Microsoft: Demand for Xbox One X Defies Expectations

[Raevenlord]

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.



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[RejZoR]

$500 isn't all that much if you consider this is a gaming system that will ensure properly running games and also has other multimedia features that can be used for entertainment. And it's meant to run for what, at least 5 years? PC's may be more versatile, but it's unlikely that for $500 you'll get a PC that will run games the same through its entire lifetime.

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.

 

[MustSeeMelons]

I will have to decide between this and the PS4 PRO when Red Dead Redemption 2 launches..

 

[Prima.Vera]

What's the deal with those BDSM controllers??

 

[Deleted member 172152]

I will have to decide between this and the PS4 PRO when Red Dead Redemption 2 launches..

One x for power, psr pro if you REALLLLLLYYYYY want them exclusives! XD

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.

 

[silapakorn]

Sorry MS but I think I'll go with PS4 alone this time. As I already own a gaming PC, Xbox One X seems redundant at this point.

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.

 

[R0H1T]

500 dollars is a mini miracle considering the GPU, memory prices atm & UHD BR drive to boot, metaphorically speaking.

 

[Deleted member 172152]

500 dollars is a mini miracle considering the GPU, memory prices atm & UHD BR drive to boot, metaphorically speaking.

And for once they didn't cheap out on the hdd! Not one of those terrible 80-100MB/s 32MB cache drives (and terrible average speeds), but it should do 100 and quite a bit and apparently has a bigger cache of 128MB, which helps the average speed. Not quite an sshd in my eyes, but it should perform like one. Basically still quite slow downloads because of the HUGE files, but loading times shouldn't be too bad, especially considering game file size can reach 100GB and more!

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.

 

[StrayKAT]

I hope it does well....even if I want PC gaming to take the lead. I kind of half thought that few would be interested but I guess not.

 

[metalfiber]

Only a few Xbox games didn't come out for the PC too. For gaming I'll stick with the PC, PS4 combo for now. I'll always get the PC version of the game if one is available.

 

[Exceededgoku]

Not a fair poll to be honest, as I just like to have the latest and greatest. I've got an Xbox One, an Xbox One S, a PS4 and a PS4 Pro. I've got a 4K HDR projector so I need(/want?) the best machines available.

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.

 

[natr0n]

What's the deal with those BDSM controllers??

When the ankle shackle kit comes out then we ask questions.


The round rings are the lighted sensors for the eyes on the headset I guess.

 

[TheGuruStud]

I guess they saw apple's marketing and copied it. *SO MUCH DEMAND THEY'RE SOLD OUT

* but there's not that many available

 

[londiste]

$500 isn't all that much if you consider this is a gaming system that will ensure properly running games and also has other multimedia features that can be used for entertainment. And it's meant to run for what, at least 5 years? PC's may be more versatile, but it's unlikely that for $500 you'll get a PC that will run games the same through its entire lifetime.

Overpriced RAM and midrange GPUs are currently what stop us from building a very close approximation for similar price.
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).

 

[RejZoR]

Things have changed a bit recently and games run incredibly well even on PC on very high settings. But that wasn't the case just few years ago where for new AAA releases, you were pretty much forced to buy a more powerful stuff for PC to run games comfortably at somewhat decent quality. Today, most even AAA games run at 60fps with almost everything maxed out even on mid range stuff or even 3 generations old top end cards. So, that's good. Not sure if consoles did that or just devs finally managed to have engines that actually work, but I kinda like it. And games still look insanely good, so it wasn't a trade off of quality for speed.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Things have changed a bit recently and games run incredibly well even on PC on very high settings. But that wasn't the case just few years ago where for new AAA releases, you were pretty much forced to buy a more powerful stuff for PC to run games comfortably at somewhat decent quality. Today, most even AAA games run at 60fps with almost everything maxed out even on mid range stuff or even 3 generations old top end cards. So, that's good. Not sure if consoles did that or just devs finally managed to have engines that actually work, but I kinda like it. And games still look insanely good, so it wasn't a trade off of quality for speed.

Texture res is in the dumpster. The new Wolfenstein looks like absolute garbage. It was made to run on xbone and it shows.

All these years later and Crysis is still winning.

 

[londiste]

Things have changed a bit recently and games run incredibly well even on PC on very high settings. But that wasn't the case just few years ago where for new AAA releases, you were pretty much forced to buy a more powerful stuff for PC to run games comfortably at somewhat decent quality. Today, most even AAA games run at 60fps with almost everything maxed out even on mid range stuff or even 3 generations old top end cards. So, that's good. Not sure if consoles did that or just devs finally managed to have engines that actually work, but I kinda like it. And games still look insanely good, so it wasn't a trade off of quality for speed.

It has been more than a few years since that. I would say almost a decade now.
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.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Can you actually replace the HDD this time around? I didnt get an xbone because I refuse to buy a system with a sealed HDD in place. Got a PS4 instead.

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.

 

[londiste]

Can you actually replace the HDD this time around?

nope.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

nope.

Good to know. Another console to skip.

 

[Deleted member 172152]

nope.

Actually, I think you can. It's not soldered or anything. Not sure how easy it is to do though.

I would just get a fast external drive.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Actually, I think you can. It's not soldered or anything. Not sure how easy it is to do though.

I would just get a fast external drive.

And then replace the console when the internal one dies?

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...

 

[Slizzo]

I have one on preorder.

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.

 

[StrayKAT]

I have one on preorder.

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.

It is pretty nice. My PC is better (I even wasted cash on a 4k bd-burner lol), but this is better than most PCs. For now. But in some ways, my PC is pretty humble too. Plenty here that blow mine away.

 

[londiste]

Actually, I think you can. It's not soldered or anything. Not sure how easy it is to do though.

It is competely standard SATA drive and not soldered down. However, you would need to pry open the console far more than you would want to.

And then replace the console when the internal one dies?
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.

A lot of people are using external drives with Xbox Ones. Games are large enough that 10-20 of them will easily take more space than internal 500GB/1TB. External USB drives are officially supported, so no need to ban anyone for it.

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.