We know that the Xbox Scorpio exists, we know that it's much more powerful than the Xbox One, but we don't know a whole lot else. Microsoft's decision to announce this far in advance was a bit surprising to some, but it's always nice to see cracks in that wall of silence that too often defines the video game industry.
Now that the information is out there, however, I feel like I've only got more questions. In an interview with Eurogamer, Xbox head Phil Spencer talked a little bit about the just-announced project, and he was pretty clear that this the new machine is aimed primarily at gamers with 4K TVs.
"Scorpio is designed as a 4K console, and if you don't have a 4K TV, the benefit we've designed for, you're not going to see. Clearly, you can buy Scorpio, and if and when you decide you want to buy a 4K television to take advantage of the increased performance, obviously the console will be ready for you."
Spencer later clarified some of those comments, noting that 1080p gamers would still see performance upgrades with the Scorpio. But the overall message is pretty clear: 4K is one of the primary selling points for this new hardware, and it doesn't make much sense to buy the Scorpio if you can't take advantage of that. The focus on the "TV" side of things is a little curious, to be honest: it elides the whole VR side of the equation, which I'm given to understand is an important part of the Scorpio.
So like the Neo, the Scorpio is clearly intended as a "premium" experience for buyers who value that kind of thing, and in no ways a replacement for the Xbox One S. Both the PS4 and the Xbox One will be forward compatible, which inevitably means that these new machines won't see the sort of generational leap in gameplay capability that we're used to. We'll get prettier textures and effects for sure, but gameplay features will need to work on all consoles.
For Microsoft's sake, I hope we start seeing some much deeper market penetration for 4K TVs come holiday 2017. I'll probably have one by then, dragged kicking and screaming into the future as always.
