PS5 Is Superior To Xbox Series X In Various Other Ways, According to Devs – Jason Schreier

With the full specs for the PS5 and the Xbox Series X both now having been revealed, discussions about which of the two consoles has the more impressive tech have been very pertinent. The feeling amongst larger audiences has been that the PS5 is the weaker machine, much of which is based on the console’s 10.2 teraflops GPU as compared to the Xbox Series X’s 12 teraflops figure.

However, according to Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, opinion among game developers is actually quite the opposite. Speaking recently on Kotaku’s Splitscreen podcast, Schreier said that according to various developers that have spoken to him, the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are both incredibly impressive machines- in different ways.

“Everybody’s now seeing this spec sheet and they see PS5, 10.2 teraflops, and Xbox Series X, 12 teraflops. And it’s like, oh my god, the Xbox is more powerful than the PlayStation,” Schreier said. “But meanwhile, the people I’ve been talking to over the past few months and the past couple years who are actually working on the PlayStation have pretty much unanimously all said: This thing is a beast. This thing is one of the coolest pieces of hardware that we’ve ever seen, we’ve ever used before. There are so many things here that are revolutionary, so many behind-the-scenes tools and features, APIs, and all sorts of other stuff that is way beyond my scope of comprehension.”

Schreier went on to note that the narrative that the PS5 is the weaker machine is being propagated most likely due the way Sony has handled the rollout of information on PS5, before mentioning that various developers he has been in contact with have told him that though some aspects of the console’s specs suggest otherwise, there are various other ways the PS5 is eve superior to its competitor.

“The general consensus is that these things are both extremely powerful and both very similar in a lot of ways and both do different things in really cool ways,” he said. “These are both extremely impressive pieces of technology. But because of the way Sony has actually presented this thing and marketed this thing, now the narrative is ‘the Xbox is way more powerful than the PlayStation,’ and I think that is such a — maybe fatal flaw on Sony’s part for this console generation. Maybe it’ll all be forgotten if the PS5 comes in cheaper, or it has a killer launch lineup, and maybe none of this will matter in November. Or maybe these consoles won’t even be able to come out in November. But right now, it’s such a dropping the ball after so many years of smart decisions on Sony’s part.”

“What I’m hearing from people actually working on these things is that the Xbox is not significantly more powerful than the PlayStation, despite this teraflops number,” he continued, “and that the teraflops — it might be a useful measure of comparison in some ways, but ultimately it’s a theoretical max speed, and there are so many things that could come between where you are trying to get and what you are actually able to do, to the point where the GPU could have X number of flops that it can actually perform, but if the developer isn’t able to actually access all of it for whatever reason, then it doesn’t even matter, and there are so many other variables here that go into it.”

Of all the technical analyses that have emerged from the PS5’s reveal over the last few days, the one thing that has become clear is that the console’s SSD is its biggest trump card that it holds over the Xbox Series X, and given the fact that Sony have not really shown that in action, it’s not hard to pinpoint why exactly the PS5’s capabilities on paper have so far disappointed many.

Various developers, however, have come forward to talk about what a big impact it will make, so here’s hoping Sony shows it off properly in the near future.