Was the github leak before or after the series reveal at the game wards in 2019?
Edit: Without scouring the whole thread this is what i could find. So yes, i think microsoft believed the ps5 would be between 8-9 teraflops and did plan to sandwhich the ps5. I dont know how much of a factor the ps5 going from 8-9 to 10.3 made difference in microsfts playbook but any advantages the series x would have had are moot at best.
Hey everyone, fresh lurker here. Decided to finally sign up. So hi. First of all, wanna know what's the commonly accepted consensus here regarding PS5 and XSX specs? I have my own take on those, want to know yours. And secondly, any rules i need to know to not get instantly banned? Welcome...
www.neogaf.com
Actually when I said Github leak, I meant another leak. It was before the Github one, think it was one or two images. Black background, white text. There wasn't a lot mentioned on both but they listed a "cheap" Xbox being 4 TF, PS5 8 TF, Series X 12 TF.
Tried looking for it on Google, even GAF, but can't find it :/
Major Nelson confirmed that the Xbone was only thought about 2 years before it launched. So it would stand to reason that they would to the same with the Series S. IMO, I don't think the Series X was meant to launch with the S. I think it was meant to launch now, or this year, but the 'Surprise' power of the PS5 had them scrambling to launch it ASAP.
That's really interesting; Major Nelson's basically a MS employee so he'd know something to be true before mentioning it. Is there a link to where he says this?
Personally I actually do think they meant to launch the X at the same time as the S; just launching the S alone against the PS5 would have been a bloodbath for Microsoft no matter how cheap they made it because they had no new 1P launch software for the system anyway and Game Pass was still only seeing modest growth at best. What really happened is they were probably caught off-guard by PS5's final specifications, started becoming less confident in taking the performance crown at launch and started shifting messaging to include the Series S after the June showcase in 2020.
Also think they were not expecting a lot of sales in total so if they could find any way to save costs on production they took them. Which is why they went with the odd 16 GB setup for Series X when they should have just gone with 20 GB and saved devs a lot of hassle. Because they probably thought they'd have enough of a performance advantage over PS5 to get away with it, but once again underestimated Cerny's design skills and Sony's engineering skills.
If I was really going to speculate, I would say that Microsoft didn't want to launch as early as they did and the Series S was meant to be a Xbone SAD upgrade, not a new generation.
Feel kind of inclined to agree with this. Again the fact they had no 1P software for launch shows they weren't probably ready for 2020. The fact Halo Infinite got delayed into 2021 shows it, too.
Honestly they should have positioned Series S as a new XBO S for BC of XBO games at "almost" One X equivalent, and not mandate that new games run on it natively.
They missed a trick by not making the S a handheld though.
Yeah, agreed. Though realistically they couldn't do that in 2020...they could have put a One S spec in handheld form, though. Considering if they treated the Series S as just a means of playing somewhat prettier and better-running One S games via BC, they could have done their own Steam Deck two years before Valve.
But that'd of required vision as a platform holder and Microsoft doesn't really seem to have a lot of vision for gaming in terms of optimized hardware design (from a business POV) unless it's tied closely to their non-gaming initiatives.
Which often hurt the gaming initiatives more than they help.
In a hypothetical "no Xbox" future Sony wouldn't actually need anything. What are they competing with, then, the Steam version? Luna? And hey, if Microsoft buying AB could lead to "dominance" of a market then what will regulators think of Sony buying any established and successful multiplatform series?
Well apparently a thumbs-up for approval considering Sony did just that with Bungie
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In truth it's not as simple as MS "buying" dominance through ABK as to why that deal is facing a lot of scrutiny.
Not that it even matters since the Xbox/Activision deal is 100 percent going to be improved with Microsoft absorbing AB in full.
Don't you mean BK?
Also I wouldn't assume ABK are suddenly improved just because MS may end up acquiring them. ABK's workplace culture problems are deep and I don't think MS are able to fix that overnight if at all. Not that it matters; regulators aren't concerned with MS's moral grandstanding in improving ABK's workplace issues as an appeal to approve the deal.
They aren't interested in promises targeting ESG improvements because that's not what regulators are there to decide upon (plus if ABK really wanted to, they could make those particular improvements themselves without the need of an acquisition).
