Next-gen Xbox could've launched this year, but it wouldn't be 4K

Microsoft teases it could've released a next-gen Xbox this year, but it would not have been 4K-capable.

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E3 2016 - Microsoft announced its new super-powered Xbox Scorpio during E3 2016, with the new console being both 4K and VR-ready. Microsoft boss Phil Spencer said that the company could've shipped a next-gen Xbox this year, but it would not have been 4K-capable.

Next-gen Xbox could've launched this year, but it wouldn't be 4K | TweakTown.com

Spencer said during an interview with Eurogamer: "We could have done a new update this year. We actually looked at it. We went all the way to, we had the spec in front of us, should we ship something that's less than Scorpio this year, but in truth you can't do a true 4K console this year. And I just didn't think anything between what is effectively a 1080p console and the 4K console, like, from a consumer television standpoint there's nothing in the middle. So let's go focus on 4K and next year was the right year to do that".

He continued talking about the hardware inside of Scorpio, saying that it would not have been possible to have a true 4K-capable console with all of the right hardware this year. Spencer said: "Balance in the design of the system is really important. So when you think about the CPU and the GPU that are on the SOC, the optical disc drive and the speed of that, which we haven't talked about too much, but I'll just say that, the speed of RAM, all of these things when you're designing the system, making sure they're all in balance, so one piece doesn't get overpowered relative to the other, or you've got a lot of GPU but you're not able to feed all of the assets to it out of the RAM fast enough, all of those things were critical for us when thinking about the design. All of this is why we picked the design point we did of 4K and the date we did. Like I said, we looked at other designs that might be coming earlier, and we don't think they really delivered on a full point".

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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