I thought of that, which is why I posted a link to A Forbes article. So I wouldn’t call it “baseless”. Devs have praised both consoles and everybody has their preference. But Epic is the only one that is really going out of their way. 

You don’t have a favourite brand? Unless I misread you and your a Pc guy? Switch?!?! There is nothing wrong with having a preference, never be ashamed to have one. 

Actually several devs have said ignore the specs datasheet, PS5 is a very strong machine and isn't lagging behind Xbox.

And what journalists and bloggers being obnoxous have anything to do with?

They all say that for PR for both consoles, but it is factual that xbox one series x is more powerful than PS5 in virtually everything other than ssd which doesn't really matter too much for games.

XSX having a 52 CU GPU is simply going to outperform 36 CU GPU when both are basically the same thing. I hope MS allows for overclocking even, then the disparity will become more and more obvious. 

Why limit it to Sweeney talking it up?

I mean I had my doubts about The Road to PS5 upon 1st watching. After the overselling of PS4 Pro by Cerny, I was not willing to take him at his word, without additional sources chiming in.

However, after hearing Engineers that work on, or worked on CryEngine, id Tech, Unreal Engine, and Frostbite, amoung others,  all singing praises for PS5's architecture, and claiming that the SSD and I/O are going to play a bigger role that many are anticipating, it is really hard not to think that maybe Cerny and Sony really have something to brag about.

Then when you start to dive into the tech, and hear how the SSD & I/O will work hand in hand with the Geometry Engines, and how Ray Tracing is tied Directly to Geometry, then the massive (And it is massive) advanatge that PS5 has in SSD and I/O start sounding like they will play a major role in how games will perform. 

Going further, when you hear how UE5's I/O code has been written to take full advantage of the PS5 SSD and I/O, and how they will be streaming Textures and Geometry in next gen games, it starts to paint a picture that these advantages are not going to be tied to PS5 exclusives only, but all games.

My questions are, why should developers be neutral? What is gained by them withholding knowledge regarding publicly disclosed information? How would it benefit them, or their repuatation if they were not up front about something like this?

If the advantages that the PS5 offers directly affect game development and performance in a significant way, then what is gained by not disclosing that?

Here is my own opinion. Creators want to create were it is easiest, and where they have the most opportunity to achive their ambitions. If the platform that best fits those two attributes is the market leader, then that is a victory for them. That is why certain creators, from all mediums, will get behind specific tools/software/hardware/etc., instead of being neutral. And, they will do it without the need of any buyoffs or payouts. In fact in other industries, entire publishers will flat out through their weight behind specific product, and even publicy speak out against the competitive product (see Disney on Blu-ray vs HD DVD).

SSD is crucial especially for future engine and rendering tech, many developer requested this especially EPIC . Sony focus on this and when nuts on this side to make costume solution. 

It's really affecting the competion and the result of game design. It really matter for game engine like UE5 , but it wont matter much on old engine like UE 4 or Unity or game engine which not has any streamming data realtime. 

When games are design in traditional way (no data streaming like UE 5 or future rendering technique) games will run slightly better on Xbox SX (probably slightly better resolution or frame rates).

But if games are design with new philosophy and next gen rendering tech where data streaming on real time is crucial (frame by frame) like UE 5 , then games will run worst in Xbox SX or slower and will have pop up in LOD, or worst it will not run at all.

Developer need to modified the engine to run on Xbox SX so GPU do more GPU calculation instead depend on real time data streaming like PS5.

In the end both are great machine which has plus and minus, one have advantage than the other in one aspect and vice versa, So now it depent on how developer harness the technical side of thing from both.  

Difference is around 15% or thereabouts in GPU. Its negligible in the grand scheme of overall system performance. XBX will have a slight edge in compute and will have better hardware raytracing capabilities. PS5 will have superior I/O.

Both consoles have their advantages. I'm personally more excited on what much better I/O can bring to the table and what Sony 1st party devs can do with it.

I'll believe it when I see it. Only few games right now require/recommend an SSD and it doesn't care what speed it is at.

UE 5 is the prove of this, but you are right, no games use this tech yet. We will have to wait and see. But on paper and developer notes next gen PC games and multiplat will require more RAM to overcome this problem or an SSD. Or a very powerful GPU and CPU to brute force the lack of IO speed. 

Of course next gen games will be available 2 to 3 years after next gen console released, from now on only 1rts party developer will use that benefit especially SOny first party (Xbox will focus on cross gen for another 2 years).