All you need to know about the Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5, the challenge of the coming years: launch date, features, models, price, games and exclusives.
Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5, these are the new Microsoft and Sony consoles whose arrival is next (we are already thinking about an output between 2019 and 2020) with price and features already at the center of increasingly varied and insistent rumors.
Xbox Scarlett is one of the most anticipated consoles next year: currently, although perhaps less in the spotlight than the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro counterpart, Xbox One X is the most powerful machine in the video game market.
Microsoft now looks to the future, with Xbox Scarlett whose details are scattered but interesting: the first rumors about the new model date back to 2017, with the code name Scarlett to indicate a new project under development. The rumors on PlayStation 5 instead follow one another for some time, there are those who talk about a model not so revolutionary and who instead sees Sony increasingly oriented towards a hybrid console in the footsteps of what has already done by Nintendo with Switch.
During the E3 2018, the most important fair dedicated to the world of video games, with Phil Spencer (president of the gaming section of Microsoft) that ended the press conference revealing the deep commitment of the hardware team in creating the architecture of the next Xbox consoles. Sony side, however, is absent any official about the launch of PlayStation 5, but to support the arrival of the new console with the numerous reports and rumors that report more and more concrete items and details.
The release dates oscillate in both cases between the end of 2019 and 2020, with many more consolidated assumptions for a launch in the next two years.
Spencer and Microsoft will not be watching, having added on the edge of E3 a promise not just, or “the constant commitment to become the benchmark for console games”.
Xbox Scarlett vs PlayStation 5: what will they look like?
It is undoubtedly early to get a clear idea on the two consoles, but a comparison between the two new school ships in the world of video games is possible, based on all the information collected to date.
Let’s start from Xbox Scarlett, whose premises are at least ambitious. But that’s not all: several reports indicate the new Xbox as a family made up of different devices divided on several levels. A division is not yet completely clear: even here as Sony there are those talking about an alleged model similar to Nintendo Switch (configurable therefore both as a TV console and laptop).
Subject of doubts and speculations, the most likely hypothesis sees Xbox Scarlett split between several customized models to segment and better define the audience of gamers (dominated by different needs and expectations for needs, type and age group). The latest rumors speak of four different projects currently in the pipeline, with two of these enclosed under the words Scarlett: the first, with working name Anaconda, should indicate a direct heir of Xbox One X while Lockhart, another codename, should go to take the place of Xbox One S (a next-gen console cheaper and affordable for everyone).
On site there would also be a third new model completely dedicated to the game in steaming and on demand (without any player dedicated to inserting discs). Quietly, even Xbox One S should undergo a revision, with a renewed lite version and even cheaper for a console that still has much to say, according to the intent of Microsoft.
PlayStation 4 instead, according to the latest rumors, will point to the VR, which will join a hardware compartment of all respect (it even speaks of a 50 TB hard drive) and as for performance you expect something far superior to the current Xbox One X, with a still intact physical format of the games (still Blu-Ray?) While Microsoft seems increasingly oriented towards gaming on demand.
Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5: the future is playing streaming?
Xbox One X was, in some way, an unofficial presage for the arrival of the new consoles of the Redmond house: it is no coincidence that the next Xbox Scarlett will build its own bases on the model X, expanding the possibilities and the harmony between games, apps and old and new features.
The future of Xbox consoles is called Project xCloud, an ambitious and innovative streaming service strictly reserved to the world of video games, with the ability to combine the gaming experience from PCs, smartphones, tablets and consoles.
The existence, and the commitment of Microsoft, about this new platform is certainly not a mystery: Project xCloud was announced a few months ago and is currently being tested, with a debut scheduled for next year. To concentrate the efforts of the team is the mobile experience from tablets and smartphones, with particular attention to the touch input and to all those players who want to enjoy the titles of the moment from mobile without using any type of controller.
All this leads us to the alleged model of Xbox exclusively dedicated to the game in streaming: the hardware component will have to be able to run perfectly on demand content, even those afflicted by greater weight and latency, to offer a game mode via cloud all height of expectations. We are talking about components such as APU Picasso, with specifications normally intended for the PC market but that Microsoft promises to revise in favor of a custom version for the new Xbox Scarlet.
Contrary to PlayStation 5, which seems to be willing to remain in some way related to the physical format of the games (which guarantees users a thriving retail market) from Microsoft there are no certain plans for Virtual Reality: there are no projects currently in the pipeline to bring the VR into the next generation of Xbox consoles, those hoping for a new theme viewer will have to settle for the rival PlayStation VR.
Xbox Scarlett vs PlayStation 5: features
Updates on the hardware side for Xbox Scarlett are numerous and, although they are not always so reliable, you can still get an idea of what to expect. Xbox One has been sold to the public as the console aimed at the game in 4K, but it’s no secret that many titles currently claim to keep a stable and stable UHD frame. The 4K has now become a standard in the world of gaming and entertainment and it is reasonable to expect from the Redmond house an upgrade in this sense, with 60 frames per second (FPS) continuous and without any drop or compression graphics.
Next to it is the challenge for the 8K, with games in a maxi resolution of 7,680 x 4320 pixels reproduced at 60 or 120 hertz. Other possible additions see a review of the VRR (variable update rate) and ALLM (variable latency mode), always aimed at ensuring better performance in gaming sessions.
Sony will work in a mirror, setting objectives very similar to those of Microsoft, and most likely will work on the basic features of the new models proposed by Xbox, playing to exceed the power and performance of the opponent’s machine. The choice, as usual, will be entirely in the hands of users.
What games will we see on Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5?
As we have seen the news about the new consoles Sony and Microsoft are still various and in an embryonic state, with some certainty and doubt: obviously there are no Xbox and PlayStation without titles to play.
Given the few references and the great secret around Xbox Scarlett, it is still unclear at the moment what will be the flagships that will accompany the launch of the new system. Most likely there will be direct compatibility with the latest titles coming out for Xbox One, such as Halo Infinite, Gears of War 5 and others that could get updates for the next generation of Microsoft consoles. Recently, seven new game producers have joined the Redmond stable, confirming the commitment to Xbox Scarlett of high-level titles: The Initiative, Playground Games, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games and Ninja theory are some of the names that have joined of the Microsoft team.
As for PlayStation, according to the average timing that seems to take three years to design, it is simple supposition for the arrival of the much-requested sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn: the original title came out in 2017 and the time for its arrival in 2020 seem to correspond to the perfection. There will, of course, the timeless classics such as FIFA, Call of Duty and GTA 6.
While waiting for details about the announcement of new original projects, third-party developers do their part with Bethesda who sees The Elder Scrolls VI focus on the new generation of consoles.
Price Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5: how much will they cost?
Microsoft has not yet officially confirmed an official launch window for the next Xbox gaming platforms, although several reports indicate a 2019 arrival of two models (the Xbox One S lite and the model dedicated exclusively to streaming) and 2020 for the actual launch of the two major versions of the Xbox Scarlett. This would place the launch of the new Xbox after that of PlayStation 5, predicted according to the latest rumors for November 2020, and three years after the launch of Xbox One X. It is likely that new details about Xbox Scarlett are destined to arrive not before E3 2019.
The price is still, of course, unknown but it is easy to expect a price difference depending on the model chosen, with an initial price probably very high for current standards.
Even for PlayStation 5 the situation is uncertain: over the years PlayStation 3 has earned the record for the most expensive Sony console at the time of launch, with $599 starting, falling on the occasion of PS4. The easiest thing is to expect a launch price that is a middle ground between the two, with a probable list price of $500.