What will come with the PS5 and Xbox Series X? With both next-gen consoles, and their cheaper counterparts revealed, having hit the market with the wave of hype we've all been waiting for, the question on our lips is what will it be? different in the long run. What are Sony and Microsoft going to do differently than previous generations that we haven't heard of yet, and we're entering a time where the rise of cross-platform gaming and hardware independent platforms are finally coming to an end. the old? ``console wars''? We sat down with Rishi Chadha, Head of Games at Twitter UK, to explain how these releases have varied from previous consoles and how the conversations around these console manufacturers and between them signaled a change for both platforms. Chadha works within the gaming ecosystem at Twitter, working with publishers like Epic Games or Activision Blizzard to ensure they can effectively grow and engage with their audience on the social media platform. So what does the presence of Xbox or PlayStation on social media say about the future of gaming? This is what we learned. Get the best Xbox Series X deals before everyone else! We'll send you pre-order details and the best Xbox Series X deals as they become available. Please send me details of other relevant Techradar products and future brands. Please send me details of other relevant third party products. No spam, I promise. You can unsubscribe at any time and we will never share your data without your permission.
Player synergy
One of the key things Chadha tells me is how differently the PlayStation and Xbox platforms have engaged with their audiences for these console releases, the former seemingly more happy to keep things under wraps and put the hype behind them. publicity accumulates in his silence. "PlayStation has had something of a simmering conversation all year, with massive spikes during its reveal events," Chada explains. “So the one in June, then the one they had in September, after which there was another big rally. But everything else was simmering. “In the meantime, if you look at the Xbox, they've actually had a much more volatile conversation, in the sense that there are some major spikes in the conversation, whether it's around the game showcases they've done or gifts from the fridge. And also with launch, it's been much more announcement, event and content based, where PlayStation has really focused on key brand events that have unfolded throughout the year.
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Xbox was much more happy to show off its gameplay ahead of the new console's launch (Image Credit: The Verge) What I really like to see happen now is that it's not an Xbox vs. PlayStation-style conversation, but more well “they are different consoles that do different things”. And, you know, we can celebrate both consoles. Rishi chadha It's an easier thing to do after the huge success of the PS4, of course, and it was clear from the start that Microsoft was going to catch up with its next-gen Xbox consoles. But Chadha adds that there is also a lot of similarity between the Xbox Series X and PS5 discourse, with platforms, studios, and fans heavily engaged in conversations around both consoles on social media: “I What I really like to see happen now is that it's not an Xbox vs. PlayStation style conversation, but rather 'it's different consoles doing different things'. And, you know, we can celebrate both consoles. We are delighted with what each console does. And I think one of the things that was unanimously celebrated for both consoles was things like load times and how each console is so much faster now. So I think that's something that applies to both equally. "And it's kind of wholesome, but I love the way the brand accounts interact with each other, congratulating each other on launch day and talking, like that's something we never expected." really to see. I've always been very like 'the two are separate'. And so to see them interact with each other now and just have that kind of feedback, you know, it's really great to see the support on the platform.
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(Image credit: Sony) But will this collaborative discourse of posting, commenting and sharing change the way platforms actually work together, manifesting the future through tweets? Maybe not, but Chada suggests that the gradual increase in cross-platform gaming, facilitated by the increasingly PC-like architectures of today's flagship gaming machines, is changing the gaming conversation. “We are now entering a world where the idea and concept of cross-platform play is a reality from the very beginning,” says Chadha. “So I think the publicity that people normally get, because of a lot of their own exclusives, has changed a bit, so now the same conversation can more easily include both platforms. There are some games, obviously, like Spider Man: Miles Morales and things like that, where Sony overlooks hyperactivity in that particular game. But I think these are some of the changes that we're seeing right now. It's a welcome change from the usual social media echo chamber narrative, which leads users to increasingly strict and exclusionary positions. But is this really the case? One big difference may simply be that social media was still in its infancy when the last generation of consoles came out in 2013, and it's hard to make comparisons when the underlying mechanics of public speaking have changed so much over time. the last decade.
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(Image credit: Future) One thing is clear, though: Gaming platforms are changing from what they used to be, moving to more hardware agonistic services than can stream across a wide range of devices, like xCloud or Google Stadia, or even Microsoft's long-standing Play Anywhere initiative. make sure gamers can access your same titles on Xbox and PC. “We're seeing more and more cross-platform gaming for games,” says Chadha, “so that people can be on multiple platforms, whether it's PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and play together more easily. I think it will continue to evolve and mature. And we'll see the evolution of game streaming, whether it's with Microsoft or with Google Stadia. “I think these are some of the great areas. And I also think that the ability to play your games on mobile devices will continue to be a strong growth area. Because, you know, let's face it, not everyone can afford to buy a new console or PC, but mobile is a much more accessible thing for everyone. So how games can be ported, or played on mobile devices, is going to be a very interesting area in the very near future. With Destiny 2 now confirmed to get cross-platform play in 2021 for current and next-gen consoles, and an increase in titles like Among Us and Fortnite ignoring traditional cross-platform boundaries, there's certainly some evidence that it does already. happening, and by the end of that console life cycle, probably seven or eight years from now, we could be playing in an ecosystem that's almost unrecognizable in the way that it allows gamers to play together, no matter what machines 'they' they used to.