Game Companies Will Decide How to Upgrade for Xbox Scorpio: Microsoft

With the PS4 Pro unveiled this week and readily available from November, Microsoft’s Xbox Head Phil Spencer took to Twitter to allay some concerns of Xbox fans. In the process he let slip on what to expect from the next iteration of the Xbox One - Project Scorpio.

Replying to a query about how developers would design their games for Project Scorpio , Spencer stated that it should be easily done since most of them already target higher specifications with the PC.

“Most devs are already targeting higher specs with their PC builds. Teams have art assets and engine to use power,” he tweeted. In response to a concern about Scorpio games being ports of the PS4 Pro, Spencer claimed that builds for existing games made for powerful PCs would be coming to Scorpio instead.

(Also see: Xbox Scorpio has an Obvious Power Advantage over PS4 Pro: Microsoft)

“For shipped games that later come to Scorpio I’d expect teams would bring PC builds tuned for 6TF GPUs on PC,” he said. When probed further he claimed it would be up to the game’s publisher.

(Also see: The PS4 Pro Won’t Solve the PS4’s Biggest Problem)

“Publishers will decide how they want to upgrade, we will work with them to ensure platform supports their plans,” he remarked.

With Project Scorpio having the upper hand from a specifications standpoint, it will be interesting to see how developers support it. Sony may have a year’s headstart but for the end user, it’s rather useless until 4K displays become a lot more affordable.

Project Scorpio is slated for a Holiday 2017 release. While the PS4 Pro will not support Blu-ray discs at 4K, Microsoft has confirmed the company’s “intention to deliver it” when it is available.