Xbox Scorpio Price, Release Date, Games, and Specifications - Everything We Know

The Xbox Scorpio is Microsoft’s newest gaming console. First teased at E3 2016, it’s billed to be the most powerful gaming console ever - but it's not a new generation for the Xbox, more like an upgraded Xbox One. It's supposed to be a premium console and a step up from the Xbox One S, though Microsoft has been stingy with details until now.

Xbox Scorpio Specifications and Features Announced

With an actual reveal slated for Thursday April 6, here’s everything we know so far about the Xbox Scorpio.

Xbox Scorpio isn’t the Xbox Two

Much like the PS4 Pro, the Xbox Scorpio isn’t a brand new generation of consoles. Every game from your Xbox One library (and Xbox 360 titles that work on the Xbox One) will work on Xbox Scorpio. Microsoft has said that this console is for gamers looking for a premium Xbox One experience.

Xbox Scorpio Price to Be More than PS4 Pro: Report

Xbox Scorpio release date 

At E3 2016 Microsoft stated that Xbox Scorpio will be out during the holiday season of 2017. We could expect the new console in November — the release month of previous Xbox hardware. November 22, 2013 was the Xbox One launch date, November 22, 2005 was the Xbox 360’s, while the original Xbox hit the shelves on November 15, 2001. With December traditionally being a no show in terms of new hardware launches, and October usually being a busy month for game releases, November seems a likely candidate.

Xbox Scorpio Will Not Need a 4K TV

Xbox Scorpio games

According to several reports, Forza 7, Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: World War 2, Madden NFL 2017, FIFA 2018, and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 are some games shown off on the Xbox Scorpio at 4K resolution. This seems odd considering that Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: World War 2 have exclusive marketing deals with Son,y which would make their reveal on the Xbox Scorpio a no go.

EA’s games such as Madden, FIFA, and Star Wars, seem more likely considering the cosy relationship between Microsoft and EA, which resulted in EA Access coming to the Xbox One first. One title that’s guaranteed to have Xbox Scorpio support is Middle-earth: Shadow of War from Warner Bros, as confirmed by the company last month.

Shadow of War for the PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox Scorpio, and Windows 10 PC Confirmed

Xbox Scorpio price

Don’t expect Xbox Scorpio to be cheap. It’s something Phil Spencer has stated time and again in conversations with the press and community.
“Scorpio will be a premium console. It will cost more than [the Xbox One] S, obviously, this is how we are building it up," he has said in the past to Spanish gaming site Levelup. "We have not announced the pricing yet, but want to make sure that the investment we are making in the product of Scorpio goes hand in hand with the requirement of high-end consumer and that means a higher price."

Xbox Scorpio Games to Run in Native 4K Resolution: Microsoft

"There is not a single product you see and say 'this is the product that defines how you are doing in the market'," Spencer added. "It really is the repertoire of all products with prices and when we think of Scorpio it is for a high-end consumer who demands the maximum of a console, and the console built to meet that demand."


These comments came after analyst Michael Patcher claimed it would be “suicide” for the company to price above $399 in the US (around Rs. 26,000). This could possibly see Scorpio priced more than the Xbox One at launch, which at the time was the company’s most expensive console.

Xbox Scorpio specifications

The full reveal of Xbox Scorpio should give us finer details on the console’s specifications, here’s what we know so far. The console will not use ESRAM — this is the 32MB of super quick memory integrated with the Xbox One’s very processor. It’s a hardware solution that helped Xbox One game developers cope with memory size and speed limitations. But Xbox Scorpio will reportedly have better, faster RAM to make up for this. It has also been previously reported that it sports an 8-core CPU capable of 6 teraflops of computing power - 4.5 times as powerful as Xbox One — figures that Microsoft has been tom-toming since its E3 2016 showcase.

Xbox Scorpio India release date and price

Don’t expect India to get Xbox Scorpio the same time as the rest of the world. The Xbox One S released globally in August, 2016, but is only rumoured to hit India this month.

Why January Was an Extremely Lean Month for Xbox One

That aside, it won’t be cheap either, with several grey market retailers planning to capitalise on the hype surrounding it to sell at exorbitant rates. Safe to say, you’ll need to import it or get a friend or relative to pick it up for you abroad if you want the best possible deal.

Does the Xbox Scorpio pique your interest? Or is the PS4 what you prefer? Let us know via the comments.

We discussed Xbox Scorpio on this week’s episode of Transition. You can subscribe to Transition via iTunes or RSS or just listen to this episode by hitting the play button below.