Microsoft Almost Released An Upgraded Xbox One Last Year

Last year with Sony launching the PS4 Pro, many had expected Microsoft to answer with an upgraded console of their own. Microsoft did announce such a console in the form of Project Scorpio, but the catch was that it would only be released in 2017, which meant that Microsoft was essentially letting Sony have a huge headstart.

However it turns out that Microsoft almost did release an upgraded console back in 2016. Speaking to Gamasutra, Xbox boss Phil Spencer revealed that the company had originally planned to release an Xbox console with upgraded hardware for 2016, followed by another console in 2017, but ultimately decided against it.

According to Spencer, “So we designed a console for 2016, and a console for 2017. We were kind of working on both plans simultaneously. And at some point, we got to — let’s just call it greenlight.” However it seems that they later changed their minds. “For what we would do in 2016, and we sat around a table not too dissimilar from this and said, I think we need to do more than what the silicon is that’s available in 2016 at a price point that a console customer would want to pay. So that’s when we stopped that effort.”

Note that Microsoft did launch a new console in 2016 in the form of the Xbox One S, although we’re not sure if one could really call it that much of an upgrade. In any case Microsoft’s Project Scorpio is due for a release later this year, with some analysts predicting it could help Microsoft pull ahead of PS4 sales in the US.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Microsoft, Xbox One