Xbox Series X is a ‘beast’ compared to PS5, says ex-PlayStation dev
Shots fired
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TheXbox Series Xhardware has been praised by an experienced former PlayStation developer, who believesSonywas “caught off guard” by the console’s impressive specs compared to thePS5.
That’s according toChris Grannell, an industry veteran who spent almost 14 years at the now-defunct Studio Liverpool, which was responsible for the blisteringly-fastWipEoutgames. Grannell also spent time at Guerrilla Games, the developer behind the PS4 smash-hitHorizon: Zero Dawn.
Speaking on theRDX podcast, Grannell said: “PS5 is not a bad console, it’s an absolute beast of a piece of hardware. But it’s just a piece of hardware which is slower on numerous kinds of paths than whatMicrosofthas put together.”
We already know that Microsoft has Sony beat when it comes to direct, technical comparisons between the Xbox Series X andPS5 specs, and it seems that Grannell shares that opinion. “The machine that Microsoft has put together is an absolute beast compared to what Sony has put together,” said Grannell. This opinion is also shared among other developers that Grannell has spoken to, apparently.
Xbox Won?
Perhaps somewhat controversially, Grannell also believes that Sony has “rested on their laurels” after the success ofPS4. “They’ve got this massive market share and lead, and they’ve done a kind of PS3 is what I’ve been hearing. It’s not that bad in terms of hardware and complications, and things like that, but just a little bit of they didn’t really kind of appreciate what Xbox were going to try and do in terms of this power narrative.”
Microsoft is clearly feeling bullish about theXbox Series X specs, and has been positioning its next-gen console as the “most powerful” console ever made. Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently revealed that the company felt “even better” about Xbox Series X afterSony’s PS5 hardware reveal.
Of course, having the most powerful console on the market doesn’t guarantee success by any means. It’s ultimately the games and services that define a console generation and Sony has a history of creating compelling exclusives that Microsoft hasn’t been able to match in recent years.
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Grannell appears to agree, and is confident that the PS5 will benefit from a strong first-party lineup. “It’s going to be the first-party studios that shine until the third-parties start to really get their head around things,” Grannell went on to add: “You’re going to see absolutely incredible work from Guerrilla Games, you’re going to see incredible work from Insomniac - the usual suspects.”
Ray-traced rivals
Grannell believes the most noticeable discrepancy between the Xbox Series X and PS5 when it comes to performance is how each console handles real-timeray-tracing.
“If you look at the throughput and ray-tracing capability [of Xbox Series X] then you start to… understand why developers would be saying it’s kind of staggering,” Grannell explained. “So you’ve got the maths, then you start looking at the real-time ray-tracing capability… that’s where Sony has been caught off guard.”
OnePS5 feature that is receiving praise, however, is the PS5’s incredibly fastSSD, which has double the raw throughput of the Xbox Series X drive. This will allow developers to load assets much quicker, and potentially avoid load times entirely
One controller to rule them all
Sony is also banking on its innovativeDualSensecontroller, which supports haptic feedback and adaptive triggers to make games feel more ‘immersive’ (thoughwe’re skeptical about how many devs will use it). Meanwhile, theXbox Series X controlleris a far more conservative refinement of the currentXbox One controller, which is admittedly a fan-favorite with many gamers.
Both consoles will supportbackwards compatibility, although Microsoft’s Xbox Series X is likely to support thousands of titles from the entire Xbox back catalog (and will do somecool things with HDR, too), while Sony seems to be focusing strictly on PS4 games.
While we still don’t have a release date for either the Xbox Series X or PS5 (and still don’t know what the PS5 even looks like –though we have speculated), the console wars are already beginning to hot up as we get closer to the next console generation.
ViaVideo Games Chronicle
Adam was formerly TRG’s Hardware Editor. A law graduate with an exceptional track record in content creation and online engagement, Adam has penned scintillating copy for various technology sites and also established his very own award-nominated video games website. He’s previously worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor and once played Halo 5: Guardians for over 51 hours for charity. He is now an editor at The Shortcut.
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