New Game + April 15-21

It would seem that the biggest news stories in came from the big three. There is a lot of information to digest so let’s just jump right into it.

PS5

PlayStation 5 is here! Well, not quite yet and not called playstation 5 just yet. Out of nowhere In a Wired Magazine exclusive they were able to sit down with PlayStation lead sytstem architect, Mark Cerny. The interview talks a whole lot about the future of PlayStation and what the next console will look like. The interview goes deep into what the hardware is shaping up to be, although on paper nothing drastic, Cerny explains that the changes will be revolutionary. The interview also touches on PSVR, Cloud Gaming and PlayStation exclusive games.

Nuts and Bolts.

It’s safe to assume that Sony will call this system the PS5 and stay within the naming convention that they have used for the past 25 years. It’s a possibility they will mix it up but for the all intents and purposes we will call it the PS5. The PS5 CPU wlll be based on an 8 core third generation AMD Ryzen with the GPU being a custom Radeon Navi. The console will support 8K resolution, if an average customer will have an 8K display at the time of PS5 release will be a different question. The PS5 will also support “ray tracing”, the newly appointed king of being the next big thing in PC gaming. Ray tracing was just announced last summer and most PC’s and graphics cards still can’t support it so its great to hear that Sony’s home console should be able to support it. In what capacity is still yet to be determined. The AMD chip will feature custom 3D audio which Cerny said will show how dramatically different the audio experience can be when the apply significant amounts of hardware horsepower to it. He did say that the gold standard for listening experience will be headphones which is great news for GameStop (GME) who recently announced that one of the few bright spots in their company was that accessories were up over 22%. It also bodes well for Turtle Beach (HEAR) and Astro (LOGI) who specialize in making premium audio headsets for PC and console. Many pundits believed that the boon of headsets would disappear with the fading popularity of Battle Royale.

The feature that Mark Cerny was most excited to talk about was what he called “true game changer” was the implementation of a feature that developers have been asking for since PS4 devkits were going around. Sony will be implementing a solid state hard-drive (SSD) As games get bigger with more bigger maps, better graphics and more things happening on screen than ever, the inclusion of an SSD seems crucial. Mark didn’t come out in the interview to say it would be 100% SSD which leaves the possibility of a hybrid hard drive similar to how Apple uses SSD and HDD in their Fusion drives. My strong hope is that it uses full SSD as I feel that hybrid drives don’t offer the best of both worlds but instead compromise the whole package. The custom built SSD was shown off during the interview using SpiderMan as an example. Using a PS4 Pro, Cerny showed off the speed of fast travel, which was pretty decent in SpiderMan and it took 15 seconds. Then he booted up the same exact sequence on the PS5 Devkit and the same sequence took 0.8 seconds. It was also stated that this was a low speed devkit.

Long Live The Optical Disc

Similar to last generation, Sony does appear to be taking the safe route and making a lot of moves that fans ask for. Whether or not these features are used is a different thing altogether. They are being very clear out the door what features they are announcing and not letting the message spin out of control. As we saw things spiral away from Xbox last generation, once the box is open you can’t put everything back in. This system will support discs which was a worry for some fans that there would be no physical media even though we are constantly hurling towards a digital age. Developers sales over this generation have completely shifted from mostly physical to some digital to now digital making up more of the revenue. The inclusion of a disc drive is smart because its fan service as well as knowing the limitations of the hardware. Sony plans to use SSD which is quite an expensive method of hard drive, I would expect the system to come built with either a 1TB or 2TB. Currently the cost of a 2TB SSD averages mid to high $200’s and a 1TB averaging over $100. If Sony wants to avoid the backlash they received for the launch price of the PS3 then they have to be smart with what components go into the PS5.

Building on the Past

Once you made your way through all the dry specs and data you were treated to some pretty great news about the next PlayStation. The fact that it is based in part on PS4 architecture, that it will allow for backwards compatibility which is an area that Xbox excelled at this generation. This could possibly mean that DualShock4 will also work on the next gen system. This was a long assumed feature to be included as it helps fill the gaps between current generation game releases with games from past generation that you may have missed or skipped over for a multitude of reasons.

In my mind the most exciting was how Sony is still supporting the PSVR. Cerny was asked about the possibility of a next gen PSVR to be alongside the PS5 he avoided the question somewhat by saying he “won’t go into the details of their VR strategy today” What he did say was that PSVR would work with PS5 which is great news for current owners and also will help continually move units as people aren’t concerned about their hardware being obsolete in mere months. During the most recent holiday season there were some very nice deep discounts on great PSVR bundles. The great part about getting into PSVR now is that there is already a deep library of games with a lot of the experimentation already out of the way. The PSVR has been a success in its own right and has become the leader in home VR thanks to lack of hardware needed and lower entry pricing upon launch. I was very pleased with what PSVR offered based on its limitations but reading between the lines by saying they have a VR strategy means there is another VR in the pipeline at some point. They have seen success on the hardware front and the attach rate for PSVR gamers is quite high. I would be a day one purchase if they could make the PSVR wireless. I think the smart thing to do would be to wait a little bit until after the PS5 has been out so the cost of purchasing both doesnt seem so high.

Cerny said that there won’t be much more news about the console around E3 with one of the main reasons being that Sony decided not to partake in this years event. He also went on to say that the console is definitely not coming out in 2019 which could explain some of their absence from E3. You then have to assume that this console is targeting fall of 2020. You then have to start trying to figure out when the games we currently know of are going to be released. The main games first party exclusives we dont know anything about include Ghosts of Tsushima from Suckerpunch, Last of Us 2 from Naughty Dog and Death Stranding from Kojima Productions. Based on what we have heard including job listings for SuckerPunch, Ghosts would be the game to most likely get bumped to PS5 and possibly even becoming a launch title. I expect Last Of Us 2 to get the same treatment it got on PS3 being the swan song right at the end. I expect it to be released around next summer which is where the majority of recent Naughty Dog games have released. This would also lead to a remaster for PS5. The PS4 remaster of the original sold quite well to those who already played the game on PS3 but also for people new to the Playstation ecosystem. This leaves Death Stranding which came up in the interview. It was asked when the release of Death Stranding would happen and the Playstation PR repeated that the game would be a PS4 release. However the article did make note that Cerny has a certain smile and pause when the question came up which speculates that it could be a dual release. It could function to how games work right now with base PS and PS4 Pro with different settings on each console. They are making smart calculated decisions because getting out ahead of the Xbox is smart but also because this is a very slow time for news, which means people have the time to read about it, digest it, relink it, and anything else you can think of. Sony is able to control the messaging and get exactly the word they want out. There is a lot more to read in the article, if you are interested go and check it out at wired.

Xbox

Not to be left out in the cold on Tuesday which was clearly announcement day for the major console players, Microsoft also had a few things to get off their chest as well during the April edition of Inside Xbox. They announced the digital only Xbox one and they also announced the combination of Xbox Live and GamePass. I truly love Xbox and their constant ability to disrupt the norm ever since they have been on the defensive this console generation. However, I feel that both of this announcements are made with the right idea in mind but just missing proper execution on both fronts.

First lets look at what they are calling GamePass Ultimate, the combination gaming subscription service. This is good news that people assumed would happen back when GamePass was first announced. I love the idea of combing the two services to provide a great value to gamers. However, the main issue is that its not a great deal as they are not offering a yearly discount only on the month to month basis. How many people actually subscribe to Xbox Live on the month to month price. The cost for the bundle is 14.99 per month which works out to 180 dollars a year. Currently Xbox offers an annual subscription for GamePass by itself the cost of 99 dollars a year. This is a good deal because you are saving from the monthly cost of 9.99. As for Xbox Live they have specials on the yearly memberships all the time including Boxing Day, Black Friday and plenty more deals throughout the year. The cheapest I have seen it would be 39.99 but even regular price is 59.99. If you do some really basic math of having the two services annually you are looking at 59.99 plus 99.99 which is 20 less than the cost of GamePass Ultimate. I just don’t understand the reasoning behind having it cost more. You are trying to get more people in the door and saving them on an annual subscription is the way to do that. The major hope here is that this is just the first announcement out of the gate regarding a combination service. Hopefully Xbox understands that its gamers would prefer to save money if subscribing to both services. I think GamePass is a great deal and just on sheer content you get from Xbox Live with its discounts on games as well as games with gold both this services make sense. Im just not sure if it would’ve been better to do nothing than this at all. At least we know that they are aware that bundling the services makes sense, they just missed the mark.

Speaking of missing the mark, Microsoft unveiled the rumored all digital xbox. I think this is a very future friendly move and I have been in awe watching how Phil Spencer and Xbox have taken their losses this generation and forced them to really push the needle. One major forward thinking idea was the introduction of a Netflix type of gaming service and GamePass is pushing close to it. The ability to play a large amount of popular games including huge first party games day and date on release day is crazy. This move will help push the industry forward including helping developers get more eyes on their games that might not have been there in the first place. Back to hardware though, launching a digital only version sounded smart because it would enable you to save on hardware costs and get the system to more gamers. It would also sound like the more systems that you have on the market the more software you should be able to sell as well as passive income from Xbox Live and Game Pass. Unfortunately, the system looks identical to the Xbox One S, which is a little bit of a bummer but logistically makes sense, but mainly it is the same price if not more expensive than the Xbox One S bundles that can be found for $249.99 or less. This begs the question why would they price it at a similar price with less hardware. From a consumer perspective if something has less it should cost less. You could also just save yourself money and buy the standard xbox one S bundle and just not buy discs for it and you would be in the same boat plus you would have the added benefit of a potentially higher resale value. I think the ideal price for this system would have been $199 and i’m sure they plan to run plenty specials on it but the messaging out of the gate just didn’t make sense.

Once again these are moves in the right direction, however, they just missed the mark a little. If there is one thing Xbox has become familiar with its quickly changing course when something isn’t working. I expect Xbox to address these issues sooner than later.

During the Inside Xbox show, Microsoft announced a few new titles that would be coming to backwards compatibility. This didnt get much traction as I thought it would but its interesting to note that three games from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell got the special treatment. Included games were Blacklist, Conviction and Double Agent with all of them also getting enhancements for Xbox One X. I find the timing of the backwards compatibility to be very coincidental with E3 just around the corner and Xbox being the place where Sam Fisher got his digital beginning. When Yves Guillemot was questioned on Unflitered by Ryan McCaffrey of IGN about the status of Splinter Cell he said “at one point you will see something but he can’t say more than that” with a large smile on his face. There isn’t much time left for Splinter Cell to make an appearance on the current generation of consoles as more than likely we are looking at fall 2020 which leaves a little over a year. The last game released in the series was Blacklist in 2013 on the 360 and PS3.

Nintendo

What kind of self respecting podcast would we be if we didn’t include weekly Nintendo info. Earlier in the week Nintendo shares jumped almost 20 Percent with news that Tencent Holdings has won approval to sell the Switch in China according to Reuters. I still think there is plenty upside for Nintendo stock as you can read our deep dive on their value. There is no date as of yet for when the system will go on sale in China but this should easily bolster Switch sales as the Chinese market is huge and has been deprived of a lot of the major gaming consoles. The Chinese government has been cracking down on games for awhile because they previously thought it was detrimental to society. Over the recent years, China has loosened up on its firm stance against video games. All of this bodes well for Nintendo as it opens up plenty of new avenues for them as well as Tencent has some good experience in the mobile market and could help Nintendo further extend their reach into mobile gaming if that is still part of their plan.

This also ties into the next story which was reported by the Nikkei. Nintendo next version of the Switch will be launching this fall with the first iteration being of the more budget variety. This new version will focus more on portable gaming but will still retain the main feature of the Switch and that is to be able to connect it to a tv for a home console experience. The article did also mention that the next generation version of the Switch is further off. It was very vague but it all falls into line with rumors that have already been circling about the next versions of the Switch and that there would possibly be two different versions. If the cost conscious, more portable focused Switch it ready soon enough then it could possibly take Asia by storm similar to how the DS has done extremely well there in the past.