Sony still hasn’t officially confirmed PS4 Neo, but there’s simply too much noise on the subject from too many different sources to ignore the rumours; upgraded consoles are real and they’re on the way sooner rather than later. Indeed, as the gaming industry eagerly awaits clarification from Sony, almost inevitably, rumours of a more powerful Xbox One have also surfaced.
A recent report by way of Kotaku details a new variant code named Xbox One Scorpio that will be roughly four times more powerful and capable of Oculus Rift VR support. Scorpio is scheduled to launch in 2017 with this year reserved for a sleeker redesigned version of the current Xbox One at a lower price point.
Phil Spencer and Microsoft have apparently come full circle on the notion of upgraded hardware after quickly back-peddling from comments made last year mooting their viability, but that’s hardly surprising. Even after Spencer’s suggestion that Microsoft wouldn’t want to divide their community with multiple console versions, did we really think they wouldn’t enter a console power war with Sony?
We probably won’t ever know if Scorpio was merely a reactionary move from Microsoft or whether it was something they always planned, but what has been clear for some time now is that traditional console cycles might well be a thing of the past. Even so, the potential existence of Xbox One Scorpio has rather unsurprisingly dominated news headlines since its emergence last week.
Yet, there was arguably a much bigger revelation about the future of the Xbox One detailed in Kotaku’s scoop that the gaming community seems to have rather frivolously brushed over; Microsoft plans to fully synergize Windows 10 and Xbox One, and therefore the console will no longer boast any exclusive games whatsoever.
It’s no great secret that the Xbox One is a sideshow to Microsoft’s corporate interests with Windows 10. After all, the software represents a much more significant proportion of the company’s ability to generate revenue. Yet, the degree to which Microsoft is prepared to negate the exclusivity of Xbox One’s games line-up to support that synergy is still a rather shocking departure from the focus of last year’s E3 press conference.