Last April, Sony gave us a hint of what the next generation of consoles would look like by doing an exclusive interview with Wired and talking about the specs of what would become known as the PlayStation 5. They enticed readers with the idea of finally putting a solid state drive in the console reducing load times exponentially and having a graphics card that would integrate ray tracing and other enhanced visual details including 8K resolution support.
Then… months of silence. There was no answer from Microsoft about their next console time simply moved on. Then December finally came around and one of the most fun days in the gaming industry, The Game Awards, was finally here. Tons of fun announcements rolled by as host Geoff Kieghley continued to tease a major reveal that had yet to be made. Then the Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, took to the stage to talk about the next generation of Xbox. They gave us some of the specs of the system, and in true Xbox fashion they really hammered home how many teraflops were in the system, and even revealed the design of the new Xbox Series X.
The reveal struck a major chord with the gaming community with millions of people getting a first glimpse of the next generation of consoles. As we all know though, once we get a taste of something we want more. Since that Xbox Series X announcement millions of gamers have been itching to know more about both next generation consoles and when they could finally get their hands on them.
However, once again, we were treated with silence. Rumors were thrown around for much of the winter that we would get an official PS5 reveal in February similar to the PS4, but we got more silence. Finally PlayStation announces it will be taking a deep dive in the next generation in March. I tune in to the reveal from start to finish hoping to get a proper reveal of the hardware and a release date but we got nothing besides a regurgitated presentation that sounded similar to the article Wired published nearly a year ago at this point. No hardware gets shown off, no release date, the only new information being the deep dive into the 3D audio that the system will have.
Not long after the presentation we finally received something of substance in the reveal of the new controller for the PlayStation 5 the DualSense. The controller is incredibly sleek and I am very much looking forward to it, but it was simply a distraction from the fact that Microsoft and Sony continue to refuse to place a date on their consoles. They have both stated that COVID-19 will not disrupt the launch of the systems simply effect the supply of them at launch.
If that is the case, why continue to wait? We are now five to six months away from the projected release dates of the two systems without any concrete information of how much the systems will cost, what the full launch lineup of games will be, and what the PlayStation 5 will even look like.
The two companies are locked in the most uneventful chess match we have had the displeasure of taking part in. Both waiting for the other to make the first move so that they can counter with a better one, and frankly, it’s silly. In a time where concurrent users are at an all time high for all platforms, these two companies should be playing all of their cards while they have everyone’s attention. Making massive reveals on their platforms with launch lineups, release points, price points, everything!
Instead, we get more silence. Microsoft has stated that, with the cancellation of E3, they will be doing their own digital briefing in June which is sure to be their platform for their reveal but Sony remains silent. In both cases though, why wait? The world is looking for something to be excited about right now in a time without, sports, movies, and every other form of entertainment being put on hold because of what is happening.
Sony and Microsoft have golden opportunities to generate a lot of excitement right now while they have the worlds attention, I just hope they take advantage of the situation. Until then, unfortunately all we can do is wait.
Thanks for reading friends! Be sure to keep up with us on social media (The Nerd Chambers on all platforms) and follow us on Spotify to catch up with all of our shows. Also, if you are ever looking for friends to game with at any point, join our discord server! (https://t.co/p7RDyusCo6) Also remember to give us your thoughts on the next gen waiting game below.
The Nerd Chambers 