In an interview with Rolling Stone The head of Microsoft’s Gaming division, Phil Spencer, has said some very interesting things about the next generation of consoles, that is, about the successors to PS5 and Xbox Series X-Series S.
On the one hand, Spencer has made it clear that They do not plan to abandon the Xbox brandwhich means that they are going to continue launching consoles. However, he has also clarified that they could change their strategy, and that they will continue to reinforce their commitment to cloud gaming.
The executive is clear that his strategy involves expanding the Xbox brand, and also cloud gaming. To achieve this, Microsoft’s Gaming division will focus on creating new devices, among which a portable console stands out. This portable Xbox has been confirmed by Phil Spencer, although he has acknowledged that its launch could still take some time. several years to produce.
Next-gen consoles and declining profits
When talking about PS5 Pro he made a comment that was, without a doubt, the most interesting thing of the entire interview. He said that these types of systems they are not necessaryand recognized that it is increasingly difficult to demonstrate the improvements that are achieved with each new generation of consoles. There is an explanation for this, and it is based on the concept of diminishing returns.
As an example, he gave the jump that occurred between Xbox and Xbox 360, which was quite large, and it is logical because not only greatly improved graphic quality of games thanks to the use of more complex geometry and more advanced effects, but also went from SD resolution (480p) to HD resolution (720p).
However, with the move from Xbox One to Xbox Series It hasn’t been that big. Xbox One
This is a problem, because users it is increasingly difficult for them to appreciate technical improvements that the new generation consoles offer in games, and this also complicates things for Sony and Microsoft when it comes to advertising and marketing their new products as “far superior” models to the previous ones.
Why does this problem occur?
It’s very simple. Think that the first 3D games They used very few polygons and their worlds were not completely generated due to the technical limitations of the consoles, but were created gradually based on the player’s journey. Others used fog and other effects to hide these limitations (Silent Hill, for example).
The generational leaps compared to those first 3D games were enormous because these They were too basic and limited. With the Dreamcast, PS2, Game Cube and Xbox generation the complexity of geometry improved greatly, 3D modeling and texturing evolved to an impressive level and 3D worlds became much richer and more complex, and yes, they were fully generated .
In the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation It was where the last of the great peaks of improvement occurred graphics in games, with another enormous increase in geometry and graphic quality in general that was very easy to appreciate. PS4 and Xbox One have already begun to show signs of this “diminishing gain”, because the graphical differences compared to the previous generation were not so great, and this has peaked with PS5 and Xbox Series X-Series S.
Many of the PS5 games are available on PS4, and technically they are so similar that a basic user would find it difficult to differentiate them. The same happens with some Xbox Series X-Series S games, and with the remastered versions of games from the previous generation that have reached these consoles.
The games of the previous generation reached such a high level of graphic quality that the technical improvements introduced They are increasingly difficult to appreciate, and they also turn out every time more expensive at the resource level because they are applied on very complex geometries.
It is no longer about going from a scenario with four poorly placed boxes and squared-off characters with poor textures to higher quality models with more detailed scenarios, now the improvements focus on increasing a level of detail that already has a high level of realism with improvements that They can easily go unnoticed. And yes, with each new generation things will get worse.
Cover image generated with AI.
Source: www.muycomputer.com
