Home Gaming Xbox boss Phil Spencer talks Project Scorpio pricing

Xbox boss Phil Spencer talks Project Scorpio pricing

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Pound for pound, the upcoming Project Scorpio may just be the one console to rule them all when it comes to pure visual power. Project Scorpio was confirmed at E3 earlier this year, as Xbox boss Phil Spencer described a machine that would pack an 8-core CPU inside of it with 6 terror-floppies (trademark pending) of graphical power and 320GB/S memory bandwidth.

Basically, it’s going to be the Brock Lesnar of video game consoles. And much like the beast incarnate, it will come with a price tag attached to it.

But how much can you expect to shell out for some premium hardware then? Microsoft has yet to reveal the official RRP for the Scorpio, but in an interview with NZ Gamer via MCVUK, Xboss Phil Spencer discussed how Microsoft was approaching the various price concerns for the device:

So you can see the price of the S today. When we designed both of these, which we kind of designed it in parallel. We thought about the price performance of what we wanted to hit with the Scorpio, relative to what we were going to be able to do with the S. So that we would have a good price continuum, so people wouldn’t look at these two things as so disconnected because of the price delta.

So I think you will feel like it’s a premium product, a premium console. And not something, anything more than that. So I wouldn’t get people worried that this thing is going to be unlike any console price you’ve ever seen. We didn’t design it that way.

That said, the opening price point for the Xbox One S, and the different hard drive sizes, that is a critical part of this whole product. When I think about it as a product line, you should expect the pricing to kind of be in line with that.

And that’s going to make the year between now and the release of the Xbox Scorpio interesting. Breaking down the price, an Xbox One S has an RRP that starts at $249 for a 500GB model and capping out at $399 for a 2TB version. On the Sony front, you can expect to shell out $399 for the PS4 Pro. If the Xbox Scorpio can provide power at a competitive price, Microsoft might have a winner on their hands.

How much that’ll cost locally however, remains to still be seen, but I already have an idea: Enough to make you look up a hundred ways to prepare cardboard, for the rest of the month in which you buy a Scorpio. Hey, litmus is good for you!

Last Updated: October 4, 2016

20 Comments

  1. My question is is Sony gonna take this lying down, seriously cant expect the Pro to be the answer to the Scorpio or is this all gonna come down to exclusives? and do people think up scaled 4K matches native 4K? looking forward to when these consoles battle it out and for the 1st time a Playstation gets wrecked by an Xbone Snorpio.

    Reply

    • HvR

      October 4, 2016 at 18:12

      Depends in the price point, under $499 and PS is screwed.

      Above that an the Scorpio will go the same route as a lot of other consoles in history that was way more powerful than their competitors but just too damn expensive.

      Actually going to be interesting too see if either the Scorpio or Pro overtakes their current generatoin predecessors, can not think if there was ever a “half generation” console of peripheral that was a success.

      Reply

      • BakedBagel

        October 5, 2016 at 10:50

        Question, is the xbone more powerful than the PS4?

        Im a PC pleb.

        Reply

        • HvR

          October 5, 2016 at 10:55

          From what we know so far on paper the Xbone Scorpio seems quite a bit more powerful than PS4 Pro and comes with a UHD/4K Blu-ray where the PS4 Pro does not (also on the Xbone S coming out now). Also speak of it being upgradable.

          Con though is the PS4 Pro will have a year head start on the Scopio as it is coming out next month and Scorpio only end of next year

          Reply

  2. HvR

    October 4, 2016 at 18:01

    • Grimsupanoob

      October 5, 2016 at 07:41

      like watching a Free player vs a paying member on some of these Freemium FPS games

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        October 5, 2016 at 07:42

        He should have bought premium shoes, CATS would’ve hit their mark

        Reply

  3. Pieter Kruger

    October 4, 2016 at 20:04

    My issue with the whole Scorpio vs PS4 Pro except the obvious power difference is the UHD Drive. I don’t really understand it but to me it seems future games, taking advantage of 4K and the increased power of both consoles, will soon become so large that they’ll need UHD discs to fit onto not? Does that mean most of the Pro’s games will have to be downloaded whereas the Scorpio’s games could theoretically still fit on disc using UHD Blu Ray?

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      October 5, 2016 at 07:42

      People still buy their games on discs?

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        October 5, 2016 at 08:09

        Yes, some of us do! Without uncapped DSL line, downloading a 20Gig game becomes a nightmare.

        Reply

        • HvR

          October 5, 2016 at 08:39

          For a 4K native game you can probably up that to 60 to 80 gigs

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            October 5, 2016 at 08:42

            Not on console, thankfully.

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          October 5, 2016 at 09:16

          Uncapped ADSL is worth it though, if available

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            October 5, 2016 at 09:19

            Currently trying to organise it, but, ya know, Telkom. All i want is the line. Wow their service is great.

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            October 5, 2016 at 09:35

            It’s a freaking pain but once it’s in it, it’s in… wait what. Anyhow sure as hell if I ever buy a house there better be an ADSL line installed already else no sale. Telkom can take their sweet time because what else can one do? It’s not like they have competition

          • Original Heretic

            October 5, 2016 at 09:37

            Pretty sure my place already has the line installed, I mean, I can see the points and all that. But it’s not activated, or whatever it is that Telkom does when someone moves out.

          • HvR

            October 5, 2016 at 09:40

            Just uses the normal copper telephone line that you get in 99% in homes, problem is the technician needs to plug in on the neighbourhood DSLAM which usually gets plugged out when the previous owner cancel the contract

      • HvR

        October 5, 2016 at 08:46

        Probably not that often anymore but as we have seen with Xbone game sharing debacle enough to have M$ make an about turn, also having the media player 4K player option goes along way in justifying the cost of probably the most expensive console in 2 decades

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          October 5, 2016 at 09:17

          Makes sense

          Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    October 5, 2016 at 07:53

    I can imagine Phil giggling internally as the interviewer’s eyes glazed over during that response.

    Reply

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