By the time Project Scorpio launches in late 2017, it’ll be Microsoft’s third console launch in four years following the Xbox One and the recent arrival of the Xbox One S.
They’ll all be part of a single, unified ecosystem, according to Head of Xbox Marketing Aaron Greenberg, who cleared up some post-E3 confusion while chatting with Engadget.
That means that, although Scorpio is being designed as a 4K-capable, VR-ready machine, Microsoft has no plans to design games exclusively for the beefed up hardware, perhaps in fear that it will alienate those users who already own an Xbox One or its slimmer brethren, the S.
“We said we’re not going to have console-exclusive games for Project Scorpio. It’s one ecosystem–whether you have an Xbox One S or Project Scorpio, we don’t want anyone to be left behind, Now, with the power and capabilities we have, we’ll be able to do high-fidelity VR. Now, that space, we don’t think of that as console gaming, we think of that as high-fidelity VR, and so with the VR experiences those will be new things that you will get on Project Scorpio.”
Bouncing off that, Greenberg then went on to discuss the importance of backwards compatibility across all three systems, and that’s something that will stretch to select accessories, too.
“We’re saying, if you bought games and accessories for your Xbox One, or you buy an Xbox One S, those games and those accessories are going to work on Project Scorpio. When you think about backwards compatibility and our games lineup, we want gamers to know that when they’re ready to upgrade to Scorpio, that content will go with them. That’s our promise and commitment around compatibility.”
Project Scorpio is currently being aligned for launch in late 2017. Xbox One S, meanwhile, is available right now, and you can check out our review of Microsoft’s revised, slimmer console to see it it’s worth your hard-earned cash.