Xbox Scorpio Trade-In Fairness
At last months E3 conference, Microsoft announced that they were bringing not one, but two brand new consoles to market, the Xbox One S, which is a slim version of the Xbox One with HDR functionality, the S is due out in August and the Xbox Scorpio, a very powerful new console that is set to deliver 4K and VR gaming, the Scorpio is going to be released sometime around November or December of next year.
Now if your someone who has not yet made the jump to the Xbox One, but are considering it, right now the best console to get would be the Xbox One S over the launch console, it's smaller, better looking, it will allow for HDR gaming if your TV supports it and it will be well priced when it hits the shelves in August at €300 for the 500GB version. If you already own a Xbox One, in my opinion there is no point in getting the S, there is no major advantage in having it over the launch machine, my TV doesn't support HDR so for me anyway, I can't see a good enough reason to splash out on the S at all, and to be completely honest with you, I'm waiting on the Scorpio, which leads me nicely to the point of this article.
I bought my Xbox One about two weeks after launch, I got it with COD Ghosts already pre-installed and I had no option but to get the Kinect Camera with it, so it cost me the grand total of €530. Now I had no issue with parting with the cash for my brand new Xbox console, I was excited to be making the jump from the 360, which I had for 8 years, it was a new generation and I couldn't wait to get started. At the time I tried trading in my 360 to ease the financial pain that the One would would inflict on my bank balance, but I was only offered €50 for it, so I decided against it, I still have it today. I can understand why the store only offered me so little for my 360, the tech was 8 years old after all and the store already had dozens of second hand 360's and PS3's that they were trying to sell.
When the Scorpio hits the shelves next year, the Xbox One will only be 3 years old, when the Scorpio comes out, I'll be trading in my Xbox One to get it, the question I have here is, how much will I get this time around when I decide to upgrade? If Microsoft want to hit the ground running, they are going to want to offer a rather big incentive for current Xbox One owners. This is going to be a first for the console industry, the usual gap between generations is about 6 to 7 years, from the launch of the 360 to the launch of the One, was 8 years. The problem for me is going to be the price of the Scorpio, I'd imagine, considering the power that it will deliver, it will cost between €500 to €600, having already spent over €500 less than two years ago on the One, I don't want to spend another €500 next year on another new machine, I'd like a rather big discount please and I can imagine that I won't be alone in this regard. No big discount just means that I can't afford it, simple as that and there will be a lot of folks in that boat.
Microsoft of course are not blind to this and in a recent interview with the Daily Star, Dave McCarthy spoke about "trade-in programs" and making the transition as smooth as possible for people wanting to upgrade, he had the following to say.
Some of our retail partners today do trade-in programs and that’s definitely going to be partnerships we continue to move going forward. We want to make that transition as smooth as possible.
Bottom line is this, I want to be able to afford this as close to launch as possible, I'd like Microsoft to realise that people like me and millions others who were the early adaptors to the Xbox One are able to afford this too, I'd like to be able to walk into my local games store sometime around next Christmas and be told that my Xbox One trade-in for the Scorpio is somewhere between the €150 to €200 mark, not €50. It will have only been 3 years between generations Microsoft, I know I can keep all my games and that's fantastic, but I want to be able to upgrade to the Scorpio, I want 4K and VR, please make it possible for me to do so.