The challenges, rewards, and realities of a two tier console launch

Games still are produced for 2 different GPU targets so I don't really get your point.
Not during launch window, for the same console vendor.

I'm sorry you don't get my point. I don't know how else to get it across so I guess it's a stand-off.
 
Dev teams need to perform QA for two consoles instead of one -> longer dev times per game -> less games available on launch window -> less people buy the console during the launch window -> adoption rate hurts.

Please. You act as if 3 or 4 people are working in QA. If anything, todays multi-A studios are scaling up; supporting multitudes of projects; including their QA divisions. And the amount of launch titles will be more or less the same as prior generations.

QA on PC is often a joke. Which is why I sometimes spend hours upon hours trying to figure out why the game isn't running, and then why it isn't loading the textures properly, then which IQ settings work best on a given game, then if it's an online game me and my gaming partners need to spend hours trying to figure out how to invite one another to the gaming session, then figuring out which voice system works best, etc. Games are often released completely broken (see Borderlands 3 with game-breaking bugs), and other times some are postumously broken by random driver updates. Even in a world where we now only have two IHVs for gaming GPUs, things are super hard to keep stable.

What you go through personally has no bearing on the market. The games of today, are no different than games of yesteryears. Buggy... incomplete... game breaking experiences. I can't think of one modern multi-A title that didn't require a day-one patch. Or at least a future update related to performance or graphical issues. So, modern day game releases aren't perfect to begin with.
 
Supposedly we do get a Pro sku at launch with 50% more power, what would they call a mid gen refresh then? PS5 Ultimate?
 
Please. You act as if 3 or 4 people are working in QA. If anything, todays multi-A studios are scaling up; supporting multitudes of projects; including their QA divisions. And the amount of launch titles will be more or less the same as prior generations.
Specifically for games releasing during console launch windows (period consisting of console launch day and the ~3 months afterwards), timings are incredibly stressful. Devs need to do most of the work using PCs that "represent" the final hardware, then they work on beta hardware, then at the end assuming there aren't any major delays they get no more than a handful of months with final hardware to launch a game that might define the initial public perception of the console.


New Supposedly we do get a Pro sku at launch with 50% more power, what would they call a mid gen refresh then? PS5 Ultimate?
If they follow AMD's naming scheme from the R300 - R600 era, then after the PS5 Pro comes the PS5 XT.
 
Supposedly we do get a Pro sku at launch with 50% more power, what would they call a mid gen refresh then? PS5 Ultimate?
Or PS5 Pro Max (like Iphone). Anyhow, I have for a long time hoped that console launches would give us the possibilities to buy a higher end model like we see for most other products. I will now fold my hands and pray to the gaming god for it to happen...
 
Are we talking about the same game developers whom support the multitudes of PC configurations? If anything, engines like Gears 5 UE4 and the multitude of others, prove they can scale well between platforms. Developers will adapt.

Yes like Borderlands 3, that targets the low end console and simply scales that to the high end console, instead of optimizing it. Leading to X1X running with less filtering, less density, etc than the PS4 versions. There's an example of the PC mindset not working out so well on console.

There's also at least 50 million more reasons to just target PS anyway for the foreseeable future and next gen, and just get it running on Xbox (or not even releasing on it) and call it day. Just like the PS1 and OG Xbox days. So the same tier problem, but across consoles instead of with a console family.

That's the problem with multiple tiers, and likely why there's console warriors that try to stop their console from becoming a doorstop (and on the other hand, lay on the hyperbole for their console to 'win'). There's mountains of proof even in this very generation.

So maybe just release one balanced console so you're not burning cash shipping underutilized power, and simultaneously on PC if you can to cut your losses.
 
As I said above, even if we assume all devs can just work on a minimum target and then let variable framerate / resolution work their magic on the faster SKU (I doubt it would ever be that simple though), they still need to run QA on different platforms.
Given Sony have complete control of the hardware and they'll be bitwise compatible (identical architecture), it should be a case that anything that runs on PS5 runs on PS5Pro where no specific enhancements are implemented. We long past the time of different timings caused by faster hardware should cause issues, with everything multithreaded and asynchronous. Sony probably also don't want to hand out both PS5 devkits and PS5Pro devkits to every dev. Heck, PS5 could be PS5Pro with a bunch of lower-end parts using the binned parts idea floated yonks ago, so you can take a PS5 devkit which is Pro hardware and switch it into Base mode by downclocking and disabling some CUs.
 
I just don't see the allure of a pro type console at launch. It will have to be much more expensive to be worth it performance wise.
It's not like they will have better nodes to work with like they had with the pro.
I can see them having a version with more storage space though
 
It could be marginally better performance but overall far better quality. Clocked a bit higher, all CUs enabled, bit more RAM, more storage, classier/premium design and materials, better cooling and quieter operation. It depends on what 'high end' means to these consumers that apparently want one.
 
I can see them having two hardware targets at launch, but only if one of them is a handheld. Less than 1 TF of navi and maybe 2 zen cores or 4 if very low clock. Dev support would need to be optional and distributed as a seperate binary.
 
Same thing RTX2080 owners get over RTX2060 owners, etc. There's generally always a high-price premium audience for new stuff who generally don't get as much bang for their buck but they have the money to spend and want the better experience and are happy to pay for it. So yeah, higher resolutions and better framerates is what they'll get and they'll be happy to have the chance (if this turns out to be true). As long as devs don't need to do anything to support a Pro model, it'll cause no issues.

Yes but the difference in RT performance is quite big between a 2060 and a 2080TI or higher. Games would have more then a resolution difference in that case.

And will release a weaker variant at launch? Or did they reveal their weaker variant and have a stronger variant closer to launch. Dunno, really dunno.

Or the base models will be quite weak, and therefor the Pro models will look stronger.

QA on PC is often a joke. Which is why I sometimes spend hours upon hours trying to figure out why the game isn't running, and then why it isn't loading the textures properly, then which IQ settings work best on a given game, then if it's an online game me and my gaming partners need to spend hours trying to figure out how to invite one another to the gaming session, then figuring out which voice system works best, etc.
Games are often released completely broken (see Borderlands 3 with game-breaking bugs), and other times some are postumously broken by random driver updates. Even in a world where we now only have two IHVs for gaming GPUs, things are super hard to keep stable.

I'm still a PC gamer at heart, but boy do I get ever less patient to put up with PC gaming crap as the years go by.

Sounds like 90's and early 2000's pc gaming. I'm not sharing that experience, though i still buy games on disc for my ps4, which needs updates, patches and performance issues need to be patched. Those problems didn't exist on my PS2. What things have changed.

2 SKU's at launch seems strange if it's true anyway.
 
Yes like Borderlands 3, that targets the low end console and simply scales that to the high end console, instead of optimizing it. Leading to X1X running with less filtering, less density, etc than the PS4 versions. There's an example of the PC mindset not working out so well on console.
The XO is not the same architecturally to 1X in terms of the memory and what that means for XO and scaling up or down to the 1X.

So yes that's a bad representation of scaling, probably took them 10 mins to do the 1X version. (including testing). Thats taking into account different arch.
But I'm assuming if there was ever a 2 sku release the architecture will actually be the same.
 
Regarding QA for targeting two consoles, can't they use AI yet to do a quick evaluation of performance profiles? Say, feed it with different settings and let it define what's the best combination (followed by human verification of course). I would imagine Sony or Microsoft could develop something like that to aid targeting 2 SKUs, using the cloud for example.
 
Yes but the difference in RT performance is quite big between a 2060 and a 2080TI or higher. Games would have more then a resolution difference in that case.



Or the base models will be quite weak, and therefor the Pro models will look stronger.



Sounds like 90's and early 2000's pc gaming. I'm not sharing that experience, though i still buy games on disc for my ps4, which needs updates, patches and performance issues need to be patched. Those problems didn't exist on my PS2. What things have changed.

2 SKU's at launch seems strange if it's true anyway.
That would be the worst case scenario, the next gen baseline graphics would be severely limited and you'll see competitor's exclusives having better graphics if their base console is better specced.
 
and you'll see competitor's exclusives having better graphics if their base console is better specced.

I guess if Sony is taking an approach like that, MS most likely has the same plans. The average joe wouldn't care about specs anyway, it will be much better then the by then 7 year old PS4, that's for sure.
 
Why release a premium console at launch when they can get early adopters to buy a base model at launch and then also buy a premium one 2 years later?
 
If you can sell a high end model at launch at greater profit margins, and then sell a mid-gen refresh, you maximise profits. Akin to releasing an iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 now, and then selling a new iPhone 13 two years from now to the same chumps users.
 
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