For decades, video game consoles have been seen as the easy – if not always cheap – way into high quality home gaming. Players could be safe in the knowledge that when they buy a console, any game that's released on that platform will work without issue.
Console hardware releases have always seemed to come in waves. As more powerful hardware becomes available to manufacturers, they release more powerful consoles.
Rival companies, not wanting to be left behind, also develop their latest offerings – and this leads to consoles being released in 'generations'. Consoles in each generation are usually comparable in terms of processing power – like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, or more recently the Xbox One and PS4.
In recent months, however, both Microsoft and Sony have announced mid-generation upgrades to their current consoles, featuring souped-up hardware and graphics capabilities. Both new devices have cool sounding codenames: the PlayStation 4 'Neo' and the Xbox One 'Scorpio'.
These announcements have caused immense controversy among gamers, who fear the emergence of a two-tier platform – but before we look at the pros and cons, what exactly sets the new devices apart?
Generation Games
At this early stage, the facts around these new consoles are few and far between – but we do know a little about the hardware.
The PlayStation 4 Neo is rumoured to be released in late 2016, featuring 4K resolution video output and increased hardware performance.
It will have a faster 8-core CPU than the base PS4, at 2.1 GHz vs the original's 1.6 GHz, and an improved GPU, offering 36 compute units running at 911 MHz vs. 18 compute units at 800 MHz. Coupled with a 24% increase in memory bandwidth (218 GB/s vs 176 GB/s), this is shaping up to be a significant upgrade – just in time for the impending launch of the PlayStation VR headset.
The Xbox One Scorpio looks set to be an even bigger jump. Although nothing has been confirmed yet aside from its support for 4K resolutions and HDR graphics, that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill flying into full production.
Speculation about the Scorpio’s improved hardware point to a GPU upgrade over and above that of the Neo. Also, memory bandwidth has been bumped up from 68 GB/s in the Xbox One to a massive 320 GB/s – which also puts it above the Neo’s 218GB/s. The Scorpio is also thought to be launching sometime in the first half of 2017 – sources say March, but I expect that could change.
Prices for the two consoles haven’t been announced yet, but my guess is that they'll cost somewhat more than the launch prices of their older siblings. Specifically, I'd expect them to land somewhere around £500 to £600 – any more than that and the market probably wouldn’t take it.
So, those are the facts, as far as we have them. But what's prompted this move – and why is it so controversial?
The advantages
The Xbox One and PS4 have been out for less than three years – and to release new consoles this soon into the current generation is highly unusual. But, at least in theory, owners of the current machines don't have to worry.
In the past, new consoles were generally incompatible with games for older systems. This meant people who'd invested hundreds of pounds in software found that if they wanted to keep playing those games, they had to keep the old console.
Sony and Microsoft have made it clear that this won't be the case this time around. The new consoles will be compatible with all the games from the previous versions – and Sony has even gone on record to say that the 'Neo' versions of future games in the future will not have any exclusive features or content that the 'base' version doesn’t, and that the two consoles will coexist.
They have, however, said that while the same features must be present, they don’t have to be identical. Take player counts in multiplayer games, for example: the new consoles will support more concurrent players in a single game, while the less-powerful versions may support fewer players.
If this holds true, what this new mid-generation upgrade gives consumers is choice. Those who want the best graphics and performance can pay a premium for these new consoles, while those who only want to play the games, and don’t care about pixel counts and framerates, can get on board at the cheaper price.
It is also worth pointing out that industry insiders are also looking forward to the prospect of more-powerful consoles. Indeed, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney told industry site Eurogamer that he is “absolutely thrilled with this”. The upgrades mean that developers will have access better and better hardware – and in theory, this will help them make more-entertaining products. It almost brings the upgrade cycle of consoles more in line with that of PCs: more frequent and incremental, rather than major overhauls every five to seven years.
Another plus for developers and consumers alike is backwards compatibility. Because software will work across console cycles, new releases won't have to established a user base from zero every time. Developers can showcase and release games on the newer hardware with improved visuals – but they can also release the game on the older hardware, gaining access to millions of potential extra sales. The opposite rings true for gamers who haven’t made the leap to the new machines: they can be safe in the knowledge that the newest games should still work on their older hardware. Indeed, I’ve heard the phrase “forwards compatibility” mentioned more than once!
From this perspective, the new devices seem like a win–win situtation. But not everybody agrees...
The disadvantages
First of all, I think we should be clear on something: this is uncharted territory when it comes to consoles. While Sony and Microsoft say they want the newly upgraded consoles to coexist alongside the current versions, things could easily change.
Something that I’m personally worried about is the very fact that games are being released to two very different consoles within the same ecosystem. In Sony’s case, they say developers will be able to include both a 'Neo' mode and standard mode – potentially on the same disc. While it sounds great that the older console will run the same software, no one seems to be able to confirm whether or not there's going to be a performance threshold.
You only need to look at what happened when Hyrule Warriors was released for both the Nintendo 3DS and the much more powerful 'New 3DS'. Yes, the original console ran the game – but many people complained about the substandard graphics and stuttering framerate. I really hope Sony and Microsoft can look at this as a warning, and impose some kind of quality assurance.
Second on my list of concerns is the potential to fragment the user base. Whether you're a Sony or Microsoft user, you – like most people – enjoy playing games online with your friends, either through PlayStation Network or Xbox Live.
This raises a problem if you take our earlier example of player counts in online games. How will two people play together in the same online game if the player counts are different? Does one player only see 32 players, and the other 64? Of course, that cannot work.
A workaround might be an option that limits you to the 'base' version of the game if you're playing with a friend on the older console – but this is guaranteed to annoy some people who splurged on the upgraded version.
There can also be complications from a game development standpoint. Now, developers essentially have to create two versions of the game: one for the older version of a console, and one for the new version.
That said, while this may mean increased development time, or more variables that have to be taken into account, I don’t see it being any different from what happens in developing for the PC. Developers are already catering for literally thousands of hardware combinations in PC gaming – so hopefully this won't cause too many issues.
Last but by no means least, early adopters of the current consoles will likely be annoyed by this development – and they're usually your most ardent fans.
Will these gamers be less inclined to jump on a completely new console release (i.e. the PS5) if there's a chance that newer version might be just around the corner? Or will the thirst for the latest and greatest console release be enough to persuade them? Microsoft and Sony are clearly banking on the latter – but only time will tell.
Agent’s Verdict
Whatever your thoughts on this new wave of consoles, and the business decisions that led to them, I can see this being a lasting change to way consoles are developed and released.
I think this will be the end of the console 'generation' as a defining term – and that we are going to see a shift towards a model mirroring the mobile phone industry. Yes, you can go out and buy a new iPhone 6s or Samsung Galaxy S7 – but if you have the Galaxy S5 or iPhone 5, you can still play all the same games and have the same apps. Will you have the same performance and features? Not quite – but the option to upgrade is there if you want.
Personally, as a tech-lover and gamer, I am looking forward to the newest consoles from both Sony and Microsoft – albeit with slight trepidation.
I can’t wait to see what advances in gameplay and graphics these new hardware revisions bring, but on the other hand I don’t want to be separated from my friends online. I don’t want to have to deal with sub-standard game performance because a developer gave all their attention to creating a game on the new consoles, and had to shoehorn it in to the older versions.
From what Sony and Microsoft has said, they have every intention of not letting this happen – and I am very hopeful they stick to this. Until that time however, I guess we'll have to wait and see!
Are you hyped for the 'new' generation of games consoles, or will they prove to be a costly mistake? Let us know what you reckon in the comments below!