Update: A Microsoft representative told GameSpot that Project Scorpio will offer “high-fidelity VR experiences.” He said, “When Project Scorpio ships later this year, it will be the most powerful console ever built with a 6 TFLOPS GPU to deliver true 4K gaming, high-fidelity VR experiences, and greater graphic fidelity. We have nothing additional to share at this time.”
Microsoft’s Project Scorpio is still slated for a holiday 2017 release date according to the official website, but as of late the previously touted feature of “hi-fidelity VR” seems to be mysteriously missing from the console’s official advertisement.
At one point “hi-fidelity VR” joined the phrases “True 4K Gaming”, “6 Teraflops of Power”, “8 CPU Cores” and “320 GB/s Memory Bandwidth”, but now the phrase is absent. VR as a whole may not seem as lucrative as a point of advertising considering the poor sales of VR headsets last year. Sales of both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive “ground to a halt” after their initial release which then led to the full Vive package being sold at 25% discount during the Winter Steam Sale.
Sony’s VR headset, PSVR, also took a big hit along with the rest of VR according to analysts SuperData. While Sony have not released any concrete evidence towards PSVR sales being below average, the originally expected sales projection of 2.6 million units dropped down to just 750,000. These are probably red flags for Microsoft.
So, while VR as a touted feature may have been removed from the official Scorpio website, it doesn’t rule out the console’s power to or Microsoft’s will to support the technology when the console finally launches this year. Tell us what you think about this in the comments below.
Lewis is a games journalist, freelance gaming and consumer-tech journalist. They contributed 344 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: has since served as Editor-in-Chief at StealthOptional and Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser, with bylines at Gfinity Esports and FRVR.