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Xbox One X Is For The "Discerning Connoisseur Of Gaming," Says Spencer

"This box is definitely targeted toward the customer that buys the most and plays the most."

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Microsoft's next console, the Xbox One X, launches worldwide on November 7. Xbox boss Phil Spencer is doing the media rounds to talk about the super-powerful console. One of his stops was on CNBC in New York, where he was asked who he thinks is the target audience for the new system. As he's said many times in the past, Spencer made it very clear that the Xbox One X is not for everyone.

"This is for the discerning connoisseur of gaming [that] has a 4K television, [who] wants to see the absolute best visuals," Spencer said. "This box is definitely targeted toward the customer that buys the most and plays the most."

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By comparison, the less expensive Xbox One S, which will remain on sale, is being positioned as the mass-market device. As such, Microsoft believes it will sell much better than the Xbox One X. Spencer said Microsoft having two consoles on the market at the same time is all about giving players choice.

Spencer said at the Brasil Game Show recently that the Xbox One is for people who are looking for the "very best experience" with a home console. It's all about giving players choice, he said; if they want to spend more for a high-end experience, they can.

The Xbox One costs $500 in the US, meaning it's about twice the price of the Xbox One S. The new console plays all Xbox One games and works with the same controllers. More than 130 games are getting or already have been updated to take advantage of the Xbox One X's power, including first-party games like Halo 5 and big-name third-party titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

For lots more on the device, check out GameSpot's feature, "Xbox One X Release Date, Games, Review, And Everything You Need To Know."

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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ChrisChupp2

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Looks like console will keep up fine ?

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

I wish they would dump the S so the baseline becomes the X. We would start to see awesome games then. It is still compatible with all existing S games anyway so it's not like anyone loses out.

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Domiddian

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Edited By Domiddian

@deviltaz35: That would mean their cheapest console would be $500. In other words; suicide.

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@domiddian: Maybe you can explain it to me please ? Why the hell do people care what something costs initially when the difference is what? $200-300 . It's not like you replace it every week . For the significant difference over the S with more than 4 times the graphical firepower and 4GB more ram you would be mental to get the S now.

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DudeBroPartyYo

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Edited By DudeBroPartyYo

@deviltaz35: 200 to 300 is lots of cash for many people. See i used same argument i different context. I was saying why not fork out another 300 to 400 and build a slightly better PC and it lasts much longer than a console and plays Xbox exclusives but thats still even more of money for some people.

Look in the end expensive or not can depend on how one puts money aside for these purchases. like i saved for my PC over period of 6 months and for console over 3 months so it didnt feel expensive haha.

So cheaper option is always needed.

To other comment of yours below, not all people care as much about how it looks but mainly how it runs. Like i would take 900p at 60fps over 4K at 30fps. In some cases it depends on the game as well.

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@dudebropartyyo: Oh yeah i think that is a good idea if more devs do that on the X . offer up the 1080p 60 fps option as much as possible as even upscaled to 4k on most TV's it looks good and just makes the animation silky smooth.

I guess seeing i dropped 70k on a new car in the past few months i can't really comment about pricing on a console too much lol. Even if the new Xbox was $800 it would have still felt like chump change by comparison.

Personally i would rather it had a beefier CPU even if it did raise the price around $100 a unit.

I guess it's not possible to pop a newer , faster CPU in the case? :). Even if you could i guess it would mess with all the exact power distribution the console is designed for , not to mention the heat dissipation requirement.

Still i can't help but wonder just how good the X would be with a CPU worthy of that GPU.

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DudeBroPartyYo

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@deviltaz35: I think its mainly GPU and RAM, you can get away with with a little older CPU most of the time.

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Domiddian

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@deviltaz35: Why don't you go ask everyday peeps if they would spend $500 on a console. I'm not talking about you or your friends. Just go ask Barbara in the office if she would spend $500 on a console for her son or if she would rather have the option to pay less.

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@domiddian: Yeah but you pay the same for the software are they that stupid? Pay a bit more up front and you have a much much better machine playing the games significantly better and looking better even at just 1080p . This lowest common denominator when it comes to consoles just drags everything down too much.

We would be seeing far better games if it wasn't for the insistence on supporting out of date tech so much.

I guess it comes down to marketing as my mate pointed out to me in Australia where is the marketing campaign for the Xbox One x here? No tv ads , no billboards , Other than the specialty game store i go to alot probably don't even know it exists.

Possibly a shortage of consoles so they don't wish to push it until close to Xmas?

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Domiddian

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Edited By Domiddian

@deviltaz35: But even dropping the S would still leave the base PS4 and Pro as the lowest common denominator. I see what you are saying, but whilst there is a cheaper alternative that can play the same games (regardless of whether they don't look as good), the masses will always flock to what they see as the best value. If I didn't own my PS4, Xbox One or PC right now and was looking to buy a console on a budget of $500, I'd go for the cheaper PS4 and a few extra games over the more powerful X. Power has never been important before, I don't think it's important now. Despite all that I do see what you're getting at, but if MS were to drop the S, their competitors would need to follow suit in order to justify everyday folk handing over the extra cash for the X.

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DEVILTAZ35

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@domiddian: hmm well hear that Sony get rid of the base PS4 , problem solved. We would almost instantly see higher quality games visually :)

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DEVILTAZ35

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@sellingthings: Only idiots would buy a new Iphone day one though lol. I am still on the 6S and get hassled constantly to upgrade but who really wants all this crap like facial character emotes on a phone. Good if you are 5 years of age and bored i guess.

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Domiddian

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Edited By Domiddian

@sellingthings: It's a fair point, but when there are alternatives to be had for less, I can't see a $500 sticker price going down too well with consumers. Power just isn't that important as we have seen with the success of the Switch recently and then just look back over the history of consoles. The only time a more powerful console has outsold its rival was when the PS4 launched. I suspect the fact that it was cheaper AND more powerful had something to do with that. I think most people with a budget of $500 would go for the cheaper console, which still plays all the big releases and then use the rest for a couple or three extra games. Dropping the S would be a bad move in my (humble) opinion.

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Domiddian

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Edited By Domiddian

@sellingthings: "we already have cheaper better options in cell phones but people still buy iphones"

This is true, but Apple is seen as the top brand in phones. At the moment, Playstation is seen as the top brand in consoles.

Microsoft is firmly in 2nd place at this point. Samsung is firmly in second place in cell phones. If Samsung were to suddenly remove all other options from the market and slap a premium price on their flagship, they'd quickly slip all the way down that list. Apple can do it because they are already established as the market leader. They have sold a perception that they are the absolute very best (sound familiar?) and people actually believe that.

As for the people banging on about 60fps and 4k, I find this is mostly PC gamers, not console gamers.

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Domiddian

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@domiddian: Of course it matters how you are seen. Perception of brand by the consumer is everything. That's kinda what marketing is all about.

I don't like Apple products myself, but the amount of idiots that keep buying Apple phones year after year, despite the fact there are better alternatives says a great deal about their marketing.

Come on man, this is basic logic. To up your price and remove consumer choice when you're in a distant second place is not a good move.

If console gamers where that bothered about 4k 60fps, consumers would have been all over the X1X. Gamestop didn't dven sell through all their stock at launch.

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@domiddian: The S has horrid framerate issues in so many games though , I had stopped using it altogether aside from as a way to download updates for the X before launch :).

Nice looking console too as it is the 2TB Gears of War 4 one i have. i do like the Project Scorpio edition though it is very classy to look at over the regular Xbox One X. Glad i picked that one.

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Elranzer

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Edited By Elranzer

It's like Spence doesn't realize that PC (Steam) exists.

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Elranzer: lol he doesn't want it to exist then they can force people into the horrid MS store on PC gah.

That turned me off PC gaming with that stupid downloading system.

It still tells me i don't own Horizon 3 on PC even though i have it a a play anywhere title.

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chipbrooks2313

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If I ran out and dropped the cash on this new system and got a 4K TV, I know it would all eventually become numb in the end. Everything new looks great and seems to show the details. Over time, that all fades and then something better comes along later on. It is like having a brand new car. It is great at first and so new and cool. Then it either gets old over time or gets wrecked and it is never the same anymore after that. So, moral to the story, don't waste your money for the inevitable that you will just get tired of it. Not to mention, XBOX actually needs good games and not something you can just play on any system. COD will look like COD, no real difference whether it is 4K or CRT Tube TV.

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DEVILTAZ35

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@chipbrooks2313: It's a bit like that with 4k movies, i got a great player - a nice Oppo 203 , However so many movies now are just rubbish and watching them in 4k doesn't help lol. I tend to mostly just wait for things to come on Netflix instead now as barely any movies i have seen in the past 3-4 years are actually worth buying.

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Domiddian

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Edited By Domiddian

@sellingthings: You do realise the HUGE market for used games though, right? Because sales figures for games are based on brand new copies only. Someone who doesn't own a console might look at a PS4 playing Horizon Zero Dawn, decide they want it, go and buy the console and get that game 2nd hand to save a few bucks. 8.7 million copies of Uncharted 4 sold, sure (that was just in 2016, by the way, not lifetime sales), but I would bet my bottom dollar that at least twice or three times that many PS4 owners have played it, either through 2nd hand purchase or borrowing it off a friend.

Yes the vast majority of the market is third party, but exclusives do sell consoles. Someone in my office bought a Switch last week because Mario Odyssey released. Before that, my nephew went out and got a PS4 because of Nioh. I bought a PS4 at launch in anticipation of its exclusives because I like Sony's franchises. I then bought an Xbox One because of Forza and Halo. And I will get a Switch this Christmas because of Zelda and Mario. If either one of these consoles only relied on a third party library, I wouldn't bother owning them. Exclusives are important. I don't care what anyone says.

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Edited By Domiddian

@sellingthings: The 8.7 million copies for Uncharted 4 is just for 2016, not lifetime. However, it's safe to assume that sales would have slowed considerably.

Wii U having more exclusives is a complex argument. There is a marked difference between having exclusives and having exclusives people actually want to play. I mean, one could argue that PS4 has far more exclusives than any other console because of its shovelware and indies. But people aren't going to buy a console for that. The gaming industry, for better or worse, has moved on from the simple charm of games like Mario Kart and Zelda. As good as those games are in my opinion, a great many people would disagree and would ask for more blood, guns and violence. They are no longer mainstream, whereas two decades ago, they were. They get labelled as "kids games" which is unfortunate. You can have all the great games in the world, but if people are confused about what your console actually is and if they perceive it a particular (derogatory) way, it's not going to sell. Such was the case with the Wii U. And I really liked it as a platform despite all that.

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DEVILTAZ35

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@domiddian: Uncharted 4 wasn't really up against much at the time though to be fair. Personally i think that game is totally overrated anyway. It was like the Mills and Boon romance novel adventure nobody needed.

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Domiddian

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@deviltaz35: Completely agree. Wasn't a patch on 2. Or even 3 for that matter. I struggled through it, whereas in the past I couldn't put Uncharted games down. RoTR was better in my opinion.

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Domiddian

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Edited By Domiddian

@sellingthings: Ah the nostalgia! The NES, SNES, Master System and Megadrive were the golden age of gaming for me. Even bits of the Saturn, Playstation and N64 gen too because 32/64-bit still had its fair share of fun games, especially the N64. I would have those days again.

For me, the only companies that ever truly understood gaming and delivered something unique were Nintendo and Sega. Innovators, gaming companies to the core that did it for the love of games and just so happened to turn it into a profitable business, not huge corporate monsters that decided to make consoles because it seemed like a good investment and essentially only cared about the money, not the art. Now that Sega are gone from the console business and refuse to make anything out of their old IPs, Nintendo carries that torch alone. It’s the one company I hope never goes under as it is the only true path back to revisiting my childhood. And that is precious.

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xwingvmanx

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The funniest part of that interview is when they were showing reviews of the Xbox One X they normally only show the positives, but the bottom right review was being critical of the lack of software.

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gamerboy100

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I'm kind of surprised that Eddie spelled "connoisseur" correctly when most of his articles have errors in them.

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DEVILTAZ35

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@gamerboy100: Probably a wine connoisseur ;)

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gamerboy100

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No thanks, I'm quite content with my original Xbox One. Graphics really don't matter much to me, and it plays the same exact games anyway. (That, and I don't have a 4K TV, so the improvements would be miniscule.)

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@gamerboy100: Not really , supersampling is fantastic and you get more and more games at 1080p 60 as time goes on. It depends if you are used to the good old days when consoles baseline was 60 fps non hd though. If not you are probably so used to 30 and below it doesn't bother you.

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Edited By Xristophoros

but what if you are a connoisseur of GOOD games? what does xbox have for me in that case?

oh, ok thanks...

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DEVILTAZ35

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Edited By DEVILTAZ35

@Xristophoros: A bucket load , Halo wars series are excellent , Halo games are always good to varying degrees and are certainly better than any exclusive shooters on opposition platforms. It really just depends what you are into.

It's great MS are supporting original Xbox games, 360 games and so many Xbox one titles are being supported out of the gate for the Xbox one X. I would have loved this support day one on the Pro but it just didn't happen.

i'd love to see select PS3 and Ps2 games that you don't have to rebuy on PS4 as well but they prefer to force people to rebuy the same thing slightly enhanced and disguise it with trophy support.

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

@Xristophoros: isnt that a matter of taste? The games you think of as good,others may not

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Xristophoros

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@sladakrobot: yup, it is a matter of taste. everything you or i post is a personal opinion -- there is no need to put up a disclaimer every time i post something. but seeing as phil has gone on record to say their first party output has been weak (inconsistent is the word he used for pr reasons), i'd say he would agree with this sentiment.

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sladakrobot

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Edited By sladakrobot

@Xristophoros: you spoke about GOOD games but now you switch to number of games.

MS games was certainly not bad but sparse and that is why i think your op post wasnt on point

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DEVILTAZ35

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@sladakrobot: There are some great games to play on a big 4k tv though . Halo wars definitive edition and Halo wars 2 are great. Hoping Xcom sees an X patch though.

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