Depending, you can rightly argue the difference isn't that big right now, even if nothing changes. In the sense that Joe Schmoe is probably not gonna notice really. So in this way Spencer could plausibly claim he's already been proved right (you can disagree but it's plausible).
You can, it's entirely subjective, and I fully subscribe to the idea that you don't miss what you never high (1080p, high frame rates etc). I didn't have a 360 last gen only a PS3 annd I was entirely happy with the vast majority of gaming experiences I had. I knew that many multiplats were marginally better on 360, slightly higher native rendering resolutions, better/more alpha particle effects, higher frame rates. Lots of little things were trimmed on PS3 but none prevented me enjoying those games. However my experience tells me that 1080p vs less is noticeable. I have only one non-1080p game and it's amazing how quickly to adjust to a very sharp image and where it's not there, it's noticeable.
However Microsoft were far from honest about the performance deficit here, they were specifically downplaying questions about 1080p vs lower resolutions. In respect, always easier with the benefit of hindsight, the clue was rather than Microsoft making definitive statements about possible differences they fielded an individual who said "I think.." or "I don't believe.." [the One is that less capable] and in marketing that's a classic ruse because an individual can defend any crazy statement if they claim genuinely believe it.
Second thing, I still want to see how things look for multiplats in 1-2-3 years. This book is not written nor final. It could be that in 1-3 years we've reached mostly parity on the big multiplats. We'll have to wait and see. It's early days. We have the rumor of MS giving 8% GPU and a confirmed faster recent SDK etc.
And this is what Microsoft want folks to do. Hang on it there, things will get better. I'm not saying this is Microsoft strategy but I'm more than a few companies have suckered people into buying a product knowing that once you're in their ecosystem you'll unlikely to leave even if the grass genuinely is greener on the other side.
Spencer probably had devs, either first party or third party, telling him "the difference is not that much", heck at least a couple devs have publicly stated the same thing.
Even under the cover of NDAs I find it hard to believe that devs were not giving completely honest feedback about the performance of One games compared to PS4. We're talking about last year when devkits were with thousands of devs, not just a few trusted teams.
and it may turn up true over time. But if one version is no AA 1080P 28-30 FPS and the other 1080P 2XMSAA with locked 30 FPS, there are still going to be people who claim that's a monstrous difference, as well.
Of course it'll get better. But PS4 development isn't sitting in a vacuum. If Microsoft and devs are looking to achieve closer parity, they need to be targeting what PS4 games will be delivering in 2/4/6 years not what it's delivering now.
for me it's simple, i did not imagine Sony would have such a big advantage with what from the outlook seemed so similar hardware.
