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This is the last console generation - Greenberg

Head of Xbox marketing stresses company's commitment to compatibility, backtracks on pledge of no exclusives for Scorpio

Microsoft's head of Xbox games marketing thinks this is the last console generation. Speaking with Engadget this week, Greenberg expanded on comments made earlier this year by Xbox head Phil Spencer, who had suggested foregoing the seven-or-so-year gap between hardware releases in favor of the continuous cadence of PC and smartphone releases.

"For us, we think the future is without console generations," Greenberg said. "We think that the ability to build a library, a community, to be able to iterate with the hardware -- we're making a pretty big bet on that with Project Scorpio. We're basically saying, 'This isn't a new generation; everything you have continues forward and it works.' We think of this as a family of devices.

"But we'll see. We're going to learn from this, we're going to see how that goes. So far I'd say, based on the reaction, there appears to be a lot of demand and interest around Project Scorpio, and we think it's going to be a pretty big success. If the games and the content deliver, which I think they will do, I think it will change the way we think about the future of console gaming."

Greenberg also cleared up some confusion about the possibility of exclusive games for the Scorpio. Microsoft had previously said that all Xbox One games and accessories would work on all versions of the hardware, but has also referenced VR as a feature that would only be enabled by the Scorpio hardware. Greenberg explained the discrepancy as part of the company's "promise and commitment around compatibility," which essentially extends only to making sure Project Scorpio is backwards compatible with Xbox One and Xbox One S games or accessories.

"The next thing was 'Are you going to make games exclusively to Project Scorpio?' And we said we're not going to have console-exclusive games for Project Scorpio," Greenberg said. "It's one ecosystem -- whether you have an Xbox One S or Project Scorpio, we don't want anyone to be left behind, Now, with the power and capabilities we have, we'll be able to do high-fidelity VR. Now, that space, we don't think of that as console gaming, we think of that as high-fidelity VR, and so with the VR experiences those will be new things that you will get on Project Scorpio."

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Brendan Sinclair avatar

Brendan Sinclair

Managing Editor

Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot in the US.

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