It was in November 2013 that Sony had launched the PlayStation 4 and the Japanese electronics maker has now dropped hints that it will be launching its fifth generation gaming console (most likely PlayStation 5) by next year.
Though it was Sony to fire the first shot, its rival Microsoft was readying the next generation gaming console in its lineup, details of which were revealed at this year’s E3.
The new Xbox named ‘Project Scarlett’ is scheduled to launch in November 2020 and is said to pack some jaw dropping hardware, much to the delight of Xbox fans.
Though there hasn’t been much revealed about Sony’s PS5 and Xbox Project Scarlett, still there are many who are curious about what both will offer. Here’s what we know so far.
Hardware & Specs
Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 5 will be powered by a chipset based on AMD's third generation eight core 7-nanometer Ryzen processor. Sony hasn't spoken about which specific model of the AMD Ryzen processor it will use.
In terms of graphics, the PS5 will come with a graphics processing unit based on AMD's Radeon Navi with ray tracing technology (read more to know what it means).
Microsoft is looking to bundle the new Xbox with a similar AMD processor but with 12-cores and based on the Zen 2 architecture. It will be using the same AMD Radeon Navi GPU for graphics.
Both are expected to come with 24 GB of GDDR6 RAM. There hasn’t been any information online on what will be the clocking speed of the processor. Both will get custom SSD storage with data transfer speeds expected to be fast enough to offer quick load times.
Graphics & Performance
The wait for the first official gameplay of next generation games goes on, which will give us a glimpse into what the future of gaming on these consoles will be like.
However what we are seeing on paper looks fairly exciting.
Both the PS5 and Xbox Project Scarlett will offer support for 8k resolution gaming with supported refresh rate up to 120Hz. It is important for you to know that just because both these consoles support up to 8k resolution doesn’t mean you’ll be playing 8k games at 120 fps.
What’s a bit underwhelming is that both are offering 8k gaming yet the penetration of 4k monitors and TVs has still not come through which is why the proposition seems to be an overkill.
However, we’re looking forward to the addition of ray tracing technology which is supposed to accentuate the lighting and reflections in the game. All thanks to Nvidia’s RTX GPU technology which has been blossoming for a while now. Check out this video to get a glimpse of how this feature makes a difference.
Games & Backward Compatibility
Microsoft has announced that the first game to be launched on the Project Scarlett platform will be Halo Infinite. Apart from this, there is no news about Xbox’s upcoming lineup.
On the other hand, Sony is yet to confirm the titles it will be releasing for its upcoming console though we can look forward to anticipated titles like Last of Us 2 and even Death Stranding to be the first ones to be available on PS5.
Microsoft has said that the new Xbox will offer backward compatibility for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and the Xbox games.
Sony too confirmed backward compatibility for PS4 games with the upcoming PS5 console.
Price & Availability
Microsoft said that the new Xbox will be launching next year close to November while Sony is yet to announce an official release date for its upcoming gaming console.
There is still a lot of ambiguity around what both the companies will price their respective consoles at however many experts are estimating a figure anywhere between $400 (Rs 28,000 approx) to $800 (Rs 56,000 approx). Pricing will play a crucial role in the success of these gaming device.
There are speculations that pricing is subjected to bear some brunt due to US president Donald Trump's proposed 25 percent tariff on Chinese electronics which could have an effect on the final prices of these consoles.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)