Much has been made of the contrasting approaches Sony and Microsoft have taken when revealing details and information about their next-gen consoles. The team in green has been very forthcoming with news of the Xbox Series X, providing a roadmap that fans can follow over the summer months while showing the box itself back in December. Meanwhile, Sony has kept its cards very close to its chest. Little is known about the hardware outside of specs and the DualSense controller, but we should be getting a sneak peek at its launch line-up next month.
This contrasts greatly with the lead-up to the PlayStation 4. Sony let the world know about Knack and Killzone: Shadow Fall in February 2013, nine months before launch, and it was something that fans expected the Japanese giant to replicate with the PS5. It quite clearly didn't do that, and the coronavirus pandemic has only scuppered those plans further. Still, there's a major difference in approach here when the two are compared and it's something that PlayStation's former VP of Third-Party Relations, Adam Boyes, has picked up on. As part of a wider interview with Push Square, Adam shared his thoughts after being heavily involved with the marketing behind the PS4.
"From a public-facing perspective, I have heard less about the content. Then you juxtapose that with Microsoft's Xbox Series X content debut which didn't have first-party content. I feel like it's really hard to give context for what you're trying to convey. Like Mark Cerny's talk, which I thought was fascinating and our dev teams were super over the moon, but it was very much a GDC talk. Whereas a lot of fans were like 'show me the screenshots', right?"
Adam then goes on to explain how our culture has changed to fit a perspective where we feel the need to enjoy content right away. "I think we're used to copying and pasting previous approaches but I feel right now that I'd rather see stuff closer to the actual launch. I think too many people still see it as a battle of the console wars. When I'm like, I think they're doing something different, obviously a different approach than before. But also, the world is in a different place. We're all at home and we're trying to take care of each other, so I don't mind."
"It's definitely different than before, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing," Adam summarises.
Comments 33
I think Sony were saying years ago that they envisaged less time between announcement/release moving forward. Closer to how Apple do things, perhaps.
Corona threw a spanner in the works. They are just taking it week by week now.
@liamcroft Wouldn’t a picture of Adam Boyes be better than Andrew House?
MS had to go early and go big, because coming out of the current gen, they have nothing to offer. They're essentially starting from scratch in terms of sales and software.
In terms of games, XSX could have been backwards-compatible only with the 360 and no-one would really lose anything. Going forward, their hardware is irrelevant to anyone with a decent PC.
The one thing I will say about next-gen is this, though: Unless Sony plan on handing over a large sum of money, expect CoD exclusivity deals to go back to MS.
Ps5 will get the spotlight.... But right now xclusives tlou2 and Tsushima has the spotlight...
He s right. Cerny s talk was fascinating. If you remember, before that, a lot of people and also PushSqyare were saying they would love to see him give a very long talk. That's exactly what we got but then people always complain.
@OscarHTX hmmm I am pretty sure he mentioned it about hardware specifically. Maybe I’m wrong though.
@OscarHTX makes sense since the article generally refers to screenshots etc, sorry I wasn’t clear - not even sure if I am right about the hardware anyway to be honest! Can’t find the article.
1-2 second load screens will get some getting used too! lol
The PS5 SSD is definitely a gaming game changer!
Sony's approach makes sense as it would be pretty stupid to give away the teardown video of the console to a YouTuber amid a deadly global pandemic as MS has done.
The Switch was revealed on October 20th, 2016 in a 4 minute sizzle reel. We got a look at the First few games and Joycons on Jan 13th. It launched on March the 3rd.
I don’t think it hurt Nintendo to keep quiet until the last minute and then bombard us with reveals, and I don’t think it will hurt Sony, whereas MS has shown scraps early, and devalued their message so far.
Saying that, when they do reveal, Sony needs something to excite the fans game wise.
Sony is taking another page from Nintendo, which is a great thing. People often confuse no announcements with no games, which simply isn't true. Sony also has two big exclusives, the PS4's swan songs, lined up to release. Don't take steam away from that for any reason if you can help it.
Meanwhile Phil & Co. have been prematurely blowing smoke at everyone, constantly in the media with typical PR rhetoric, and by the time anything of value gets shown, Sony will be right there to counter it note for note and then some. You can see Xbox is in a panic, meanwhile Sony is playing smart. I'm tired of the Facebook generation myself, so being patient is a wonderful escape.
@kyleforrester87 Yeah I remember this. I actually prefer this method (just like short nintendo switch reveal to launch) rather than 1 year long hype, it's a little tiring.
I also remember microsoft hyping up project scorpio for about 1.5 years telling all that it's a true 4k & 60 fps console, and in the end it launch with assassin creed origin with checkerboard resolutions and 30 fps
Microsoft shows off disappointing supposed gameplay reveals for Xbox SX which was disappointing Sony’s response to show 18 minutes of an exciting PS4 exclusive game because they still have something to finish PS4 off with before talking about ps5.
@MrGawain Switch is an interesting one because while the console itself only had 4.5 months between initial reveal and launch, the announcement that BotW was coming to NX was made in April 2016 so all that BotW promo from E3 2016 onwards was pretty much Switch promo too.
Sony could be doing a similar thing with TLoU2 and Ghost of Tsushima.
Adam Boyes identifies as Andrew House. Now that’s a story.
I just want to know when spiderman 2 is coming out I expect next year but won't be getting a ps5 till that comes
Am really curious how Sony are going to show the benefits of the 3d audio and haptics. They were originally going to do lots of little hands on events, which now makes perfect sense. I wonder how they'll get all this across in online only events. I guess we've not long to see (but they've probably had to rethink a lot of things as a result of the lockdown)
@TheLoCoRaven
😂😂😂😂
I think MS pulled a fast one on Sony.
Sony probably had the similar console build design that MS has and because they revealed it early Sony had to go back and redesign the shape of the console. (so ppl won't say they copied MS)
This is farfetch but still.
@Flow297 that doesn’t make any sense lol.
@Flow297 My theory is that their console was actually nearly identical to the leaked dev kit that the community hated, and THAT forced them to figure a way to do a redesign, and still manage to time a reveal and have units ready for release date. Would not be shocked if the actual unit ends up being just a small mod if that dev kit.
@JJ2 I thoroughly enjoyed his talk, everything he detailed was aimed at DEVS as well as people who have an understanding of how computer components work. That being said, everyone threw a fit calling it a 'fail' but it was actually planned for GDC to show DEVS they've built a console with them in mind. I think Sony will come out guns blazing in the 6 months leading up to the PS5 launch.
@Flow297 I highly doubt this is the case, the DEV kit was a wildly different design that what ended up being the XSX box so I think Sony Is going with an updated version of the PS4 pro with more venting (possibly the V shape) to help with cooling efficiency. MS literally designed a mini PC tower with the XSX box lol
@Tharsman
Why do people think Sony had to REdesign the shape of it? I think its basically the easier part and probably have a few different models to choose from just like there were with the PS4.
As for going from a tower design to a flat traditional design, it depends on the actual hardware. You cant change like that. That's just my humble opinion though.
@Paranoimia I was a PS4/PC guy this past gen, and I'm swapping to the Xbox team because of the superior back-compat; I'm incredibly disappointed that my PS3 gets far more use than my PS4.
Hard disagree on the XB1's library being terrible. Third-party games, yo. Halo: MCC is damn good, Rare Replay is rad, Gears 4 was good but Gears 5 and Halo 5 kinda suck. For my PS4 this gen, if it wasn't for Bloodborne, the XB1 would've had a stronger lineup.
And I have a high-end gaming PC, but the XSX is more powerful than anything on the market right now in a few ways(god-tier 2080 Ti-level GPU, SSD that outperforms 5GB/s NVMEs, etc). Upcoming Ampere and Hopper GPUs, and of course Big Navi, should surpass the XSX, but you can't discount the value of the hardware at the likely $400-500 price point.
Been playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and other older games that I love on my XB1S, gonna be cool to bump those titles up to 4K when I get the XSX. Only way they're gonna lure me back to the PlayStation ecosystem is if they have good back-compat, a Vita successor or a really good deal, like $300 paired with a Bloodborne-tier exclusive. Last one may happen by 2024, maybe.
@Facelord really interesting post. I also have an Xbox one X and love it. Game pass is heaven.
May I ask, have you played all of the PS4 exclusives? (God of War, Spiderman, Horizon, Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, etc). I have really enjoyed this playstation gen with these games.
@JJ2 changing the shape is not that easy of a thing to do after the board is already designed. There are space and cooling concerns that limit how much the shape can change. It’s been mentioned the dev kit is shaped as it was for cooling reasons, same thing that has been used to explain the tower design of the XSX (and keep inside under the hood both decided likely hace near identical thermal requirements since they are so alike cpu/gpu wise.)
Honestly, more than anything I’m curious how Sony will approach cooling in the final consumer release.
@Facelord I do hope MS does pick the backwards compatibility ball back up. They stopped adding new titles to the list “to focus on the next gen” but hope that means once the XSX is out, more 360/OGXB games get to be made playable, even if only on the XSX.
I know it’s not a popular game, but they still need to let me play Binx 2! They can’t just stop at making Binx 1 playable 😅
@Tharsman
Yes of course there are restrictions but like I said, I'd be surprised if they didnt plan a few different models just like they did for the ps4.
@Facelord Well, if you have a large collection of old 360 games you still play, that puts a different complexion on it. But for those of us who don't, it's a non-issue.
My original Xbox got little use compared to my PS2. I was late getting a 360, and that hardly saw any use compared my PS3. So I didn't bother with XB1 at all, and at this point am highly unlikely to bother with the XSX either.
This gen, I've been mostly PS4, and I started up my PC gaming again in late 2018 when I bought a great new system. Going forward, I'll be PS4/PS5 and PC. I'm not bothered about b/c for PS3 games as I still have my PS3... not that it's been used much. All the way back to my VIC-20/C64 days, I've never really been one to go back to old games once new hardware arrives. As for upping resolution on old games... high-res on low poly counts... even with the best anti-aliasing, at some point you're just putting lipstick on a pig.
The Xbox library isn't 'terrible' if you include third-party, but third-party games don't push systems... that's been quite evident this generation. In terms of first-party output, they've done very little worth mentioning this generation. That's not just my opinion, but the general consensus of all but the most hardened Xbox fans, and is also backed up by the lack of sales. Even the introduction of the X1X did little to improve things, showing that people are perhaps more interested in the quality of the games rather than the power of the hardware they're running on.
MS have bought a few studios during this generation, but my own personal opinion is that - looking at their histories - none of them seem likely candidates to produce what could be described as a major, blockbuster, system-selling title. But who knows... hopefully I'm wrong.
For myself, I still see no need for an XSX. I'll have a PlayStation for their exclusives, and barring possible exclusivity deals, everything else will be available on either PS5, or on PC where I can also play against Xbox users with no need for a Live subscription. I see no need to waste a few hundred quid on another box which, if we're being totally honest, is unlikely to add much to the experience above and beyond the other two.
@thefirst
I understand what you mean. I would call it "magic". M$ don't have the magic that Sony and Nintendo have. Sony and Nintendo have an understanding of video games that M$ seems not to have, of what makes a game special.
People used to always mention Nintendo magic when they were reviewing Nintendo first party games. I also feel Sony first party games have that magic feeling. I'm not getting that magic feeling from M$ first party games.
@Paranoimia I didn't own a single Xbox game when I got my XB1S recently, now I own over 50. Caught a buncha huge sales, actually only spent a couple hundred bucks. Previously I stuck with PlayStation because I loved their exclusives, but with the PS4, it literally just had Bloodborne and Spider-Man for me... this generation was awful, absolutely awful for PlayStation in my book. The Vita was fine with third-party support for a few years, but shame on Sony for dropping support of that lovely little device.
I basically went all-in, jumping ship. Sure, many third-party games will be better on my rig, and I'm still gonna upgrade my PC sometime in 2022 or 2023, but for now, I'm getting the XSX. The event that sealed the deal for me was The Last of Us 2's leaks, so bad, so bad. Death Stranding was one of the reasons I stayed on the PlayStation side of the fence for a while, but it ended up being a 4/10 game for me. That softened me up, TLOU2 dealt the finishing blow.
Like I said earlier, I'll get a PS5 when it's $300 or less and has a game as good as Bloodborne. Half my XB1S library is original Xbox and 360 games that I missed out on, had a lotta fun catching up on Xbox stuff during the coronavirus lockdowns. This generation was weak for both sides, but the Xbox gets the narrow win from me, even though Gears 5 and Halo 5 sucked. Back-compat, baby! Whoo!
Edit for history: I went SNES, PS1, PS2, Wii, PS3 and then PS4, with handhelds and PC gaming always being my focus, but Dad had an Xbox in the PS2 generation. I owned an Xbox 360 for literally a few hours in 2012, but when I realized it didn't have an HDMI port, I gave it back to my friend and told him to keep the money... xD
@Tharsman I actually liked the design of the devkit. It has that wow factor to it.
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