It’s rare that someone ever likes both PlayStation and Xbox. In fact, since their inception in the late 90's/early 00s, the two consoles have fiercely duelled it out for the top spot of console gaming. Most consumers chose either “Team Xbox” or “Team PlayStation”.
Fuel will be added to the fire this Christmas when the console titans release their latest hardware instalments. I have hundreds of questions but for now, let's break down what’s been released so far.
Physical Design
Look, I don’t want to be that person but... Hey PlayStation, 2003 called and they want their white goods back. The design looks like it's an entry level router from your ISP. Whilst that might seem harsh, it's unfortunately true and glaringly obvious that they’ve had a swing at the “experimental futuristic” look and hit nothing but air.
Xbox Series X is conservative design but its name rings true to its look. It’s sleek and classic with an ever so tasteful logo in the top left hand corner. Pleasantly geometrical, it resembles a vertical PC tower. Do not fear, it can be positioned horizontally in case your set up doesn’t allow for the height.
It should be mentioned that Sony has diversified and is releasing a PS5 model with a disc drive as well as a ‘Digital Edition’ that has no disk drive. This will most likely result in a price difference between the two models.
Hardware
| PlayStation 5 | Xbox Series X | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | TBD | TBD |
| Release Date | Holiday Season 2020 | Holiday Season 2020 |
| Exclusive Games | Godfall | Halo Infinite, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 |
| Backwards Compatibility | Almost all PS4 games, including optimised PS4 Pro titles | All Xbox One Games / Select Xbox 360 and Original Xbox games |
| CPU | 8-core, 3.5GHz AMD Zen 2 | 8-core, 3.5GHz AMD Zen 2 |
| GPU | 10.3 teraflop AMD RDNA 2 | 12.0 teraflop AMD RDNA 2 |
| RAM | 16 GB GDDR6 | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Storage | 825 GB Custom SSD | 1 TB custom NVMe SSD |
| Resolution | Up to 8K | Up to 8K |
| Frame Rate | Up to 120FPS | Up to 120FPS |
| Optical Disk Drive | 4K UHD Blu-ray | 4K UHD Blu-ray |
Exclusive Games
The PS5 exclusives include Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart & Horizon: Forbidden West. As it stands, it appears these are 100% exclusive to PS5 meaning even PC gamers will miss out.
The Xbox Series X has Halo Infinite & Hellblade II. The downfall to all of this is the overarching company Microsoft in this day and age would not allow for them to not be available on PC as well.
You could argue Xbox Series X has the upper hand in this category, but the fact these titles will be available on PC weakens the need to buy into the Xbox Series X if you’re happy with PC gaming. If you’re indecisive about choosing a console and happily play PC (like me), I personally would lean towards the PS5 if I was just looking at gaming exclusivity.
Backwards Compatibility
Xbox Series X appears to take the prize here as they promise 100% of Xbox One games will be backwards compatible. PS5 will have plenty on offer here as well according to all reports.
More about that, here: Xbox Backwards Compatibility & PS5 Backwards Compatibility.
For nostalgic gamers, Microsoft has committed to upscaling some favourite old titles, making them run at 4K resolutions or up to 120fps. While they have not confirmed which games will get this treatment, some classics are to present & play better than ever before.
Sony has been less forthcoming with information on backwards compatibility, stating that most of the top 100 PS4 games (by playtime) run very well on the PS5 so far. It’s still not confirmed whether Sony will release a guide to backwards compatibility.
Price Value
Whilst neither company has confirmed any pricing yet, remember there was a 20% price difference between the PS4 ($400) & the Xbox One ($500). It was a different time though; PlayStation was trying to gain background from the PS3 while Xbox truly believed the Xbox One was going to change the landscape of all media.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Xbox Series X launch with a slight technical advantage at a premium over PS5, with stronger exclusive games on release. Most publications are suggesting if you put aside $500USD ($765.00AUD), you should fall within $150 of the end price for both of these products.
Summary
All in all, the products look relatively even so far. In my opinion though, the Xbox Series X has more to offer through design, hardware & backwards compatibility with the only chink in their armour the lack of game exclusivity, with certain titles most likely to be available on PC.
I predict the PS5 to win the console sales battle this coming Christmas, given the PS4 smashed the Xbox One in sales. Microsoft has plenty of work to do to bring gamers back over to the platform.
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