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The next generation of game consoles got more focus this week when Sony officially announced the release date and price of the PlayStation 5 during its display at the Penny Arcade Expo Online. The PS5 will ship on November 12 in two versions: a digital edition without an optical disc drive for $ 399.99; and a standard version, where the disc drive sticks out of the side of the drive as if the PS5 were eating too much for dinner, for $ 499.99.
This sets up this year’s holiday season as the first leg in the ninth-gen console war, with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X / S planned to ship two days early, on November 10.
Now that we know most of the details about PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the story of the film says that, on a hardware level, the two systems are very similar. Both run on solid state drives; both feature a huge leap in processing power and overall speed over previous-generation hardware; and both have a solid range of games of their own to choose from. As of now, both have a cheaper all-digital option for thrifty early adopters.
However, a big difference comes from the changes between the hardware versions. Based on current reports, like Engadget’s, the PlayStation 5 digital edition is just the regular PS5 without a disc drive, period. Under the hood, the digital PS5 performs identical to the non-digital version.
On the contrary, you suffer a performance hit if you opt for the Xbox Series S instead of the X Series. The Xbox Series S has 6 GB less RAM, a slightly slower CPU (3.6 Ghz to 3.8 Ghz of the XSX ) and 512GB version of the X Series 1TB Gen 4 SSD. More importantly, the S Series output resolution maxes out at 1440p, compared to the X Series 4K resolution.
It was always obvious from the context that Microsoft’s goal with the Xbox Series S was to target a more casual audience than the Series X would attract, but before last week, a big unanswered question was what a consumer was trading for. Xbox for that huge discount on the Xbox Series S. Many gamers may not even notice the poorer performance depending on the games they play on their Xbox, but power users, pros, and streamers will notice the difference. More importantly, if you’re trying to play video games on a budget in 2020, let’s face it: you’re not buying a new console in the first place.
For the major versions of both consoles, the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 will be released around the same time and will sell for roughly the same starting price. The PS5 has a 3D audio engine, easily expandable storage, and was designed with an emphasis on fast data access, but the XSX has an advantage in frame rate, screen resolution, and overall power. In mere statistics, the distinction is academic, which means that this generation comes down to the same factors as the last two: the games and attached services of each console, as well as what the consumer actually gets for that starting price.
Is Sony’s victory a foregone conclusion? He seems to think so.
Sony is starting the PlayStation 5 hardware generation with an imposing overall lead over its main competitors. The PS4 has sold 110.4 million units worldwide as of May 2020, according to Sony’s own reports, making it the fourth best-selling console of all time. This is around nine times what Nintendo’s briefly competitive Wii-U sold, and more than double the estimated lifetime sales to date of the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The installed base of PlayStation 4 is slightly more than its two main competitors combined.
As such, Sony clearly feels no particular need to change what it is doing, or even to try to defend its advantage. Their marketing strategy for the PS5 thus far has largely been to let the pot continue to simmer on its own, maintaining a strange radio silence for much of the last year that was only broken with the occasional prerecorded major presentation. Even the PAX Online event was just a nameless showcase until the end of last week, with no clue to outsiders as to what its content would actually be.
The initial MSRP for the two versions of the PS5 is roughly in line with what industry analysts expected for the PS5, representing a major advance in the PS4’s hardware capabilities. At $ 500, the standard edition PS5 is the second most expensive PlayStation at launch, after the $ 600 Sony asked for a 60GB PlayStation 3 in 2006, but it’s a big enough jump in horsepower between generations that you can. See where the price tag comes from.
It is still a risky bet. Microsoft’s strategy with the X / S Series appears to be almost to give it away, relying on its variety of services and subscriptions to keep the overall project in the black, which seems like a smarter move during the turducken economic / environmental / pandemic disaster. that’s 2020.
For Sony, in reverse, it’s business as usual. The way its showcase was structured at PAX seems to emphasize its overall strategy – it debuted a wide range of new, upcoming and exclusive games, then added the PS5 release date and starting price at the end as if they were an afterthought. . You are using games to move hardware, rather than Microsoft’s current strategy, where the overall “ecosystem” of your console is as or more important than the games themselves.
This wouldn’t be a viable plan if Sony weren’t on an impressive list of proprietary and exclusive titles. Today’s showcase featured the world premiere of Final Fantasy XVI, the latest in Square Enix’s hugely popular line of Japanese RPGs, and a PlayStation 5 exclusive. In 1997, the exclusivity of Final Fantasy VII Arguably, it was what put the original PlayStation on the map and started Sony on this journey; Now, you clearly expect history to repeat itself, and it’s probably not all bad. Final Fantasy He’s not the monster he once was, but he’s still a great name.
Other major PS5 exclusives include Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a sequel to the 2018 PS4 open world game Spiderman, set a year later and following Miles as he works to defend his new Harlem neighborhood; a special edition of the 2019 hit The devil may cry v available digitally at system launch, allowing you to play as Dante’s brother, Vergil; and a new version of the notoriously difficult Demon souls, the game that started a whole trend of brutally tough but fair action games.
Non-exclusive games announced in the Sony storefront included a release date for Arkane Studios Deathloop, a grindhouse-style action game from the creators of the popular Dishonor Serie. It will be exclusive to the console on the PS5 at its launch in Q2 2021, but it will still receive a PC version. Salt Lake City-based Avalanche Software showed off the first trailer for its long-awaited Harry Potter game, an open-world RPG called Hogwarts legacy. It is planned for a debut in 2021 on PS4, PS5, XB1, XSX, and PC.
Sony also teased an upcoming major title right at the end of the show, with the sinister phrase “Ragnarok is Coming,” accompanied by the fan-favorite’s signature Omega symbol logo. God of War Serie. The last game, the winner of 2018 God of War, ended on a cliffhanger, and apparently, that story is planned to continue sometime in 2021. God of WarThe protagonist Kratos is one of the main faces of the PlayStation brand in general, if not he expensive, and bringing it back for another bloody rampage through the mythology of some poor ancient culture is an almost guaranteed systems seller for Sony.
In some ways, you can label this all a cynical move by Sony. It has enjoyed an overall dominance position in the eighth generation of consoles. The PS4 got off to a rocky start, with a lineup consisting mostly of ports, remasters, and a bit of the occasional shovelware, but Sony finally put it together and developed one of the most robust lineups of proprietary software in console history. . With exclusive hits this year The Last of Us Part II and the Bellevue, Washington developed Tsushima ghost, Sony is letting the PS4 come out strong … and using that track record as a wordless argument on behalf of the PS5.
“You know you want these games we make,” Sony seems to be saying, “and you know you will pay what we ask of you.”
However, he tried it once before, on the seventh generation of consoles. Sony tried to let the near-total dominance of the PlayStation 2 market carry it to victory, then shocked the world with the launch price of the PS3 … and spent most of the next several years fighting to make up for the loss against the cheaper and easier. to use Xbox 360. The question now is whether Sony is bracing once again for a costly downfall, or has finally built a reputation solid enough for overall success that it can really charge what it wants, regardless of the economic context, for a new PlayStation. Microsoft is betting it will be the first.
GameStop announced Wednesday afternoon that it is now taking pre-orders for both versions of PlayStation 5. Pre-orders for Xbox Series X will be officially available at 8am on September 22.
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