Former Sony Designer Suggests The Xbox Series X Is "A Beast" Compared To PS5

Ultimately until the day that there is handful of Multiplatform games running on these devices and then they are compared and evidence is provided (like Digital Foundry doing a head 2 head comparison on games) it is all a bit abstract how big the difference will be. But Microsoft has outdone itself and created amazing hardware. Can't wait to see how Gears 6 , Halo Infinite and Hellblade look and run on it.

@BrilliantBill And let's hope for a new Perfect Dark too! A man can dream

@BrilliantBill Exactly. You can read exact the same quotes from different people on pushsquare, but with "xbox series x" and "ps5" switched.

In Phil, I trust. 😁👍🏻

Sony is pulling a "Nintendo" this time around - it's distancing itself a little but from the visual arms race and focusing on very console-specific features (ultra-fast storage I/O, Tempest Engine audio, and haptic controller button feedback, etc.). Sony is going more for immersion this time around. It makes sense given that Sony's software development houses focus heavily on cinematic experiences.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is more focused on closing the gap between console and PC. Microsoft is also looking to breathe new life into legacy games as well with improvements to backwards compatibility - just like upgrading your old PC to new hardware and firing up old games.

Neither one is wrong, just very different.

I do suspect that multi-platform titles will have the upper hand on Microsoft's machine. I just can't wait for the Digital Foundry analysis.

@ShaiHulud
I haven't heard anybody, anywhere, argue that the power advantage is "significant" or "staggering", when favoring the PS5. All I hear is SSD and Instagram likes.

The Series X has a power advantage, but what will that advantage be in practice? Will it be like the PS4/One, where it was quite clear, or will it be like PS3/360 where it was only clear in Sonys games.

Probably Sony did get caught off guard. But then Microsoft were quite clearly hell bent on, after having the weaker console two generations in a row, having the console with the superior spec. However, I think we all know Sonys games will look amazing like they always have done. And we still have heard very little from Sony. This is a company that has squashed the competition flat in three out of four generations, and managed to turn the PS3 round from its disaster of a launch to actually finishing the generation in second place, so you'd have to be naive to underestimate them, and I doubt Microsoft are making that mistake. I do get the feeling they are being evasive for a reason, only for them to come out with a drop the mic moment. But as of right now, Microsoft are getting the positive limelight

@gingataisen Potatoe Potaatoe You're right of course, I didn't mean it that literal, I just find it typical that you can find praising comments about either console now claiming it's so much faster or better or whatever than the other, depending on whom you listen to. I'd rather wait on a proper report when there's something to show for.

@gingataisen There was that one dev, but his words were pulled. The rest have really been the Fanboys and the dedicated websites trying to drum up hype for the system.

Though I think that is part of the Sony culture at this point. Both the PS3 and 4 have been championed by their edge on xbox, and now that it's most likely going to be the opposite there's a weird scramble to keep that narrative going.

Even funnier is that the advantages that the last two Playstations were so small or unused (or in some cases, to the detriment of some titles) because of multiplats having to run on both that you'd think people would learn not to get upset/excited over a power difference.

Hell, if you look at the Switch, it's biggest problems aren't related to the power of the console, it's the features, or lack of.

@BrilliantBill I love watching the DF stuff, but it's been a long time since I watched one to see which version is better. Normally it's out of curiosity, or just to make sure a version of the game is at least of a playable standard.

Hell yeah, Xbox all the way baby

@Richnj
Yeah, I remember him. The Crytek dev who was interviewed by that iranian gaming site, but even there he referred to the PS5 as just being easier to develop for, right?

I don't know...
I'm going to get an Xbox because they've won me over with how much they are doing for gamers. But while I think Xbox will do better than this gen, Sony has such a huge presence that I just can't see PS5 falling from first or even being hurt very much.

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Playstation 2 the weakest of the three consoles when it came out?

@gingataisen He did, and they ran with it.

Yes, PS2 was less powerful than GameCube and Xbox. When people say that PS3 beat 360 that isn't correct, the PS3 recovered but only oversold 360 after the generation ended with super cheap units but during the generation 360 was better positioned.

PS1 and PS2 were really successful for different reasons. PS1 and PS2 could play pirated games easily. PS4 took advantage.of Microsoft shooting their own foot thanks to Don Mattrick. I respect what Sony has been doing since the 90s but Sony has always been lucky with home consoles. This generation PS4 was super lucky to have Don Mattrick and a dated and expensive home console like Wii U as the two only rivals. Vita hasn't been that lucky.

Another interesting thing when people say that Sony's games are the key is that 15% of those 108 million PS4 owners seem interested in the best-selling PS4 exclusive (Uncharted 4).

Another bit:

“The big [difference] really is the amount of CUs (compute units) that’s pretty…that’s pretty huge when you start to look at real time ray tracing and things like that…Where PS5 is potentially going to struggle is some of those big third party games like open world [games].

There’s only one next-gen console that will be able to do real time ray tracing. That’s a bit of a controversial statement…but Cerny skipped over it and didn’t talk about it…it comes down to CUs, consistency, what’s on the hardware.”

So, much like I predicted, then. As with any entity or person in the lead in some area or field, they just can't sit on their laurels, being all smugly confident about their first place position. You NEED to keep working and improving, in order to make sure that you also STAY at that number one position. It isn't just a given with a new iteration of your product or service.

Phil Spencer took note of that and has taken maximum advantage of it, and took it quite a bit further. I think it's safe to say that aside from the software, which we still know very little about, Microsoft is already in a FAR better position than Sony.

@ShaiHulud That's probably more than likely just fans, not developers or designers. Even on objective/mainstream media, I haven't read a single article about PS5 being the superior console, so other than a slightly faster SSD and some audio gimmickery, there really isn't much that the PS5 specs have in favor of them, in direct comparison.

Of course, a large part of it is also about the games, but I honestly can't imagine what with all the stuff that Phil Spencer has done right so far, that he's going to drop the ball on that single point.

@BlueOcean
There's a lot more to luck than what meets the eye. Sony made their own luck. PS1 was also successfully because Sony had entered the console wars at a perfect time, with the change from 2d to 3d sort of leveled the playing field. A bit like the electric car market now.

@tinCAT-zero Yeah but the 3D games on Nintendo 64 were technically much better and the cartridges didn't help with console and games sales. PS1 was using CD-ROM.

To be honest, the new Xbox is fanatastic. However, Japanese developer support us one of the decisive factors for me. And unfortunately, Xbox always falls short in that respect. And this is very sad for me, because I love Xbox first party titles more thatn Sony's.

@BlueOcean

As usual, I agree with you.

The PS2 dominated, partially, because it was also the cheapest DVD player on the planet at the time. People forget about that. I had all three systems, & the OG Xbox was the way better system, but the lack of Japanese support (a big thing at the time) was huge. These days, that is not as big of a deal.

And to anyone who really knows video games knows that the 360 dominated last generation. Once again, I owned all three consoles. Yes, the Wii outsold it. But it was a gimmick console & I tip my cap to Nintendo for creating a fad that got grandmothers playing video games. And the PS3 was an outright disaster (“Get a 2nd job”) until Sony’s first party studios started kicking out their exclusives almost half way through the gen & Don Mattrick took over Xbox. His idiot decisions almost killed Xbox completely.

And that led to the awful launch of the Xbox One & the awful Kinect being bundled in with it. 🙄

But going forward, it’s looking to be much different. Under Phil Spencer, Xbox has completely turned it around. They have the most powerful console (by far, some say), the best services (how can anyone argue that at this point), & if they start kicking out greatest exclusives......perfect.

I think what he said on the podcast is true. It’s clear Sony didn’t expect Microsoft to come out guns blazing, but they did. Sony still has two big 1st party games coming out on PS4. That also means that those two developers won’t be done with a PS5 game for many years. Sony wants to drag out this generation as long as it can & it has clearly hampered them in the process.

Rumors of issues with the PS5 (whether it be technical, price, scarcity, lack of power) are abundant. Whether Microsoft can capitalize remains to be seen.

@BlueOcean I can't wait to see all the shiny ray traced reflections on the series X games and PS5 will be bland and pixelated. The Xbox games will look so much better!

@BlueOcean

Also, thanks for bringing up the Vita. Sony fanboys like to gloss over that disaster like it didn’t happen.

I had a Vita & it was awesome. But Sony’s awful mismanagement of the handheld ruined it & they ditched it by the side of the road like an animal carcass. That made me so angry that I will never support another console of theirs ever.

But it just goes to show, Sony is not above completely screwing up a console even if their fanboys want to claim otherwise. I guess we’ll see with the PS5.

@Xbox4ever Series X is more powerful than the PS5 but the difference is only 20% better TFLOPs on the same architecture, it won't be that big a difference. The big thing about this generation is everyone says their console is better but Microsoft and Sony's tech specs haven't been this close to each other in many years. I expect slightly faster loading on PS5, and slightly higher resolution or a more stable frame rate on Series X.

I don't think MS caught Sony off guard too much - I think if you look at the XB1X, they were unlikely to go for a moderate upgrade - on terms of shader count/CU cores. Sony essentially have the same CU cores as a Pro - of course its RDNA2 and faster.

I think Sony had a different design brief, opting to invest in bigger upgrades to its controller (Haptic feedback and Microphone) and of course the SSD. I do think that they have been surprised by the actual speeds of the GPU and CPU that MS have gone for so maybe felt they had to come up with a way to bump theirs up. Which may of affected their cooling plans and potentially the design but Sony seemed to want to go for a 36CU GPU for BC reasons and implement a similar method of altering the way the GPU/CPU runs to match PS4/Pro.

@ThanosReXXX

I completely agree.

@Vincent294 If that bit of the video that I quoted above is true and the developer knows what he's talking about, PS5 can't do real-time ray tracing regardless of the power difference. When multiplatform games are released we'll see exactly what Series X can do that PS5 can't but it seems evident that Series X is more balanced and powerful, while the PS5 fancy SSD could be overkill and not the panacea that websites like PushSquare state.

@KelticDevil Yeah, I agree. This generation was the first I got a lot of consoles: 3DS, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One (original and X) and finally a Switch Lite and for me Xbox One (X) is the best gaming platform at the moment so I feel confident about Series X being a solid and technically best choice next generation, noting that some people favour Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft's exclusives over the other two. Like someone said around here, having backwards compatibility on Xbox One/Series X including Japanese games that are joining the platform for the first time beats the rare exclusives on other consoles so if I had to choose one, I'd choose the one that gives me more, especially because backwards compatibility is free and Xbox exclusives are promising.

Wii sold more units because of Wii Sports and Wii Fit but it was already left in the dust before its successor appeared. 360 was solid the whole generation and Microsoft did great. Xbox has recovered miraculously after Xbox One launch thanks to Phil Spencer and his team, with backwards compatibility, Xbox One S and X, great online services, elite controllers and expanding Xbox Game Studios to make sure that Series X and Game Pass have a lot more to offer.

The fact that Sony is quiet about PS5 and released the specifications a week after Microsoft tells me that they don't want people to focus too much on PS5 but keep PS4 and subscriptions high. With variable and lower specifications than Series X, they can't be as confident as when PS4 was confirmed to be more powerful (and cheaper!) than Xbox One.

@BlueOcean
"This generation PS4 was super lucky to have Don Mattrick..."

Couldn't have phrased it better myself, LMAO!

@KelticDevil
Don't forget the PlayStation®Classic. 😂

@BlueOcean I'd be surprised if the PS5 couldn't do ray tracing. It has the same architecture, the hardware is already in the package. On the other hand, if Sony's graphics API did not have ray tracing ready for launch I would not be surprised. They seem to be behind Microsoft this generation.

Don't know if it's so much a case of Sony not giving MS credit as it is the richest company in the console-making business deciding to flex for the first time since the original Xbox days. Phil Spencer has said he's got the backing of the company (Gates and Ballmer never truly bought in) and he's also made mention he wants a big improvement in where Xbox is in terms of sales. MS is going for broke and since it has deeper pockets than everybody else, no way it gets beat on certain things. Hardware power is absolutely a category it was going to win and it does matter. Games are still number 1 overall, but this could be a case where I get a PS5 for exclusives but Series X becomes my main console because multiplats will be significantly better on it.

@KelticDevil Calling the Wii a gimmick console and a fad is a bit harsh I'd say. Sure, there was loads of shovelware for it but it also boasts some superb games like Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Zelda Twilight Princess, DKC Returns, Metroid Prime 3 among others, and it had a fantastic Virtual Console as well.

@ShaiHulud Wii has great titles, not just the ones you mentioned but also Project Zero/Fatal Frame 2, Disaster, Little King's Story, Pandora's Tower, Resident Evil The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles, Zack and Wiki, etc., but the cheap hardware (one generation behind just like Wii U and Switch) and especially the marketing and huge sellers like Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus were part of a social phenomenon and the way inaccurate motion controls were used last generation but not this generation are almost history now. In that sense, I agree with him that Wii was basically a fad although with great titles in the process. It's a shame that it's SD though.

@BlueOcean I suppose it was a fad in the sense that the motion controls are mostly a thing of the past, but the great library of games sure isn't. Using less-powered hardware isn't really that detrimental either I'd say; I'm currently enjoying my Switch just as much, if not more, than my ps4 (although it's a shame the Wii is SD like you said).

@ShaiHulud
I agree about the Wii, and also Switch. Both significantly underpowered compared to the competition but both have fantastic libraries of games. Hell in certain years, 2007, 2010, 2017 and last year, I gamed more on Nintendo than anything else. It's why I say power is important but games will always be what matters most. Xbox in the 360's prime years was the place to be so we know MS can get there, can't wait to see what's in store for Series X.

I'm kinda amazed at the fact some people think Sony only dominated because they 'got lucky'. Right. Because the fact the PSOne had an endless supply of great games that the other two didn't have, and the same with the PS2, didn't play into it at all.

The PS4 was Sony firing on all cylinders. Microsofts self implosion (Don Mattrick telling people without Internet to buy a 360 has to be one of the worst comments the games industry has ever witnessed) certainly helped, as did privacy issues around Kinect (Edward Snowdon blowing the whistle on what the US government was doing came at a really bad time for Microsoft with its always watching, always listening Kinect), but Sony certainly finished the generation in a stronger position. They'd broadened their games library (something Spencer has tried to address), and carried on supporting the PS3 up until the end with Gran Turismo 6. Whereas Microsoft had, for some reason, descended into a farce with Kinect games, some daft e3s that focused on casuals (remember Usher?), and a ceo that seemed to be losing the plot (and he did!).

You can see the difference with Spencer. He is a gamer, as well as a ceo. Mattrick was a former EA exec.

@SuperNintendoMii
That's true too. I think Sony is crapping the bed a bit here at the end of this gen (similar to how it screwed up heading into the PS3 gen) but to say it's been 'lucky' is beyond silly. 25 years in the industry, winner of 3 of 4 home console generations with all of those consoles selling over 100 mil and it's biggest 'failure' being a console that sold over 80 mil is more than just 'luck.' This same stuff goes on at PushSquare and it drives me crazy. You can't be going on about fanboys in one sentence than saying fanboyish stuff yourself in the next. Not saying people have to like PlayStation either, I certainly have a lot of issues with stuff Sony has done, even in this generation, but you also have to give credit where credit is due.

Some sensible stuff being said in this topic, I like it! With regards to fanboy behaviour; what I really don't get about it is the fact that the only person one deceives is oneself. Why people opt for a console that hasn't got the most interesting features or games for you, but does have the correct multinational producing it, is a notion that simple doesn't make sense for me.

@SuperNintendoMii @Gamer83 I am not a fanboy and I got a PS4 before an Xbox One but I think it is obvious that Sony has been lucky with home consoles and I explained why. Was PS2 and its library so much better than GameCube and Xbox or do we have to note that PS2 and PS1 were bought massively for other reasons as well? What I consider "beyond silly" is to think that Sony has had the best console, service and game library every generation and that circumstances did not play their part. Do you really believe that PS4 sold extremely well during the first year because of Sony's output in 2013-2014?

@BlueOcean
I know, N64 games were far superior but Sony still managed to win that generation. I was N64 all the way. I actually queued all night in Dublin the night before launch to get one - outside the virgin mega store back in 1997 I think it was 3rd March. They had 14 in stock and I was number 7 in the queue.

@tinCAT-zero I skipped school to get a Nintendo 64.

@BlueOcean yes actually, the PS2 DID have a much better library than GameCube and Xbox. There were times when I was starved for games on GameCube yet with PS2 I was subjected to a barrage of great games. The PS2 is considered a classic for a reason, and it did not sell 150 million due to the fact it played DVD. The PSOne was a perfect storm with amazing exclusives such as Gran Turismo to Silent Hill, whereas the Saturn never got many 3rd party games despite using CDs, and Nintendo just plodded along thinking they would be alright in the end.

And as for the PS4, I already said Sony finished the gen stronger than Microsoft. They'd closed one hell of a gap, and fired out games like Uncharted, The Last of Us, Gran Turismo 6, to name a few, whereas Microsoft relied on Kinect towards the end of the 360, and seemingly rested on Gears, Forza, and Halo (a fact that Phil Spencer has attempted to rectify), before Mattrick went off on his crazy talk of stick with 360, and Kinect privacy issues.

@SuperNintendoMii Better games is a subjective matter (better for you). The thing is that I did not say that the only reason was that it was a DVD player but I said that I respect what they have been doing since the 90s. I know (not an opinion) that it was because of several facts and circumstances but for you is this reason or the other while for me it is for many reasons including the facts that I posted above and that are objective.

@BlueOcean but what you posted was factually incorrect. Your original post basically insinuated that the only reason PSOne and PS2 dominated was due to them being easy to pirate games for. And you asked if the two consoles had better libraries, and I answered that they did. I don't see how the original Xbox had a better library than PS2. It had a weaker library than GameCube for starters, at least that console had Nintendo making games for it. Sony didn't get 'lucky'. Not by a long shot.

@SuperNintendoMii But you are lying, I did not say that the only reason was that it could play pirated games but that was one of the reasons why PS and PS2 sold so many units and anyone alive in the 90s knows that. If what you said was true more software would have been sold. Best-selling PS game sold just 10.85m and best-selling PS2 game sold 17.30m and it is GTA, not Gran Turismo. Again, objective and true facts.

@BlueOcean I never said you were claiming that, I said you were hinting as such by the way you said it.

Those consoles did not shift the numbers they did due to piracy. The Dreamcast didn't even have to be modded, it ran burnt cds and yet still never got noticed.

And yes Gran Turismo sold 10 million and GTA 17 million. So what? Most games don't even hit double digit sales. The software sales for those two consoles were a million miles from what companies got on the other consoles. What's your point?

Our first heated comments section in Pure Xbox. 🙌🎉👏

Sony made the biggest mistake releasing their first party or second party exclusives to PC like Horizon or Detroit. I was all in to buy PS5 but now i hesitate. And i am person who really likes certanties. They have made me uncertain. Given that xbox does not have any exclusives i really dont care how powerfull it is.

@BlueOcean
Didn't say you were a fanboy, just saying it's a fanboyish thing to boil things down to luck. I owned an N64, not a PS1 and there were plenty of times I felt I backed the wrong horse. Had a PS2, Xbox and GC, PS2's library was leaps and bounds better than what the other offered, I have no problem saying that. Of course Sony did other things that helped out. PS2's launch library sucked compared to Dreamcast but it was smart enough to throw a DVD player in the machine at a time DVD was taking off. I don't call that luck so much as reading the entertainment market, picking up on trends and taking advantage of it. When we move into last generation, we could say both MS and Nintendo benefited from Sony's idiotic decision to charge $600 for PS3 because the brand recognition was there and 360 didn't really take off until that holiday of 2006 when people realized they could get high end performance for a much more reasonable cost. This generation, Sony certainly benefited from MS' stupidity out of the gate and the mistakes of Mattrick were too great for Phil Spencer to do anything but plan for the Series X. That said, PS4 doesn't reach 100 mil without also offering some decent services and great games of its own and Sony has the best balance this generation of top notch exclusives and multiplats. Again, you don't get to 100 mil consoles sold 3 times out of 4 on accident.

Gears of war! Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Halo.
I wasnt really an Xbox fan till i played gears of war co op with my brothers.
Killer instinct whas great but could do much better.
And perfect dark they can make that game Great again. Last one wasnt that good imo.

Halo, massive game love it.
So yeah i became an xbox fan. I already sold my ps pro. Collected to much dust. So this time it will be Nintendo Switch and Xbox X together.