Friday, November 3rd 2017
Microsoft: Demand for Xbox One X Defies Expectations
Microsoft has said that demand for its upcoming Xbox One X games console is meeting expectations, and then some. Panos Panay, corporate vice president of devices, told CNBC that he wouldn't be able to talk about specific numbers, but that demand was, quote, "super high". He added that "I won't compare it to other consoles. What I'll say is the demand for Xbox One X right now is exactly where we anticipated, even more so when you see that excitement for the product... this is something that resonates with gamers."
The demand is so high, in fact, that there have been numerous reports of shortages, which means supply isn't even being able to sustain demand for the new Xbox, 4K-enabled console that launches on November 7th. Whether this stems from the fact that demand really is "super high", or limited production, or a mix of those two, is always up for debate. However, one only has to consider the amount of hardware that's being crammed in such a tiny box to glimpse the massive effort in engineering that was needed for this console - it's a mass of custom hardware, 60% smaller than the Original Xbox One, while delivering almost 5x the performance. It's likely this demand is fueled by the total of 130 games (and counting) that have already been confirmed to receive Xbox One X compatibility patches. The presence of a UHD Blu-Ray solution also doesn't hurt its media pedigree either, though the $499 cost of entry is somewhat steep by console standards. Here though, it's definitely well deserved - at least when one takes into account the hardware.
But there's more to this than the usual performance increase - and accompanying resolution bump which can sometimes go to more than 4K resolution, as is the case with Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall 2. Microsoft is also cooking up a VR push with its new console, which now really does have the processing grunt to push those workloads to an external device. Microsoft's Mixed Reality ecosystem is well and thriving, and while there are currently no Xbox One X specific headsets, those are kept away only for a time.
Source:
CNBC
The demand is so high, in fact, that there have been numerous reports of shortages, which means supply isn't even being able to sustain demand for the new Xbox, 4K-enabled console that launches on November 7th. Whether this stems from the fact that demand really is "super high", or limited production, or a mix of those two, is always up for debate. However, one only has to consider the amount of hardware that's being crammed in such a tiny box to glimpse the massive effort in engineering that was needed for this console - it's a mass of custom hardware, 60% smaller than the Original Xbox One, while delivering almost 5x the performance. It's likely this demand is fueled by the total of 130 games (and counting) that have already been confirmed to receive Xbox One X compatibility patches. The presence of a UHD Blu-Ray solution also doesn't hurt its media pedigree either, though the $499 cost of entry is somewhat steep by console standards. Here though, it's definitely well deserved - at least when one takes into account the hardware.
33 Comments on Microsoft: Demand for Xbox One X Defies Expectations
Then again, games for consoles are more expensive and you have to expect that when you change consoles (assuming you only want one in your living room), you'll have to part away from some of your favorite old games. Where such issues on PC basically don't exist. You'll be able to run them one way or another. I hope it'll work out for Microsoft, because they are the closest relatives to Windows platform, making ports higher quality which is better for everyone in general. Just stay away from silly exclusives and we're good.
Xbox has a reputation for being nicer and playstation for being more powerful and having more exclusives. Now though playstation just has exclusives and price in its favour, but if tou want more power, don't necessarily want the exclusives and buy lots of games, one x is the way to go.
Don't forgot that some games you buy once and have both for xbox AND pc. That old games subscription thingey is quite good too if you buy many games normally, but don't play them that much. Not the best graphocs often, but a lot of fun as gapfiller between AAA titles.
Point is, you'll be fine with either.
Last gen I bought both Xbox360 and PS3, and soon realized that I only play consoles for exclusives. Having fancier spec means nothing without good exclusives.
Still would get a large, fast external HDD though and maybe stick a ssd in the one x after a few years or get an external one now. If you don't mind downloading overnight or something like that, you'll be fine with a HDD and that internal one for once isn't half bad.
My PC is always going to remain king for gaming, but for casual gaming (Windows store allows cross-platform gaming) Xbox holds it's own.
For example, I have a Fanatec racing wheel that I use exclusively on PC for Project Cars 2, Forza Motorsports 7. But when I want to play those games on my sofa, I'm not going to setup the steering wheel. Just as much as I'm not going to play Fifa on my computer, etc.
The round rings are the lighted sensors for the eyes on the headset I guess.
* but there's not that many available
Of more major and expensive bits, any desktop CPU (lets say starting from $100) is at least as powerful as that 8-core Jaguar in XBX and GPU amounts very closely to RX580 (MSRP $229).
All these years later and Crysis is still winning.
Also, for console quality parity, we are looking at high-ish details and in most cases 30fps. That requires surprisingly less powerful and cheaper components than you would think.
Consoles did change as well. Xbox One and PS4 are low-spec when compared to contemporary PC:
- 8 cores, yes, but these are clocked low and Jaguar architecture- lowend, tablet-grade stuff, comparable to Atom in Intel's range.
- GPU is strictly midrange. PS4 and Xbox One had something in the range of 7990/7850 - both midrange at the time. PS4 Pro and Xbox One X have roughly RX470 and RX580 equivalents - again, midrange at time of release.
Compare that to previous generations where consoles were very very powerful. GPUs at or exceeding then-highend PC GPUs and CPU solutions that were also more powerful (if not directly comparable). That was still the case just one generation ago - PS3/XB360 were like this.
HDDs are crucial to these systems, and I dont want to have to rip the thing apart to replace it when it dies, then risk MS banning my system.
I would just get a fast external drive.
The point of having a removable drive is being ale to replace the OG drive. HDDs dont last forever. The xbox one had a sealed drive, people were getting banned for using non standard drives. A proper removable drive does not have this issue.
Much like having an external battery pack is no replacement for a proper removable battery, having a squid of external drives is not a replacement for a proper removable internal drive. Especially as the playstation 3, 4, pro, and the xbox 360 let you do this...
It's the first truly 4k capable console to market, and looks like it's quite powerful. GPU is slightly strong than an RX580, let's call it an RX585, the Jaguar based cores are clocked a little higher, finally GDDR5 memory (though shared) with the CPU/GPU. As said before 4K BluRay drive. All this stuff is expensive on the PC market, but it's all stuffed into this relatively small box.
I am not sure what happens if internal one dies, whether you can keep going with an external one or not. I would expect you can.
If the exclusives list improves for xbox, and/or the price comes down a bit I might jump on it later though.