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[AV Watch] Jim Ryan: "creating a special low priced, reduced spec console is something that has not had great results in the past.”
- Thread starter digitalrelic
- Start date
- News
Nintendo is a special case with their handhelds. Looking at this comments again and he mentions "consoles". So yeah. Whatever, it's his opinion and imo the right choice. A powerful next-gen PlayStation for $399 is a mass-market price. Good decision overall.
There isn't much precedence for this to say how launching two SKUs with different power at once would fair.
But the PS4 was quite successful at the $399 price tag and Sony managed to hit that target again. I don't think they needed a $299 price tag. They can get there in time.
But the PS4 was quite successful at the $399 price tag and Sony managed to hit that target again. I don't think they needed a $299 price tag. They can get there in time.
I think he's referring to thinks like the 20GB PS3 or the Core Pack and Arcade Pack 360 bundles that didn't have as much stuff.
Not necessarily "the N64 but with half the RAM".
Not necessarily "the N64 but with half the RAM".
Didn't the exact opposite happen only one gen ago when the top line PS3 (with backwards compatability and more ports) absolutely tanked and they had to replace it with a cheaper version that took those features away.................hmmmmmmmmm
I suppose it's more a question of how well a sub-XBO S system would hold up now, rather than how a PS4/XBO-S does. Both show their age, god knows what an even less powerful Xbox One would have been doing in the latter part of this gen.
Parsing around his quote about 'history' and what 'history' he's talking about, in the end the question with something like the Series S or a hypothetical cut-down PS5, is how well it would hold up in the latter stages of the generation. IMO it is a bit of a gamble that they'd hold up well when even 'normal' base consoles have had problems historically as a generation has worn on.
Thinking on it more, ironically the one console that did release in a timely manner (so no Wii Mini or PSP Street) and was actually gimped in specs (so no 360 Arcade etc) was successful lol
The 2DS
The 2DS
But there are hardly any reduced features. It simply targets a lower resolution. The feature set is exactly the same.
It could fuel console wars. The new one is more about their own console (PS5).
Unless they put the game on pc or until sony puts out a ps5 pro in 3 4 years time
I haven't seen anyone wishing Sony had made a Series S equivalent
Yeah at $399 they really don't have the space for a cheaper option. They went more aggressive and decided the increased royalties from only digital sales made it worth it to drop the Digital Edition by $100.
I think the PS5 will probably still sell more, just because it has a bigger worldwide presence. Really it's just 2 different approaches to the market, I don't necessarily think either are wrong.
Which spec? The Series X? PS5? or the current gen consoles that will be supported for the next four years by Sony?
Not sure where he said they considered a "lower-spec PS5"? Talk about a sensationalist headline.
At least, they made the right call. Rather take the bath on the one console, than release a gimped one which is gonna struggle few years into a new gen.
At least, they made the right call. Rather take the bath on the one console, than release a gimped one which is gonna struggle few years into a new gen.
As someone getting a Series X I'm not gonna lie, Series S worries me. For the first couple years I'm sure it'll be fine but games having to run on a 4TF console with 8 gigs of RAM in 2026 is kinda concerning. Hopefully they stop mandating that games run natively on it at some point. Have it run natively on X and via Xcloud on the S.
Less storage space, no disc drive and lower specs. Only time will tell if these specs will be enough to run the same games, only at lower resolutions.
The only 1:1 comparison is what Xbox is doing now, so it's not like there's a wealth of feedback here. Everything else was staggered (mid-gen upgrades) or was about storage. I don't know what he's talking about.
Sure it will, right next to Destruction All Stars becoming the new Rocket League I am sure.
Supporting a console and releasing games on that console is not the same thing.
it's funny that the only example I can think about is PSVR.
By far the lowest Specced 'high end ' VR solution on the market. Worked with the weakest hardware 1.8TF PS4 and had the worst tracking of them all. backed by the worst minimum CPU and GPU requirements
yet nobody has ever made the argument that PSVR held VR back. Because VR devs learnt to downscale their experiences from higher end hardware.
Not rocket science.
I thought the general consensus was that CPU and SSD were the true transformative next gen changes? Why's the goalpost moved now?
By far the lowest Specced 'high end ' VR solution on the market. Worked with the weakest hardware 1.8TF PS4 and had the worst tracking of them all. backed by the worst minimum CPU and GPU requirements
yet nobody has ever made the argument that PSVR held VR back. Because VR devs learnt to downscale their experiences from higher end hardware.
Not rocket science.
I thought the general consensus was that CPU and SSD were the true transformative next gen changes? Why's the goalpost moved now?
Agree. The DE was a good move for that middle spot and 399 price point.
And I'm glad they didn't get completely scared of the Switch and Series S and make it weaker. Makes the possible mid gen refresh interesting.
They both made the right decision. There's a right decision for PlayStation and a right decision for Xbox and they aren't always the same thing.
XSS provides a low barrier to entry for Game Pass. And it provides MS a key differentiator against such a dominant brand. Sony isn't in that position nor do they even have the same end goals anymore, so the status quo works just fine for them.
I think both approaches work tbh
Series S seems to be well designed to scale things down, I think it'll be successful even if it means some extra optimization work at times
PS5 DE is cheap enough to make the argument that it's better to have no compromises besides the drive for a 100 dollar difference
Series S seems to be well designed to scale things down, I think it'll be successful even if it means some extra optimization work at times
PS5 DE is cheap enough to make the argument that it's better to have no compromises besides the drive for a 100 dollar difference
The base Xbox 360 didn't come with a hard drive and couldn't even play some games that needed one
I don't think it's even the case of the Wii Mini, which was still a Wii (though without a disc drive). That was a cheap, end-of-life revision. It had the bare minimum hardware to be a Wii, but it was still a Wii. Same power and stuff. It looked good, too! But that was it. And it was a massive flop.
I'm sure Sony will release hardware revisions down the line. I can see them packing more internal storage once production ramps up due to demand. So, what I think is that Jim Ryan is directly calling out Microsoft's strategy of releasing two different specs of the same family at the same time. The XSX is substantially more powerful than the XSS, beyond drive space. That in itself creates a division for devs and users.
Now, did Sony really think about it? Dunno. Sounds extremely convenient to be talking about this right now...
There are already clear differences between the two consoles. Backwards compatible games from Xbox 360 and Xbox One will be running at Xbox One S specs, without X1X enhancements.
CPU related, more often than not.
That's...not going to be a problem here.
