PlayStation 5: the video games console is not dead yet
Last night in a livestreamed broadcast, Sony showed its new video game console, the PlayStation 5, for the first time, along with 28 new games that will be out this year or next. It is a futuristic-looking thing, all white curves and black and blue-LED accents and a touch of mid-00s service robot about it. One version is digitalonly, the other comes with a drive for people who prefer to buy games on disc.
As cloud-based and Netflix-like subscription services have gained traction in the video game world, the “end of the console” has become a popular conversation point. Two years ago at E3, the yearly video games conference, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer told the Guardian that “we pivoted about three or four years ago to thinking about the gamer first, not the device first … Our focus is on bringing console quality games that you see on TV or PC to any device.” But Sony is doubling down not only on the idea of the games console, of generational technology shifts that make new kinds of games possible, and on the idea of selling a new box by funding games that can only be played on PlayStation 5.
“The launch of a new video games console doesn’t just mark the passage of time, it represents a new paradigm, the promise of a new kind of creative expression,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Simon Rutter last night.
“A couple of years ago, people were definitely sounding the death knell, saying either that the PS4 was the last one or that the PS5 was going to the last one, but [new consoles are] important to the people who play games. In general terms consumers like novelty, but also, there’s still more to come from the technology of a console.”
The technology that Rutter is talking about is present in the PlayStation 5’s new DualSense controller as well as in the console’s innards. It has triggers that resist the pressure of your fingers, letting a stiff brake feel different from smooth acceleration on tarmac in a racing game such as Gran Turismo 7, or drawing a bow feel different to shooting a gun in a first-person shooter. Inside the box, a speedy SSD makes loading times exponentially faster, meaning less time spent in elevators or squeezing through narrow passages in games while the console frantically loads in the next area.
Video game creatives are still coming out with exceptional games for the PlayStation 4 but, nonetheless, there’s a feeling among developers and players that it’s time for a change. It’s been nearly seven years since the PlayStation 4 was released, and modern games such as The Last of Us Part II and God of War push it so hard that the poor thing sounds as if it’s about to take off. (Incidentally, Rutter assures me that “a great deal of effort” has gone into making sure the PS5 will be less noisy.)
“Console life cycles are fairly alone in technology terms, so when upgrades happen what we’re hearing is there’s an expectation of a noticeable change in how people game,” says Rutter. “When we put that together with the feedback that we were getting from the developers, there was a happy, serendipitous meeting of minds. The technology allows us to implement the kind of speeds and data flows that developers appreciate, but at the same time they realise very significant gameplay benefits for players.”
Those gameplay benefits are impossible to discern from a video, of course, but it’s not exactly hard to notice that the footage shown from PlayStation 5 games last night looks so good it’s barely credible. Horizon Forbidden West showed detailed desert vistas that extended for miles; Gran Turismo 7’s shiny race cars look actually better than real life; any given still from Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart looks like it could be from a particularly expensive Dreamworks movie.
But with Microsoft’s Project xCloud and Google Stadia (among others) touting streaming services that will supposedly be able to deliver games with cutting-edge graphics via the cloud, to any screen, without asking you to pay £500 or more for a new console, the question is whether this focus on a brandnew shiny box puts Sony behind the curve. That said, the muted reception for Google Stadia’s suggests that plenty of people aren’t ready to divest themselves from the concept of a games console yet – and Rutter maintains that now is not the time to move away.
“What we can do today on PlayStation 5 is unique and would be would be difficult if it were just a service or subscription option,” he says. “While the technology still enables us to come up with ideas that enable new creative possibilities, there will always be room for new consoles.”