Microsoft Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been going into more detail about what to expect from Microsoft’s next-gen hardware, which is currently known as Xbox Scarlett and is set to arrive Holiday 2020 alongside Halo Infinite.
Microsoft shared some of the first details on the console at E3 a few months back, and it’s already sounding like a bit of a beast. Spencer said at the time that the machine was four times more powerful than the Xbox One X, and hailed Scarlett as “the future of gaming”, which I guess is objectively true when you consider it’s literally launching in the future.
MicrosoftIn a new interview with GameSpot, Spencer has laid out what Microsoft wants to achieve with next-gen, highlighting silky smooth frame rates, and playability as key focuses for Scarlett. He explained that Microsoft wants to make this happen with the help of vastly improved loading times – something the PlayStation 5 also seems to be focusing on, based on what little we’ve heard about Sony’s new hardware so far.
Spencer said:
I think the area that we really want to focus on next generation is frame rate and playability of the games. This generation, we’ve really focused on 4K visuals and how we bring both movies through 4K Blu-ray and video streaming, and with Xbox One X allowing games to run at 4K visuals will make really strong visual enhancements next generation
This echoes what Microsoft said at E3. The company announced during its press conference that Scarlett would boast resolution and framerates that we’ve “never seen before” and said the new hardware would feature GDDR6 RAM, 120 frames per second, 8k, next gen ray tracing, drastically reduced loading times, all in aid of creating the “most immersive” console experience of all time.
Microsoft During the interview, Spencer also touched on how Scarlett would continue to offer backwards compatibility and cross-play, reaffirming the announcement that the new console would support all four generations of Xbox, and will allow players to use Xbox One controllers with the new console.
He said:
So really, the things that you’ve bought from us, whether the games or the controllers that you’re using, we want to make sure those are future compatible with the highest fidelity version of our console. Which at that time will obviously be the one we’ve just launched.
Microsoft has been busy talking up Scarlett for a while now, but it remains unclear exactly when we’re gonna get to see the console itself in all its glory. With Holiday 2020 edging closer every day, the expectation seems to be that Microsoft will share more details on the future of Xbox in early 2020.
As for the PS5, a leaked (currently unverified) marketing email claims that Sony is holding a special reveal event in February next year ahead of a launch planned launch in Holiday 2020 in order to go head to head with Xbox Scarlett.
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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.