written by Rhett Quiban
The PS5 and Xbox Series X are both incredibly impressive hardware. Both have powerful CPUs, GPUs, and RAM. Both can support up to 8k resolution and can run up to 120 frames per second. The Xbox Series X’s CPU and GPU edge out the PS5’s just a tad, and the development community has been very vocal about their praise of the former console.
Yet, despite the advantage on paper of the Xbox Series X, developers seem to be putting the PS5 in a more positive light.
Let’s take a look at what some developers are saying about the PS5 and why they’re more positively outspoken about the console.
PS5 has a superior SSD and ray-tracing architecture
An SSD, or a solid state drive, is a smaller type of hard drive that reads and writes data faster than your average hard disk drive. Meaning, this handy little piece of technology is responsible for making your games run more smoothly. Less loading times, faster mapping, better decompression, the works. It gives developers the ability to drastically minimize, or even completely eliminate the need for loading screens.
Developers have been using smoke and mirrors to hide loading screens by having players go through narrow passageways, heavy doors that take too long to open, elevator rides, and even force the player’s character to walk slower.
Both the PS5 and Xbox Series X are equipped with a built-in SSD.
So if both consoles use an SSD, why are developers more positively outspoken about the PS5 than the Xbox Series X?
Tim Sweeney CEO of Epic Games said the PS5 SSD is the “best on any platform.”
John Cormack of Oculus also said that PS5 SSD is a “big deal.”
Comparing the SSD of the Xbox Series X to the PS5, Breakfall developer had this to say: “The Xbox drive seems fast! Not sure if it’s really fast enough to just start dreaming wildly? But the PS5 drive (and framework/infrastructure around it) sounds so fast that I just start dreaming of design with 0 drive bottlenecks.”
The PS5 also seems to have a better ray-tracing architecture. Ray-tracing is a technique developers use to realistically portray the way light bounces around and behaves.
With PS5’s advanced ray-tracing feature, developers will be able to create better atmospheres and even strive for photorealism when designing their set-pieces. According to Stefania Hernandez of IO Interactive (the team responsible for the HITMAN series), the PS5’s ray tracing technology will “make the overall picture look and feel much more realistic.”
It seems PS5 wins against Xbox Series X in terms of their SSD power and ray tracing architecture. With these in mind, developers will have the liberty to create more seamless, straightforward, and immersive gameplay.
PS5’s audio performance
Sound and music also play a massive role in video gaming. adding atmosphere and layers to a game which makes players appreciate their experience much more. Developers are keen on their use of audio in their games, and they specifically praised the PS5’s Tempest 3D audio engine for its efficiency.
Game programmer Samson-Guillemette of Guard Crush Games perfectly encapsulates the importance of audio in a game. He states, “Someone said that the only time you notice audio, is when it’s broken. But at the same time, when it works, everything else looks more awesome.” He also noted that PS5’s audio capability is the “biggest advancement in game audio for quite some time.”
Sony has absolutely gone out of their way to create the most immersive auditory experience for its gamers possible. They want their audio to sound as realistic and vivid as possible. To do this, they utilized HRTF.
HRTF stands for Head Related Transfer Function, meaning our spatial hearing is kind of like a fingerprint. Everybody has a unique ear shape and this affects the way we perceive sound, everybody hears audio differently.
Sony plans on taking a player’s HRTF into account when they play a game by having presets built into the PS5 based on data gathered from 100 people, which players can then select from to find which HRTF option sounds best for them.
Considering a person’s ear shape may sound like a feeble aspect, but it can have major benefits. Players will be able to experience sound in-game as if its actually happening around them in real life. Developers can play around with this to create more atmospheric settings for their games.
What this means for the PS5
Judging from everything we know, it’s safe to assume that developers enjoy the PS5 more for its efficient way of dealing with immersion. Everything is handled intricately and developers will be able to take advantage of this without having to compromise anything. Sony and the PS5 have certainly awed developers and I am sure they will do the same to fans once the system launches this holiday season.