Xbox One Scorpio’s $499 Price Tag is a Bad Move by Microsoft

The Xbox One Scorpio will cost $499, according to The Game Awards and YouTube Live presenter Geoff Keighley.

Keighley made the announcement on Twitter, saying: “Unless something changes today, that is what will be announced.” The price would effectively make the Xbox One Scorpio over $200 more expensive than the PS4, and $100 more expensive than its closest rival the PS4 Pro.

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While the Xbox One Scorpio is said to offer the first “true” 4K gaming experience, with Microsoft calling it the “most powerful console ever” and it boasting impressive specs as previously revealed by Digital Foundry, many have expressed surprise at its high price point. With Microsoft failing to adequately support the Xbox One over the past year, and with few games on its horizon prior to the Scorpio’s release, it’ll be difficult to convince people to throw down such a significant amount of money on a platform that is struggling to maintain the attention of its existing player base.

With many questioning the information included in Keighley’s tweet, he later took to NeoGAF to reiterate his statement, writing: “Guys, the price is $499 and that is what has been rehearsed.”

Pricing the Xbox One Scorpio at $499 is a bold move by Microsoft. With the PS4 leading the console sales chart by a considerable amount and the Nintendo Switch still riding off the back of its hugely successful launch, it will be difficult to convince gamers to invest in such an expensive upgrade to an existing system, especially considering the lack of games Microsoft has pushed out for the Xbox One over the course of the past 6 months. Unless Microsoft has something big up its sleeve for the Xbox One Scorpio outside of its upgraded hardware, then this could prove to be a disastrous flop for the company.