Ahead of the long-awaited arrival of the next generation of video game consoles, Microsoft had clearly grabbed the initiative. Its reveal of the Xbox Series X at the Game Awards came out of nowhere, and Sony’s weak response at CES a few weeks later was to show off the PS5 logo. (It’s a PS4 logo with a 5 in it.)
Then the coronavirus hit, and all plans went out of the window. Sony stumbled by hyping a dense, tech-heavy presentation, which was intended to be a Game Developers Conference talk, while Microsoft pulled together a slapdash, wholly unimpressive collection of minor titles running on the Series X. E3 would have been the time for each company to make a major statement; instead, they’re making news on their own terms.
Going into this week, the PlayStation 5 was a completely unknown quantity beyond the sort of tech specs that would have leaked by now anyway. What a relief, then, that Sony put its best foot forward. This was a confident presentation that included impressive games, strong production values, and even the console hardware itself. It almost felt like things were back to normal.
Let’s start with that hardware. Obviously, the design is divisive. Equally obvious, Sony will have known it would be. As a fan of Sony’s outlandish gadgetry throughout the decades, I am glad that the PS5 looks more like the gleaming new wing of a Chinese airport terminal than a piece of AV equipment. I’m also glad that, unlike the Xbox Series X, it’ll actually fit into my TV stand horizontally. But taste is personal, as are living room setups, and it’s reasonable to be taken aback by Sony’s direction here. I’ll just note that game consoles stick around for a long time and even the weirdest usually end up feeling normal once they’ve been under your TV for a couple of years.
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Sony finally revealed its PlayStation 5 console hardware this week, and while the console design will undoubtedly be labeled divisive, the real surprise was Sony’s plans for two PS5 models. There’s a PS5 Digital Edition that will ship with the same hardware specs as the main model, without the 4K Blu-ray drive. Sony didn’t mention pricing for either variant, but the PS5 Digital Edition will obviously be priced below the model with the optical drive. It sets Sony up for an interesting price war against Microsoft’s Xbox Series X.
Microsoft has long been rumored to be preparing to launch two next-gen Xbox models. The Xbox maker has already revealed the Xbox Series X, but a second, cheaper Xbox (codename Lockhart) has also been in the works. Like Sony’s PS5 Digital Edition, the Lockhart model is likely to ship without an optical drive, but it’s also expected to include changes to at least the memory configuration and GPU inside that make it less powerful than the Series X.
Sony’s PS5 Digital Edition doesn’t directly counter Microsoft’s rumored plans, but it does offer the company some leverage around pricing for the PlayStation 5. Even though a 4K Blu-ray drive doesn’t make up a huge amount of the cost of next-gen consoles, it should equate to roughly a $50 price cut, thanks to the drive costs and associated licensing charges. Price is a huge factor in this next-gen console phase, particularly as it’s clear we’re about to enter one of the worst recessions for decades. Any small price savings could be key, especially if Sony and Microsoft are willing to stretch their usual losses on hardware to aggressively chase after game sales and subscriptions.
The PS5 Digital Edition eliminates the optical disc. But it also means Sony takes its cut on every game someone buys through its digital store. Sony hasn’t addressed whether it plans to allow people to loan games to friends digitally or even resell digital games, both of which could drive digital sales of games if they’re not supported.
Microsoft has already been experimenting with digital Xbox editions and even the idea of sharing games digitally. The software giant introduced a disc-less Xbox One S All-Digital Edition for $249 last year, shaving $50 off the Xbox One S retail price. It’s been a popular choice, especially as so many games now require large updates and need to be installed to a drive. Microsoft even originally planned to let Xbox One users share any games digitally, but a backlash over the used games policies and online check forced the company to reverse most of its more promising plans.
What’s more intriguing to me is what the design signifies about what’s inside. The chassis is much bigger than I expected, considering the on-paper power disparity with the Series X. This suggests that either Microsoft has out-engineered Sony in terms of cooling systems or that Sony’s variable clock speed design may have more headroom than we might have expected. One thing’s for sure: if you’re the kind of person who likes to pixel-peep cross-platform game comparisons, the PS5 and Series X are going to be fascinating competitors.
As for the games, well, a 1080p 30fps live stream was never going to be the best way to show off next-gen power, but Sony has since uploaded several higher-quality trailers to the PlayStation YouTube channel. Most of them are visually impressive while not representing a quantum leap forward, which is often the case with consoles’ early lineups. Gran Turismo 7 looks great, but of course it does. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a hugely welcome expansion, but it’s clearly tied to its PS4 roots. The same appears to be true of Resident Evil Village; I can’t imagine Capcom will forgo the PS4 user base here. Overall, the software lineup is striking but generally does not demonstrate a paradigm shift in what’s possible with games beyond turning the graphics settings way up.
The one game that made me think it straight-up could not be achieved on PS4 hardware was Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. The series is often a technical showcase, and this latest installment’s concept of hopping through dimensions to end up in gorgeous, expansive worlds in a split-second looks like it was specifically designed to take advantage of a speedy SSD and CPU. It’s not just about faster load times. It’s about architecting games in a way that just couldn’t have been done before when slow CPUs and spinning hard drives were the baseline.
Is that a gimmick? Maybe in this case, but Sony’s first-party studios are extremely good at extracting power out of PlayStation hardware — just look at The Last of Us Part II — and I would expect to see them make further use of this technical muscle down the line. It’s also something Microsoft will have to reckon with, considering its strategy of making all of its first-party games run on the Xbox One as well as the Series X for the near future. Even if the Series X turns out to be more powerful, Sony’s designers are going to be working with a much higher floor.
The PS5 “marks the biggest generational transition our industry has yet seen,” PlayStation chief Jim Ryan said at the start of the presentation. I don’t think that’s even remotely close to true — or if it is, it wasn’t at all demonstrated in this video. I don’t say that as a knock against the PS5; this is just the reality of game development and technological progress. I am not expecting a SNES-to-N64-level leap or even PS2 to PS3.
And that’s completely fine. Sony’s presentation was by far the best look yet at what we can all expect out of the next generation of video games, and the onus is now very much on Microsoft to show off its own vision for the future of the Xbox. But while Microsoft has shifted its focus to subscription services and play-anywhere compatibility, the strategy for the PS5 is exactly the same as it was for the PS4: make a box that’s easy for developers to get the most out of, support a wide range of games, and plunge a ton of money into exclusive first-party titles. That worked out pretty well for the PS4, and there’s no reason to expect the PS5 to be any different.
Console pricing is just a part of the broader next-gen price war, though. As we move into this next generation of game consoles, it’s clear storage and digital games are going to be far more important than before. Sony is requiring that all games be installed to the internal SSD to make use of the improved read speeds, and the Xbox Series X internal SSD will be required for Series X Optimized games.
How Microsoft and Sony expand storage on their next-gen consoles couldn’t be more different. Sony has opted to allow PS5 owners to expand storage using SSD drives that meet its spec for performance. It’s not clear how many drives will even meet this baseline at launch, but it does mean PS5 owners will have greater storage options eventually.
Microsoft has gone the proprietary route, partnering with Seagate to produce 1TB expansion cards that slot into the rear of the Xbox Series X. We don’t know how much these cards will cost or whether other drive makers will be able to create Xbox Series X expansion cards in the future. These storage costs will factor into the total cost of ownership, whether you pick a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X later this year.
Just how much Sony’s disc-less PS5 will mean to pricing is a mystery right now. It’s not clear when Sony or Microsoft will crack and reveal the all-important price. Unless Microsoft also has a surprise Xbox Series X digital edition, it looks like the stage is set for another next-gen Xbox console that will be significantly cheaper than the Series X.
How Microsoft prices this rumored Lockhart console, or even how it comes to market, isn’t immediately clear. Microsoft has been experimenting with its Xbox All Access bundles that offer an Xbox One X console paired with Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live for a monthly charge. A digital Xbox One S works out at $19.99 per month over 24 months with Microsoft’s subscription services bundled in, and that gives people a lot of games through Xbox Game Pass.
Microsoft has made no secret about how its Xbox business is no longer about how many consoles it sells, but about reaching a broader market of billions of people playing games on other devices. Streaming Xbox games through its upcoming Project xCloud service is a big part of that, and Microsoft is combining this streaming with its enticing Xbox Game Pass subscription.
Sony has shown this week that it’s willing to compete on next-gen price, and Microsoft’s response will undoubtedly leverage its subscription services, cloud game streaming, and a rumored second next-gen Xbox. It’s going to be a long summer until we know the true price of next-gen gaming.
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