The new Xbox One X finally made its debut at E3 2017 this week, and it's been one of the biggest highlights of the conference so far. Given the console's position as a much more powerful version of the Xbox One, many are comparing it to the PS4 Pro — Sony's own take on a more powerful version of its flagship console. In a new interview with Eurogamer, however, box chief Phil Spencer says that Microsoft sees things a little differently.
Given the sheer power of the Xbox One X, Spencer says, Microsoft views the Xbox One S as a more apt competitor to the PS4 Pro. From Spencer:
I look at Pro as more of a competitor to S than I do to Xbox One X. This is a true 4K console. If you just look at the specs of what this box is, it's in a different league than any other console that's out there. When I think about techniques to somehow manufacture a 4K screen like what some other consoles try to do, this is different than that. This is 40 per cent more GPU. The amount of RAM we have in this, the speed of the RAM, the speed of the harddrive, the reaction we're getting from developers.
On the topic of the lack of first-party triple-A announcements on stage, Spencer says the focus was on deliver a look at games that are going to be playable within the next year.
The focus I had on this show was games you're going to get to play in the next year. We're focusing on Xbox One S and Xbox One X and the games you're going to play. We showed Crackdown, which looks fantastic. It's going to be there at launch day for Xbox One X, which will be a great showcase for the box. Obviously Sea of Thieves. I thought State of Decay showed up really well. Some people played State of Decay 1, but a lot of people missed it. Now we're giving that game time to really hit what we want State of Decay to do, because that will be an important franchise for us. We showed Forza.
Rounding things out, Spencer confirms that Microsoft has signed some things that haven't been announced, but it seems as if the team is conscious of announcing things too early. Within the last year, both Scalebound and Fable Legends — two highly anticipated titles — ended up being canceled, so that stance makes sense.
The full interview is worth a read, so head over to Eurogamer to give it a look.
