Brad Sams: Deciphering Xbox Scarlett: Anaconda, Anthem, Danta, Lockhart, Maverick, and Roma

[Remij 4,670]

IF this turns out to be true with multiple tiered SKUs at launch which are different in power, then expect the high end box to probably cost $600-$700... where the low end SKU will cost $400-500.  The reason I say this is because if MS is going to go all in on a powerful box at launch and not really leave themselves any room to release something substantially better within 3 years (which they wont...) then it's going to cost a lot of money up front. 

 

I was thinking that Sony might be real conservative with the PS5 specs to allow themselves that "year 3 upgrade".  MS could catch them off guard with a much more powerful console if they do.  MS could have a low spec console that is on par with PS5, and a high end that easily beats it at launch, while Sony waits for year 3...  If Sony DOES go for a mid to high end single sku, with the intent on releasing an upgrade console, then they might find their users upset that the new console isn't "better enough", because there simply IS NOT going to be another resolution increase nor a CPU increase meaningful enough in that time.. that's for sure.

 

MS though needs to keep things simple and have a clear market strategy that people can easily understand and read.

 

 

BTW, that video was retarded.  No new information whatsoever.. and terribly presented  

[DynamiteCop 2,085]

19 minutes ago, Remij_ said:

IF this turns out to be true with multiple tiered SKUs at launch which are different in power, then expect the high end box to probably cost $600-$700... where the low end SKU will cost $400-500.  The reason I say this is because if MS is going to go all in on a powerful box at launch and not really leave themselves any room to release something substantially better within 3 years (which they wont...) then it's going to cost a lot of money up front. 

 

I was thinking that Sony might be real conservative with the PS5 specs to allow themselves that "year 3 upgrade".  MS could catch them off guard with a much more powerful console if they do.  MS could have a low spec console that is on par with PS5, and a high end that easily beats it at launch, while Sony waits for year 3...  If Sony DOES go for a mid to high end single sku, with the intent on releasing an upgrade console, then they might find their users upset that the new console isn't "better enough", because there simply IS NOT going to be another resolution increase nor a CPU increase meaningful enough in that time.. that's for sure.

 

MS though needs to keep things simple and have a clear market strategy that people can easily understand and read.

 

 

BTW, that video was retarded.  No new information whatsoever.. and terribly presented  

With them making such a software and services push going forward (where all the money is made) I think your general idea is right but not the pricing. I think they're going to be a loss leader like they were with the 360, coming in just as hot for a lower price and come in hotter for a little bit more or maybe even the same cost. I know that's a big front loaded expense and loss but with their services and software aims it could easily be offset. You also have to think they're no doubt going to have those financing options available at launch as well. If the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One has shown us anything it's that you have to absolutely nail it from day one, if you fuck up it's over no matter how much you aim to correct it.

 

They have to come in guns blazing from the start. I mean look at the revenue avenues they have now.

 

• Play Anywhere (Xbox and PC revenue)
• GamePass (Xbox and PC revenue)
• xCloud (Xbox, Samsung TV, smart phone, tablet, PC etc. revenue)
• Xbox  Live Gold (Xbox revenue)
• Software and movie sales

 

They have so many revenue avenues now that eating device cost won't be even remotely as daunting as it used to be.

Edited December 17, 2018 by DynamiteCop!

[Remij 4,670]

13 minutes ago, DynamiteCop! said:

With them making such a software and services push going forward (where all the money is made) I think your general idea is right but not the pricing. I think they're going to be a loss leader like they were with the 360, coming in just as hot for a lower price and come in hotter for a little bit more or maybe even the same cost. I know that's a big front loaded expense and loss but with their services and software aims it could easily be offset. You also have to think they're no doubt going to have those financing options available at launch as well. If the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One has shown us anything it's that you have to absolutely nail it from day one, if you fuck up it's over no matter how much you aim to correct it.

 

They have to come in guns blazing from the start.

That's a good point.  With GamePass and all these other initiatives and revenue streams, they could price them both more competitively and take some losses on the hardware itself to wrestle back a decent amount of market share from Sony during the transition.  If there was a play to make, that would be the time to do it.  I think in general, people are quite receptive to what MS is doing even as Playstation owners.  They see some of that stuff and they want a Sony version of it.  If MS has a powerful as fuck console at launch, with all these services and financing options, as well as a killer new game or two around launch or close to the launch period, then they could pull a fair amount of people from Sony.. especially if Sony really doesn't have anything big within the launch window.

 

Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting.  We can be fairly confident that at least this time they have their priorities straight and are going in with a pro consumer mindset.  But as I said before, MS needs to have a very clear and concise way of marketing all of this to the consumer so that they understand what they are getting and can easily differentiate between it all.  Regardless of how it all goes down... they certainly are looking to reach every market at all the price points.  Hopefully they succeed.

[Goukosan 2,249]

Nothing is wrong with multiple gaming consoles SKU's...... the issue is having all these SKU's AT LAUNCH. 

 

spacing out the time between revisions gives you more time to improve so much more.  More powerful hardware and improvements to the system itself. 

 

Launching all at once takes away all those advantages of spacing out the time between revisions. 

 

Unless they also plan to release Mid gen refreshes for all the SKU's 

[madmaltese★ 2,550]

3 Skus including 1 streaming is exactly what I predicted months ago. Given what they seem to be going for it makes sense to them. Will be interesting how they market them all simultaneously at launch. 

[Spicalicious 128]

6 hours ago, Team 2019 said:

Looks like all games will be designed with the base "Arcade"/Lockhart model anyways. 

Third party games?

Edited December 18, 2018 by S#$@%^i

[Spicalicious 128]

Performance will be better for cloud based games.  Most of the cpu processing will done on high end servers.  Scarlett CPU won't be limited like the next gen ps5 but will pretty much have Unlimited Power.

[DynamiteCop 2,085]

6 hours ago, Team 2019 said:

Looks like all games will be designed with the base "Arcade"/Lockhart model anyways. 

Why would you think that? Games even now are being designed around the X and it's a minority late release product. Day one the Anaconda would be the base for development and no doubt the most adopted as people are willing to spend $500 or so out of the gate en masse with a new gen.

[Goukosan 2,249]

13 minutes ago, DynamiteCop! said:

Why would you think that? Games even now are being designed around the X and it's a minority late release product. Day one the Anaconda would be the base for development and no doubt the most adopted as people are willing to spend $500 or so out of the gate en masse with a new gen.

game's aren't being designed around X... they're being enhanced for X either post launch or during development.   

 

Base Xbox1, Xbox1S and Base PS4 still sell more and than Pro and Scorpio..both hardware and software wise. 

 

The base systems are holding back what a game built from the ground up could do on both X and Pro.   A game built specifically for X would be out of this world.   Unfortunately... the Base X1 is still the majority of the userbase despite the hopes and dreams of lemmings. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Goukosan

[DynamiteCop 2,085]

12 minutes ago, Goukosan said:

game's aren't being designed around X... they're being enhanced for X either post launch or during development.   

 

Base Xbox1, Xbox1S and Base PS4 still sell more and than Pro and Scorpio..both hardware and software wise. 

 

The base systems are holding back what a game built from the ground up could do on both X and Pro.   A game built specifically for X would be out of this world.   Unfortunately... the Base X1 is still the majority of the userbase despite the hopes and dreams of lemmings. 

Developers scale back, they do not build up. You have no earthly idea what you're talking about. PC gaming is the model of game development in general, they overshoot greatly and then dial back aspects for platforms individually and deploy.

 

The same happens with consoles which mind you share most games with PC. Forza Horizon 4 for example was built around the X. Did that negatively affect it? No, it's the best looking racer in existence. Did it negatively affect the game for the base system? No.

 

Games are easy to scale back and are designed to do so. There's not this intrinsic tie from the base console to the X holding anything back. Red Dead Redemption 2 is another example of this shitting all over you. 

 

Stick to Nintendo jargon, you're clueless beyond it.

[Spicalicious 128]

20 minutes ago, Goukosan said:

 

[Goukosan 2,249]

31 minutes ago, DynamiteCop! said:

Developers scale back, they do not build up. You have no earthly idea what you're talking about. PC gaming is the model of game development in general, they overshoot greatly and then dial back aspects for platforms individually and deploy.

 

The same happens with consoles which mind you share most games with PC. Forza Horizon 4 for example was built around the X. Did that negatively affect it? No, it's the best looking racer in existence. Did it negatively affect the game for the base system? No.

 

Games are easy to scale back and are designed to do so. There's not this intrinsic tie from the base console to the X holding anything back. Red Dead Redemption 2 is another example of this shitting all over you. 

 

Stick to Nintendo jargon, you're clueless beyond it.

Scalability goes in BOTH DIRECTIONS (up and down) you dense clown.   

 

All those games you just mentioned are X enhanced....You notice I said either during development or after?  Development still has to factor in the base system. 

 

Saying the base systems are holding the X back doesn't mean the X enhanced games don't look better.... I never said that.  The X enhanced games do look better than base games. 

 

 

What I am saying.... a game built from THE GROUND UP FOR THE X.... that does not have to factor in the base systems at all... will look BETTER than an X enhanced game.   You denying that shows how clueless you are. 

 

Learn to read and comprehend. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Goukosan

[JonDnD 2,608]

6 hours ago, Goukosan said:

game's aren't being designed around X... they're being enhanced for X either post launch or during development.   

 

Base Xbox1, Xbox1S and Base PS4 still sell more and than Pro and Scorpio..both hardware and software wise. 

 

The base systems are holding back what a game built from the ground up could do on both X and Pro.   A game built specifically for X would be out of this world.   Unfortunately... the Base X1 is still the majority of the userbase despite the hopes and dreams of lemmings. 

Not really. X is enough to push 900p games to 4k or close, or 1080p games to 4k. Sometimes with a little more added.

[DynamiteCop 2,085]

6 hours ago, Goukosan said:

Scalability goes in BOTH DIRECTIONS (up and down) you dense clown.   

 

All those games you just mentioned are X enhanced....You notice I said either during development or after?  Development still has to factor in the base system. 

 

Saying the base systems are holding the X back doesn't mean the X enhanced games don't look better.... I never said that.  The X enhanced games do look better than base games. 

 

 

What I am saying.... a game built from THE GROUND UP FOR THE X.... that does not have to factor in the base systems at all... will look BETTER than an X enhanced game.   You denying that shows how clueless you are. 

 

Learn to read and comprehend. 

With my background in PC I just don't believe that, at all and I'm sure Remij would attest to this. Take Crysis for example, that game killed PC's in 2007, the best PC's were absolutely murdered then but eventually it was made to run on the Xbox 360 from 2005. Sure it was cut back but that's the point, that's how game development works. The best looking games you're seeing now are the best the X is capable of offering right now, this has more to do with engine limitations and technological presence as it stands now more than this belief that the system is being artificially held back by something. 

 

Anything the Xbox One X could ever theoretically render can be rendered on the Xbox One, you'd just have to cut it back by a factor of 4-5. Retroactive support is one thing as you're taking existing code and modifying it for higher end parameters, but code in development? It's being built specifically for and around that system and tailored for it. Take Halo Infinite for example, they're not sitting there developing that game saying to themselves "Will the Xbox One S be able to handle this?" Whatever they develop for the X can be scaled down for the S and ensure perfect operation. It's a no brainer, the S isn't holding anything back, it's inconsequential to the development of games surrounding the X because graphical implementation is not static and can be altered, lowered and dialed back from a much higher starting point. 

 

 

[Playstation Tablet 1,725]

Quick summary of the video in OP for those who can't watch. Gonna break things down by codename and family of devices:

- Xbox One -
- Maverick: Codename for the discless Xbox One SKU. No details about which console it's based off of (S or X)
- ROMA: Codename for Xbox service that links console purchases to your Microsoft account. Adds account/subscriptions to your box before you get it to save setup time.
- Anthem: Codename for Microsoft's Xbox One S-based XCloud tech. There's already Anthem V2 which is based on a One S hardware redesign (no codename mentioned for that, rumored for next Fall to cut production costs)

- Next Gen - 
- Scarlett: Codename for the "family of devices" Microsoft plans to introduce next gen
-- Danta: Codename for the Xbox "next-gen" devkit. Brad seems to imply that it covers both SKU's
--- Anaconda: Codename for the more powerful next-gen Xbox (Also referred to as Xbox Pro internally)
--- Lockhart: Codename for the less powerful next-gen Xbox (Also referred to as Xbox Arcade internally)
---- Anaconda-based streaming console: Mentioned, but has no codename attached that we know of