Both the Xbox Scorpio and PlayStation 4 Pro were recently revealed as powerful new models for this generation of consoles, and lines are quickly being drawn in the sand.
While the console wars rage on anew, it seems that Microsoft has the one-up on Sony in this instance: Microsoft-developed Xbox Scorpio games will render natively at 4K, instead of simply being upscaled.
This is according to Microsoft Studios publishing general manager Shannon Loftis, who made the comment in a recent interview with USA Today.
She said:
Any games we’re making that we’re launching in the Scorpio time frame, we’re making sure they can natively render at 4K.
Meanwhile, the PS4 Pro (which is capable of 4K), will see the majority of titles upscaled rather than running natively at that revolution.
PlayStation president Andrew House said in an interview with DigitalSpy:
I would say the majority will be upscaled–at least based on the game portfolio I have seen to date.
The Xbox Scorpio will launch in holiday 2017, and while pricing has not been announced, we shouldn’t expect it to be cheap.
The system boasts 6 teraflops of performance (how many teraflops do you need, amiright?), and is the ‘most powerful console ever made’ according to Microsoft.
Meanwhile, Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro goes on sale in November, with a £350 price-tag. By all accounts, it seems the Scorpio is undeniably superior in terms of performance, but we’ll have to wait and see just how much cash Microsoft expects us to part with.
Of course, there are also cheaper (and slimmer) alternatives for fans of both companies in the form of the Xbox One S and the PS4 Slim.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.