The war of words between the Xbox Series X and PS5 development teams has seen another confident broadside from team Xbox, based on an interview with the head of the Microsoft gaming division.
VideoGamesChronicle reports some bold quotes from head of Xbox Phil Spencer that were made during the Gamelab Live conference (via GameSpot). Responding to a question about what he thought of the recent PS5 reveal event, Spencer said he was impressed, but that he "felt good" after seeing what Sony had to show.
- Xbox Series X release date, price, pre-order, controller and more
- PS5 price, pre-order, release date, controller and more
"As a competitor it’s great to have them out there now so we kind of know what the programme is, we see the device, we see the games,” says Spencer.
“Just being honest, I felt good after seeing their show. I think the hardware advantages that we have built are going to show up as we’re talking more about our games and frame rates and other things."
The hardware advantage Spencer mentions likely refers to the higher computing power of the Xbox Series X compared to the PS5. Sony says that the total number of teraflops each console produces isn't as important as you might think, since it promises the PS5 will be running at its full output constantly, but we'll have to see how this works in practice.
Spencer also commented on the launch titles that Sony has prepared, again saying he feels confident. “I thought the games line-up that we’re going to have at launch I felt really good about, and we got more clarity on what they’re doing at their show which just helped us focus in on more of what we have, and I think that will be a strength for us at launch."
VGC also reports that Spencer has accepted criticism that the first Xbox reveal event of the summer was underwhelming. The May showcase showed off many upcoming third-party games for the Series X, but none of the big first-party announcements that fans have been really looking forward to. These will instead be shown off at an upcoming Xbox Series X July event. This showcase will likely center around Halo Infinite, which recently saw a teaser revealing one of the game's major enemy factions.
Once Xbox and PlayStation's summer of reveal events is over, it'll be a short wait until November, when we expect both consoles to launch in time for the holidays. On top of its better on-paper performance, the Xbox Series X is predicted to be cheaper than the PS5, and may have an even more affordable counterpart called the Xbox Series S. That could lead to lots of players end up picking up an Xbox to get a next-gen experience at the lowest possible price.
