Project Scorpio Can’t Be A Game Changer Without More Games

While we’re still waiting for the full reveal of Microsoft’s Project Scorpio – as well as its official name and price – Microsoft has finally revealed the hardware powering what they have long claimed will be “the most powerful console ever made.”

True to their word, Project Scorpio does appear to be the most powerful console ever made. If you want to know just how much more powerful Scorpio is, just take a look at how the hardware inside Microsoft’s next console measures up against the competition:

The numbers favor Scorpio across the board, but what those numbers don’t tell you is how Scorpio will differentiate itself from its competition on a practical level. Project Scorpio is shaping up to be the first console that is capable of delivering true 4K gaming at 60 frames per second. That’s a feat that only the most powerful custom gaming PCs are capable of achieving.

From a sheer power perspective, Scorpio represents the kind of leap forward in console technology that most people weren’t expecting to see until the next generation of hardware. Many gamers are just now starting to accept the inevitability of a 4K standard, and Microsoft is about to release a 4K media and gaming device that is designed to appeal to the most hardcore of consumers.

Scorpio is poised to be a true game changer in terms of technology. It’s just a shame that the console looks to be short on actual games.

There might be a group of media consumers who are interested in purchasing Scorpio as the ultimate centerpiece for their 4K entertainment center. However, Scorpio is clearly designed to appeal to a limited market of hardcore gamers.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you do have to ask yourself why a hardcore gamer would theoretically be interested in the powerful gaming console ever made. Some might do it because they love owning the newest technology, but most are going to do it in order to play the newest games on the most powerful console.

The problem is that Microsoft doesn’t really have the games they need at the moment. The Xbox One receives most every major third-party release in a given year, but the people who buy mass appeal titles like Call of Duty and Madden aren’t usually the same crowd of “hardcore gamers” that Microsoft says they are trying to appeal to with Scorpio.

Even if you’re willing to overlook Microsoft’s current exclusive games problem, there’s still the issue of how many games will actually take advantage of Scorpio’s full power potential. There are no games that will be exclusive to Project Scorpio, meaning that there are no games which will be specifically designed to take advantage of its potential.

While it’s nice that Scorpio will allow you to play Xbox One games in 4K – and Xbox 360 games at previously unseen speeds – Scorpio is designed to appeal to a group of gamers that want the newest games running at their full potential. How many must-have, exclusive games that take advantage of Scorpio’s power can these consumers expect in a year given Microsoft’s recent software troubles? Is this console really only designed to appeal to existing Microsoft fans who desire the most powerful system on the market?

In Project Scorpio, Microsoft has designed a very impressive piece of hardware. Now all they need is more reasons for people to view it as the ultimate gaming console.