Microsoft takes its 4K console power argument directly to Sony

Exec says console upgraders should wait for "significantly more powerful" Scorpio.

Kyle Orland

I dunno... I still see some jagged edges on this logo...

Remember earlier in the week when we described the emerging competition over the coming world of 4K console gaming? That contest just got a little more direct and personal, judging by comments Microsoft head of Xbox planning Albert Penello made about the PS4 Pro in a recent Eurogamer interview.

"I know that 4.2 teraflops is not enough to do true 4K," Penello said, referencing the reported hardware power of the PS4 Pro, which launches in November at $400. "So, I feel like our product aspired a little bit higher, and we will have fewer asterisks around the 4K experiences we deliver on our box."

Penello's comments followed a more direct comparison between the "true 4K" capabilities of the upcoming Xbox One Scorpio (launching late next year, price unknown) and the PS4 Pro:

I think there are a lot of caveats they're giving customers right now around 4K. They're talking about checkerboard rendering and up-scaling and things like that. There are just a lot of asterisks in their marketing around 4K, which is interesting because when we thought about what spec we wanted for Scorpio, we were very clear we wanted developers to take their Xbox One engines and render them in native, true 4K. That was why we picked the number, that's why we have the memory bandwidth we have, that's why we have the teraflops we have, because it's what we heard from game developers was required to achieve native 4K.

It's a fair argument, at least as far as Sony's system is concerned. PlayStation President Andrew House has said that "the majority [of PS4 Pro games] will be upscaled" to full 4K resolution. That statement echoes what we've heard from developers working on PS4 Pro upgrades, though at least one said the upscaling should be "nearly indistinguishable" from a native 4K experience. In contrast, Microsoft has promised that all of its first-party games on Scorpio will be rendered in native 4K, without upscaling.

To be fair, Penello bracketed his Eurogamer interview by saying his comments "[don't] come with a disrespect for what [Sony is] doing." While Penello said he of course wants to "highlight the things we think make our product advantaged over their product," that doesn't mean engaging in "the historical 'Sega does what Nintendon't' kind of head-on jabs that have happened in the past."

Penello also acknowledged that the relative value of "native 4K" over the PS4 Pro-style upscaling can be subjective. "You and I both know there will be people who claim with absolute certainty that the difference between 1080p and 900p is the most significant thing, and anybody who claims otherwise is blind," he said. "And there will be people who say they can't see a difference. Both people are right in their own minds."

Still, Penello's comments are the clearest indication yet that Microsoft will be using Scorpio's claimed power advantage as a marketing cudgel to convince potential PS4 Pro buyers to wait for a better experience. In fact, Penello put that argument quite directly in the interview: "The guys who want to do this mid-generation upgrade, you're going to get something significantly more powerful next year."