Xbox Project Scorpio: Microsoft reveals the most powerful games console ever made

Only the specs – which suggest the console will be incredibly powerful – have so far been revealed, alongside a vague release date

(Microsoft)

Microsoft has revealed details of its long-rumoured "Project Scorpio".

The mysterious new Xbox looks to be the most powerful games console ever made, according to specs published by the company.

It revealed the specifications of the new project, with more information to be shown off in the coming months. But those specs make it easily the most powerful console on the market, surpassing closest rival the PS4 Pro.

Unlike the recent releases of the Xbox One S and the PS4 – both of which brought updated specs and support for 4K video – the new Project Scorpio appears to be an entirely new console. But Microsoft promised that it would still be able to play Xbox One and 360 games.

The reveal included all the headline specifications of the console, compared with the same statistics and information for the existing Xbox One and the PS4 Pro.

But Microsoft made no mention of any games that it is set to release alongside the new console. It is that area that it is likely to be pressured by Sony in, having had to cancel many of its most high-profile exclusive titles, like Fable Legends and Scalebound.

Though Microsoft didn't show off the design of the new console, website Eurogamer – which carried the PR reveal of the new console – was told that all of the new hardware was packed into a "compact design", that still made allowances for "overall efficiency" and minimised power use. That required building the components in new ways and installing a special vapour-based cooling system that keeps it from overheating.

It said the new console would be out in autumn, and did not reveal a price.