Microsoft has advertised Project Scorpio way ahead before PS4 Pro was announced at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo last June 2016 – it’s slated to have a 2017 launch year. Project Scorpio’s official website marked that Project Scorpio will be “the most powerful console ever” to hit this mid-generation upgrade, and to be able to run 4K natively with its games. There is no doubt that Microsoft’s Project Scorpio has about 6TFLOPS integrated with its GPU – that’s almost twice what the PS4 Pro currently has – and that Microsoft’s console will most likely run its games natively on 4K.
All of us will see the most graphical demanding games on the Scorpio with rich visuals and taking advantage of 4K natively. Alongside with its graphical upgrade is the overall major improvement on its hardware performance. PS4 Pro did give a considerable amount of performance and visual upgrade but it did have struggles on certain games to hit that sweet spot of both 30FPS and 60FPS on 4K – a great example of that is The Last of Us Remastered which runs on native 4K. Just to give out a very important note, not all games on PS4 Pro runs at native 4K, newer games like Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian are upscaled to 4K – this is because PS4 Pro only has 4.20 TFLOPS.
Now, let’s see this in a bigger picture. Project Scorpio is going to launch in late 2017, and Microsoft’s console will achieve the title of “true 4K console” or “the most powerful console ever” once Scorpio is out. But does Microsoft have the first-party games to make their “true” 4K console a great choice for gamers next year? No. Their list of upcoming games in 2017 is not that particularly strong compared to Sony’s lineup.
Recently at Sony’s PlayStation Experience 2016 event, it showcased a lot of great titles coming in 2017. We have the most highly-anticipated comeback of Crash Bandicoot, WipeOut, Final Fantasy XII, and PaRappa the Rapper. Aside from PS1 classics coming to PS4, Sony’s Horizon: Zero Dawn is going to be released this February 2017, and here are some more games releasing next year on the PS4:
- Gravity Rush 2 – January 20, 2017
- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue – January 24, 2017
- Digimon World: Next Order – January 31, 2017
- Nioh – February 9, 2017
- Nier: Automata – March 7, 2017 (with PC version coming TBA 2017)
- Persona 5 – April 4, 2017
We also have Ace Combat 7, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Gran Turismo Sport, and some others that would likely have a 2017 release date.
If you look at the list of upcoming games in 2017 for Xbox One, most of them are multi-platform titles, and that Scalebound and Halo Wars 2 are the only first-party titles I’m excited for on the Xbox One. We can take the possibility that Microsoft might have a lot of surprises this E3 2017, but looking at Sony’s lineup, it’s way stronger than Microsoft’s first-party games in 2017.
Even if Sony did not opt to manufacture a powerful console mid-refresh, they rather focused on supporting their first-party developers to make games exclusively for their consumers.
In the end, getting Project Scorpio wouldn’t be a bad choice, if you opt to buy the console, then you better stick to it. If your preferred brand is Microsoft and not Sony, then get Project Scorpio. You have a 4K TV and want to experience real native 4K than upscaled 4K? Then get Project Scorpio. If you can afford both PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio and have the cash to burn, then that’s great!
I want to let everyone who reads this article know that I am not biased towards Sony or even a PS4 fanboy. I don’t have preferences on brands; there are games that I love on the Xbox One platform – Halo 5, Gears 4, Forza 3, Quantum Break, and Sunset Overdrive. As long as the platform holds a great library of exclusive games, then I’m down for it.
Are you getting Project Scorpio next year? Let me know in the comments!
[This opinion piece written by the author does not represent the whole team of Sirus Gaming.]
