After watching Microsoft’s E3 2016 conference, I was livid. The source of my anger was their official reveal of Project Scorpio, their planned upgraded version of the Xbox One. The reveal was not a surprise; it was mentioned along with the Xbox 360 S, their slimmer Xbox One, a couple of days prior to the conference. But seeing and hearing it confirmed by Microsoft made my “Hulk Smash” instincts pop.
For the record, I don’t think that mid-generation console refreshes are a bad thing in concept. A slimmer, cheaper version of a console can get people to buy in after being on the fence, and adding the odd refinement can even convince early adopters to take the plunge. I distinctly remember getting an Xbox 360 S as a replacement for my old Xbox 360 just for its built-in HDMI port and wireless-N. I do not, however, support the idea of a mid-generation console upgrade that offers tangible performance improvements. The fear with offering upgraded hardware on a console like Project Scorpio or Sony’s analog, Project Neo, is the possibility for games that take advantage of the more powerful hardware fracturing the user base.
Xbox Head of Operations, Dave McCarthy, has done nothing to dispel those rumors. If anything, he’s fanned the flames into a near inferno. Speaking to GameSpot, he gave the impression that Microsoft would be okay with Scorpio-only games that ignore owners of the original Xbox One. “[Developers] will always want to write to specific capabilities and devices. Giving our developers some choice in what they choose to leverage as they do that is key to our whole philosophy moving forward. They’ve responded well to it as we’ve shared the plans with them.”
Normally, that statement would make my “Hulk Smash” genes become dominant and force me to lay waste to everything within a 300-foot radius. But lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Scorpio-related articles that have opened my mind up to a different possibility. I still think the prospect of splitting Xbox One users is pure shit, but I suddenly don’t think that’s entirely what they’re trying to do.
What if Microsoft is trying to position Project Scorpio as something more than just a console? Microsoft has been – somewhat unsuccessfully – trying to own the living room ever since their acquisition of Web TV in 1997. What if Project Scorpio is just their latest attempt to take over the living room, just from a different angle? In fact, what if Project Scorpio is not a true Xbox One at all?
What if Microsoft is trying to take a page out of Valve’s playbook and trying to make a neutered Steam Machine?
Now, before you take to the comments and tell me how much of an idiot I am, you should firstly know that I already know that. Also, just hear me out:
We know the new graphics processing unit (GPU) will sport 6 teraflops per second (TFLOPS), or 6 trillion floating-point math operations per second, the basic calculations for rendering 3D graphics. We know this because Microsoft won’t shut up about it. They mentioned it during Scorpio’s unveiling at E3. A GPU that crunches that many TFLOPS is, indeed, a very powerful piece of silicon. In fact, it’s as powerful as all but the most recent PC video cards, the NVIDIA GTX 1070 and GTX 1080.
With graphics that powerful, 4K gaming, thought to be impossible on a console, becomes a theoretical possibility. It still requires some support from the central processing unit (CPU) and video RAM (VRAM), but it’s possible. Point is, that’s a lot of theoretical power. Developers will be chomping at the bit to utilize that power to its fullest, and based on what Mr. McCarthy said, I don’t think Microsoft is going to stop them from doing so, even if it fractures the Xbox One user base.
Now add these bits of information to that:
- Microsoft is due to release an Anniversary Update to its Xbox Live service this summer. Among the changes to Xbox Live is their desire to unify the Microsoft Windows 10 and Xbox app stores. This is part of Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP), an “walled garden” initiative that will make all apps able to work across all Windows platforms, including Xbox, while giving Microsoft control of the process.
- UWP was created with games in mind. There are UWP-ready games already on the market, including Quantum Break and Rise of the Tomb Raider, with other titles to follow. These games are guaranteed to work on any Windows platform.
- Tied in with UWP is Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere program. Microsoft-exclusive titles will be available for play on both the Xbox One and PC.
- Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that the Xbox One will have full keyboard and mouse in-game support in “months.”
- Microsoft is already partnered with Oculus, providing Xbox One controllers to be bundled with every Oculus Rift sold. It has been rumored that Microsoft has wanted to add VR support to the Xbox One in order to compete with Sony’s PlayStation VR. The Xbox One, however, doesn’t have the hardware to use VR properly. But Scorpio does.
To me, all that sounds like the forming of a grand strategy. With a supercharged Scorpio planned for release next year, a unifying of services across both Xbox and PC, and the possibility of entering the VR race in the console space, I can’t help but think that this grand strategy is simple: position the Xbox One as the “beginner” gaming experience, keep PC in its position as the hardcore gaming rig, and wedge Scorpio between Xbox One and PC as a Steam Machine wanna-be, offering PC performance and VR capability with all the conveniences of a console.
Scorpio will find an audience among console gamers who want to play at high resolutions and high framerates, things current consoles cannot do currently. It may also attract the attention of PC gamers who don’t have their rigs connected to their living room TV but want to play their games there, without sacrificing visual fidelity or smoothness. And if Microsoft does get into bed with VR, they have Oculus primed and ready to go, carrying with it a library of games that are already available on PC. If Microsoft were to position Scorpio as the bridge between console and PC gaming, they may have a ready and willing user base.
Of course, this is not all so simple. Current Xbox One owners will not just meekly purchase Scorpio because it’s more powerful. In fact, many of them – Digital Crack members included – openly balk at the idea of having to buy another variation of a console mid-generation, and are extremely hostile to the idea of a mid-generation refresh that breaks up the user base. PC gamers who may be intrigued with Scorpio’s console-PC mash-up will immediately be turned off by the fact that the only PC game storefront that is supported by Scorpio is the Microsoft App Store. No Steam or GoG, no deal!
Yes, maybe my thought is a bit off-the-wall or downright ridiculous. But remember, this is Microsoft we’re talking about. This is the company that tried to jam Games for Windows, their first attempt at a gaming walled-garden, down people’s throats in 2006. Also remember, after the Xbox One’s horrific intro during E3 2013, then-CEO of Xbox Don Mattrick was fielding questions about the problems gamers would have with Xbox One’s always-online requirement. His infamous response: “Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity: it’s called Xbox 360.”
So in that instance, the Xbox 360 was the “beginner” console and the Xbox One was the newer, more powerful console that was almost PC-like. Sound familiar?
