Make gens shorter like they used to be or just stop this and make the best possible console you can feasibly make at the start of the gen. Generations used to be 5-6 years but this one and the last one are 7. Minuscule updates like Playstation -> PS One, PS2 -> PS2 slim, 360 -> 360E, Xbox One -> Xbox One S, Switch -> "New" Switch are fine because they the hardware was essentially unchanged but there were improvements like slightly overclocked CPUs, better battery life, transistor size, and lower power consumption.
Pro consoles suck for devs because they have to work on more platforms which means more dev time and means ALL versions of a game suffer. More bugs, more optimizing, more problems, and ultimately more time. Sony and Microsoft made it seem like getting these games to look and run better on the Pro consoles was like flipping a switch but 2-3 years later we can see that it's not the case. Games won't just run at 1440p/4K on PS4 Pro just because it's 1080p on PS4. I feel like (3rd party specifically) games aren't pushed and optimized as much as they could be for both base AND pro consoles. It's usually the same things like a game that can't hit a solid 900p on Xbox One S or solid 1080p on PS4 or keep the framerates as solid as they should be. Similarly for pro consoles, imagine all these games being that have been developed but with an RX 470 and an RX 580 exclusively. Today you can see PS4 Pro games that are 1080p to slightly under 1440p and Xbox One X games that are 1440p to slightly under 4K. They would probably be running probably be running at 1440p - reconstructed 4K (Pro) and 1440p - 4K (XBX) with better performance if there were less consoles to manage.
Closest example I could give would be iPhone and Android apps back in the day. iPhone's would always have the app first and it was almost always better performing. Crazily enough it's still the case sometimes even today. Of course this is on a much grander scale, there are only dozens of iPhone models out there while there are thousands of Android devices with varied hardware.
Can devs comment on this? 3rd party specifically? How did managing 3 platforms XB1-PS4-PC from earlier in the generation differ from managing 5 now XB1-XBX-PS4-PRO-PC? How has it affected your games? It seems to be more of an issue with 3rd party games and not really 1st party. Maybe this was a one time thing? Both parties chose AMD as their partner at a time where AMD didn't really have compelling hardware that worked for Sony/MS, which is why we wound up with what felt like the first generation with "underpowered" hardware (barring Nintendo). I quote underpowered because I'm still amazed at what developers are doing with these boxes regardless of what people said at the time of launch or now.
Anyway, I really hope Microsoft and Sony don't do it again with next gen. Both have partnered with AMD again but the difference is AMD seems to be hitting on all cylinders right now on the hardware side of things so maybe these companies won't be compelled to have to create a Pro version of next gen boxes.
Pro consoles suck for devs because they have to work on more platforms which means more dev time and means ALL versions of a game suffer. More bugs, more optimizing, more problems, and ultimately more time. Sony and Microsoft made it seem like getting these games to look and run better on the Pro consoles was like flipping a switch but 2-3 years later we can see that it's not the case. Games won't just run at 1440p/4K on PS4 Pro just because it's 1080p on PS4. I feel like (3rd party specifically) games aren't pushed and optimized as much as they could be for both base AND pro consoles. It's usually the same things like a game that can't hit a solid 900p on Xbox One S or solid 1080p on PS4 or keep the framerates as solid as they should be. Similarly for pro consoles, imagine all these games being that have been developed but with an RX 470 and an RX 580 exclusively. Today you can see PS4 Pro games that are 1080p to slightly under 1440p and Xbox One X games that are 1440p to slightly under 4K. They would probably be running probably be running at 1440p - reconstructed 4K (Pro) and 1440p - 4K (XBX) with better performance if there were less consoles to manage.
Closest example I could give would be iPhone and Android apps back in the day. iPhone's would always have the app first and it was almost always better performing. Crazily enough it's still the case sometimes even today. Of course this is on a much grander scale, there are only dozens of iPhone models out there while there are thousands of Android devices with varied hardware.
Can devs comment on this? 3rd party specifically? How did managing 3 platforms XB1-PS4-PC from earlier in the generation differ from managing 5 now XB1-XBX-PS4-PRO-PC? How has it affected your games? It seems to be more of an issue with 3rd party games and not really 1st party. Maybe this was a one time thing? Both parties chose AMD as their partner at a time where AMD didn't really have compelling hardware that worked for Sony/MS, which is why we wound up with what felt like the first generation with "underpowered" hardware (barring Nintendo). I quote underpowered because I'm still amazed at what developers are doing with these boxes regardless of what people said at the time of launch or now.
Anyway, I really hope Microsoft and Sony don't do it again with next gen. Both have partnered with AMD again but the difference is AMD seems to be hitting on all cylinders right now on the hardware side of things so maybe these companies won't be compelled to have to create a Pro version of next gen boxes.
