The Xbox One Scorpio is far beyond the PS4 Pro– it’s a more dramatic, radical overhaul of the original Xbox One, compared to the more conservative, iterative upgrade that is the PS4 Pro. However, given the fact that both systems mandate support for their base versions too, and that the PS4 Pro has a higher install base than the still not launched Scorpio, there was, obviously, a fear that the Scorpio’s extra reserves of power may go untapped.
However, Slightly Mad Studios of Project CARS fame (who by the way spearhead some of the most technically demanding games of this generation), at least, don’t think they will hold back because of the Pro. When we had the chance to speak to Andy Tudor of Slightly Mad Studios, the Creative Director of the upcoming Project CARS 2, we asked him about the various upgrades that the Scorpio provides, such as FreeSync and HDMI 2.1, asking him what this would mean for someone playing his game on Microsoft’s upcoming system. He was very clear in stating that the Scorpio enhancements for the game would not be held back because of the PS4 Pro.
“We may go higher resolution on Scorpio compared to Pro, or we may keep lower res but increase detail. Again, too early to say, and if we can do something extra on Scorpio easily we will do, we won’t hold it back due to Pro,” he said. The game adopts an improved version of the Madness engine which is scaleable across modern hardware so it’s great to see that the game could potentially utilize the full power of Scorpio, provided the development team decides to do so.
This is an interesting stance to take- and depending on just how easy the Scorpio is to port up to, it might be one that is shared by more and more developers. If so, the market implications of this should be interesting to observe in the coming months.
Stay tuned for our full interview on Project CARS 2 in the coming days.