Microsoft’s Project Scorpio made its debut at E3 as the Xbox One X. The name is telling; you know it’s an iteration of the original Xbox One. Microsoft has unofficially titled the One X the “most powerful console,” but they failed to mention it’s also the most expensive console in the world. Coming in at $499 the price will set you back a hefty amount. The launch price reminds me of when the PS3 launched for $499. The difference between now and then was how expensive components for the consoles were. Now GPUs, memory, and storage are all relativity cheap. That begs the questions; why is the Xbox One X $499? The PS4 Pro is $399, and there’s a lot of questions around why anyone would want to upgrade. Those same questions will now make the jump to the Xbox.
The Xbox One S is now $199, which makes it more affordable and more appealing to the casual gamer. The One S also outputs 4K video for movies and TV, but it’s not powerful enough to output 4K video games. If I were in the market for a new console or another one, which I am, I would buy the One S for the sake of saving money. I understand the One X will, in the long run, become the console you’ll want, but there are no games taking advantage of the hardware. Microsoft claims the games will play smoother, you can have larger worlds, and the graphics will look more realistic – thanks to the 4K capabilities. If you’re a hardcore gamer you’ll want upgraded specs and 4K video but you could easily spend that $499 on building a better and more capable PC.
The Xbox One X outperforms the PS4 Pro slightly
The Verge has a great comparison chart between the Xbox OneS, One X, PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro, and Nintendo Switch. You can see side by side how the X is only slightly more powerful than the Pro, but when you compare those specs with the Nintendo Switch you’ll be blown way. You’ll understand just how powerful the One X is, compared to the mobile console from Nintendo. Whichever way you cut it you’ll get the best gaming experience with the One X. I’ll still have a hard time justifying spending $499 on solely console gaming, but there is a small market.
If Microsoft cannot get developers to build larger worlds, more advanced graphics, or more advanced games that leverage the hardware than the console will fall flat on its face. The PS4 Pro is struggling to get gamers to upgrade for 4K video alone so the Xbox will need to position themselves slightly differently.
Let me know what you think in the comments below! Are you going to upgrade to the Xbox One X or stay with the Xbox One or One S? I know if I do buy another Xbox, I’ll get the Xbox One S because I cannot afford to drop $499 on a single serving device.