Random: Valve Co-Founder Gabe Newell Prefers Xbox Series X To PS5

Jus give me VR support on Xbox SX.

So this tells me that development for games is very likely a lot easier with Xbox than on PS5 since it's closer to PC. This, in the mid to long run will, be a huge advantage for Microsoft.

Yay, Xbox! You go, Gabe!

I'd settle for decent ports of the first two games and the expansions.

He's got form with not being a fan of Playstation

https://www.engadget.com/2007-10-11-gabe-newell-calls-ps3-waste-of-everybodys-time.html

Granted he had a point with his scathing assessment back then lol.

One of the sad things about the current generation Was Valve turning from one of the best AAA developers into a shopkeeper that didn’t produce any console games.

Hell yeah, Xbox is the way to go..

You guys oughta see the coverage over on the sass dimension to believe it. And it's a sister site!

@LocalPenguin @AlexSora89 I tried, but I don't see the problem?

It's a bit of a flamebait article - he doesn't even provide context other than "it's just better" it's like a classic case of nothing to see here.

It's blew up on one site and shouldn't have, I hope it doesn't do the same here.

He has always preferred Xbox - it's not really news.

@kuliddar
Game Core for the win!

Oh man, the conspiracy theories must be flying like crazy right now! I fear reading comments on the Push's article.

The article itself is rather ugly, making predictions of social media harassment (that of course will never give people ideas) and going out of its way to claim wack things like the PS5 is somehow actually faster and Gabe just always been cushy with Microsoft... they must have missed how Valve attempted to launch their own OS because they hated Microsoft offering their own built-in app/game store into the OS back in Win 8.

This man has zero love for Microsoft, but at the same time, he only cares about objective specs.

@Jaxx420 Gabe has not always just sided with xbox blindly.

Don't forget that during the reveal of Portal 2 he went on stage to tout the PS3 would have the best version of the game (if only because it would have cross-platform play and steam cloud support.)

@Tharsman Now fair play. I forgot about that.

Was that before or after he labelled ps3 a massive waste of time though?

@Jaxx420 After, like most the industry. His original statement was during the release of the Orange Box for XBox, what appears to have been an extremely frustrating dev cycle (they had to get EA UK to do the PS3 version.)

The first few years of the PS3 were horrible due to how hard it was to develop for the architecture, and how poor the tools were. Eventually people figured things out, engines got a better, dev tools got better, and it became a bit more viably to develop for the platform.

@Tharsman I wonder what his reason is now then other than knowing it will end up in the press and put him back in the public eye again. Lol.

Literally no context this time at all.

@Jaxx420 He was on a 5 minute interview talking about a concert, wasting time going into spec details would have been a huge waste of that time. He also stopped himself from going too far into details about bad VR (I think he was taking a jab at Oculus with that statement.)

Anyways, I don't think we here need much context. I expect most people that still come here [not to troll] accept that Series X specs are simply superior.

@Jaxx420
Gabe talks to devs and knows a lot of insiders. I believe that, had he tried to elaborate on his preference, he just would've ended up making things worse.

Edit: Maybe MS bought $250mil worth of Valve stock. 😮

In Gabe I trust. 😂

Remember when the PSN hack took down all of PSN the day Portal came out with account linking between PSN and Steam? LOL, yeah...good times...I'm sure Gabe hates PS with a passion....

I've been wondering for a while now, though, if PS5 vs XSeX will be a repeat of PS3 vs 360. PS3 was more difficult to develop for so 360 became the console lead platform, and nearly every third party ran much better on 360 (or ran like garbage on PS3, more specifically.) Sony's first party games were blowing away anything on 360, but anything 3rd party ranged from "I'd rather play this on 360" to "this isn't even playable on PS3, how could they release it like this?!"

I don't think it will get that bad this gen, but I am wondering if PS5 will be the "technical" winner where first party showcases more wow factor, but XSeX will be the better "every day" console for "basically everything else" as the closest to PC option.

@AlexSora89

That website is pure toxic nonsense filled with PlayStation fanboys who get riled up over every negative comment that someone makes against PlayStation.

Let me guess? The comment section consists of everyone hating on Gabe now & Valve’s games suck? 😂 I love seeing the ponies get their panties in a bunch about every little thing. Haha! Go Gabe! Hilarious! 👍🏻

While I wish he could make a better argument, the XSX is more powerful if that is all that is good. Microsoft, HP, and Valve made a good VR headset together, if only Xbox could have the enthusiasm Sony has for console VR. Weird Push Square tried to claim teraflops on the same GPU architecture don't matter, that was quite a big deal back in the base PS4 days.

@Jaxx420 It's quite simple to understand, he answered the truth, Series X is technically better but, as Tharsman said, Sony fanboys get angry when anyone says something positive about Series X. Also, PS3 was rubbish until developers figured it out so no wonder he complained about it as developer.

@NEStalgia We all know that multiplatform games will perform and look better on Series X. The only reason for getting a PS5 is its exclusives but there are three reasons for buying a Series X: Microsoft's games, third-party games and better value than a gaming PC.

I agree, Sony's PS5 exclusives will sell the Hollywood-wannabe games with the wow factor at half the frame rate. It worked wonders for PS4 but, all things considered, specifically Switch's success and Xbox's rebirth, PS5 will be more similar to PS3 than to PS4.

@Richnj
Throw the Black Mesa remake in and I'm there. I can't run that on my crap laptop. I still revisit Half Life 2 every now and again, love it.

@BlueOcean Gabe Newell is not a simple man.

Regardless I am not fussed which is technically better myself nor do I want to get in on the fanboy hating bandwagon eirher. I came here to get away from that crap.

I just dont think it was news worthy, on either site as there was no detail or background in his words. Just one is better than the other, wonderful.

@BlueOcean with the ps3 it drove 360 to win until MS lost the narrative and went all in on badly targeting Wii. I don't think that aspect will happen this time. Social/viral marketing wasn't a thing then. Now "everyone" buys ps so so will you!

Which is good. I don't want to see ms win again. They're awesome when they're an underdog!

But yeah, I'm thinking for third party, X1 is probably going to be the lead development target and therefore the best to play.

Value vs pc....i suppose that's debatable these days. Cheaper hardware up front, but maybe less longevity and overall performance. Steam sales, some say they are cheaper, but I've never seen it. And both get game pass.

@BlueOcean there is more than exclusives to go PS5. The PS5 won’t be anything like the PS3. It has a small performance disadvantage, but so did the PS2 Vs. everything else and it still succeeded. Unlike the PS3, it will be straightforward to develop for and available at the same time (while the PS3 was a year late.)

For some, the controller alone might be a selling point (I mean the stick position, not the weird features no one will use.) For others access to VR modes, that even MS’s own Minecraft does not offer on XBox.

Some might just want one console, and the exclusives will counter weight the performance advantage, making them buy third party titles on the PS5, just like some went out and bought Battlefield 4 on an Xbox One Launch Edition.

Some might just be already into that ecosystem, and find it much more friction free to remain there. Their friends and families might also opt to stay, or upgrade later, leading to some multiplayer driven choices.

I definitely don’t foresee the PS5 “failing”, but I do expect a much more even race than this gen. How even, and whom will have a percentage point over the other, will be heavily based on pricing.

TLDR:
*exclusives
*controller preferences
*VR
*Friend network/game library lock-in

@Octane Me neither actually. It's probably a fanboy thing.

@Tharsman The technical advantage might be bigger than that. Just think of how better games performed on Xbox One X compared to PS4 Pro and those are just hardware revisions.

I agree that current digital library is a factor and so is the controller although for me the PS4 controller (we can't talk about PS5 controller yet) is worse than the Xbox One controller. VR of course but I assume that Oculus will be supported on Series X eventually and does PS5 have VR at launch not counting PS4 VR? How many people will buy PS5 for PS4 VR? Zero.

The interesting part is the digital library. Of course, most people with over 100 PS4 games will buy a PS5 but looking at games per console ratio most people have a handful of games. Most console owners are console-agnostic and jumped to PS4 and will jump back to Series X as easily. I didn't say that PS5 will fail and it won't but it won't be as PS4. Don't forget that Nintendo and Xbox where failing around the time PS4 launched.

Most importantly, most people didn't buy PS4 for Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us but for FIFA and GTA.

@NEStalgia I don't think that Microsoft will win the console race which is good because competition keeps Microsoft and Sony's arrogance at bay but Microsoft have already won the subscriptions race against Sony 10x times. Now, Microsoft have got not just Game Pass but Play Anywhere and xCloud so they don't need to sell more Series X than PS5 to be more successful. Interesting, isn't it?

Software-wise, some Xbox One games have been very successful this generation in spite of Xbox One's lack of popularity, e.g., Forza Horizon 3 and 4, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, Minecraft... In the UK, the Xbox One version of some games sold more than the PS4 version. Of course, they need more variety and appealing on different markets so I can't wait for the new Xbox Game Studios games.

Sony won the console race against a weak Nintendo (now Nintendo sells much more than Sony in Japan) and a messy Xbox One launch. Don't you think that next gen will be like the last one when Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all achieved a similar success? Nintendo, though, is a very strange position with a hybrid console slightly more powerful than Wii U, a current-gen console with last-gen power, which will be almost four years old in November 2020. Switch will technically be two generations behind in 2021.

@kuliddar you can determine all that just from that small quote?!

Gabe’s always preferred Xbox to PS

@BlueOcean you have good points but I’d say Nintendo have had consoles with old tech since the GC and even before then with N64 and gameboy. However they still always have massive success due to their games being so good, with the exception of wii u of course!

@eggsbox Thanks. Switch is destroying PS4 in Japan but they've never been as far behind technically as they will be next year.

@BlueOcean do keep in mind that there are people that are perfectly happy playing on an Xbox one S or ps4 slim despite there being an Xbox one x and PS4 pro. In fact, those models sell better than the X and Pro. Lots of people don’t care that much about graphics, and controller choice is a very subjective thing. Everyone has their favorite, and for some, their favorite can chance based on the mood or the game they playing.

@Tharsman I didn't say the opposite.

@BlueOcean but you did bring up that the power difference between the XSX and the PS5 is likely greater than the power difference between XOX and PS4Pro. That’s why I wrote the above, that power difference influences only a minority.

MS biggest strength is its popularity in its home market, so long they don’t anger people again, and price (if they can manage to launch at equal or lower price.)

@BlueOcean True. I wasn't really talking too much about which company would win so much in sales or popularity, so much as which would be the lead development target for third parties, and thus offer the better experience for almost everything except 1st/2nd party games. This past gen that was clearly PS4 by a mile, at least until X1X arrived and brute forced its way past. But the gen prior everything was targeted to 360 and PS3 got the blurry low res choppy frame rate ports of everything. 360 gave the more "PC-like" experience for 3rd party content.

Now, Nintendo....they weren't even playing in the arena when PS4/One came out. WiiU was DOA and 3DS was considered DOA until it perked up in a big way. But I don't think limited hardware is their Achilles heel. Consider DS curb stomping all consoles, past and future, including Wii(!), short of PS2 (which sold more as a cheap DVD player than as a console.) Switch can easily dominate even once the $500+ mini PCs launch. But I also think a hardware refresh is in the cards for Nintendo in a year or two, not entirely in response to PS5/SeX, but that's their usual pattern for handheld consoles.

@NEStalgia Yep, I don't doubt that Nintendo will be fine but they've never been that far technically as they'll be later this year. Series X will be the winner regarding power (no doubt), controller (in our opinion) and third parties (because of better hardware). Exclusives is a subjective matter but I'm more interested in Playground, Rare and Obsidian than in Naughty Dog, Polyphony and Santa Monica. Series X is going to be great value anyway! 😁 I hope that next generation is more balanced than this, you haven't told me your prediction!

@BlueOcean I'm considering actual "power" a tie (even before the machines are out.) Based on what we've heard so far it sounds like in pure power PS5 is the winner, just as PS3 was, but in terms of APIs and developer ability to use that power in a straight forward way without tons of extra expense over PC, XSeX will win, making it perform worse for first party titles than what Sony can squeeze from their machine, but better for every other developer.

Which makes sense the "Project DirectX Box" (the original codename for Microsoft's console....it wasn't supposed to become the commercial name, but it more or less did.) would be the more PC dev friendly...that was the original point of the box to begin with. PS2 was stealing marketshare from Windows gaming, and a console running DirectX was meant to take that market back by making a console PC devs could "plug and play" with more or less. But it's funny how after a weird 8th gen, we arrive at 9th gen kind of resetting back to 6th gen. (X-BOX was 5th gen, but it was half a generation, like X1X, and it was rushed out the door veeery unready to start hitting the market against PS2.)

I don't know that I have much of a prediction...or at least not one that wasn't more or less answered in the July event

@NEStalgia PS5 has variable CPU and GPU clocks and can't sustain both at maximum speed and they can not reach Series X sustained speeds so the difference in performance is going to be big!

@BlueOcean True, but we don't have real measurements of the performance yet, and I find it unlikely that any raw performance difference between the two will be significant. And we don't know how PS5's variability will perform in real world use.

I find it interesting how Phil has modified the verbiage from "most powerful console" to "most consistently powerful console."

Still, the Halo backlash shows us that people are mostly interested in moments of wow, rather than consistent performance, so I think people are going to more likely notice those momentary "full power" moments on PS5 more than they'll notice the consistent performance on X.

But that's for first party. My guess is still it's the software support that will make X consistently perform better for 3rd party software. It'll be more or less a straight PC port, or full PC build with some extra options, while PS5 will have to be a more fine combed port. Most studios tend to phone in the port when it comes to that.

@NEStalgia True but Halo is 60 FPS and cross-gen. I'm sure that the other games are going to look better.

I agree and not only that but Series X run Windows 😁.