4K games won't be mandatory on Xbox Project Scorpio

Before you buy that 4K TV, remember that game developers aren't required to make high resolution games.

4K games won't be mandatory on Xbox Project Scorpio

One of the hazards of supporting three Xbox One consoles at once is that it gets immensely confusing about which system consumers should buy. Take 4K resolutions - while Microsoft has gone on record saying Project Scorpio has no benefit without a 4K TV, the publisher also confirmed developers are not required to create 4K resolution games.

"Scorpio is a 6 teraflop gaming machine, which will be a great gaming machine for true 4K gaming, giving you a native 4K frame buffer so you can see games in all their beauty,” Xbox's Phil Spencer said. "Or if developers want to use those 6 teraflops in other ways they're free to do that."

This sounds contradictory, but they are separate points. Basically, if you want to play a game in 4K resolutions you'll need a 4K TV. However, game creators are free to make games in whatever resolution they want. Microsoft's goal is simply to make sure all Xbox One games are playable on all Xbox consoles, no matter what TV they happen to be plugged into.

At least, let's assume that's the case until Microsoft puts out another vaguely contradictory statement on the matter.

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