Yes, there will be Project Scorpio VR-exclusives
"That space, we don't think of that as console gaming."
Microsoft's announcement of Project Scorpio sparked a number of questions about how the ultra powerful console would co-exist with the already-out Xbox One and Xbox One S.
Microsoft has promised that there will not be any Project Scorpio-exclusive games. At E3, Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Eurogamer: "When you're buying a console game from us, you know that console game will run on your original Xbox."
Scorpio games, as you'd expect, will be designed to take advantage of the console's six teraflops of power and 4K resolution. But they'll all work on an original Xbox One.
What about virtual reality, though? Project Scorpio is VR-capable in a way the Xbox One is not. So, surely VR games that work on Project Scorpio will not, in fact, also work on Xbox One, and thus be exclusive.
Correct, Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg told Engadget at Gamescom this week. Why? Because Microsoft thinks of VR as separate to traditional console video games.
"With the power and capabilities we have, we'll be able to do high-fidelity VR," Greenberg said.
"Now, that space, we don't think of that as console gaming, we think of that as high-fidelity VR, and so with the VR experiences those will be new things that you will get on Project Scorpio."
Meanwhile, Greenberg suggested Project Scorpio could signal the end of console generations as we've come to know them. That is, this might be it for the traditional video game console generational leap.
"Is this the last console generation?" Engadget asked.
"I think it is," Greenberg replied.
"For us, we think the future is without console generations; we think that the ability to build a library, a community, to be able to iterate with the hardware - we're making a pretty big bet on that with Project Scorpio. We're basically saying, 'This isn't a new generation; everything you have continues forward and it works.' We think of this as a family of devices."
What Greenberg appears to be saying here is that Microsoft's had enough of launching new console hardware that's incompatible with what's gone before. It is, effectively, doing away with the console generation as it's previously been thought of.
Rather, Microsoft is looking at permanent backward compatibility, an iterative hardware model similar to the one Apple employs with iOS. It's worth noting that doesn't mean permanent forward compatibility, however.
But, Greenberg qualified this statement by saying that if Project Scorpio is a massive success, Microsoft may think again.
"But we'll see," he continued. "We're going to learn from this, we're going to see how that goes. So far I'd say, based on the reaction, there appears to be a lot of demand and interest around Project Scorpio, and we think it's going to be a pretty big success. If the games and the content deliver, which I think they will do, I think it will change the way we think about the future of console gaming."
For other info on Microsoft's next console, read our everything we know on Project Scorpio, including proposed release date, price and much more.