Could PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X be swansong for consoles?
The upcoming release of a ninth generation of video game consoles by Sony and Microsoft is defined to be always a sales slam dunk with consumers seeking entertainment during pandemic confinement, but could in addition, it be their swansong as the habits of gamers change?
Both companies have been dripping out information for months about the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and the Xbox Series X to build excitement, and gamers will have the ability to get started on getting their practical them next week.
In an indicator of the keen anticipation of gamers, the alloted pre-orders for the consoles at major retailers were quickly purchased and both companies expect high demand in the run-up to the finish of the year.
Sony has said it expects to market 7.6 million PS5 consoles through the finish of March, beating the sales performance of the PS4.
And it will be considered a major upgrade in conditions of hardware -- the current generation of consoles were released back 2013.
Both new consoles will offer a lot more powerful central and graphics processors, support 4K televisions, together with offer ray tracing, that allows for better rendition of how light behaves.
"When one talks about the technical specifications of the brand new consoles, they are 10 times above the current generation. We're going to have games that are more beautiful, more realistic, more immersive. People are going to be impressed," said Charles-Louis Planade, a gaming expert with Midcap Partners.
Sony sold 110 million PS4 consoles in the last seven years, a lot more than double the amount of its competitor the Xbox One.
"For Microsoft, the task is never to let Sony get too much ahead -- maybe even the overall game with them," Planade told AFP.
Considering the growing number of players, the analyst believes they might even match their previous success.
Others aren't so sure given the changes in the market, which is already starting to move from big expensive machines to cloud gaming.
"This generation could be the last physical consoles. It'll be the last time we'll hear talk of teraflops," said Audrey Leprince, co-founder of the independent game studio THE OVERALL GAME Bakers.
A teraflop refers to the capability of a processor to calculate a trillion operations, and both Sony and Microsoft have been vaunting the speed and power of their new consoles.
Leprince said there haven't been any major innovations with game interfaces or with the games themselves.
But "the stone in the pond... may be the shift to the subscription model" this means the console makers are becoming a "Netflix of video gaming", she said.
The subscriptions -- Game Pass for Microsoft and PlayStation Plus for Sony "are going to completely revolutionise the industry as was the case for films and music," said Leprince.
"The task for the console manufacturers is to hold onto their subscribers so as never to give an opening to challengers" such as for example Google or Amazon, said Planade.
The two web giants are betting on cloud gaming that allows them to dispense with consoles. The games can run on a variety of devices such as for example smartphones and tablets.
As the servers in the cloud do the heavy lifting in terms of processing, there is no need for powerful and costly consoles.
But both firms also have taken a step towards cloud gaming by offering lower priced versions of their new consoles without drives. Games must be downloaded from the web or streamed, and have dedicated xCloud and PlayStation Now services.
"We're in a transition phase" said Laurent Michaud, an analyst specialising in the gaming industry, who expects consoles and cloud gaming to coexist for some time.
The "trends indicate that won't be the last generation of consoles," he believes.
Many gamers value playing on big, high res screens, and publishers will want to exploit 8K televisions which provide a much superior experience.
"Networks, even in a couple of years, won't be rapid enough to move" images for 8K screens, noted Michaud.
With "technology putting all of the manufacturers on a single level" it's the catalogue of games "which will be even more important than previously for the success of the generation."
Both Sony and Microsoft have prearranged a number of eagerly awaited games to launch with the consoles.
Source: japantoday.com
