To be frank, we did not see the time pass. Last month already marked the first anniversary of the PlayStation 5 et Xbox Series X|S. Always difficult to obtain, but certainly very popular, the ninth generation consoles have accompanied us for more than a year and have become our machines of choice. Perfect time to take stock.
And you, where were you on November 10 and 17, 2020? Perhaps you were queuing outside the store of your favorite retailer, feverishly waiting your turn to collect your precious console. Or were you hanging out the window, waiting for the arrival of a delivery man who would put an end to your fears that your PS5 or Xbox Series would not arrive “day one”.
Or maybe you are one of the patients. Reasonable gamers and gamers who have not yet emptied their backlog and know that the first year of a new generation console is certainly not the most exciting. And we can't say that you missed much, finally.
Hard-to-get consoles
It was the case on the day of their release and it is still relevant as I write these lines: the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X remain very difficult to find. Impossible to show up unexpectedly at the dedicated department of the stores; they are still only available to those who watch Twitter accounts or Discord groups devoted to what has turned into a remake of The Toy Race.
From despair comes the joke. And sourness. Also it is not uncommon to read here and there that "it's fine to release next-gen games", but that "no one has a next-gen console!" “An obviously false statement, since according to the last count, the PlayStation 5 would have sold 13,3 million copies from November 2020 to October 2021. This is substantially identical to the performance of the PS4 over the same period. (13,5 million). On the Xbox side, the figures are imprecise but would be around 8 million consoles sold since their marketing.
Of course, the significant shortage of components that the tech industry at large is going through makes it difficult to get consoles to the homes of gamers. But above all, we must understand that it is less a problem of supply than of demand. Many (many) more people want to get a next-gen console compared to the PS4 and Xbox One of 2013.
Currently in tight flow (as soon as a console is put on the shelves, it finds a buyer), Sony and Microsoft do not hope for any improvement before 2023 at best. In the meantime, you will therefore have to stay on the lookout if you want to get a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X. Less powerful (and much cheaper), the Xbox Series S is found without too much problem.
Des innovation « game changer » ?
But why switch, already, to next-generation consoles? After all, most of the games that have been released this year have also been released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. A trend that should also continue for the bulk of 2022.
Early adopter (and compulsive buyer, cross out the inapplicable mention), I quickly equipped myself with the two consoles (it's for work – at least that's what I told myself when checking out). And, in retrospect, what strikes me with these new consoles is that they only offer improvements that don't appear to be impressive. Or at least which do not feel themselves more than they show themselves.
Anyone can see the graphic changes that accompanied the transition from PS1 to PS2, or from PS3 to PS4. The overpower of these new machines was visible. We took full view.
This time, little helped by a rather meager catalog, the PS5 and Xbox Series X mostly only offer titles developed for the previous generation, but presented in their best light.
The fact is that the assets of the new consoles are not very sellers. Where the PS4 offered us revolutionary graphics, the PS5 gives us reduced loading times and a controller that vibrates more-better than the one before. A priori, not enough to motivate to offload the 499€ required to take advantage of it.
The PS5 and Xbox Series aren't breakout consoles; they improve what already exists. But they do so convincingly enough that any backtracking is impossible.
It is undeniable, there is a "ratchet" effect to play on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. Admittedly, the contribution of SSDs is not new – on paper. Also a PC player (it's for work), my tower is solidly equipped. Still, next-gen consoles make much better use of their storage unit, to the point that launching a game on my computer now feels like taking forever.
And, casually, this saved time motivates me enormously to launch a game on the fly, while my schedule would not normally have allowed it. On PS4, the slowness of the system often discouraged me from launching a game when I only had half an hour to devote to it. It must be said that the launch of certain titles is counted in minutes. In the plural. On Sony's latest console, I'm back in my game in less than 60 seconds.
It's even more striking on Xbox Series which, with its Quick Resume feature, means you don't even have to worry about quitting a game or having to restart it. On compatible titles (there are many), you can freely switch from one to the other using alt+tab without even having to go through the home menu. A revolution, nothing less. Because, for me, speed breeds curiosity. And as long as you subscribe to Game Pass (the real star of the Microsoft catalog), you're going to want to test lots of games.
A not very thick catalog
The period we are going through does not make things easy for video game studios and publishers. As you will have noticed, not a month goes by without one or more titles seeing their release date slip to 2022 – at best. The pandemic has hit the industry hard, and forced it to try to fit circles into squares. Developing games remotely is not ideal.
Also apart from a small handful of exclusives (of which we mainly retain Demon's Souls, Returnal and Ratchet & Clank), the new generation consoles have above all been an opportunity to dive back into games that we already know, that the we would not have already done so, or simply to enjoy a superior version than the one that is also available on PS4 and Xbox One. Most of the time, the technical baggage of next-gen consoles means gaming in vibrant 4K resolution and enjoying a consistent 60fps – and here, too, there's no turning back.
But this generational in-between poses major pricing concerns. This will not have escaped your notice: Sony has decided to raise the price of its first party games from €69,99 to €79,99 on PlayStation 5. A breach into which a number of publishers have rushed (Take Two , Activision, Electronic Arts) for their flagship titles like NBA 2K, Call of Duty or FIFA.
An extra effort to produce for buyers, who sometimes have to put their hands in their wallets to afford upgrades to older generation games. Recently, Sony thus priced €19,99 for the next gen version of Ghost of Tsushima, €10 for that of Death Stranding and will again ask for ten euros to afford the PS5 version of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted Lost Legacy next January. At least we know what to expect from the Japanese console manufacturer. And if we do not talk about Microsoft in these lines, it is for the simple and good reason that it has chosen simplicity: all its games are (for the moment) cross-gen, and sold €69,99.
Also the conclusion of our review promises to be as cliché as that of an uninspired dissertation: the best is yet to come, for the new generation consoles. Apart from better playing comfort (which is incidental), you haven't missed much.
2022, in this case, should bring its share of big games which will, we hope, give us a better glimpse of what the PS5 and Xbox Series have in store. Between Horizon: Forbidden West, God of War: Ragnarök, STALKER 2, Final Fantasy XVI or even Starfield, we should finally get our money's worth... even if some of these titles, and many others, will still be available on PS4 and Xbox One.
