Xbox One

[isiolia]

I don't see Scorpio reversing this situation either. Playstation still controls the market, so games are going to be targeting that platform. Scorpio will be a niche version of a comparatively unpopular platform. Why would developers choose to try accommodate it?

Probably for the same reason they'd choose to support the Xbox One platform in general: relative popularity doesn't mean there's no market.

The closest classic comparison for total numbers right now is SNES versus Genesis - the PS4 is at something like 55M where the SNES hit around 49M. The Xbox One is sitting around the same 29M that the Genesis reached worldwide. Though, it's also regional. In the US, it's approaching something like 20M PS4s to 18M Xbox Ones - similarly, the SNES was about 23M here, versus about 17M for the Genesis.

In either case, second place still represents quite a lot of potential sales that no major publisher is going to want to simply not bother with. Game selection can end up reflecting regional sales though - the Genesis sold poorly in Japan, and Xbox barely moves there at all (though home consoles sell poorly there now period).


Both the PS4 Pro and Scorpio are going to be "extra" things for developers to accommodate, sure. However, both seem to be relatively trivial to support...and, frankly, Sony and MS can mandate it as part of their licensing if they need to.

As has come up here multiple times, exclusives are important to some folks (like most here) since we want a system to justify it's place in our lineup. Lots of other users may just have one console at a time, possibly dictated by whatever one their friends bought, etc. For them, the Xbox One has a solid library, and Scorpio will likely host the best console versions to boot.

I love my Xbox One, but I'm still confused about what Scorpio is. Like, I think it's going to be a very high end Xbox One. Along the lines of how you can build a budget gaming PC, or a super high end one. Or maybe a better way to put it is how iOS and Android devices have generations... but for the most part can run the same games - just the performance is different. Am I wrong?

You're correct in your assumption. It's a high end Xbox One. The main thing with it (and the PS4 Pro) is that they're creating a new/additional spec for developers to target, since console games haven't tended to scale like PC or mobile.

[alienjesus]

I don't see Scorpio reversing this situation either. Playstation still controls the market, so games are going to be targeting that platform. Scorpio will be a niche version of a comparatively unpopular platform. Why would developers choose to try accommodate it?

The closest classic comparison for total numbers right now is SNES versus Genesis - the PS4 is at something like 55M where the SNES hit around 49M. The Xbox One is sitting around the same 29M that the Genesis reached worldwide. Though, it's also regional. In the US, it's approaching something like 20M PS4s to 18M Xbox Ones - similarly, the SNES was about 23M here, versus about 17M for the Genesis.

In either case, second place still represents quite a lot of potential sales that no major publisher is going to want to simply not bother with. Game selection can end up reflecting regional sales though - the Genesis sold poorly in Japan, and Xbox barely moves there at all (though home consoles sell poorly there now period).

Whilst I have no major arguments with your post in general, I think it's pretty disingenuous to compare PS4 and XBox One's numbers to SNES and Mega Drive for a few reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, is the price of games. An audience of 29 million Mega Drive owners represents a big opportunity for return on the price of development of a game in the 90s.

Games had smaller teams, required far less overheads, and, adjusted for inflation, were sold at much higher prices too. That 29m also represents a far more significant proportion of the video game market then than it does now - it's easier to justify spending resources when you're capturing a potential extra 40% of the potential market, but harder when it's capturing 5% like the Scorpio might represent, if I'm being generous. You could make a healthy profit on selling a few thousand units of a game in the 90s.

Game development on XBox One is incredibly expensive, and the numbers needed to make the return on a game are much higher. That's not going to be made any cheaper by developing games for 4 different console builds (PS4/PS4 Pro/XBox One/Scorpio), and when Scorpio is likely to represent by far the smallest proportion of users, I see little incentive to waste dev time and resources to accomodate them - especially when the basic XBox One version will work fine anyhow. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this works?

[isiolia]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how this works?

Possibly? PS4 Pro and Scorpio don't need entirely different builds. They're simply higher spec versions of the same platforms. Like, say, dropping a new GPU in your PC. Only, since consoles are closed platforms running software built around their hardware, they don't automatically scale up. The PS4 Pro does now have Boost Mode, and Scorpio looks to do something similar, so they can likely improve on things without any extra work...but patching games to actually notch up the resolution, remove frame rate caps, add in high res assets, etc can make more of the hardware. Things that the PC version probably had options to set already.

Game development on XBox One is incredibly expensive, and the numbers needed to make the return on a game are much higher.

All the more reason to port to every platform that's reasonable to port to, in order to expand your potential market. Especially given that most games now are built in/on tools that are cross-platform to begin with - a big different from 16-bit times when each port was likely written from scratch.
The logic you gave for SNES versus Genesis is more a rationale for why exclusives are rarer now. Back then, each platform took more specific effort/optimization, and you could get by with far fewer sales.

[alienjesus]

All the more reason to port to every platform that's reasonable to port to, in order to expand your potential market. Especially given that most games now are built in/on tools that are cross-platform to begin with - a big different from 16-bit times when each port was likely written from scratch.

I suppose that all depends on whether all the testing and platform optimization will be worth the potential extra revenue. It might be easy, but there'll still be hoops to jump through, especially with console requirements compared to PC. I guess their hope is that the Scorpio and PC builds will be so similar that you're guaranteed to make more money by developing for it despite the hurdles.

[Xeogred]

teraflops this and that.

They need games. Games that don't get cancelled either.

Scorpio will be the end of Xbox.

I'll probably be buying a Switch this holiday.

[MrPopo]

teraflops this and that.

They need games. Games that don't get cancelled either.

This is relevant:

https://twitter.com/danthat/status/8499 ... pecs-games

[Xeogred]

Sums it up.

Scorpio could be the next Sega 32X.

[retrosportsgamer]

Xbox Spring sale starts 4/11.

I've been very much in on digital bundle purchases with season pass content that they don't put out as a physical any longer (and if they do, its just the code - outside of some very rare instances like The Witcher 3 and Shadow of Mordor).

Interested to see what kind of deals they put out.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I'm on the boat that there just isn't enough on the One to make me consider buying it. The thing to most recently catch my attention for it being a possibility is the persistent rumor original Xbox emulation may come to the One. Otherwise... it has Sunset Overdrive?

[PartridgeSenpai]

teraflops this and that.

They need games. Games that don't get cancelled either.

Scorpio will be the end of Xbox.

I'll probably be buying a Switch this holiday.

YES. It needs GAMES. Sony has just been KILLING IT with games games games. Many games, more than I can count on both hands, that never did and never will come to Xbone (even if they might be on PC). Atm, all Microsoft has convinced me the Xbone is is a PS4 that not only has new versions of games which have better versions on my 360, but also doesn't have any Yakuza! Much more will need to be done to convince Partridges that this is remotely worthwhile :/

I'm not sure this will be the end of Xbox with how many millions it has sold (2nd place is still pretty profitable, for now), but who knows. Perhaps Microsoft will just throw up their hands and put all of their weight behind Windows 10 and the Windows Store, but I don't see that being until a day far away from now.