One of the biggest kerfuffles out of E3 2016 was the unveiling of Xbox One S and Xbox Scorpio, the true successor to Xbox One that will launch sometime in late 2017. At that time, Microsoft announced that even Xbox One S would run games better than Xbox One, only to backtrack on their statement and spat with journalists over it, only to later on confirm it. The next topic at hand, which was also dealt with similar confusion, was the possibility of exclusive Xbox Scorpio games which Microsoft reaffirmed was an absolute no, only to now backtrack on it – though there is a big caveat to it.

When Aaron Souppouris from Engadget asked Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s Head of Xbox Games Marketing:

 Q:

Phil Spencer said that all accessories and all games work across all versions of the Xbox One. But he also said Project Scorpio is specifically the only Xbox that’s powerful enough to run VR. I don’t quite understand how those two statements can coexist 

Greenberg responded with:

 A:

The idea was first, how can we innovate with hardware without sacrificing compatibility. Generally when you bring a new iteration of console hardware you lose compatibility with their games and accessories. So we’re saying, if you bought games and accessories for your Xbox One, or you buy an Xbox One S, those games and those accessories are going to work on Project Scorpio. When you think about backwards compatibility and our games lineup, we want gamers to know that when they’re ready to upgrade to Scorpio that content will go with them. That’s our promise and commitment around compatibility.

The next thing was ‘are you going to make games exclusively to Project Scorpio?’ And we said we’re not going to have console-exclusive games for Project Scorpio. It’s one ecosystem, whether you have an Xbox One S or Project Scorpio we don’t want anyone to be left behind, Now, with the power and capabilities we have we’ll be able to do high-fidelity VR. 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. 

Apparently in the world of Microsoft, VR games which will be exclusive to Xbox Scorpio since VR won’t come to Xbox One/Xbox One S don’t count as games or exclusives and are instead an exclusive “experience.” Yeah, okay buddy.

Phil Spencer has proven time and time again that he’s a generally great guy all around with a lot of passion for the industry so to see him get stuck in middle of a corporate spin is a shame. As for Aaron Greenberg, the head of marketing at Xbox, I’m not all that surprised. Now the big question going forward will be if PS4 Neo will have its own set of exclusives when it’s likely to be revealed on September 7th. Hopefully come next month, Sony is able to take the stage and put together a clear narrative for the new PS4 like they did when the original launched nearly four years ago.

Discuss:

How do you think Sony should angle PS4 Neo?