I would like to answer Klobrille even if i don't know him, and even if he knows a lot more. But here what i do think when i read some thinks:
K - Lockhart will be true next generation console with next generational components. Both devices - if this is really what they are going with less than a year from now (and yes, despite the article, this is still an * if *) - Anaconda and Lockhart, will share the same solutions for CPU, memory and SSD.
Therefore, he does not know if they will be two, but he certainly knows what they will be. Brilliant. Don't want to be offensive, but this start makes everything that follows a simple opinion i can disagree (and Klobrille himself says that).
So:
K - When looking at scalability, doing so via GPU and resolution seems like the easiest and most obvious solution. Rendering games at 4K requires a lot of resources. Offering a console * option * that scales back on resolution but stays true on every aspect of a game is a no-brainer in an age of dynamic resolution methods, ML upscaling, intelligent sharpening filters etc.
Klobrille assumes a development on the upper console, a "scales back", to scale back on the less powerful one. Come on, with the lowering of the resolution we are there, through various methods, so much is there so much that can be done, SO MUCH that you MUST do ON TWO CONSOLES (work, developers, work! And do it at most on every console ! YES!), among various filters, on the resolution, on an intelligent detail (? But it must not only change the resolution? Now let's put in the speech a few more filters ...).
K - I keep reading goals post arguments that Lockhart might "hold next generation" back. This rationale lacks and does not mirror the situation of gaming ... At all. First and foremost: why do we simply ignore that every single Xbox game will still like to PC? Yesterday, today and in future? Will be lower than Lockhart will ever be for many, many years to come.
I don't buy a console to see badly scaled results like a 200 or 300 euro pc (because this is what happens on low-end PCs). Pure madness, because I want hardware optimization, which the guy here seems to deliberately ignore. And then the pure show begins:
K - Scalability is important. I keep referring to my personal prime example here being the Sea of Thieves. The game basically runs on a toaster, yet it looks absolutely incredible at 4K / 60fps on a high-end rig. I would go even one step further and say that giving your developers the task of making your games great * profits * a "high-end" version as performance optimizations
A moment before it was passed from Anaconda to the "scales back" on Lockhart, with adjustments on the resolution (and on filters, and on other things). A moment later we are on a game that pushes the toaster to the maximum, to then be scaled upwards with frame rates and higher resolutions. It does not seem to have full clarity of ideas, Klobrille: first the base is Anaconda, then it becomes evidently Lockhart, according to the speeches it makes; if the basics are both, we ignore technical speeches and hardware differences, so they don't count, obviously. Sea of thieves would be great at 4k and absolutely incredible on high end solutions. Context, in my modesty, what the guy says, who surely knows more than me. But context, and I suspect I'm not the only one. But if Sea of Thieves is great in 4k on the upper console, what could have been at dynamic resolutions, and with better textures, a superior effect, a specific development on a single device?
About technical speeches:
K - Scalability on Lockhart is primarily meant to be done via GPU scaling. How does the original Xbox One GPU hold back one of the best games available with Forza Horizon 4 played on a PC at 4K / 60 Ultra? How does a Surface Laptop 3 GPU hold back Gears 5
Everything would be delegated to the GPU, lower on Lockhart, not by chance (let's forget the difference in Ram, so what's the use?). Answering the question: Xbox one afflicts and penalizes Xbox one X when the X is limited to run a 4k 60fps Forza designed to go on standard. No better visual results on X, I can't get them beyond resolution and some marginal aspects: where is photorealism? And why is Forza beautiful on standard xbox, even going down to 30 fps, and I can't have an even more beautiful Forza on Xbox one X at 30fps? Nioh, Monster Hunter World: rare examples of games that allow different settings on one hardware. Very rare, but virtuous examples. Obviously, having two consoles in general creates some problems. There is no such superior game, simply because it cannot be there. It does not seem difficult to understand, and it seems absurd to me again to confuse the computer world with that of the console, which until now had its advantages, even in visual terms, compared to the costs incurred. A surface then, which costs the wrath of god despite its modest endowment, on paper, compared to the price. But these are other arguments.
K - Lockhart will not hold back anything as it will allow "next generation" experiences will be there. Just at lower resolutions and / or some graphical effect sliders set to a lower value.
There will be lowered settings here and there. Anaconda becomes the base again? Then Klobrille talks about the importance of presenting a cheaper console for Jimmy's mom and that this will not confuse consumers. And he gives the example of the current generation. Well, I know and I read about people who are REALLY convinced that Xbox one S, released with the "4k" symbol on the box, was comparable with ps4 pro. People convinced, although it was about upscaling. Here, Klobrille really shows that he does not know what he is talking about. In fact it seems to allude to the world of mobile phones, where I know people who buy huawei p30 lite because it is always a huawei p30, and calls it p30 without knowing the "lite" in the name. Many people.
K - If you followed my comments on this whole topic, you know that I'm a proponent of the Xbox two SKU strategy. Because the truth is: both Nintendo and Playstation have much more dominant mind-share and more prominent brands than Xbox.
From Microsoft I don't expect anything else but a dominant strategy. And just to clarify: proposing a cheaper console is the most subtle way to try to dominate the market.
K - And going into next-gen with one device that only equals PS5 in both price and performance will not do much for the brand.
No, in fact. The brand is carried on by other things, services, games, and possibly a device that is superior to the competition.
