Microsoft has promised that their next console, Scorpio, will be “the most powerful console ever,” and today the company delivered on that promise, revealing a set of beefy specs that, in terms of raw power, surpass any video game console on the market today.
In a PR reveal with Eurogamer‘s Digital Foundry, Microsoft revealed that Scorpio will include a custom CPU, 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, and, well, I’ll let their chart explain:
Digital Foundry’s hype is breathless — “Nor can the number of compute units and teraflops represent the passion the Xbox team has injected into this project” — but in short, their technical wizards say it’s more powerful than any video game box we’ve seen, capable of running a Forza tech demo at 60 frames-per-second and 4K resolution. Whereas the PS4 Pro was an iteration, Scorpio appears more like a new console generation.
This will no doubt impress gamers who obsess over CPU speeds and graphical fidelity, although Microsoft has a tough road ahead of them when it comes to regaining their footing in the console market.
Since this generation started, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has dominated Microsoft’s Xbox One both in sales and software. Microsoft has struggled to compete with Sony’s first-party offerings and Japan-developed games, many of which are exclusive to PlayStation. Microsoft has canceled several of their highest-profile titles, like Scalebound and Fable Legends, which was a disappointment to Xbox faithful.
For Scorpio to truly compete, Microsoft will need to ensure that it has a lineup of games as impressive as the PlayStation 4’s. Microsoft has said that Scorpio will be out this fall. There’s no word on a price yet.
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125 responses to “Microsoft Reveals Xbox Scorpio’s Impressive Specs”
But how much will this beefier console cost. The pro at inferior specs to this still costs upwards of $550, are we looking at an $800 console here?
The specs only tell half the story.
It also comes down to how much Microsoft are willing to lose on each console sold.
I don’t know, other than the price, MS has a big problem, by doing such a huge specs bump, writing games that will take true advantage of Scorpio, but still work on the stock XB1 is going to be very tricky.
Sure you can just scale back the graphics, but then you have to also perhaps not take advantage of better AI and gameplay possible only on the Scorpio.
I know the PS4Pro situation has this to some extent, but the big power leap of the Scorpio I think will create a headache for developers, and may end up with games that are unplayable on the XB1 original, fracturing their market.
would this be similar to PC games running on lower end and also higher end rigs?
Remember Microsoft want devs to use Azure for that beefy AI processing. Which obviously doesn’t happen with multiplat games.
With the fab drop and removal of ESRAM, die size is almost exactly the same size as the previous 32nm Xbox chips at 363mm2. So Apples\Apples, yields should stay around the same count whilst transistors counts rise, which *might* constrain prices better.
I am somewhat surprised Microsoft didn’t go with Samsungs 14nm LPP node since it excels at lower clockspeed efficiency and their yields are currently insane for Polaris & Ryzen.
No-one understands anything you just said
For dummies version:
They’re using smaller bits and took some other bits out, so they can fit more stuff into the same size. Even though it’s more stuff, because it’s in the same size it should be a similar price.
Camm is surprised Microsoft didn’t decide to go with a particular supersmall bit made by Samsung because that bit is pretty good.
Omg, well done :P. Had me in stitches.
So….. It’s going to cost more then?
Almost certainly. The real question might be ‘by how much’.
I suspect it’s because Scorpio has been in development for longer than Polaris and Ryzen have been available for. These things have to be set up a long time in advance
Probably supply constraints for FABs. You can’t expect them to be at the top of the line when Samsung and Apple are in there for the lion-share.
Somewhere in between I’m thinking. The 12GB DDR5 RAM is a 50% increase on what’s in the PS4 Pro. I don’t think the CPU will increase the price that much, as it’s basically a souped-up version of existing tech. There are a few bells and whistles that may increase price like the 4K BD drive, vapour cooling solution etc. But I can’t see anything that would push the price up to $800. If MS doesn’t want to eat a loss to get price parity with the PS4 Pro, I’m thinking that at most we’ll see a $50-$100 increase on $550. I’m sure MS would love to have price parity though…
It doesn’t feel like a big enough jump to really call this a new generation – it’s incrementally more powerful than the PS4 Pro, but not a huge amount.
One wonders if this heralds the end of traditional console ‘generations’. They’ve been getting closer and closer to “budget PC with a closed platform OS” over the past few generations of console, and even moreso now. If Sony fires back with a new box within the next few years that’s just a little bit better than Scorpio, we might be seeing the end of an era.
That said I have no idea how well the PS4 Pro sold, or how well the Scorpio will sell, and that’ll obviously be a deciding factor. I have a PS4 and haven’t got the pro and have no intention to get the Pro any time soon. I do 95% of my gaming on PC (don’t buy anything on PS4 if it’s available on PC, since playing on PC is such a better experience in every way), though, so I’m not quite the core target audience.
Actually for me the existence of the PS4 Pro is a bit of an annoyance. I dump a bunch of money on a console each generation so I can play anything that doesn’t come out on PC largely on the understanding that there’ll be no changes to the platform or upgrades to think about for quite a few years. I’m increasingly questioning what the point of consoles is at all and the existence of the Pro/Scorpio just throws more doubt on the fire.
Lots of talk for a while now about an iterative rather than generational paradigm of consoles. Emphasis won’t be on making, fostering, or facilitating better games, instead it will be purely on creating a higher throughput of walled environments.
IMO, both paradigms are important. An iterative paradigm can get significantly bloated and inefficient down the line, if it’s done too often for too long.
Breaking down generational difference takes two things into consideration.
– Software ( basically speaking, will there be games that are exclusive to the new hardware because the older version is incapable of running it)
– Hardware ( fundamental architectural changes to optimize new game assets, features, controllers and tools)
If you only do hardware and the software will always be backwards compatible (i.e PS4 Pro), it’s not a new generation. The games are merely emulated unless patched to take advantage.
it definitely is a big enough jump to be a new generation. its GPU is 5 times more powerful than the original xbox one with increased memory (plus bandwidth) and CPU power to match and around 4x the PS4. It’s also 50% better than the PS4 pro in all these areas.
As far as i remember they have pretty much come out and said that its the end of ‘console generations’ previously, which i dont particularly mind except its even more annoying that they probably wont happen on each side at the same time, like the PS4 Pro and Scorpio have already done, so its going to be an annoying back and forth each couple years with one having the performance crown then the other.
Im in the same position as you, with almost all gaming done on a PC thats already better than the scorpio will be, but i have an xbox for those few games not on PC (really only halo now), i think this has decided for me that im going to completely drop out of console gaming when the xbox one i have is no longer relevant. thats assuming halo 6 releases on PC, otherwise i might not be able to resist haha.
That’s why I like Nintendo consoles – they have the highest amount of non-PC games and the only real non-PC experience. And with the Switch, it’s the only home console that offers something a PC doesn’t.
A total lack of reason to turn it on? :’D *ba-dum*
I am way too salty over the Switch >_>
^ This is a good point. Most of my games on the PS4 are available on the PC.
But it is sooooo nice sinking into my couch and gaming on a big tv….. there’s a lot going for comfort.
That’s where a Steam Link can be fantastic – provided you can wire everything together.
My computer chair is pretty comfy…
My PS4 and PS3 are both plugged into the same screen I use as my primary PC monitor anyway though (PC in through displayport, two HDMI ports used for the two consoles), so screen size and seating are no different for me regardless of which platform I’m on.
I think you are confusing the lack of 3rd party (PC/PS4/XBO games) support with Nintendo being the only non-PC like experience.
I’m in the exact same boat as you. I do most of my gaming on my PC as I enjoy the experience there better and I’ve got more friends that play on PC. I do however also have a PS4 just for exclusives and have been loving them so far (was worth the purchase if only for Bloodborne and Nioh alone). I don’t think I’ll buy a PS4 Pro though unless my PS4 crapped which probably won’t happen as I’ve found PS4’s to be quite reliable. Another negative for the Ps4 Pro is that it won’t do 1440p on my 1440p monitor as it only outputs to 1080p or 4k, I guess at least the frame-rate would still be better than my current Ps4. Ultimately though again, for the amount of time that I use it it’s just not worth investing any more money into as I rarely use it as is.
I have a question about that. If there’s a game on both platforms, but the PC version is a crappy port, do you settle for the PS4 version or do you put up with the PC version and hope that someone patches/mods the woes away?
This hasn’t happened yet. I mean, maybe it has but not with a game I planned on buying, so I dunno. I would depend on how bad the port was, I think. I don’t mind the low res on consoles so much but the framerate really does irk me. Playing Uncharted 4 atm and while it looks freaking amazing the 30 fps is legitimately a constant annoyance for me. So even if the port was bad, if it ran at higher framerates than on console I might still take the port.
I bought a 144hz monitor a few years ago and I think it’s spoiled me, I even 60fps find noticeably sluggish compared to what I’m used to now. Around 80-90fps is my new sweet spot past which I don’t notice much of a difference.
Tbh I regret that needlessly inflammatory bit of wording. I considered editing it out but didn’t want to risk comment moderation hell. Probably would’ve been better to say that it’s a better experience in my opinion.
Umm…the Scorpio rips the Pro in just about every way.
More power, hardware is far more efficient and every single current and last gen game will be super sampled and receive improvements even before any boost modes are turned on. This thing really makes Sony look lazy….clearly the Pro was a rush job to get their more powerful console out first.
Xbox One has been such a dud that I doubt throwing loads of cash into making a powerful variant is suddenly going to make their ecosystem more palatable or their games better.
A short while after the Pro is released, Horizon Zero Dawn drops and it’s a critical and commercial success; Nintendo blows the damn roof off with the release of Zelda: BotW for the Switch. Both are titles that came out on previous and current hardware but, and this is crucial, utilised the bells and whistles of the newer systems.
I expect it will be a similar scenario with Scorpio: 4K and all the other flotsam that general users won’t use. But what do they have on the horizon that anyone gives a crap about? More importantly, what do they have that people wouldn’t be better off picking up on PS4 or PC?
Uh. That’s kinda hardly the case with Zelda though, isn’t it? >_>
Switch Zelda is more stable in docked and portable modes, higher resolution when docked, and can of course be played wherever the player pleases in portable mode.
That’s called utilising the bells and whistles.
Ah so you mean a stable port then, something that’s sadly rare nowadays.
I do wonder whether the Wii U version runs any more stable in 480p. But yeah, nah. Twilight Princess Wii uses the bells and whistles of the system (even if it made for an overall worse version of the game), Breath of the Wild just runs on another system that has more grunt under the hood.
Just remembered that the Xbox One had a hardware revision less than a year ago with the S. How the games media and consumers aren’t up in arms lambasting this kind of crap, I’ll never know. Microsoft ought to be kicked to the curb.
And so did Sony with the PS4 slim, and I don’t see you up in arms about it. Spoken like a true Sony fanboy.
The S wasn’t really an upgrade, though, apart from the 4K BluRay player. It was more just like a “slim” variant like most consoles get midway through their lives.
It was also clever. If you are in the market for a 4K BluRay player it was also the cheapest by a long shot. Now you have an Xbox in the house also. May as well get a game or two.
Gotta admit it was a smart move. Just as the PS3 used the Bluray drive as a cheap way to infiltrate households, the XBone S did it smart too.
I haven’t got a 4K telly yet so haven’t got one. I was a little later to the HD bandwagon as well so no PS3. But I’m sure they got plenty of sales.
Oh yeah the adoption rate of course would be affected by factors such as the slow pickup rate of 4k tv’s in comparison to standard HD tv’s.
The inclusion of a 4K UHD BD drive is nice, but I don’t think it will have the same impact for the format like what Sony did for DVD and BD through the PS2 and PS3. The difference this time is the increased access to high speed internet. For example, I haven’t bought a physical disc in a couple years since I switched to the NBN; I now download or stream with ease. It’s this sort of behaviour that is becoming the norm.
So… how’s it feel being the 1% lol
NBN Master Race. :p
Off topic, you on NBN yet?
@terrywrist around 6 more weeks and we’re able to be hooked up. It’s FTTN though. BUT, I guess that’s better than still being on DSL2 where we get max 16mb line (1.3-1.5mb download speeds). On avg with mates on FTTN I hear they get 50mb or so download (5mb download speed I think?) Sounds far better to me than what I get!
Hardware revision doesn’t necessarily mean upgrade. Though it should be argued that by increasing the GPU clock speed to accommodate 4K BluRay and streaming Microsoft created an environment where select games benefit from the extra power and new games could be designed to capitalise on it. By that measure, the S would be an upgraded version of the One. Of course, it would all depend on whether people think an iterative upgrade constitutes an upgrade, and that is going to be muddied by the context of how we view console lifespans.
Nonetheless, the Scorpio is yet another revision within a year of Microsoft’s last. That shouldn’t be applauded. Consumers need to get their shit together.
It was a slim variant that offered a little more as a neat little upgrade, unlike the PS4 Slim which removed features. Foot – meet mouth.
Games like Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves, and State of Decay 2? And many more possible games to be revealed at E3 like Halo 6?
Furthemore, despite your obvious Sony fanboyism, I should point out that Halo 5 and Forza Horizon 3 were the top selling exclusive games for 2015 and 16, respectively.
http://www.mcvpacific.com/news/read/the-2015-australia-new-zealand-igea-top-ten-charts-powered-by-npd/0161051
http://www.igea.net/2017/01/top-10-games-in-australia-and-new-zealand-for-2016/
If all you got from this is that I love Sony then you need to keep trying, again and again, until you come to a less absurd conclusion. The figures you provided, they’re great, they’re useful, but that quote has no place if you want to be taken seriously.
Microsoft may well bring something great at E3, until then they’re crowing about having the best gear without providing any reason to own it. People in general want something they can play games with, not just a fancy brick.
Strangely, I kinda agree with you…. and I kinda don’t care.
As a long-timer Xbox player I just find it to be a very solid console. Good games, decent hardware, decent OS, decent controller, good backwards compatibility and good online systems. I’ve got more good games to play on there than I have time to play them, plus it’s had a few games that I’d put up there with my all-time favourites even if they’re non-exclusive (Witcher 3 and Rocket League).
I mean I agree that the PS4 is winning this generation, as the sales clearly reflect, I just don’t think there’s much wrong with the Xbone that’s worth bitching about.
It’s got a few good exclusives and some features that the PS4 doesn’t, the PS4 has better hardware and a small-but-significant handful of AAA exclusives, but I can see why people are happy to buy a Xbone instead of a PS4.
At the end of the day I bought an Xbone at launch with every intention of buying a PS4…. I haven’t done that and the PS4 is now behind the Switch and behind the Scorpio on my list of things to buy. It’s not that I don’t think the PS4 is good, it’s just not significantly better than the Xbone to the extent that I feel I have to buy both.
I’d say the exclusives absolutely warrant the price to entry. You’re missing out on a LOT of really great games. Even just in this calendar year.
Don’t get me wrong though, your post was thoughtful and well measured.
Yep, I’m certainly missing a few games that I would like to play in this year alone.
Like I said though, there’s still more good games on the Xbone than I can play these days anyway. In that context I can’t find much to whinge about (certainly very little to get angry about) when it comes to the console itself.
Objectively the PS4 might be better value, but the Xbone is still a good machine. I mean I’ve loved a few machine over the years that were objectively bad, but the Xbone isn’t one of them.
Yup, absolutely. And i guess i need to remind myself that these games don’t disappear after 3 years (the Mini NES proves it). There’s plenty of time down the track to play stuff.
I was only able to choose one console this generation and I went with the PS4. But there’s plenty I miss about the Xbox ecosystem.
Microsoft is a freaking shambles these days. Unless they have the exclusives, it doesn’t matter what they put out.
So top selling games like Forza Horizon 3, Gears of War 4, and Halo 5 don’t count?
Really? I’d disagree with that. Infact, with the release of the S, I’d actually say they seem to have gotten their game together a lot since they stopped concentrating on Kinect in the last year or so and decided to actually buckle down on a dedicated gaming platform rather than a directionless multimedia platform.
There’s still a lot that MS does that Sony simply cannot match. Was planning on buying a Pro this year, though with how good the Scorpio sounds, I might just have to wait for the PS5.
Im really interested to see if there are going to be “Scorpio Exclusive” games…. guess ill have to wait till E3 and see what microsoft announce then….
What’s interesting in how those “side-by-side” specs show how totally ordinary the XBONE is compared to the PS4.
Hey, that said. Console competition is good. User upgradeable hardware is key. Backwards s/w compatibility is a no-brainer – gamers will *hate you forever* if you fail to understand this whether you are M*soft or PSx.
Peace out peeps 🙂
I should point out that that is PS4Pro. It looks like the Pro is about halfway between XBone and Scorpio.
I genuinely think the future of consoles is gonna be tick tock, say xbone will play Scorpio games, but won’t play Scorpio 2 games, Scorpio will play Scorpio 2 games but not scorpio 3,but scorpio 3 will still play xbone games. New iteration every 4 years, game support on new hardware for 8 years but continual backwards compatibility because x86 hardware. Imo a better idea than a 8 year hard reset like the past.
I think so too. Want better options? Buy a stronger console but stay in the same family. Hook it up and port all of your info across. Wallah. All you stuff on a more powerful system.
I’m in!
Much better than the hard reset every 8 years where nothing is compatible and you have to make a clean break to a new ecosytem.
I don’t think they can continue on that path of not being backwards compatible, especially if they’re going to continue on this path of more frequent hardware upgrades. People are used to their Apple and Android phones and tablets that don’t render all their software useless every time they upgrade every couple of years. I think that has become a basic expectation.
If your hardware is supported for up to 8 years that’s a non issue but with each new hardware all software previous is still supported. If you think an 8 year old android or ios device is still supported today with programs I dare you to load up a device running froyo or eclair and see how well that goes.
In all seriousness, like what exclusives do they have that’s worth playing? Halo isn’t the same anymore. I never tried the new gears. But whats the roadmap for their exclusives? That pirate game? That looks like it should be on the switch.
Forza is pretty much the only exclusive I’d care about, and it’s a lot of money for one game…
Isn’t that cross-platform to Windows though?
Is it? Well there you go… I tend to play driving games on consoles though. Don’t know why, it’s probably Gran Turismo’s fault… 🙂
This is about the improvement I expected. The two questions that really need to be answered are:
1. $?
2. What lame production name are they going to replace the super cool “Scorpio” with? I suggest Xbox Beige.
Clearly it’ll be the Xbox Two
Xbox One Two
Xbox One 2 Switch
XBox One 2 Switch *PRO* obviously.
Xbox One 2 Switch *off*
Because it still has no games and never needs to be turned on 😛
Xbox Number Two?
It’s a pity, the codenames are always cooler than the eventual real names 🙁
You don’t think Wii is cooler than Revolution? Its the raddest name around!
GET OFF KOTAKU REGGIE!!!!!
Xbox One Elite – and the pricing will be ‘premium’ (i.e. expensive) in the same vein as the Elite controller will be.
Microsoft managed to prove the value proposition to gamers looking for a premium controller with the Elite, now it’s up to them to show that Scorpio will be a worthwhile value proposition in the same manner. It will still be niche in that it isn’t designed to be for everyone, that will stay with the One S for now.
X – Bones.
I read somewhere its gonna be called Xbox One X
Just imagining Crackdown 3 running on scorpio specs has just about sold me the console.
699$AUD. Using older architecture with custom modifications, it will cost the same the xbox one did at launch. (499$USD)
And still not even a quarter of the power of my desktop.
Thats a bit disingenuous. For it to be a quarter of your desktop, you would need to be running something along the lines of dual 1080 Ti’s, which would set you back $2500, and thats before we talk about the rest of the system.
Dual 1080s to be a quarter of his system??? How many is he running, 8???
In fact I am running dual 1080ti. And i never stated that it wouldn’t cost a hell of a lot more than a Scorpio.
he diddnt say anything about price…. price is the only thing holding back consoles
Please call it the Xbox One-Up
“An Xbox One with extra life”
You’re welcome journalists.
Xbox Plus One / One Plus for sure. XB+1/XB1+.
I went from xbone to xbones.
I hope the new one is called the xbox one R.
I think Microsoft might be in for a bit of a shock. Apart from the super-tech-heads, no one really cares about graphics power anymore, unless it’s backed up with a shed of amazing never-before-seen games. And the Xbone-faithful will surely be narky that their console generation is already over… The Scorpio has got a LOT to deliver on.
I digress, whilst you are completely right that Microsoft needs to fix their games library badly, many upgrading to 4k TV’s are starting to notice that the lack of resolution on current gen consoles kinda sucks, and a console like this, on top of all the Dolby audio enhancements and 4k player, puts the Xbox in the same position the PS2 with DVD’s and PS3 with Bluray were in, a games console that is cheaper than a dedicated 4k player.
I love the smell console wars in the morning 🙂
*settles in with popcorn*
*waits for meaningless technobabble fights to start*
*waits for gigaflop arguments to be thrown about*
*knows he won’t be disappointed… soon*
HEY WHO’S GOT BUTTER?
I’ll bring the drinks
Interested but if its over $600 I will be waiting for a price drop.
I’d be surprised to see it for less that $750 in Australia.
I think it should be this ($600) as that puts it twice the S and a bit more expensive than the Pro. Its not like Xbox has tons of amazing exclusives really. Forza, Halo, Gears of War. Forza I can understand as they are always high quality but Halo just feels rehashed, and I was a fan but no longer. I think for people like me it will be re buying multi platform games that I love just to play them looking the best possible. Just my opinion.
This guy knows the score. A lot of people in the industry are saying it’s going to be between $500 – $600 USD. You only need to use a currency converter, add tax and retail markup (etc), and you can start to see where it’s headed. I’m pretty sure that it won’t be below $700 AUD. I think the LOWEST it could be here, would be $650, but if I had to put money on it I would say no lower than $700. It’s not like that would be absurd, given the technology they have rammed into this thing (considerably better than PS4 Pro). I mean, for crying out loud, it’s not like it would be setting a precedent – the PS3 was $999 when it launched in Australia.
Lets not forget the 360 retailed for $750 or so at launch and i had it and 7 games paid for when I picked it up.
I’m thinking about $600-$650 at launch. It’s got to be reasonably close to the PS4 Pro price, otherwise they are courting an extremely small section of the market.
Wow there are some really bitter people in here, seriously who cares if your PC is still more powerful? They aren’t forcing you to buy one they are just giving people the option. Hell they even made all there platform exclusive games available on PC to appease you and people still complain…
I think scorpio is a great thing – anything that functions more like a high end PC and pushes developers to make better running and better looking games means less crappy ports.
The sad thing here is that people who are already invested in a console are going to get games that run like shit because the dev’s will look at scorpio performance. It’s a terrible situation and is going to see more consoles go to landfill earlier than ever before.
Oh well, I have a switch and a PC, sold my PS4 when the pro came about. I think I’m done with buying everything these companies put out. Exclusives be damned.
So there are two arguments over this from you lot that im reading….
1. you want it more powerful, like a beast PC
2. you want it under $600
and that my folks is why there will always be popcorn
This is a great move really… a capable 4k cheap console that will also have full integration via UWP (xbox and PC cross compatibility) such as the, buy one, play on both, forza.
The lines between Xbox and win 10 are going to be so blurred that a normal user wont be able to tell the difference. which is a good futureproofing for xbox brand.
Does it future proof the Xbox brand? Or render it irrelevant? At some point people will start to ask why they’d buy one when they could just buy a mid-range Windows 10 PC that will play all of the Xbox games (assuming MS keeps putting their exclusives out on PC) and also give them access to PC games.
most consoles are sold for the environment platform
they dont make much money until later on hardware console sales
whats good for PC is good for microsoft, its only adding to the environment. whether that be AIO PCs or a specific console brand it doesnt matter….
like I say the line is being almost totally wiped out between console and PC
If people switch from Xbox to PC, that’s good for MS *if* those people buy their games on the Windows store where MS get a cut. If they go and buy their games somewhere else, like Steam, MS don’t get anything. Obviously MS can make their exclusives only available on their own store, but they don’t actually have that many big exclusives these days. Halo certainly isn’t the phenomenon it once was.
im not sure what microsofts plans are…. cant see that ahead… it seems to be involving UWP and “universal” sales…. maybe killing two birds with one stone?
will there be console PCs? or PC consoles?
I think this is all open to go down that path and an open solution such as UWP is good to base, they are populating it not only windows users… but also the XBOX crowd
But at what point do you look at the $750AUD+ for a Scorpio and go “Well i can build a better PC for about that much money”? Especially as MSoft move towards putting all Xbox exclusives on PC as well. Don’t get me wrong; I’d take a console over a PC any day of the week but at some point it becomes a cost/benefit matter. If i can get more for my $$$ then it just makes sense.
tell you what Id hate to be in the compatability department at microsoft right now
laugh 🙂
yeah im sure there will be a solution for 400 -800 -1200 – 1500+ price range, this was microsofts plans all along they are making it so can buy console or PC and play the same software and games
sorry bout the double post one got caught in bugland
I have a pro, It plays PlayStation exclusives, Why buy a Scorpio?, I brought the Ps4 Pro when my regular ps4 died 🙁 I can’t play anything special on a Scorpio like S.T.A.L.K.E.R or Age Of Empires so why buy a Scorpio? What incentive is there? Graphics are meaningless if the gameplay is bad, I Would have brought a Scorpio if it was a xbox 360 era with it’s exclusives kind of badassery but the Scorpio seems oh so pointless, Microsoft ever heard of these things called personal computers? You can play games on them.
This is definitely not not a console for me. I am intrigued on how well it’ll go.
I’m really wondering how they are going to balance out making the same game for both iterations (well, all three iterations) of X Box without it adversely affecting the Scorpio version. If all it’ll be improving is frame rate and resolution, I think that’ll put people off upgrading (it’ll be the Wii-U confusion all over again).
A bit of Googling says that the prediction is that by 2020, half of Americans will own a UHD TV, but if we are going on four year cycles, then a new X Box will have been announced by then. Early adopters probably had the cash to splash out on a stand alone player.
Also, with a holiday 2017 release date, the new console will going up against the new Mario and the first holiday season for the Switch. While the Switch’s launch wasn’t the most awe inspiring, if there are a steady stream of releases, the Switch could be a pretty hot ticket at the end of the year. A cheaper, new console vs a more expensive upgrade could hurt sales.
This always makes me laugh. They always say this for every PS and Xbosx console release:
“it’s more powerful than any video game box we’ve seen”
I mean, Id be worried if it wasnt!
Switch was not more powerful than any video game box we’d seen ;). It’s still good tho!
“They always say this for every PS and Xbox console release”
It’s a strong charge up the Sony-held hill for Microsoft, now all we need to see is if Sony pokes the PS5 out of the bunkers on that hill by E3 to rain down some serious hurt on that MS charge.
All they need to do is one-up the Scorpio with PS5, and it’s back to the same old race-losing paradigm for Microsoft: default 2nd-best on cross-platforms, carried only by exclusives… which right now are pretty shit.
I would expect some early PS5 rumblings coming out of Sony, maybe not at E3 but certainly before the Scorpio launch. But not a full, official announcement – they only released the Pro a few months ago, they’d be wary of making people feel burned by announcing a new console so soon after that. But I’d expect to see PS5 on shelves no later than Xmas 2019,and possibly even 2018.
Yeah I think they’d be shooting themselves in the foot pretty badly if they were to mention the PS5 in any kind of capacity.
There’s been enough back-and-forth in the race between Sony and MS over the years that both companies should know that:
1/ There’s room for two consoles to both make money for their respective companies; and
2/ There’s no need for either to harm themselves in the hope of bringing down an competitor.
Last thing they want to do is compromised the ongoing success of the PS4 in an attempt to damage the Scorpio. I mean it’s different when one console is nearing its death (as was the case when Sony “leaked” fake PS2 information to harm the Dreamcast), but the PS4 is in it’s prime!
See, it’s that investment thing. The same reason that they don’t want to announce PS5 too close to PS4 Pro is the same reason that all they need to do is announce what the PS5 specs will be (better than Scorpio).
Anyone who doesn’t want to buy a PS5 soon after getting a Pro probably also doesn’t want to get a Scorpio soon after getting a Pro for much the same reasons. They can be comfortable in the knowledge that once both the ‘next gen’ are out, they’ll still be using the most powerful machine for cross-platform, and can stay in the Sony ecosystem for existing purchases/backward compatibility.
It’s really Sony’s race to lose, right now.
Hmmm, a bit too soon for the PS5. I’d be very surprised if there was a peep from Sony about this.
Microsoft keep on cancelling their exclusives. I’m unsure if it’s related to corporate risk aversion, or whether the games just weren’t turning out well. In any case, they do seem to be hurting their chances.
So what is the comparable desktop CPU + GPU to those specs?
The danger which comes from iterative consoles will be how well games are optimised for the different consoles.
Historically console games have been highly optimised due to a single hardware configuration; conversely PCs with their diverse hardware configurations are less optimised and particularly during the PS3/X360 era there were a large number of games where you could argue there was no optimisation at all.
Iterative consoles will result in console games being less optimised – whether this will be felt more at the low or the high is yet to be seen but the early data suggests the “premium” consoles will receive less optimisation which of course begs the question, if developers are going to make that the “B” objective are you really going to get your money’s worth from the premium console?
When I think about premium consoles I get many more troubling probabilities popping up than probable benefits.
Sounds like it’ll be too expensive for your average console only gamer and there still aren’t any must have exclusives unless you like Forza.
They really need to release a couple of killer exclusives with the launch of Scorpio to get a bump in sales.
http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2017/04/06/project-scorpio-shows-that-xbox-still-just-doesnt-get-it
Would like to know if the linked article will be posted locally?
Meanwhile, I’m going to read this whole thing over some tea and biscuits.
Day one for me. Absolutely no question. Don’t understand why people are still criticising MS – they addressed the number one problem people had with Xbox and MS confirmed there will be more 1st party games released this year than last.
Why can’t people just be excited that MS are nailing it?