“I’ve read a lot of question on the internet, like, why isn’t Microsoft going to continue Xbox One X as the low-end machine. Well, one thing is that it would last a long time through the generation and we felt that the new generation is defined by aspects such as the Xbox Velocity Architecture, and graphics features such as variable rate shading and ray tracing and the 4x processing performance boost on the CPU,” counters Goossen. “And so we wanted to make sure that there was an entry level at the right price-point so that we could really advance the generation rather than hold it back. I’ve heard that Series S is going to hold back the next generation but I actually see Series S advancing it because by doing Series S we’ll have more games written to the characteristics of the next generation.”
Fantastic interview! As expected, it seems no mid-gen refreshes are happening, nor should we expect big price drops. Seems highly unlikely that PS5 will be able to drop price either the whole gen, same as Xbox, which makes XSS a pretty important option imho.
Amazing interview. Thanks for sharing.
Damn so it’s unlikely for a PS5 refresh this gen? That would be interesting.
Yeah it’s not likely to happen. Might be one with more storage, and maybe smaller if they can rethink their cooling, but that’s it.
Well I’m hoping for a smaller one with better storage. I got to hold a PS5 yesterday and the thing is monstrous.
Interesting stuff. Based on how the switch handled ports, I’m confident SeriesS will not hold developers back and that the seriesS experience will be a positive one, we will likely see lower res, lower fps, lower or less effects but nothing game breaking like sub 30fps performance.
The real bad news. Don’t expect any die shrink and smaller console withing the first 4 years. Also probably less price cuts.
Switch is also still $299 after 4 years
The FOMO was too much, and I have a Series S coming on Thursday from Amazon. Real excited!
You’ll get die shrinks, it just won’t lead to notable cost reductions.
I don’t think we’ll see cheaper systems or variants this gen. Just bundles - the Nintendo route in other words - from both Sony & MS. Money to be made in all those parts getting cheaper.
I don’t know, I see the series S going 249 by the end of 2021 maybe even lower. They will be using this to get gamepass into houses everywhere. It depends on how well it sells.
This generation was already one where most notable price reductions were limited time holiday deals, and where the early part of the gen was primarily about bundling software. As said there will still be revisions, they just likely wont lead to cost reductions as much as in the past, they still will serve a purpose of providing a new coat of paint on systems and an excuse for another hardware marketing push. Anyways i think these factors are why series s was a really good idea, there wont be the standard reduction in costs from a die shrink so it was only natural you will have to reach a lower cost through other methods such as disc drive removal, size reduction, and cutting back at the margins of things mainstream consumers wont care about.