Microsoft’s Project Scorpio
is the last of the three systems to be inevitably unveiled in what is this
strange eighth-generation of new, new-ish and upgraded consoles alike. And the
head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has shared a tad bit of insight into Xbox’s decision-making
with what Scorpio will be. Speaking to AusGamers,
Spencer claims that with Project Scorpio, the focus has been less on the
highly-spoken six teraflops claimed and more a balance of other components.
“Really
what it is, is you want a platform that is balanced between memory bandwidth,
GPU power, you know, your ability to move memory and amount of memory around in
many ways is more inhibiting to the performance of your game.” Spencer claimed,
before adding: “When we designed Scorpio we really thought about this balanced
rig that could come together at a price-point. Like, I want Scorpio to be at a
console price-point, I’m not trying to go and compete with a high-end rig.”
While
it may be promising, though a little obvious, that Microsoft would want to keep
the asking price down — and not shoot for, say, the thousand mark based on the
cost of a high rig PC at present — this does raise questions as to how
competitive, and as such cost-effective, Project Scorpio will be. PS4 Pro
launched last November for $399 / £349, so if Xbox’s upgraded console does
indeed prove more efficient and powerful than PS4 Pro, will that affect
pricing? Time will tell.