The lid was blown off the mystery that is the Xbox Scorpio a bit yesterday- as far as the hardware is concerned, we seem to know a bit ore about it now than we did before, with its specs and performance gains now in the open. Microsoft’s reveal of the Xbox Scorpio focused mostly on the hardware for now, but a few questions still remain- for instance, how expensive will this be? It is abundantly clear that Microsoft haven’t held back in any regard. Will Scorpio be an expensive machine?
“I’m not competent to figure out what the components cost, nor to understand the power, other than to say it looks more powerful than a PS4 Pro,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said in an exclusive chat with GamingBolt. “I would guess that it will launch around the same $400 or so. If it’s priced higher, it may not sell very well.”
Pachter also remarked on the possibility of Japanese support for the system- after all, one of Microsoft’s stated goals with it was to win back the support of developers, and it is an open secret that Xbox head Phil Spencer has been working hard to win the favor of Japanese companies. Does Pachter see the scope of increased Japanese support for Scorpio?
“I do not expect a lot of Japanese developer support,” he said, when we asked him about it. “We might see some independent developers sign up, but Sony has great relationships with the established developers and Microsoft doesn’t.”
Given how great the output of Japanese developers has been this year, that would be a bummer- and ultimately a serious hole in the Scorpio’s lineup. Power is well and good, but ultimately it’s the games that will sell your machine. Well, those and the price- so let’s hope Microsoft heeds Pachter’s words and don’t price the Scorpio higher than $399. But given the insane power Scorpio offers, I doubt that is happening. But then again, Microsoft might surprise all of us.