Xbox Boss Confirms No New Halo FPS This Year, Teases Project Scorpio Graphics

As suspected, Microsoft will not release a new Halo first-person shooter or Gears of War game this year. Appearing on the latest IGN Unlocked podcast, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said 2017 will be an "interesting" year because the focus this year will instead be on other games.

Spencer said he is "incredibly proud" of 2017's Xbox lineup, adding that, "It's going to be an interesting year for us because we don't have Gears, we don't have a Halo first-person shooter game."

Some notable Microsoft-published games coming this year include Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, and Sea of Thieves. Spencer also teased, "Maybe there's some things that we haven't talked about yet."

Also during the podcast, Spencer discussed Project Scorpio, which launches this holiday, specifically talking about the graphical quality that it will deliver.

"I am very confident in the quality that I've seen from the games that we're launching and how they look on Scorpio," he said. "When people see games on Scorpio, for those that are close to the detail, they're going to see a demonstrable difference between that and the games that they're playing now--on any console. I know that content has to be the thing that we use to demonstrate the capability of the box."

Project Scorpio's launch will be unlike a traditional console release, in that it's a mid-generation hardware update instead of a full generation leap like Xbox 360 to Xbox One. Every game and accessory for Xbox One will work on Project Scorpio, with developers able to take advantage of the new console's beefed up horsepower to deliver better-looking games.

Microsoft has time and again referred to Project Scorpio as a "premium" console that will have a price and design that reflects that. It will be more expensive than the Xbox One S, and Spencer said he's sure that Xbox One S will sell far better than Project Scorpio.

In other Project Scorpio news, Spencer has teased that Microsoft will share more details about the console ahead of the company's Xbox E3 2017 briefing in June.