Xbox Project Scarlett : Release date, specs and more you want to know about Xbox 2
Let the games begin!
Microsoft and Sony have not started duking it out over the next generation of consoles yet, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer might have just thrown the first punch. He recently revealed Microsoft’s vision of a console four times more powerful than the Xbox One X. Time to board the hype train.
In a recent interview with Gamespot, Phil Spencer revealed that the key pillar for Project Scarlett will be consistency. The company wants to be sure that games load fast and run at 60 fps all the time.
"I think the area that we really want to focus on next generation is frame rate and playability of the games," the Xbox head said. "Ensuring that the games load incredibly fast, ensuring that the game is running at the highest frame rate possible. People love 60 frames-per-second games, so getting games to run at 4K 60 [fps] I think will be a real design goal for us."
This revelation is not new. Spencer had said as much back in June 2018 when they first officially unveiled Project Scarlett at E3. What is different is the statement that they are shooting for 60 fps in 4K.
Additionally, the team is shooting for full backward compatibility. Remember how cool it was when Sony made the PlayStation 2 back-compatible with PS1 as well as with PS3 playing PS2 games? Well, until they stripped that part out during the PS2's mid-lifespan refresh and did away with it entirely on the PS4 (unless you subscribe to PS Now)?
Microsoft is not just taking us back to the days of previous-console compatibility, but the next system will play all Xbox games ever made.
"Making sure that all four generations of content — so the original Xbox games that run on your Xbox One today, the OG Xbox; the 360 games that run on your Xbox One; your Xbox One games; and the new generation games — all run on the next platform is important to us," said Spencer.
Not only that, the team wants to make it possible for players playing on any generation of Xbox to play together without worrying about cross-platform playability issues. The new Box would also ideally "respect the compatibility of the controllers you already have." If you have spent $100 on a controller that you love, Spencer says that they want to make sure you can still use it.
This vision seems overly ambitious, with many hurdles to overcome. Although, if Microsoft can pull it all off, it might just overtake Sony’s number one spot in the console market. However, it’s still too early to declare victory. A lot of work still needs to be done, and Sony has not yet played their next-generation hand.
Xbox Project Scarlett: key facts
Xbox Project Scarlett: key facts
- What is it? Xbox Project Scarlett will be the next-gen Xbox console, aka the Xbox Two
- Xbox Project Scarlett release date: Microsoft has given Xbox Project Scarlett a release window of "Holiday 2020" – so that's likely between the months of October and December 2020.
- What can I play on it? Halo Infinite is its first confirmed launch title, while all previous generations of Xbox console games will be covered by backwards compatibility.
- What will the Xbox Scarlett cost? No prices yet, but the high-end console likely won't be cheap.
- Will Xbox Scarlett have VR? Microsoft doesn't have anything to see about VR on the Xbox yet, though Sony has confirmed that PSVR will work on its own incoming console.
Xbox Project Scarlett specs
With only a sizzle reel to go by, we don't yet know what the Xbox Project Scarlett will look like, let alone if it'll eventually be named the Xbox Two. But we do have a good idea of its internal hardware, and the Xbox Project Scarlett specs are already sounding quite special.
Using custom-designed processor from AMD making use of Zen 2 and Navi architecture, Xbox Project Scarlett will be 4x more powerful than the Xbox One X. It'll be possible of running games at 120Hz frame rates, at potential 8K resolutions, while also showcasing fancy real-time ray-tracing tech. It's the works.
An SSD will come as standard, as with the PS5, which will give it the option of using its storage system as virtual RAM, as well as lifting load time performance by a factor of 40x. That'll let developers stream in far more detailed worlds around a player. In terms of 'standard' RAM, the console will pack in a meaty GDDR6.
Though gamers are increasingly shifting their purchase preferences towards the convenience of digital downloads, Xbox Project Scarlett will also have a physical disk drive.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Xbox's Head of Microsoft Games Studios Matt Booty said:
"Yes, Scarlett will have an optical disc drive. I still have films at home on physical media - not many, but a few of my favourites. We know people have an attachment to buying games on disc, to building a collection."
It's also likely that the new Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 that is available for pre-order right now and launching November 4 of this year will be the controller for this upcoming console. That could just be wishful thinking, but with the hyperbolic language surrounding this announcement, we would expect nothing less.
Indeed, Microsoft has confirmed that all your current Xbox One accessories will work with Xbox Project Scarlett, including existing controllers and headsets. But we'd doubt that also includes the ill-fated Kinect motion tracker.
In addition, benchmark results have appeared online for an AMD ‘Flute’ system-on-a-chip (SoC), leading some to speculate that this could be the hardware that will power Xbox Project Scarlett.
The benchmark results were spotted by a a Twitter user, and while we’re not sure what the purpose of the chip is, we know that Microsoft is working with AMD to produce a custom SoC that combines a processor and graphics card for the next Xbox – in the same way Sony is working with AMD on its custom Gonzalo SoC for the PlayStation 5.
If these benchmark results are real, and the AMD Flute SoC is indeed going to power the Xbox Scarlett console, then it gives us an idea of the console's specifications and potential power level – something Microsoft has been rather cagey about so far.
According to the benchmark results, the AMD Flute SoC will come with eight Zen 2 cores, 16 threads and SMT capability.
Interestingly, the base clock speed of the Flute SoC is just 1.6GHz, which is pretty low these days, with a maximum boost of 3.2GHz.
This suggests that the Flute SoC will be a low-power part for use in compact systems – such as a games console, and is similar to AMD’s Jaguar SoC which powered the Xbox One.
While on paper the Flute SoC’s processor doesn’t sound too impressive – especially when compared to modern desktop PCs’ CPUs – it looks like the Flute CPU will be at least two times faster than previous-generation Jaguar SoCs, and will be a big upgrade over the dated 28nm Jaguar SoCs found in the original Xbox One and PS4.
The Flute SoC is also expected to be 7nm, which will also bring power benefits.
As a system-on-a-chip, the AMD Flute looks like it comes with a graphics processing unit (GPU) as well, though clues about the graphics capabilities are harder to find. Apparently, it will be based on ‘NAVI 10LITE’ – which has been mentioned before when unreleased AMD Navi GPUs showed up in a Linux driver.
It’s possible that this is a ‘Lite’ version of the Navi 10 GPU, which will have reduced or limited specs compared to the full version, including lower CU (compute unit) counts. Having a lower CU count means the GPU will be less power-hungry, again suggesting that the AMD Flute SoC, if it does exist, is designed for a device where power efficiency is important – such as a games console.
Finally, the benchmark results also suggest the engineering sample uses 16GB of memory – though the type of memory is not mentioned. It could mean that the Flute SoC shares 16GB of GDDR6 memory between the CPU and GPU, in a similar way to how the Xbox One X shares GDDR5 memory.
So, does this mean we have a better idea of what the Xbox Scarlett’s specs will be? Well, there’s some compelling evidence, but remember that this is from a leaked benchmark, and we’re not sure if the AMD Flute SoC is going to be used in Xbox Scarlett – if the SoC even exits.
It’s also worth noting that this AMD Flute is apparently an engineering sample, which means this may not be its final specifications – and that could change if (and it’s a very big if) it ends up in the Xbox Scarlett when the console launches late 2020.
"I think the area that we really want to focus on next generation is frame rate and playability of the games," Spencer explained in an interview with Gamespot. "Ensuring that the games load incredibly fast, ensuring that the game is running at the highest frame rate possible."
In addition Spencer went on to explain that Microsoft is aiming to get Project Scarlett games to run at 60 FPS in 4K, calling the challenge a "design goal".
"This generation, we've really focused on 4K visuals and how we bring both movies through 4K Blu-ray and video streaming," Spencer explained. "And with Xbox One X allowing games to run at 4K visuals will make really strong visual enhancements next generation."
Xbox Project Scarlett games
Halo Infinite will has been confirmed to be an Xbox Project Scarlett launch title, bringing back the Master Chief for the franchises' first outing since 2015. It will have been five years at that point since a new mainline Halo game, so fans will be chomping at the bit for fresh Halo action.
The Halo franchise is widely regarded as the original Xbox’s first must-play games, so the move to launch a next-gen with a Halo game is both symbolic and quite business-savvy on Microsoft’s part.
To coincide with the announcement, Microsoft and the game's developer 343 Industries unveiled a new Halo Infinite trailer, available below:
If Halo is not your thing you wont be wanting for games to play at launch though – especially if you're an existing Xbox player. Xbox Project Scarlett will be capable of three generations of backwards compatibility. So, as well as Scarlett-era games, it'll also play games from the Xbox One, the Xbox 360, and the very first generation of the Xbox.
Xbox Project Scarlett price
Microsoft won't be pinned down on a price point quite yet – unsurprisingly, given what a sore spot the price of the Xbox One was for fans. At launch the original Xbox One cost a whopping $499 / £429 / AU$599, which was quickly reduced when Microsoft realised people weren't forking out.
Price will inevitably be determined by the cost of the components going into the console: Xbox Scarlett is going to be a lot more powerful than either the Xbox One S or Xbox One X, and that could mean we're looking at an even higher price tag.
The move towards streaming, however, may lead to smaller hard drives – or maybe even the option to buy without a hard drive at all – which would certainly cut down costs.
Jason Ronald, director of the Xbox platform, gave only a vague reassurance when speaking to Windows Central, saying that Microsoft knew "what reasonable price points are for a console and kind of what customers expect about that".
Xbox Project Scarlett release date
Expect to see the Xbox Project Scarlett console launch in the 'holiday' window of 2020. That's between October and December of 2020, and just in time for Christmas.
It's exactly the same sort of launch period we're expecting Sony to have for its PS5, too. Santa's going to be a busy guy next year.
We'll have more soon – hopefully including a specific release date rather than a launch window, and a real name for the console.
Keep in mind that all the rumors pointed to there being two new Xbox consoles on the way, codenamed Anaconda and Lockhart, the former being high end (likely what we've seen here) and the latter being a cheaper, streaming-focused solution. Time will tell if that's still Microsoft's plan, but one thing's for certain – it's throwing down the gauntlet for Sony's PlayStation 5 to take on.
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