Do Microsoft's Xbox 'Project Scorpio' E3 teasers contain hidden messages?

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By Matt Brown
last updated

Microsoft's "Project Scorpio" teasers are leaving some cryptic messages. But what do they mean?

In the build up to its E3 2017 press conference, Microsoft has released a series of videos teasing its upcoming "Project Scorpio" Xbox console. Sporting the tagline "Feel True Power," the videos continue to drive the narrative that the console will be the most powerful console on the market. These short teasers cycle through a foray of artistic images, but Microsoft also seems to be leaving some mysterious messages.

So far, three Project Scorpio E3 teasers have dropped across the various Xbox social network pages. As spotted by XboxIngame on Twitter, there's more to the teasers than meets the eye.

"6>4" likely represents the difference in computing power between Sony's flagship console and Project Scorpio.

"6>4" likely represents the difference in computing power between Sony's flagship console and Project Scorpio.

In a video recently posted to the Xbox UK Facebook page, the message"6>4" can be seen plastered on the side of a tent around five seconds in. This could be a taunt at Sony's PlayStation 4 (PS4) Pro console, which sports 4.12 teraflops (TFLOPS) of computing power, compared to the heavily-marketed 6 TFLOPS touted in Project Scorpio's prerelease marketing.

While these numbers have endless possibilities, they could be a first look at Project Scorpio's release date.

While these numbers have endless possibilities, they could be a first look at Project Scorpio's release date.

In another video on the Facebook page, a cheering crowd is shown roughly five seconds into the teaser. With a sharp eye, you can see a hidden message disguised on a far-right wall, reading "X10S101-317."

While these numbers could have endless possibilities, there's a chance we may be seeing the first teaser of Project Scorpio's release date. With "X10S" potentially referring to the Project Scorpio console and "101317" representing a date of October 13, 2017, this could be the day the upcoming console hits shelves. The date would also fall on a Friday, which was the same weekday the original Xbox One console debuted in 2013.

Obviously, you should take this information with a pinch of salt, due to the obscurity of the message. It's easy to pull various speculation from this but it's really just a simple string of numbers. Still, given the circumstances, we can't rule this out.

It's easy to roll your eyes at these hidden messages, but they appear to be almost too obvious to be mere coincidence. Microsoft and Sony hasn't been afraid to throw cheeky jibes out in recent years, and this could be another example of the trend.

What do you think of these messages hidden with the Project Scorpio teasers? Let us know in the comments.

Matt Brown
Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.