Xbox Scarlet is a new console from Microsoft. Xbox Scarlet is a new console from Microsoft Budget and premium options

Just yesterday, the head of the Xbox division, Phil Spencer, announced that the Xbox One game console will not be the last in the line of consoles of the American corporation. This fact was already obvious, but the number of requests for the phrase "Xbox Two" on the network has increased dramatically. Dozens of hellish concepts for Microsoft's new console have surfaced on the internet, Xbox Two sites have been opened up, and countdown timers have been launched for the console's release. Let's take a closer look at some wild ideas for the Xbox Two console.

First of all, it should be said that the next generation of the game console from Microsoft will definitely not be called the Xbox Two, but we propose to call the hypothetical ninth generation console in this way. The Xbox Two name says absolutely nothing, while the Xbox One promotional concept was "Xbox all in one" and the console was given that name because of the sheer amount of media and TV features that were initially promoted with it.

Specifications for Xbox One

Considering that the game console must combine a budget price and productive hardware, even the approximate system characteristics of the console cannot be assumed several years before its release. At the same time, “analysts” on the Internet are already predicting that the set-top box will receive at least 64 GB of RAM and 32 processor cores. It all sounds crazy, especially if you compare the progress in terms of technical characteristics between the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Xbox Two controller

The Xbox Two controller concepts are just something. The people who create them strive to show that the device will be innovative, while forgetting about such a thing as "convenience". As a result, on the concepts, the Xbox Two gamepad looks like a touch soap, on which there are no buttons at all. How to play it? Big question.

Xbox One Price

To determine the cost of the Xbox Two, "analysts" offer to look at the prices of past generations of the console. Xbox Original - $299 (2001), Xbox 360 - $299-$399 (2005), Xbox One - $499 (2013). Based on the above prices, it is concluded that the Xbox Two console will cost buyers $599-$699. Why is the price rising? Everything is explained very simply - inflation, the introduction of new technologies and the cost included in the prefix for processing large-scale data on cloud servers.

Xbox Two release date

"Analysts" suggest that the Xbox One game console will last on the market for about the same time as the Xbox 360 - that is, about 8 years, only after that the world will see the Xbox Two. Thus, the release of the set-top box should be expected in November 2020, while the factor of faster hardware obsolescence in recent years, experts did not take into account in their calculations. There's even a counter that shows how much time is left until the Xbox Two release.

Microsoft represented by the head of the gaming division Phil Spencer (Phil Spencer) during the exhibition E3 2018, which is working on the next generation Xbox (we will call the console Xbox Next for simplicity). When should we expect this gaming platform to enter the market? This was recently told by authoritative blogger Paul Thurrott (Paul Thurrott), citing his sources.

According to him, the next generation of Xbox is codenamed Scarlett, and Microsoft plans to release it as early as 2020. At the same time, Microsoft describes Scarlett in internal documents as a family of devices, so several products can come out at once. The date may seem relatively close, given that the Xbox One X was only released last year, but Microsoft is allegedly determined to shake up the industry.

Mr Turrot envisions Xbox Next being fully compatible with all games available today, while still offering next-generation features and services (like game streaming). Considering how much effort Microsoft spends on backward compatibility today, this is a perfectly logical assumption. In addition, for sure Xbox Next will continue to be based on the x86 architecture.

Sony, for its part, hasn't said anything about its next-generation gaming system (let's call it the PlayStation 5), but rumors about its development have been around for a long time, so the launch of the device should also be around the corner. The latest reports concern the key components used by the Japanese and the continuation of fruitful cooperation with AMD.

The Forbes resource, citing anonymous industry sources, reported that the PS5 will use an AMD Navi architecture graphics accelerator, complemented by a Zen + based processor (strangely, not Zen 2). However, there is no more detailed information, so it is not clear whether we are still talking about a powerful single-chip system by analogy with PS4 and PS4 Pro (which is logical and saves money) or whether Sony decided to use separate CPU Ryzen and GPU Navi components for maximum performance.

The AMD Navi graphics architecture will be manufactured in accordance with 7nm process technology, and according to sources, this accelerator is the fruit of a close collaboration between AMD and Sony. Much of the work on the new architecture was allegedly led by Raja Koduri, who led the Radeon Technologies Group and recently for Intel.

It is alleged that cooperation with Sony was carried out to the detriment of work on the Radeon RX Vega and other current AMD projects: Mr. Koduri was forced against his will to transfer up to 2/3 of the engineering team exclusively to Navi. Because of this, the alleged manager was very unhappy with the amount of resources and engineering hours spent on RX Vega desktop accelerators, and products like the Frontier Edition turned out worse than expected.

Citing its sources, Forbes also reports that the desktop version of Navi will primarily be aimed at the mass market and will not compete with expensive and high-end NVIDIA GeForce accelerators. This is logical, given the console roots of Navi, but does not mean at all that after mass products more powerful solutions based on the same architecture will not come out.

Curiously, according to Forbes, the Navi accelerator is not mentioned in any way in connection with Microsoft Scarlett. Journalists suggest that Xbox Next will not use Navi at all or will get its own accelerator developed by AMD and Microsoft teams based on Vega. In general, all the conversations of informants about Navi were in the past tense, as if work on the accelerator had already been completed - maybe PS5 will be released even earlier than Xbox Next, by analogy with PS4 Pro and Xbox One X?

So, we know for sure that the PlayStation 5 will be more powerful than its predecessor and that the hardware for the console, as before, is being developed by AMD. Most likely, the new PS5 CPU will be based on the Ryzen architecture.

It should be noted right away that it is not worth waiting for some incredible performance chips. The console must remain available, and today the availability is determined by the figure of 400 dollars (400 euros in Europe). That is, 30 thousand rubles. In extreme cases, we can talk about 500 euros (about 37-40 thousand rubles), but no more.

Also, if the PS4 was primarily focused on Full-HD resolution (this can even be said of the PS4 Pro), the PS5 will almost certainly head for 4K resolution. Firstly, because the most powerful console of the current generation, Xbox One X, already feels confident in 4K. Secondly, Sony needs to somehow sell its 4K TVs - in fact, for the sake of this, the PS4 Pro was also originally created.

Fake concept PlayStation 5

However, everyone who is now writing on the Internet that the new consoles will work without problems in 4K / 60 fps is simply wishful thinking. Already modern consoles can work in this mode (especially the Xbox One X), the only question is the complexity of the graphics and the quality of the development of each particular game.

Since the performance of any console is finite and cannot be increased due to some additional modules, as it happens with a PC, developers, roughly speaking, face a choice: either top graphics or high performance. Unfortunately, most gamers opt for graphics. Therefore, there are very cinematic masterpieces like God Of War, Spider-Man, Uncharted 4, which only work with a frame rate of 30 FPS. Whereas the previous generation Uncharted PS4 is quite capable of 1080/60 (the patch for 4K was never made, alas).

On the other hand, this entire Uncharted trilogy on PS3 ran at 720/30. Precisely to provide the best graphics for that generation (Uncharted 3 still looks great). However, the PS3 could already play games at 1080/60 - the question, again, with what kind of graphics. Ridge Racer 7 looked pretty good, but mainly due to the bright colors and large 3D spaces outside the tracks (the same can be said about Wipeout HD), but racing at 720/30 FPS (Dirt 2-3, Grid, NFS) still looked better.

Ridge Racer 7 was running at 1080/60 FPS on PlayStation 3

So in PS5, the “refined blockbuster” genre that has become so popular on the PlayStation will again have top-end graphics, but at 30 FPS. Just because at 60 FPS the same game will look worse, which gamers will not forgive.

The release date of the PS5 is still unknown today, but it is worth counting on 2020. At best: the end of summer - the beginning of autumn, at worst - the end of 2020. Accordingly, they will announce a new console not earlier than in a couple of months, but this is not certain. As we already know, Sony is not going to E3, so they can hold the PS5 presentation (if they hold it at all this year) either before E3 or later. Earlier - to get ahead of the main competitor, later - to take into account the tactics of the competitor's behavior and show a more powerful presentation.

Moreover, at this stage, even the technical characteristics can change, as was already the case with the PlayStation 4. Even the developers of Killzone: Shadow Fall, the Guerilla Games studio, stated that initially during development they counted on 4 GB of RAM in the PS4, but subsequently the console came out with 8 GB of memory.

So it makes no sense to talk about specific characteristics now. Yes, there are a couple of rumors, but firstly, they are not confirmed by anything, and secondly, everything can change at any moment.

The appearance of some new unusual technologies in the PS5 should not be expected. The future of PS VR is just as vague - the current generation already has a too low Full HD resolution (watching such a resolution from two meters on a TV and from five centimeters through lenses are completely different things). That is, the performance margin of the new console alone is not enough to keep PS VR relevant - you need to release a new helmet with a higher resolution. It is quite possible that this will be done - after all, PS VR, although far from the sales of the PS4 itself, but its popularity is only slightly less than 50% of the entire VR market.

Xbox One

In general, there is no certainty about the name of the new Xbox - this, again, can change at the last minute. Recall that the original console from Microsoft was simply called Xbox, but the second version is already Xbox 360. And all because the Xbox 360 had to compete with the PlayStation 3, and the name Xbox 2 from a marketing point of view was bad - after all, most buyers are only interested in numbers, and the number two is definitely less than the number 3. Therefore, by the way, 360 - so that it starts with “3”.

And therefore, the third console could not be called either Xbox 3 (the figure is again less than that of a competitor, and even echoes 360), or Xbox 4 - after all, it is not the fourth. At first, there were rumors that the console would be called the Xbox 720, but then the company issued the final version - the Xbox One. At that time, Microsoft promoted the name "One" in other products - for example, in the One Drive cloud service.

Fake Xbox Scarlet Concept

At the moment, it is known that Microsoft is developing two consoles at once, which are codenamed Anaconda and Lockhart and are part of the new Xbox family called Scarlett. However, it is not necessary to memorize all these words - they will also be changed. For example, the original Xbox One was developed under the codename Durango, while the Xbox One X was codenamed Chuckwalla. Moreover, for the latter, even this code name itself has changed to the more sonorous Project Scorpio.

The main thing to know is that Anaconda will be a high-performance console, and Lockhart will be a simplified version of it. Something like Xbox One X and Xbox One S respectively. Expected to support backwards compatibility with Xbox One, and as a result - Xbox 360 and the original Xbox.

However, all this does not mean that there will definitely be two consoles at launch. One of them may be canceled, considering its release inappropriate.

Also, although rumors about cloud services from Microsoft have been circulating for a long time, you should not expect that the same Lockhart will become a cloud console. First of all, because there is simply no point in a purely cloud-based console - any PC can be used for this. Unless, this console will be incredibly cheap - less than $ 100. But most likely, support for cloud services will be built into “regular” consoles, if they don’t score on this matter at all.

Like the PlayStation 5, AMD will be the hardware supplier for the new Xbox, and, like the Xbox One-PS4, the chip will be similar in architecture. The release date is the same 2020, middle or end.

Let me also remind you that Microsoft has already announced the release of the console without an optical disc drive, but it is assumed that this applies to a special version of the Xbox One S, which may be released in the spring of 2019. However, the new Xbox can also become diskless - at least the younger version.

Nintendo Switch Pro

So, both the new PlayStation and the new Xbox are already in development - this is known for sure. As for Nintendo, then ... I will say right away - do not believe any rumors on the Internet. It is possible that Nintendo plans to release a new console, they even talk about 2019, but Nintendo itself has not yet said a word about this topic. Moreover! If the console is in development, then this is not some new generation, like Sony and Microsoft, but just a slightly modified Switch. Something like PS4 Slim or Xbox One S.

"And of course, our hardware developers. The same developers who brought unparalleled performance to the Xbox One X. Now they are fully focused on building the next Xbox consoles. With them, we once again want to offer a quality product that will become the benchmark for console gaming." — Phil Spencer

This opinion is confirmed by an article on the site Thurrott.com, which is dedicated to Windows and Microsoft. It says here that the next generation Xbox is codenamed Scarlett. The release should take place in 2020. The product is described as a line of devices. Of course, and now Xbox is a family of products. There are cheaper models and more powerful and expensive Xbox X. The latter have more graphical power and increased speed.

In addition, in the annual interview, Phil Spencer said even more. He talked about games like Hellblade for people without consoles or even TV. For those who own Smart TVs, most of them contain the decoding chip and USB connectors required for such a streaming console.

I also think this strategy relies on Sony's perception of the PlayStation 4 Pro as the base console. Only in this case we will see multi-platform support for this concept. Sony still sticks to the concept of a full-fledged generational leap. I was told this during the launch of the PlayStation 4.

So, great idea for Xbox One X owners, but the slim Scorpio variant has a limited lifespan. Although a cheaper version of the console will come in handy. Look at a full next generation console. It needs a big processor, a lot of RAM, a solid state drive to provide high speed. All this is expensive.

Of course, there may be more ideas for the next consoles. For example, the Switch portable console has made its own adjustments. Maybe, just maybe. The underclocked 7nm SoC can run Xbox One X games on handheld consoles. We need to wait a few years for the appearance of 5G cellular networks, after which everything will be broadcast to smartphones and tablets. Streaming has great potential, which is why Microsoft and EA are bringing games to IP platforms. There are at least two other major players who can make their own announcements. However, this is a topic for another article.

Update: Microsoft didn't show any new hardware in the Xbox series at E3 2018, but it did mention a few things. Speaking on stage, Phil Spencer said, "Our hardware team is working on the deep development of a new generation of Xbox consoles that aims to set a new benchmark for console gaming." We don't have any other details, but at least we know something new is in the works. Given the amount of attention the PlayStation 5 has received recently, we think now is the perfect time for Spencer to reveal something about the next Xbox.

Five years have passed since the release of the Xbox One, during which time Microsoft managed to squeeze all the juice out of the platform.

After a rather difficult launch marred by user outrage at high prices, mediocre design and updates, Microsoft's decision to listen to fans and be transparent about its intentions was a positive move. Consoles are now affordable, look good, and are selling better than ever. And now that Microsoft has stepped into the 4K game with , we think the future for the Xbox series looks bright enough.

However, it is not easy to guess where the company will go next.

Lately, hardware developers (Microsoft in particular) have favored iterative updates, which could spell a mediocre Xbox Two update that doesn't live up to expectations from a next-gen console.

The head of marketing at Microsoft Xbox Games said in an interview with Engadget in 2016 that Microsoft sees a future "without console generations" and "We think of it as a family of devices."

So perhaps instead of offering a console that jumps from generation to generation after the platform has been idle for five years, we might have to get used to incremental hardware improvements every two to three years. Improvements that, importantly, will be able to support older games, will help prevent consumer split.

However, the additional improvement in technology does not promise new console designs. Windows Central's Jez Corden recently revealed on his Twitter profile that the next Xbox console is already in development and work is well under way, to the point where the platform already has a codename (although he neglected it).

However, work hasn't gone far enough for us to expect a new Xbox earlier than 2019. According to Corden, it's too soon to expect a new console within two years, but it will most likely be backwards compatible with the rest of the Xbox family. Interestingly, between 2019 and 2020, analysts predict that Sony will launch .

We don't think it's likely that Microsoft will release a new console before Sony, but we don't think Microsoft will try to outplay Sony given that the manufacturer has only recently gone to 4K games.

That, however, won't stop us from speculating about the next generation of Xbox and what the new console will bring.

xboxTWO: RELEASE DATE AND NEWS

IMPRESSIVE TECHNOLOGY

The new job listing suggests that Microsoft is throwing all its energy into working on the next Xbox. The company is looking for a senior electrical engineer, promising to "be a part of what's next" in the Xbox division.

Xbox is looking for an engineer to "lead DRAM development for the Xbox Console Hardware Development Team", adding that "DRAM solutions include DDR3, GDDR5, GDDR6 and future DRAM technologies."

This person will be working on "current and future Xbox design projects." In 2017, Jez Corden already speculated that the next Xbox was in the works, and new information highlights that information.

ANDREW HOUSE: THE NEXT GENERATION

Former PlayStation chief Andrew House recently spoke about the future of consoles at the GamesBeat Summit in California. While House was reluctant to delve into the specifics of the next PlayStation, he said he believes physical media will be connected to all consoles for some time due to the need to expand into new markets. It can be assumed that this also applies to the future Xbox console.

In an interview, House said: I don't have any reliable information about this, but I believe discs will stay in the industry for a while. Perhaps we will get a choice of models that will or will not rely on physical media, not a bad prospect.”

Regardless, House also believes that streaming will be the future of gaming, a sentiment that echoes Microsoft's Phil Spencer, who emphasized the importance of "Netflix to video games." This could be a natural continuation of the downloadable Xbox Game Pass in the next generation.

WHAT WILL THE NEWXBOX?

The hardest part of a future console is actually guessing what the console will be called, given the progression of names that have come before. Microsoft won't be ditching the Xbox brand anytime soon, of course, but it's not easy to define an additional index.

If it's a completely new generation of console, it would make sense to call it Xbox Two, but there are other options, including the Xbox 720, which is confusing so we can't be sure of the name at this point.

If you continue predicting names for the new Xbox based on the current naming progression, you will have to rely on the latest console - this is Xbox One X. If X is to be read as ten, the next console will be Xbox One II or Xbox II (2). Okay, we're just joking. No matter what, Microsoft is a complex company that is hard to predict when it comes to console naming.

WHAT THE NEWXBOX?

What is a little easier is to predict the possibilities that the new Xbox will be able to offer.

The Xbox One X is a huge step forward for Microsoft, allowing the console to offer 4K gaming and PC connectivity. This is currently the most powerful console on the market, where can Microsoft go from this stage?

We can only guess. And that's exactly what we're going to do. Join.

A POWERFUL GAMING-FORMATED CONSOLE

We like to think that Microsoft has learned a lot from the difficult Xbox One launch. The Xbox One simply couldn't offer the benefits of the only HD console on the market, as it did with the Xbox 360, and besides, the launch was overshadowed by the bundled Kinect, which pushed the console's price tag higher than it should have.

As a result, the PlayStation 4 took (and kept) the lead in terms of market share.

Microsoft has definitely addressed many of these issues with the Xbox One X. The new console's hardware was almost entirely focused on gaming, with no redundant hardware at all. In fact, Microsoft has gone so far as to drop the Kinect port entirely. We believe that the company will turn this trick again.

BUDGET AND PREMIUM OPTIONS

With the One S and One X, Microsoft is offering an iterative and layered update model. Not only does the company release gradually improved hardware over time, it also maintains previous versions of the console and allows them to exist as a budget option.

As an example, the One X is still an expensive console (significantly more expensive than the PlayStation 4 Pro), but the Xbox One S remains on sale as a worthy and attractive alternative, which is still the way to play all the games, not only its own, but also the previous one. generations.

However, after each console got a chance to become a budget model, they all became obscure. We've already seen something similar with the original Xbox One, it's likely that the Xbox Two release will have the same impact on the Xbox One S.

We believe that Microsoft may wish for a certain degree of market saturation for the Xbox One X (or at least 4K TVs) before launching the Xbox Two, but once the console hits the market, the transition will be major.

TESTS - WORK ON ERRORS

In a sense, we understand that it is reasonable to assume that the new Xbox Two will have a whole set of new technologies with progressive implementation.

This solution has the great advantage of allowing Microsoft to determine what works and what doesn't work over time, rather than taking a leap of faith with brand new hardware.

SUPPORTVR andAR

We learned that some things are not important for this generation of consoles, such as motion sensitivity and rich screen, but other technologies, such as VR and AR, are very interesting areas for developers.

Microsoft has already confirmed that the Xbox One X will support Windows 10-based VR and mixed reality headsets, but that's not a very strong statement given their absence from E3.

If it continues to grow, we expect Microsoft to clarify its position on the Xbox One X and VR headsets for the console's successor. The Xbox Two could very well be a HoloLens console. If the technology fails, Microsoft can polish it for the next generation, as it did with the Kinect, but without risking hurting initial sales.

Meanwhile, if the visuals of the Xbox One X in 4K can't make the console as appealing as Microsoft had hoped, we have no doubt that the solution will remain relevant for the Xbox two, but the new generation may gain emphasis on these features in general marketing.

BEST AUDIOVISUAL TECHNOLOGIES

Recently, Microsoft has expressed interest in integrating the latest audiovisual technologies into its consoles - support for Dolby Atmos, 4K and HDR. This is exactly what we might see in the next generation.

It's clear that Microsoft wants Xbox gaming to offer a complete experience, and perhaps the next console will include some kind of projection system similar to the Project Ariana that Razer showed off at CES 2017, where the gaming environment expanded beyond the screen. . Something like this could use the Xbox Two as an immersive gaming machine, we know this kind of technology has been under consideration by the Illumiroom project since 2013.

CROSS-PLATFORM SYSTEM

Nintendo is diligently bridging the gap between handheld and home consoles with the Nintendo Switch, we can see Microsoft uniting its PC and console users even more strongly with the move to Xbox Two.

The Windows 10 and Xbox Stores are hard at work encouraging cross-platform gaming, account bundling, and general purchases, and we may see further developments in this direction with the new generation, especially as Microsoft offers consoles that can match the performance of desktop PCs.

WHEN THE NEXT COMES OUTXBOX?

At this stage, we can say with confidence that we are going to get a new console, but do we really have to wait eight years, as we did between the previous generation and the current one? In fact, this may be the case, but thanks to iterations, of course, the situation can be mitigated.

And while it's not two years from now, we think it's reasonable to expect the Xbox Two to be three years from now, possibly with a 2021 release. It'll be just eight years after the original Xbox One came out, and could be a great time to transition to the next generation. Around the same time, analysts expect Sony to release the PlayStation 5.

With the consistent and thoughtful steps that Microsoft is taking and how the company has begun to listen to feedback from its users, we expect the Xbox Two to be a very strong release. In the meantime, a lot depends on the Xbox One X as well.

We've also been thinking a bit about the future of the PlayStation, read on for everything we know about the new one.