"The Ascent Had Record Sales Success Despite Launching On Game Pass"

Since when has Game Pass ever negatively affected a game sale? Time after time developers have said their game sales have actually increased or exceeded their projections after being put on Game Pass.

A more truthful title would be:

"The Ascent Had Record Sales Success Despite Mediocre Review by Gamespot"

@allencc3: Xbox 360 BC was between completely different architectures. With PS4 BC we aren't talking PowerPC or Cell architecture to x86. PS4 BC is nothing close to that much more complicated 360 BC emulated system that Xbox One has done for those games. If that were the case here I would completely understand the slower, more time consuming approach, if Sony were actually trying to run a game built for a completely different architecture (Cell to x86). However, this is x86 to x86 architecture BC. Microsoft has been doing this for Windows, with tens of thousands of hardware variations (maybe even millions) for over 25 years of BC working with many different Window OS iterations. Sony can't seem to get it done with very similar x86 based architectures that are locked down in specs (what, two variations of x86 PS4 devices not tens of thousands?). I fully expect there will be a lot more then a hundred PS4 BC games supported at the console release. But I don't have faith Sony BC is working out the way it should nor will it be near complete. Cerny even stated that some games will need patching by developers to even work. Well that is not likely to happen for many games that require it. The whole PS5 library should be ready without a hitch and just work. I am just not getting that feeling of that happening by Cerny's "almost all" top 100 comment. I don't know what people were thinking when they believed Sony had the capability to have PS3 BC as it is apparent now they can't even get the much simpler PS4 BC down.

Contrast this with Microsoft's next-gen Xbox BC plans. Microsoft has already guaranteed 100% of what is playable on Xbox One today will be playable on the Series-X day one. No almost all top 100 comment from them. Microsoft's 100% working statement seems pretty affirmative in comparison. That means every Xbox One game (even Kinect 2 games if you plug the Kinect into the USB), every 360BC game and every Xbox original game that runs on the XBX One will work on next-gen. No patches or having to check an online list for what games will or will not run. They just will run if the run already on the Xbox One.

Added to that I have little faith in Sony providing enhancements at all let alone automatically to older games like Microsoft has done with many games as part of their BC efforts already. And Microsoft has even promised more automatic enhancements to Xbox games. For example, Xbox will automatically provide SDR to HDR conversion for games that don't already support HDR. No developer patches needed for any BC or any enhancement to work.

@nikolistary:They know what the case looks like. Oh my! I can see it now after the VGA announcement Cerny immediately called his team: "We know everything. Microsoft has shown its hand by displaying the front outside of a cuboid shape console. Damn it looks like ours but, so much more powerful looking. Quick throw out our design and start from scratch. Fck thermals. Fck worrying about rearranging components and their specific design. We can toss out all that work we did these past years and put together something more powerful and cheaper in a few months time."

As for info. You don't know anything. And Sony gave as much info about their device in the two Wired interviews then Microsoft has in all their reveals (E3, Xbox team interviews and the VGA). Can you give me the specs on the XSX? What is the TFLOPS, the GPU or CPU Ghz, SSD storage speed, storage size, memory bandwidth, memory size, features? People can make guesses but, that is all it is guesses. Here is the difference so far. Xbox is for sure using GDDR6 and the front has a USB port, Sony? Sony has a 3D Audio chip? Microsoft? Oh and the XSX is cuboid shape. That is it.

"Sony can spend the rest of their time leading up to launch and make their machine cheaper and more powerful."

God fanboy console owners can be the dumbest people. They seem to know so little about how their consoles are designed and built. There is nothing of any real note they can do it at this point. In fact pretty much everything was set year ago. Even further back with respect to the chip design. Overall the design specs became pretty locked down about this time last year and is just been tweaking a little here and there since. There is no lets make it more powerful and cheaper at this point. It doesn't work that way. Knowing the thermals on these Navis there is little wiggle room to make changes upward.

In the end either Sony has something similar and it will be priced similarly or it doesn't and will be priced differently. There may be different focuses each company has done; spending less on one area and more on another (eg. less on the GPU speed and more on the SSD speed). But all this was locked down a long time ago. And no Sony is not going to release $100 loss leader. That is just fanboy fanfiction that gets tossed around without thinking about the actual consequences it would cause to the bottom line. In no scenario is making less money next gen compared to this gen entered into any equation for both the PS5 or XSX. Which is what a large loss leader would mean, less profits. And believe me Sony loves profits a lot more then it loves you.

@reznik00:Get ready for a shocker. Sony is going to be doing the same thing. The writing is on the wall. There is not going to be this mass flood of new customers for the PS5. Yoshida (CEO of Sony) called it a niche and consoles are exactly a niche product. There is a much bigger ocean to fish from. And you may not see it but Sony certainly does. I bet Sony projections for next-gen consoles sales would at best be similar to this gen and Sony probably would be happy repeating this gen sales. But, that would mean no growth. A company and investors in the company don't like it when there isn't growth; stagnation is not what the market likes. I hope you really understand Sony is not your best bud, they would sell you shit on stick if they thought the could and make a profit from you.

So where do you think Sony is going to grow? Yup, PC. That is the easiest entry point to expand the ecosystem. You will see the same approach Microsoft is doing with their IP. Microsoft and Spencer see Xbox as an ecosystem rather then a single device. I have no doubt Sony and Ryan have been taking notes and see the changes happening (just look at Japans sale numbers this gen being down from last gen and how the Asia market as whole has been transitioning away from consoles). Sony most assuredly will base growth on the ecosystem route with the similar diligence in coming years. It is all about growth not placating fanboys strange love for a piece of plastic. Sony is already getting people used to the idea with some of their IP coming to PC now.

Where else? Growth from services? The percentage of subscribers to PS+ has always floated around 38% this gen. That isn't going to change next gen. I doubt Sony is going to rely on their cloud streaming, in meaningful way, for their revenue growth. Well, unless PSNow suddenly content becomes more competitive with day of and and not just retro gaming service. But, that is still a slow burn and still limits the ecosystem and is only one end of extending growth. Sony, like Microsoft, is going to sell the ecosystem not just to the console. The console will just be on several endpoints in that ecosystem, like the PC, like mobile, like VR, etc...

BS. These consoles are built around a price point not the other way around. Sure some things may not line up being a little more costly or may actually be somewhat cheaper by the time they line up the manufacturing contracts (like memory or chip yields). But, not drastically one way or the other. Sony either built the PS5 around $499 or $399. And Microsoft did the same with Xbox Series X.

Neither is taken a large hit on the build no matter what the other does. For every $10 to $11 loss these consoles incur is a single $60 game sale. A digital cut of $60 sale is $18 but then you take out taxes and operating expenses (people at all levels and support systems aren't free) you get around $11 of OI. The average early adopter buys around 3 games a year. With this gen having BC it could actually be less considering games like TLOUII and Tsushima have just been released prior to the launch. And only 37% of console owners buy PSPlus (that is pretty constant percentage for Sony this gen) and after expenses PS+ leads to around $18 to $20 of OI. So, after the initial payback of the launch loss (the cost of development to get the console to market) a $60 loss on the build could mean a whole two years before each console sold can start contributing to the profits. $100 loss could end up meaning a console take 3 years to start making contributions to the Sony's bottom line.

Even though Microsoft seems to be playing the long game to corral customers into services (GP/xCloud) they are not going to do any large loss on their console to get there in the short term. Sony is definitely not interested in a negative outlook in OI (remember Sony loss $5 billion on the PS3 because of BOM loss). The investors market would crucify them with such a goal of taking a loss for less return on a next-gen device. Because at the end of the day there is not going to be a made rush of new console buyers next-gen. The growth is not in the console itself but in services. And those services that will grow are things that cross outside on the physical console , like PSNow or Game Pass/xCloud related services.

@lordbeefjerky: You are probably wrong. It will be $499. They have already established that price point for the line. Sony (if similarly powered) will also be $499.

@cisx79: This was not a full reveal or a Microsoft only event. So, I don't know what you are expecting them to show. However, as part of the reveal you did get to see a game that blew away everybody I have talked to: Hellblade 2. Ninja Theory's next-gen Xbox game was a jaw dropper compared to that so-so next gen game for the PS5, GodFall, which Sony showed at the Gaming Awards.

@lordbeefjerky: Is that what it was? Sony dropped the ball on the PS4 Pro jet engine sound emulator that it was. This whole year old argument could be true if you squinted as you pretended that was what the the power differential was about. However, it does not explain the Pros larger size at all.

@lordbeefjerky: And you somehow think Sony's PS5 will fit? I supposed if it is less powerful. But, all rumors point to similar specs between these two console and that means thermals and larger size devices. If the PS5 looks anything like the toilet seat design of the devkit you are looking at a pretty big console. Sony has not been exactly killing it in the design realm either. The Pro design just continues that doorstop look of the PS4 base by just adding another level. The Pro is sill bigger then the more powerful X. And I don't know what size your cabinet is but, it must be pretty small. This box is about as tall as the controller when it is on it's side (which it is designed to do - up or it's side). So, it should fit easily in a entertainment center.

Google is all about 4K but Destiny 2 is 1080p and up scaled to 4k on Stadia. On Xbox One X, you know the console that Google says is a meek shadow compared to Stadia, plays Destiny 2 at full 4K. Even RDR2 is at lower resolution of 1440p on Stadia while it is 4K on the X and at higher graphic fidelity to boot. So, probably the two biggest games on Stadia right now run at lower resolution and capability then the Xbox One X.

"Neither Microsoft nor Sony, however, can match Stadia's framework today, which emphasizes extensive multiplatform support, quality-of-life features that seamlessly connect the experience across devices, and 4K, 60 FPS gameplay with HDR and Dolby 5.1 on your TV. Google is one of the few companies positioned to make cloud gaming an experience on par with dedicated consoles or PCs, and it seems to be going for it."

One more thing. From the article did you cut and paste that BS form the Stadia literature and put it your article or did you make it up yourself? "extensive multi-platform support, quality of life features that seamlessly connect... across all devices, blah, blah, blah". I probably can rewrite it into some actual truth of how Stadia appears to be working now but, I will leave it up to someone elses imagination.