Microsoft shocked the world when it revealed the Xbox Series X design at The Game Awards 2019, beating Sony to the punch and drumming up significant interest in its next-generation console. Now Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has revealed more detailed information on what the Xbox Series X will entail in terms of specs and features.
In a lengthy post, Spencer has confirmed that the Xbox Series X will use a custom-designed processor "leveraging AMD's Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures." It will have four times the processing power of the Xbox One, with developers able to utilize 12 teraflops of GPU performance - this is double what the Xbox One X is capable of, and eight times more powerful than the original Xbox One. Spencer's post also confirms that the Xbox Series X will use hardware-accelerated DirectX raytracing technology, allowing game developers to create more realistic game worlds than was ever possible before.
The console will also boast SSD storage that will allow for larger game worlds and fast load times. There will be a Quick resume feature that lets players suspend multiple games at a time and pick up where they left off without having to sit through load screens. This focus on speed will extend to the console's frame rate as well, with Spencer confirming that Xbox Series X games will support up to 120 frames per second. Since there are many current-generation games that struggle to even hit 60 frames per second, this is quite the leap.
Spencer's post also touches on some Xbox Series X details that we've known about for some time. As expected, the Xbox Series X will be backward compatible with the Xbox One library, as well as backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. This means that the console won't be able to play literally every original Xbox and Xbox 360 game in existence, but it will be able to play the titles that have already been made backward compatible on Xbox One. In any case, these backward compatible games will enjoy a better performance on the Xbox Series X, with faster load times, better framerates, and resolution.
The vast majority of these titles will be available on the Xbox Series X day one thanks to Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Game Pass will also allow users to play first-party games like Halo Infinite on day one, and thanks to what's being called "smart delivery," those that decide to purchase Halo Infinite outright will also be able to play it on PC or Xbox One if they so choose, with no additional purchase necessary.
Needless to say, there's a lot about the Xbox Series X for fans to get excited about. However, there's still a lot we don't know, like the Xbox Series X price, release date, or launch games. However, Spencer has promised to share more information on Microsoft's next-generation console in the coming months, with a big Microsoft E3 2020 presentation planned as well.