Microsoft Needed to Impress With the Scorpio, But Came Up Short

Another E3, another Microsoft press conference has passed. The company has been betting big on these shows ever since the Xbox One’s initial reveal as they’ve been pushing really hard to get back into the good graces of gamers everywhere. Recently they’ve done a good job at showing the company is definitely player focused, but that hasn’t seemed to help much in the sales department, which is clear from Sony’s solid 2:1 lead in console sales with the PS4. E3 2017 was a chance to really start bridging that gap thanks to some powerful new hardware,which got a snazzy new name, and the promise of some big games.

Now that the press conference is over, it has us thinking. It was clear that this was a big opportunity for the company to show off their new hardware and really sell it. After watching everything (more than once), we now wonder if they succeeded. In some ways it seems they have, but in others, not so much. 

Selling the Scorpio

The biggest focus of Microsoft’s press conference, and undoubtedly the reason many tuned in, was the Scorpio. It was time to thrust the machine into the spotlight. That began first with sharing the goals and abilities of the console. It was made to be the most powerful video game console ever created, and it most certainly fits the bill, even managing to dwarf the capabilities of the powerful PS4 Pro. Also, the company wanted to make sure that it didn’t exist in a vacuum, separate from everything else Xbox fans have come to know and love. With that in mind, as promised before, the Project Scorpio would fully support all accessories and games that Xbox One owners are already using. All it needed was a name, and this is where the company’s creativity seemed to run out.

The Xbox One S was a no brainer. It’s a smaller Xbox One, and using S to denote more compact technology seems to be all the rage nowadays (especially with mobile devices). So when it came time to name the Scorpio, we were all ears, until we heard Xbox One X (which some kept hearing as One S). It works, but they definitely could’ve helped to differentiate it more.

The price of the console is going to be the toughest sell. The Xbox One X will be sold for $500; that’s a full $100 more expensive than the competition, and that comes with the burden of proving that value to consumers. It’s a premium price for a premium product, but not everyone considers that latter part, especially when the competition has some fine offerings. To help sell the console, it seems that games were the big focus, and Microsoft sure did show a lot of them – including 22 exclusives (timed and otherwise).

On one hand, the slew of titles showed off the power of the console with some absolutely gorgeous graphics, but on the other, there wasn’t exactly a lot that was new and fresh, which can hurt the budding hardware. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out. 

There Was Certainly a Lot of Games

For the past few years, Microsoft has made a point of making their conferences about the games Xbox users can expect to play in the coming months/years. E3 2017 was no different with the company showing off over 40 upcoming titles, 22 of which have some form of exclusivity on Xbox and/or Windows 10. While we certainly applaud them for their efforts (seriously, 20 is a lot, let alone 40+), quantity seemed to win out over quality, or, at the very least, newness.

The games kept coming, but there was quite a bit of deja vu with many titles being waited on for years that are just now getting release dates such as Tacoma and Cuphead. Crackdown 3, a title that seemingly fell off the radar (and had many fearing cancellation after the turn of events with Scalebound) finally got a release date that lines up with the upcoming Xbox One X. There were other small titles that many had seen before, mostly because they’d appeared on PC in recent years. In terms of new games, most were highly predictable – Forza, Assassin’s Creed.

The addition of the OG Xbox’s library to the backwards compatibility program was definitely noteworthy, though, We’re not sure how far they’re going to go with that – it wasn’t the most extensive library, but there certainly were some gems.

What’s interesting is the games that seemed to elicit the largest responses were multiplatform titles. Assassin’s Creed Origins certainly left us craving more, and Anthem looks like an amazing new IP from BioWare. Once again, major exclusives have taken a sort of backseat, a problem that has been plaguing the Xbox platform for a couple of years now. It’s slightly worrying, but that can easily turn around after the games actually release. I’m sure many were worried about Nintendo’s lineup for the Switch, but with each game receiving stellar reviews so far, more faith has been founded in them. The same can go for Xbox, and hopefully they make an effort to ensure their own games are truly the best that the Xbox One X has to offer. 

Mission Success?

It’s honestly a very tough call. If the sole mission was to show what the console can do, then yeah, Microsoft certainly showed that today. Crackdown 3, Forza 7, and Anthem all look absolutely amazing. The promise of upgrading all games and making them shine even on standard HD monitors is exciting. Also, updating some of the Xbox One’s current blockbusters when the Xbox One X releases in November will give many a solid starting library right out of the gate.

However, I’d be hard pressed to say that the press conference really sold the console to those who were on the fence. If you, like me, already had it in your mind that you were going to get one, then this just gave that extra little push. But if you didn’t want one and were looking to be wowed, there wasn’t much there. Are games going to be much prettier? Definitely. But, like with the PS4 Pro, is that enough? I personally don’t believe so, and while this was a good conference, it wasn’t the great that it needed to be.

I’m happy to see what the Xbox One X can actually do, it’s dope. But the wow factor hasn’t hit me yet. We’ll see how it all plays out in the coming months, but for now Microsoft needs to get its conferences ready for Gamescom and TGS if they want to really get their message across.