PS4 Vs Xbox One: Phil Spencer Says Project Scorpio Will Clearly Outperform PlayStation Pro

The PS4 vs. Xbox One console war continues, and a winner has become clear in the coming months. Of course, the victory has been declared by Xbox boss Phil Spencer, so it’s obviously biased toward Project Scorpio.

There could easily be a new PlayStation 4 being developed behind closed doors to compete with Xbox’s 4K juggernaut, since gamers will often go after what they feel is the most powerful console, regardless of the games. Sony has yet to acknowledge any such plans.

On that front, Scorpio is most likely going to remain backward compatible with the Xbox One and Xbox One S. Microsoft isn’t likely to abandon a console which is due to be maybe a year old by the successor’s launch.

Microsoft is also still planning to support Windows 7, however minimally, until 2020, as they continue to push toward a consumer base running only Windows 10. They also haven’t disabled the ability to play Xbox 360 as much as just not providing any further firmware updates or technical assistance.

Xbox and Sony both know that simply bricking older consoles will only make gamers who still own them angry. Nintendo has even embraced older consoles, re-releasing the NES and SNES as miniature pre-loaded gaming boxes, even if scalpers are ruining it for everybody.

Project Scorpio is aimed at ending the PS4 vs. Xbox One console war for good, as Eurogamer says Xbox is eschewing the ESRAM console standard for a new undisclosed method which bypasses the need for lower-speed DDR3 RAM and opens up the digital throttle. The original 32 MB memory limit will increase to 320 GB per second. In mechanic terms, it’s the equivalent of swapping out a sedan-standard V4 engine with a turbo-friendly V8.

Xbox isn’t planning to make games exclusively for Project Scorpio, however, and is telling developers to continue programming for ESRAM. That’s the standard used by the Xbox 360, and it can be upscaled.

This new technology could also come with a hefty price tag, and Xbox has shown that they aren’t afraid to tack on an extra hundred dollars. Of course, Sony did something very similar with the PlayStation 3, charging $500 at launch, likely due to the included Blu-Ray player technology. This led to the Xbox 360 dominating the gaming market due to its more budget-friendly price tag.

While Project Scorpio won’t likely be seen at E3 in June, Phil Spencer has stated on Twitter that he has seen games actually running on the upcoming console and he’s impressed.

“Actual games [are] running where I can see the fidelity on screen [and] feel the gameplay. For me, that’s when it becomes real.”

Yes, Xbox fans, the Scorpio will play all of your current games, according to GameSpot. Microsoft has also claimed that the Scorpio will be the most powerful console ever made, touting a noticeable performance advantage over the PS4 Pro.

It’s unknown if Sony will attempt to compete with this new technology once they see it running, having already stated their confidence that the PS4 Pro is going to be good enough to keep gamers happy. Despite the VR headset, which has garnered reviews even more favorable than those of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, once gamers realize that the visuals are just better on the Scorpio, the PlayStation 4 Pro might lose much of its consumer loyalty. Once again, the price tag could be the reason many might stay with PlayStation.

Hardcore console gamers often want the best they can get, and Scorpio aims to compete with PC, a first for consoles.

What do you think? Does Project Scorpio’s allegedly improved performance outweigh the possibly hefty price tag?

[Featured Image by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Xbox]