As the next console generation gets closer and closer, we take a deep dive and see where each big player stands, and who might come out on top.
Now that Sony’s PlayStation 5 has finally made an appearance, it’s clearer than ever that our current console generation is fast coming to an end. But unlike in 2013, when the disastrous showing of the Xbox One at E3 handed the title of champion to the PS4, it’s not at all clear who’s going to come out of this one on top. Perhaps having learned a lesson from E3 2013, Microsoft struck first with a surprise reveal of the upcoming Xbox Series X at the Game Awards 2019, and quickly followed up by announcing a whole bevy of new, exciting games. Sony, apparently caught off guard, launched a piecemeal marketing campaign to make the case for the PS5. After delivering a dry rundown of its internal workings, they finally managed to hit back with their own livestream that dropped a bunch of new games and the long-awaited hardware reveal in one fell swoop. So where do they currently stand?
The Xbox Series X
First announced at E3 2019 as Project Scarlett, the Xbox Series X was officially revealed at the Game Awards 2019 as the successor to Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles. Although Sony had previously declared the existence of the PS5, Microsoft’s surprise announcement proved the value of going first. Even though the company had also gone first with the Xbox One, their effort that time was spoiled by a disastrous conference in which the company stumbled into a PR minefield. This time however, it’s clear they learnt their lesson. The reveal of the Series X was quickly followed by a reveal of a sequel to the highly praised Hellblade, and a stream showing off Microsoft’s partnerships with third-party studios including the likes of Ubisoft. Where previously they tried to emphasise their console’s value as a multimedia device, it’s clear that the Series X is about games first. Meanwhile Sony seemed to be caught off guard like the rest of us.
The company’s approach is clear: the games are going to determine the winner of this particular contest, so a strong line-up is going to be vital. Alongside the third-party games announced on stream, Microsoft have also announced that all fifteen game development teams that operate under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella are hard at work on next-gen titles, with a firm commitment to launch Halo Infinite this holiday season. It also helps that when Sony revealed the PS5’s specs, a side-by-side comparison shows that the Series X might just have a slight edge on its chief competitor.
To get even more of a leg up, Microsoft went further. The Smart Game Delivery program, which covers hotly anticipated games from CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, will allow Xbox users to buy games only once and receive copies for the Series X at no added cost. The console will also have unrestricted backwards compatibility with both Xbox One and the original Xbox. Add to that the continuation of the potent Xbox Game Pass subscription program, whose library of high-profile, high quality games has attracted five times the users of Sony’s PlayStation Now, and it’s something that’s definitely keeping a few PlayStation execs awake at night.
Still, Microsoft isn’t out of the woods yet. Aside from pure processing power, I don’t think we’ve actually seen much of a willingness to innovate. Microsoft’s statement that Xbox One controllers and other peripherals will work with the Series X is telling. When unveiled, we got a look at the new controller which, aside from a couple of new additions for reduced latency and improved ergonomics, doesn’t look all that different. In contrast, Sony appears to have stuffed a lot of new tech into their Dualsense controller and emphasised their big investment in game audio. Since it remains to be seen how the two consoles will match up in real life, Sony’s innovation in other aspects of the gaming experience might just prove to be a powerful ace card. Microsoft’s refusal to make a VR peripheral for the Xbox is in contrast to Sony’s firm commitment to continue supporting PlayStation VR, and it may not serve Microsoft well as VR tech continues to make further inroads with consumers.
There’s also the matter of reputation. We haven’t yet had the chance to see the Series X’s first party exclusives live, though Microsoft has scheduled a stream for the 12th of July expressly for that purpose. Even though they’ve shown us some third-party games, it’s also worth noting that they slipped up with that presentation. Meant to give us a look at gameplay on the Series X, the whole affair was overshadowed by a furore centred on the apparent absence of any proper gameplay footage from the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. On top of that, promising good exclusives is very different from actually having them. Sony arguably won this generation because of its wide range of great exclusives. Microsoft’s track record with them has historically been poorer and weaker, and it’ll take some work to convince gamers that it won’t just be the same old story.
The PlayStation 5
It’s been a long road to get here, especially given how Sony has marketed their console so far, but that latest stream packed a punch, with lots of games and a hardware reveal that’s spawned quite a few memes. Given Sony’s approach to the PS4 and its exclusives, it’s unsurprising that they chose to come out swinging with big announcements like Horizon: Forbidden West, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet and Clank: Rift in Time. Sony’s stream was a showcase of games from developers both big and small; proof that the company was finally addressing criticism that the PlayStation was far less indie-friendly than the Xbox. Exclusives are going to be a major factor in next-gen and while Xbox developers are busy trying to revitalise theirs, Sony already has a good reputation and track record to fall back on. The Series X might just be more powerful, but it’s worth noting that Xbox currently has the most powerful console right now with the Xbox One X and it’s done little to undercut the impression that the PlayStation 4 is still a few steps ahead thanks to its games.
We’re also seeing innovation with both hardware and software. The new SSD, reportedly a hundred times faster than the original PS4’s hard drive, is part of Sony’s attempt to remove what it calls barriers to play – namely loading screens – by allowing developers to load assets in at incredible speed. Developers might well find that this shifts how games are designed, since the SSD will allow for what Sony calls larger, richer worlds. It allows the PS5 to run far more sophisticated and impressive sequences, like what we saw in Epic’s demonstration of Unreal Engine 5. Though we’ve seen concerns that the effect on game design will be dampened by third party developers making concessions to get games running on Series X, the head of Microsoft’s Mixed Reality program William Stilwell has said that may not be the case. Stilwell, who worked for years with Xbox, stated in a podcast that he fully expected developers to work their way around the Series X’s limitations.
There’s also the Dualsense controller, which includes new features like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers which, according to Sony, will allow game developers to find new ways to improve immersion. It’s a surprising upgrade from the current DualShock 4, but also a drastic departure from the norm. Eagle-eyed viewers of the hardware reveal stream will also have spotted the new 3D audio headset that’s been designed for the new console. That headset will take advantage of Sony’s new audio technology – the highlight of the otherwise pretty dry spec meeting given by Sony’s Mark Cerny. The PS5 will feature what Sony calls the Tempest engine, highlighting their heavy investment into audio, which has often taken a back seat to things like graphics. The Tempest engine provides for 3D audio and supports hundreds of different audio sources to give sound both a sense of presence and direction, which will again increase immersion. Cerny even spoke about how Sony was researching ears. We’re at a point where it feels like we’ve hit a ceiling in terms of graphics; 8K TVs are here, but it’ll be a while before they achieve widespread usage, so Sony’s choice to explore other options for improving immersion may just give them the edge.
But Sony taking the lead is far from guaranteed. The loss of initiative the company suffered when Microsoft revealed their console has meant that everything they’ve done since has felt like they were desperately playing catch up. Their stance on backwards compatibility, which started off with a statement that the top 100 most played games on PS4 would be compatible and ended with a statement that most of the 4,000 games on PS4 would likely be compatible is a problem that sorely needs addressing. Microsoft knows their users want the feature and stated that absolutely all the games on Xbox and Xbox One would work, without reservation. Unfortunately, this is an area in which Sony has historically lagged behind, with proper backwards compatibility vanishing in the PS3 era never to return.
It’s reflective of an approach that’s going to be hard on some consumers. Although Sony has reportedly instructed developers that all games submitted for certification on PS4 from July onwards have to be forward compatible with the PS5, it won’t be an easy transition. Rather than easing the transition from current-gen console to next-gen console like Xbox with the Smart Delivery program or instructing developers to release games for both the PS4 and PS5 for a time like in the early days of the PS4, Sony wants us to move on and fast. CEO Jim Ryan has stated that the company wants to deliver the transition from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 “at a scale and pace that we've never delivered on before.” It’s going to be tough to do that when we’re expecting to pay quite a bit to make that move across because of all this new tech. Sony has given its support to developers who want to make PS5 updates free to users, but it’s stopped short of introducing a proper program for its users.
So who’s going to take this one?
Neither company is on a perfect platform right now, but our view is that the games matter most of all. Whoever has the best and the most exclusives, and takes advantage of other tech to improve immersion will probably come out on top. Right now that sounds like the PlayStation 5 to us, but it’s clear that the folks at Microsoft are also making the Series X a powerful contender with features that might just take the crown.
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