Here's a thought....Assuming GTA6 releases later this year, isn't that a killer app for both PS5 and XB X/S?

In other words, shouldn't the release of that one game translate into a huge increase in sales of both systems?

Lastly, how does MS benefit by releasing "XB next" in 2026/2027?  It's not like there will be an optimized version of GTA6 that is much different from the one already being sold.

If MS does release its next console in 26/27, what will be its killer app, Halo?  Because it will not be GTA6.

I'm sorry but this isn't 2005. People are tied into the ecosystems now and jumping is a massive endeavour, as long as Sony does Back compat in the same way the ps5 did then people will wait for the ps6 especially since the ps5 will be playing Xbox games and since they'll be waiting for them anyway. Very likely the days of MS as a console manufacturer are over with the 9th gen, they'll still have cloud streaming and what not but no hardware, people stuck in the xbox ecosystem who dislike this will be forced to migrate to PS or PC or give up on gaming. 

Do not worry, next Xbox will be compatible with Series in a native form, so you will just play the Series version probably with some graphical AI enhancement included in the new Xbox hardware, like PS5 Pro already does with PS5 games (or at least, that's what I was told by Cerny). But depending on the dates of the game launch and next Xbox launch (ex: late 2025 and late 2026), it could be possible to even launch an especific version of GTA6 for the next Xbox, ready for its launch: Some graphical enhancements made with the help of IA, or maybe just some better internal resolution and more fps. Nothing very serious.

It's the magic of the PC Hardware-based consoles since 2013: everything is fucking backward compatible, everything is easy to play in the new machines: no need to port, no need to emulate, no need to suffer anymore about if you can use your library in the next generation.

BTW... Which was the killer app of PS5 in 2020 launch? I can't remember any now.

"BTW... Which was the killer app of PS5 in 2020 launch? I can't remember any now."

Sony didn't need one...The PS4 had already crushed the XBone in the prior gen. They just needed to sell PS5 before XB X/S got off to a head start.

To elaborate on BFR's remark a little bit: As somebody who purchased PS5 around launch in 2020, my motivation wasn't necessarily in having some "killer app" immediately from the start. Rather, it was to own the system which would *eventually* have several "killer apps", seeing how well PS4 finished off (GoW, SM, TLoU:Pt2, DS, GoT, HZD, etc.).

When a console producer has consumer trust, they don't always need that "killer app" right from the get-go (esp not when their competition is nothing more than a corpse). Consumer's will use their best judgment to arrive at the conclusion whether to trust that this system will recieve strong game releases later on...hence, when this trust does not exist, the publisher will *need* something to show, and typically they'll need to show it right from the start. Had the Wii U launched with MarioKart 8 & Super Mario 3D World, for instance, then the system wouldn't have completely floundered for 4y straight. Conversly, had NSW not launched with BotW (& SMOdyssey a few months later), Nintendo would've had a very hard time swaying consumers over.

Well said Fire....Let me add my 2 cents to this thread....I bought my PS4 back in Oct. 2015...And I'm happy with it....

Also, I do not plan on buying a PS5 anytime soon.

Why not, you say?  Because there is no killer app for the PS5 right now....Maybe GTA6 or Intergalactic will be that game, but until I see one of them bundled with a PS5, I'm saving my money.

If PS5/SX are running GTA6 at 1080p internal (4k FSR upscaled) 30fps, a new Xbox system running it at 60fps with an image that looks native 4k would in fact be quite the improvement and a massive selling point. Going forward singular huge generational gaps will simply not be a thing outside of Nintendo's next 2 devices. A year or 2 of Xbox having the version of games as developers intended it without massive sacrifices will be quite attractive and good marketing for the brand.

If the next Xbox is late 2026, I can see it's killer apps being new Halo, Fable, Gears, Elderscrolls etc... Not just that but all games that begin to truly make use of UE5. 

There is no way MS directly competes with playstation, so really their goal is just to carve out niches around it. Series S as the cheapest entry point, Series X as an equal to PS5, New Xbox as a jumpstart into the next generation and eventually being next gens equivalent of Series S. I suspect the next system will be very customisable and draw a lot from the PC space and then they'll be another core update 4-5 years after that.

That's an absurdly high bar (akin to the 4090 + 7800X3D combo vs. the PS5/XSX) for a console to clear even accounting for better upscaling.

Mind that architectural improvements aside a 2026 launch will be constrained to hardware only ~40% denser and ~20% less power-hungry than the PS5 Pro (that's using TSMC's very expensive N3 nodes... which is far from a given).

I have no doubt MS will want to rely on every sort of deep scaling and cloud-based solutions their studios and AMD come up with by then but really, after blunders like Flight Simulator 2024 and AMD's typical tardiness I doubt they would fare any better in a 2026 console than RT fared this generation.

I think its their last dedicated hurrah, beyond the coming gen I think Xbox's will be made many more manufacturers and essentially be a TV friendly PC box

People said the same thing about GTAIV back in the day on this site and the hardware sales were dissapointing, sure their was a boost but hardly anything you could call 'killer'.

Anyway ecosystems are less tied to platforms now, a bunch of games tend to follow what fortnite does, buy a skin on platform A and you can use that skin on any other platform., Genshin, FFXIV, Roblox,Minecraft, GTA online probably, COD warzone and so on are not tied to platforms anymore.