Microsoft is less than 24 hours away from unveiling its next-generation Xbox plans at E3, and the company has been hiding secret messages in its own teasers. Twitter users have noticed that each of Microsoft’s daily E3 countdown videos has a secret code hidden in the left-hand side of the video. The first, from a couple of days ago, has R 255, followed by G 36 in the second, and B 0 in the latest today. Together that forms the code RGB (255,36,0), the RGB color code for Scarlet.
Microsoft hints at next-generation Xbox ‘Scarlet’ in E3 teasers
Less than 24 hours to go
Less than 24 hours to go
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
is a senior correspondent and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years.
Rumors have suggested that Microsoft is creating two new consoles under a general “Scarlett” codename, with a high-end console codenamed Anaconda and an Xbox One S equivalent codenamed Lockhart. It appears Microsoft is ready to talk about its Scarlett plans, as the company is teasing it freely in its E3 videos. Microsoft even confirmed the teaser by providing a free month of Xbox Game Pass to the Twitter user who discovered the Easter egg.
Microsoft pulled a similar stunt for its Project Scorpio unveil two years ago, where the company detailed what became the Xbox One X hardware. Microsoft hid secret messages in its E3 teasers, referring to the 6 teraflops of power over Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro’s 4 teraflops. Microsoft will be detailing its plans for its next-generation Xbox hardware tomorrow, and it will likely take a similar approach to Sony’s light unveiling of the first PlayStation 5 specs.
Alongside the Scarlett unveiling, Microsoft will also show off Gears 5 and Bleeding Edge, Ninja Theory’s new title. Microsoft is also expecting to touch on some of its plans for gaming on PC. The software maker has teased a new Xbox “desktop experience” for Windows 10, and a new Xbox app should debut in beta very shortly. Stay tuned for all the Xbox E3 news tomorrow, as The Verge will be covering every announcement live.
Update, June 8th 8:30PM: Microsoft has now confirmed the Scarlet teaser.
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Tom Warren and Cameron Faulkner
