original Xbox One) in the same way a high-end PC and a lower-spec PC will still play the same game.
Came here for the Hank Scorpio picture, stayed for the article.
I was literally about to comment on the fact I feel someone codenamed it that just so that all the press articles would use that picture going forward.
If it was intentional that’s really impressive.
The most well-known image of Hank Scorpio shows him fighting impossible odds in a delusional, megalomaniac rage as his fortress burns to the ground all around him. I doubt MS wanted the press to use that picture. 😛
If I remember correctly (which I do because I just checked), Project Arcturus was a success, and Scorpio took over the east coast.
Lol microsoft failed so epicly with the bone – most bone exclusives on pc/every win10 pc is a bone. As is going to deliver 4k gaming for something a little more than the current bone price. Scorpio will be a tyre fire.
I mean this sounds really nice and I’m sure Ill want one, but I really want to start playing some Sony games eventually. So I’ve already made up my mind that I’ll be purchasing a ps neo to go alongside my xbox one next year.
That way I can get games for both of them, with the added upside of being able to play games with all my friends who have ps4s.
Which is basically all of them, god damn it.
Of course, this will be after finally purchasing a wii u so I can catch up on all the great Ninty games…and get lost in Zelda for countless hours droooooool
Good Chachi. Both (or all three if NX is any good) is absolutely the way to go.
So will games even use all the power? I imagine they will need to be developed with the lowest speced machine in mind.
Is there any info on specs and how they compare to what we have seen of the new PS4 model?
So what VR is this new Scorpio actually using?
They mentioned VR Ready in the conference – everyone is assuming Oculus but is it official?