Sony has finally shown their PlayStation 5 hand, and you know exactly what that means: It’s time for a next-gen console pissing contest!
While I’m still of the opinion that we’re headed into a “hey two fantastic consoles!” era, the reality is that for most consumers there’ll only be enough cash in the kitty (STOP EATING MY WALLET MITTENS!) for one slice of next-gen technology in the house come launch day. It’s not a case of which console is the best overall, but rather an examination of which console is best for you.
Both machines have similar tech specs, with Mircosoft edging out Sony in the numbers department, but it’ll be up to developers to make the most of those consoles in the grand scheme of things. Sony currently has the better line-up of first party games but that might change after July 20 when Microsoft reveals what their collection of studios have been up to over the last couple of years.
I’m personally more interested in the Xbox Series X and its ecosystem towards older games and third-party titles. The Xbox Series X also has another ace up its sleeve: Smart Delivery. While this service is coming towards the tail end of the Xbox One’s lifespan and is up to publishers to decide whether they want to opt into the program or not, the idea of buying a game once and having it available on all your Xbox consoles is mighty tempting.
Cyberpunk 2077 has already confirmed that it’ll be offering Smart Delivery, Microsoft’s collection of exclusives will join in on that action and even Ubisoft wants to take fans to multiple generations of Valhalla in the next Assassin’s Creed game. So what’s Sony up to? According to Japanese site Gamespark when contacted SIE Japan (cheers VG247), Sony will also leave the ball in the developer’s court, with no dedicated ecosystem in place for a proposed Sony cross-generation feature.
This also comes hot on the news that Sony has no plans in place for new games to be released on both PS4 and PS5 (For comparison’s sake, look at how many games were simul-released on Xbox 360 and Xbox One/PS3 and PS4 in the early days of this console generation), although given the nature of the new console and how it prioritises quality of life improvements, it’s not exactly surprising.
Electronic Arts also entered this discussion during the week, as the company confirmed that physical PS4 copies of Madden NFL 21 would not be be eligible for a PS5 upgrade, but digital editions would be if they bought the PS5 that comes with a disc drive. Again, understandable from EA’s point as they’d just be giving NFL games away for free if they went in the opposite direction.
Long story short? If there’s a third-party developer who is like Flint with the Xbox Series X Smart Delivery service, chances are high that they’ll offer something similar on PS5. With an added catch, perhaps.
Last Updated: June 18, 2020
K1FF J1MB0B (sizzle edition)
June 18, 2020 at 09:36
“Smart Delivery” is Microsoft once again branding some menial shit that has already existed across all platforms for years now, to score some easy PR points. When you buy a game on X1 or PS4, depending on your console sku, you automatically get the version you’re supposed to. It’s a simple device-based table lookup deployment method. We’ve had confirmation that this will happen on PS4/PS5 too.. at the publisher/developer’s discretion, exactly as is the case with Xbox’s new console.
Aussious
June 18, 2020 at 10:33
How is saving the customer money menial? For one ALL Xbox published games will support this feature while Sony’s games will not that’s a huge difference and yes third parties have the option meaning unlike previous generations you not going to have to cough up money for the same game or decide to only wait for the next gen version to get the whole experience. Yes this has always been possible on PC and MS has been doing the same between the standard Xbox1 and the One X however in an age when you getting charged money for remasters of games you owned 2 years ago this is a major win for consumers. The shift is a meaningful to the consumers budget at the end of the day.
cloudzn
June 18, 2020 at 11:30
Actually Sony has had a feature like for years, it’s called cross buy, the only difference is that they aren’t pressuring studios into using it nor using fancy marketing to publicize it
Aussious
June 18, 2020 at 17:01
Yeah that was for a handful of smaller titles that could be cross compat with the PS Vita. Pressure publishers!? Lol excuse me corporate advocate since when is putting money back in the customers pockets such a drag? Poor multinational publishers all this unnecessary pressure! ??
cloudzn
June 20, 2020 at 14:08
Not every studio can afford it, remember it still costs them money and resources to port the games, they can’t magically do it overnight.
Aussious
June 22, 2020 at 11:35
x86 to x 86 so it’s not like you have to port the entire game, in principle this is similar to how PC games are made to run on several different PC configurations instead of you having to buy another copy of the same game because you upgraded your graphics card.
cloudzn
June 22, 2020 at 13:44
Are the architecture may the similar but the programming code, is different and not the same as configuring pc games for different setup, also read this blog post by a dev because you clearly have no bloody idea what you are talking about.
https://www.cleverendeavourgames.com/blog/2017/2/1/what-goes-into-porting-to-consoles-for-non-developers
Seeker
June 18, 2020 at 11:00
I think this smart delivery tech is very good especially for games releasing now. I was not sure which platform to buy cyberpunk on because the console generation is ending and I might end up with an inferior version of the game with no ray tracing if I buy it for current consoles. With CD Projekt’s announcement of supporting this feature I think it’s best to get the game on Xbox.