Next Gen Tech (NGT): STORAGE

[EricHiggin]

Intrinsic said:

TallSilhouette said:
I just had a thought. If the XB4 and PS5 release in the same year, they will probably be pretty similarly powered and priced. Other specs would become more important to differentiate them, then. What would be a better selling point? A high capacity, lower speed drive to store lots of 100+ GB games, or a high speed, low capacity drive to load said games much quicker? If they're going head to head, which do you think they'll go with?

This right here is the real reason sony is against cross play.

At the end of the day, when there is absolutely nothing to separate the consoles anymore (consider that right now we are at a point where comparisons usually have to zoom in by like 200%+ to highlight differences or we are comparing framerates that differ by like 2-7 frames.... yes, thats nitpicking) the only thing to differentiate them would be games and userbase.

Chances are, if the two consoles are exactly the same, then everyone that has a PS4 now will go with a PS5 and everyone that has a XB1 will get an XB2. The next generation of the HD twins will be more "identical" than ever before. Its only their software lineup that will differentiate them. Something MS finally seems to be catching onto if we are to take Phil Spencers words as fact which suggests that MS are gonna start acquiring studios or making new ones. 

Good point. The more similar the consoles become as time goes on, the less the hardware will matter. Games and service will become more than just ammunition. Would XB ever make a deal where they pay PS to have Live on the PS5 as a service, and stop making hardware altogether? XB exclusives on a PS console? Would PS prefer or even allow that? It would give PS some more control and would drive customers to the physical PS hardware and software ecosystem.

I have a hard time seeing XB acquire more studios. The problems with studios leaving XB, some employee's not being happy there, plus closing studios as well. Maybe XB will or have changed their attitude, maybe they haven't or won't. Creating their own new studios makes much more sense, since those employee's now know what they are getting into and XB won't have to deal with changing those existing companies habits, to fit what XB wants. More work yes, but also much more stable and reliable once complete.

I would guess PS would choose a lesser TB SSD over a greater TB HDD. In bulk, PS should be able to get a way better deal on SSD's than any consumer could. This would allow the consumer to be able to buy a greater TB external HDD, for cheap at retail, instead of having that consumer buy a more expensive lower TB external SSD, or swap out the stock HDD with the SSD. By that time we may also be at USB 4 or 5 potentially. The average consumer will also see SSD on the PS box, and HDD on the Xbox, and will ask or find out what the difference is. When they read or are told that HDD is ancient tech and SSD is the latest and greatest, which means drastically faster load times, people will lean towards the newer tech in a new console, as long as the price is right. Whether it's SSD or M.2 or whatever, PS should incorporate that into the stock system using their mass purchasing influence and allow customers to buy a cheap mass storage HDD at retail, whether there is an extra space to slot it in the console or external.