Microsoft's Bill Stillwell, who previously worked on the Xbox team including as Director of Project Planning for Project xCloud, recently commented on the PS5's recent deep dive presentation in a video with Dealer - Gaming. While he did admit that he felt Xbox Series X was going to be the "better console," he also shared praise for Sony and the PS5.
Furthermore, Stilwell also suggested that he's not concerned about the next-gen "power narrative", joking that he's "enjoying watching" some of the seemingly misinformed suggestions about Xbox Series X, such as "how we're going to lose 20% of our teraflops for audio processing":
"Just like Inside Xbox I think sometimes has a problem of - the audience expectations don't match what the content plans are - I think what you saw was the unfortunate by-product of a GDC talk being turned into a marketing event. I loved Sony's talk, I think they've got some cool tech - I personally think we're going to have a better console, I'm not worried about the power narrative...
Additionally, the Microsoft exec talked more about the PS5 deep dive presentation, noting that its host - PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny - found himself in a difficult position. However, Stillwell ultimately felt that when analysed from a certain point of view, it was a worthwhile presentation.
"I've said this before, Mark Cerny is a brilliant guy. And I think he was put in a bad spot, but I do think the content was actually pretty good if you were watching it with the right perspective."
What do you think of Bill Stillwell's comments on Xbox Series X and PS5? Let us know in the comments.
[source youtu.be, via gamingbolt.com]
Comments 14
Now if only the respective fans could extend the same courtesies to each other...
I love this new confident side of Microsoft. They aren’t messing around. Unless you are a complete Sony fanboy, it’s clear the XSX is more powerful (possibly a lot more) than the PS5. Does power mean everything? Nope. But as Xbox fans, we all heard it was a huge deal when the PS4 & Xbox One launched in 2013. Now, it’s not as big of deal to some PS fans apparently? Pfft. 🙄
They are being confident because they know Sony can’t match them in this area, along with their services & backwards compatibility. And Sony dragging their feet about the PS5, so far, is giving Microsoft a chance to get out there & get more people talking about Xbox.
We all know it will come down to the games, in the end. And that is where Microsoft needs to start showing what their new studios are working on soon. We know about Halo & Hellblade & we can assume a Forza Motorsport game will probably launch with the XSX. But we need to see more. I am assuming they come out “guns blazing” in their E3 digital event thing.
And if they can get some games shown in an impressive way, then Sony can wax on about SSDs & “3D audio” (which is sad that Sony is clinging to things like that) all they want. It won’t matter. Microsoft will have the power, services, & games.
That's not right! I've personally read on pushsquare that ps5 is going to be the better console
I like the way Microsoft is approaching things now, it harkens back to the 360 days.
@ShaiHulud
Haha! Well played. 😉
@ShaiHulud Everyone knows the Square button is actually the X button anyway
I don't think Mr. Cerny was in a bad spot. He delivered a great presentation. He is Sony's lead architect, not a public speaker.
I can't help feel that the PS5 isn't going to be as powerful as it has been suggested overall and be 'further' behind in terms of raw power/performance. I do think that Sony have had too come up with 'some' method to make the console seem closer and that method is having the option of 'boosting' the clock speeds of both CPU and GPU when needed. It doesn't seem like the PS5 will be running with the CPU at 3.5ghz and delivering 10.28TF but able to shift the power from one to the other to peak at those metrics. If the game hits a CPU intensive moment, it can shift some of the power, therefore dropping the GPU clock speed down to 'boost' the CPU up to 3.5Ghz and vice versa but we don't know what its general balanced running speeds are. It could be running at 200-300mhz lower in both CPU & GPU but able to drop one a bit lower in order to boost the other if needed.
It seems that people are focusing in on that '10.28TF' figure as if that is its 'normal' operational performance but Mark Cerney said 'up to' and that power is constant - so to boost to 10.28TF, the console must be operating below that in general but can drop the CPU frequency to boost the GPU up to that power and vice versa.
We know the Xbox is 'fixed' so there could be occasions when the GPU or CPU are not pushing 100% if the game isn't that demanding. I also has a LOT more shaders too so can do more tasks simultaneously. Regardless of whether the SSD is slower/faster, its the CPU and GPU that 'run' games and the SSD isn't exactly slow - especially compared to what we have now. Its no surprise that MS are confident...
That's not to say the PS5 isn't a big step up from any console currently on the market and there are methods to reduce the 'visible' difference in power, Temporal Reconstruction, DLSS etc, the Series X is on paper, the more powerful hardware. It will be interesting to see if Haptic feedback in the controllers and the audio make a 'big' difference over what MS offers - MS's audio does seem a step up too.
Offcourse he won't tell you that they have worse console. What else should he say?
I found this article for those like @Octane that didn't realise until now that Xbox One has more advanced rumble than PS4 and that the DualSense seems to be copying the technology in the Xbox One controller and Switch joy-cons. I think that it makes sense and in this regard Sony is one generation behind but I wonder how well third-party developers are going to optimise games for the Series X and PS5 rumble features.
https://www-techradar-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.techradar.com/nz/amp/news/the-dualsense-ps5-controller-is-packed-with-features-but-they-wont-get-used?amp_js_v=a3&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Fnz%2Fnews%2Fthe-dualsense-ps5-controller-is-packed-with-features-but-they-wont-get-used
It is basically quite silly how "dah powar" was the only important thing back when PS4 had more of it compared to X1. But since X1X and afterwards suddenly PS fanboys believe that TF power is only a number and "it is all about games". Point is that X1X has more TF power and it is a fact .But, after that the entire Playstation nation has been constantly focused on PS5's SSD and pushing it as the way how PS5 will totally demolish SX as if SX is running on a 5400rpm HDD from 2006. The equivelant of Sony's SSD solution and accompanying decompression hardware (I believe it is called Kraken on PS5) is simply the Velocity architecture on Xbox. Just different cool-sounding names for mostly the same technology.
I am personally a PS2,PS3 and PS4 person and only picked up a One S a year ago . So no brand loyalty or fanboyism. It is true that if Sony puts out exclusives that are GOTY contenders every year while Micro only releases one decent-enough Halo per generation, Microsoft will not win over PS5. However in the end the way Sony fanbase and sites like Pushsquare try to damage control everything is really silly.
No doubt the XSeX is going to win the power award. That alone isn't really compelling to me personally though.
@BrilliantBill
Well said!
I want my games to look cool and run smoothly. But even more than that I want them to be great games. I’ve really enjoyed my One S (bought holiday season last year), but nothing I’ve played on Game Pass (which is fantastic, and has brought my overall spending on video games way down) has come close to Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild in terms of sustained engagement and investment for me personally, as a gamer. I realize it’ll be hardware hype season till the consoles actually launch, but I want to hear more about the games we’ll be playing. Isn’t that why we’re all here?
@Jacoby
"He is Sony's lead architect, not a public speaker."
That is precisely why "he was put in a bad spot", as Stillwell frases it. A tech-heavy GDC presentation aimed at devs should've never been sold as a PS5 public event, after months of radio silence.
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