Xbox One X Release Date, Specs, Price & Everything Else We Know

The Xbox One X is not the next generation of Xbox consoles, but it is undeniably a glimpse into the future of Microsoft’s flagship video game device. Touted as the “most powerful console ever,” the Xbox One X lives up to that billing with its undeniably impressive specs. What really gets people excited, however, is the Xbox One X’s full embrace of 4K gaming and 4K media. This is the most 4K-friendly gaming device that has ever been sent to store shelves. 

While Microsoft remains adamant that there will be no Xbox One X exclusive games, they are also certain that this console is the only option for console gamers looking for the absolute best performance. Most Xbox One games will be enhanced by this new console in some way, while other games will essentially receive a digital facelift via the capabilities of this console.

Here’s a look at the Xbox One X:

Xbox One X News

Those looking forward to booting up their Xbox One X will need to set-aside some time for game downloads. 

Early reports suggest that the download files for Xbox One X upgraded games are absolutely huge. Gears of War 4, for instance, clocks in at 103 GB if you are downloading it fresh for the Xbox One X. Halo 5, meanwhile, is a 98.26 GB download that grows by 15 GB when you factor in the 4K upgrade. 

The Xbox One X does ship with a 1 TB hard drive, but between system updates, apps, and the size of some of these games, that is actually going to run thin pretty fast. It’s also not clear if there is a way for Xbox One X owners to pass on the 4K upgrades and cut down on file sizes. There are also some questions regarding the size of game updates catered specifically to the Xbox One X.

Long story short, you may want to invest in an external hard drive. 

Elsewhere, in an interview with Gamespot, Phil Spencer stated that the Xbox One X is not a console designed for everyone. 

“Xbox One S will be the market leader for us. It’s the more affordable console. It plays all the same games,” said Spencer. “It will be the console that sells.”

As for the Xbox One X, Spencer remarked that “Whether you’re on a 1080p TV or a 4K TV, you’re going to have a great experience. But it’s not for everybody. It’s like when we built the Xbox One Elite controller, we didn’t try to say to everybody, ‘If you need an extra controller, go buy the Elite controller.’ We sold a ton of those controllers. We know in the gaming segment, there’s a lot of people who play games casually and there are also people where gaming is their number one hobby.”

Spencer went also stated that he’s still “very confident” that the Xbox One X will appeal to the group of gamers that it was designed for. 

Elsewhere, at Gamescom 2017, Microsoft revealed a new version of the Xbox One X called the Project Scorpio Edition. 

This $500 version of the Xbox One X will feature a slightly different design, packaging designed to resemble the original Xbox, and a limited edition Project Scorpio branded controller. This version of the console will be released in a limited run alongside the Xbox One X.

You can check out a full breakdown of the Project Scorpio Edition by viewing the trailer below:

As for the Xbox One X, previously known as Project Scorpio, that console made its official debut at E3 2017. 

Microsoft began by touting the specs of the console which had previously been revealed and can be reviewed in our specs section below. However, they also noted that that the Xbox One X will feature a liquid cooling system that is the first of its kind for a home console. They also confirmed that the Xbox One X will be the smallest Xbox to date. 

We’ll provide more Xbox One X information as we get it. 

Xbox One X Release Date 

The Xbox One X will be released on November 7, 2017. 

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Xbox One X Price

The Xbox One X will retail for $499 when it launches. There is no word about multiple versions of the console at this time. 

Xbox One X Specs

Eurogamer was invited to Microsoft Studios in order to get a world exclusive hands-on look at the specs of Project Scorpio. 

If you’re looking for the quick answer regarding Scorpio’s overall strength, just know that it’s incredibly powerful. It is indisputably the most powerful console ever released by a fair margin, in fact.

Here is the full breakdown of known Scorpio specs:

CPU: Eight custom x86 cores clocked at 2.3GHzGPU: 40 customized compute units at 1172MHzMemory: 12GB GDDR5 RAMMemory Bandwidth: 326GB/s bandwidthStorage: 1TB hard drive4K blue ray drive

According to the report, Microsoft has indeed lived up to some of the vague hardware promises they had previously mentioned. The most notable of those promises is Microsoft’s claim that Scorpio will ship with a six teraflop GPU. Some doubted if that was really possible as it would mean that Microsoft would be outfitting their new console with a rather pricey part that borders on overkill. 

What Eurogamer found most impressive, however, was the way that Microsoft implemented this technology. They have surpassed the expectations of some hardware experts by not only outfitting Scorpio with impressive hardware specs – including 12 GB of RAM – but by implementing that hardware in a way that rivals the efficiency of top of the line PCs. 

So what does this all mean for you? Well, take a look at this screenshot of Forza running on Project Scorpio:

Actually, take a look at that text at the top of that screenshot. What that says is that Scorpio is running Forzain 4K at 60 FPS. Eurogamer confirms that he has seen the game in action and that it is able to consistently run the game at maximum resolution with few interruptions in speed. However, he does state that the GPU usage varied from 55% to 75%, meaning that the console did have to sometimes dig deep to make this possible. 

It was probably no coincidence that Microsoft chose to show off Forza, a game that is also playable on PC. Eurogamer ran Forza Motorsport 6 on a top of the line PC with a GTX 1080 – which retails for about $500 – and found that it takes a computer of roughly equivalent specs to replicate the performance consistency of Project Scorpio as it pertains to this specific experience.  

What’s really impressive, however, is that the Forza demo was apparently just an upgraded version of the Xbox One build. If that demo is accurate, that means that Project Scorpio may be able to run nearly every Xbox One 1080p game at native 4K. That’s a feat that even the PS4 Pro can’t match. 

The most interesting takeaway from this analysis, however, was the method Microsoft used to develop Scorpios specs. Since they already had a powerful console on the market – the Xbox One S – they decided to build Project Scorpio from existing software rather than starting from scratch. This seems to allude to Microsoft’s plans to “eliminate” traditional console generations. This new method means that Scorpio isn’t just an assembly of the latest parts, but rather a smart upgrade that maximizes the potential of the software.  

Ther are still some questions left unanswered by this early preview. This console may end up generating a lot of heat, for instance, and Microsoft has only vaguely outlined how that is going to be managed. We also still don’t have a very clear picture regarding performance benchmarks over multiple titles, meaning that there could be unseen framerate issues on certain titles.

The biggest question mark, though, is still the price. Eurogamer gave a cautious estimate of $499 based solely on what they saw, but that’s just an estimate. If, however, Microsoft is able to deliver such a powerful console at that price, they may very well be on their way to delivering on the hardware promises they made when Scorpio was first announced. 

Xbox One X Photos

Gamasutra has recently published official photos – and a detailed breakdown – of the Project Scorpio development kits which may hint at the console’s final design. 

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Development kits don’t always look exactly like the console itself, but a quick look at previous Microsoft dev kits reveals that the designs are typically fairly similar. In this instance, you can be sure that the awesome LED screen on the front of the dev kit that displays FPS and other relevant details will not be on the retail version of Scorpio. The same is likely true of the buttons on the front of the console which can be programmed to perform specific functions.  

Sadly, these development kits are also significantly more powerful than Project Scorpio itself. In fact, this kit comes equipped with 24 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. For those not into hardware specs, just know that both of those things are insane. 

Project Scorpio Trailer

The reveal trailer first shown at E3 2016 hints at big things to come. Microsoft is promising to deliver the most powerful gaming console we’ve ever seen, and this initial preview hints at just how they plan to accomplish that considerable feat.