There was barely a whimper at Microsoft's launch of the Xbox One about its 4K credentials: a strange omission given that 4K is the next consumer viewing paradigm (we think!) and also given that when Microsoft gave a detailed demonstration of the Kinect motion and audio sensing peripheral to journalists in a separate room, they were viewing the proceedings on none other than their gaming competitor's 84" 4K Bravia TV, although we understand that these demos - and all the video/game footage at the launch were in 1080p
Matt Hickey, a contributor toForbes website managed to grab an interview with Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Interactive Entertainment Business Ysuf Mehdi, and asked him "Will the next-gen Xbox work with these next-gen TVs?"
Mehdi responded: “The video and interface portions, absolutely. Games developed for 1080p will run at 1080p, obviously.” It will support up to 4K at launch for things like Blu-Ray, but what about later? “There’s no hardware restriction there at all."
Mixed MessageBut there's a bit of a mixed message there. It sounds like the Xbox One can certainly output 4K video, although if it only has a single HDMI 1.4 socket (the current release) then it will be unable to output more than 24 or perhaps 25 frames per second.
The comment about Blu-Ray? We're really not sure what that means, because Blu -Ray doesn't currently support 4K in any shape or form. What this might imply is that there is a 4K upscaler in the Xbox, which would be, well, pretty cool, if it was a good one.
But it does sound like there is no architectural reason why games shouldn't run in 4K resolution. Remember, though, that just because a game can output 4K pixels, doesn't mean that the details (the textures, models and lighting effects) will be in 4K resolution as well. That would demand an extraordinary increase in power, which some might think would be better used improving gameplay, physics and in-game effects.
ref: http://www.redsharknews.com/technology/item/746-confirmed-xbox-one-has-4k-output-and-does-4k-gaming