With Xbox Scorpio, Microsoft Does Not Want to Turn Consoles into the Graphics Card Market

With the PS4 Pro hitting the shelves in less than 10 days, the age of iterative consoles, whether we like it or not, begins. And while Sony has kept its cards close to its chest on what to expect next, Xbox boss Phil Spencer says that you won’t see a successor to Xbox Scorpio - it’s souped up Xbox One due next year, any time soon.

"I don’t have this desire to every two years have a new console on the shelf", he explained to Game Informer. "That’s not part of the console business model, and it doesn’t actually help us. The best customer I have is somebody who buys the original Xbox and just buys all the games. That’s the best customer for us in terms of the pure financials of it [...]I’m not trying to turn consoles into the graphics card market.

(Also see: Xbox Scorpio Games to Run in Native 4K Resolution: Microsoft)

While it’s heartening to know that at least one console maker isn’t interested in turning the console space into something akin to the graphics card or smartphone markets with new models released frequently, Spencer claims he has no idea on what after Scorpio:

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

"To be completely honest, I don’t know what the next console is past Scorpio. We’re thinking about it. We’re looking at consumer trends and what the right performance spec and price would be, and [asking ourselves], 'Can we hit something that has a meaningful performance characteristic that a gamer would care about?'"