Microsoft is getting ready to unveil its newest Xbox to the public.
The technology giant said Thursday that it would show off its new gaming console, codenamed Project Scorpio, in June during the annual E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles.
Microsoft first disclosed its new console at last year’s E3 conference and has been slowly releasing details about the device since. The upcoming E3 event would be the first time Microsoft shows the console to a big audience. Microsoft is expected to announce availability and pricing details at that time.
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So far, Microsoft (MSFT) has only said that the new Xbox would debut during the 2017 holiday season. The company’s most recent gaming console, the Xbox One, debuted in Nov. 2013, the same month when Sony’s PlayStation 4 was released.
Video game site Eurogamer, through its Digital Foundry news arm, was able to inspect the console last week and said its “performance is remarkable” and that it meets Microsoft’s claims that it provides high-quality 4K graphics and improves the visual quality of older game built for the Xbox One.
The gaming website reported that “it’s entirely fair to say” Microsoft’s previous Xbox One console was technologically inferior to the rival PlayStation 4. Project Scorpio, however, “is exactly the right reaction from the Xbox team in the face of Sony’s success.”
Sony debuted its latest incarnation of the PlayStation, the PlayStation 4 Pro, last fall. Although the PlayStation 4 Pro sells for $400, Digital Foundry speculates that Project Scorpio will cost $500 based on its technology. The high price could potentially make it less attractive for mainstream consumers.
Both Microsoft and Sony are marketing the new consoles as the next iterations of their prior consoles—opposed to completely new designs as they have in the past with prior console launches.
