A Crytek engineer, Ali Salehi, reportedly argued that PS5 is easier to program for than Xbox Series X in a recent interview with Persian site Vigiato, but that claim has now been retracted.
Some of Salehi's quotes were archived on ResetEra and by Tom's Guide after Farsi-savvy Twitter user @man4dead translated them. However, Vigiato has seemingly pulled the interview, and the aforementioned Twitter user most recently affirmed that "Ali Salehi doesn't confirm the content of the interview anymore due to personal reasons."
So, what did Salehi say and then retract? Well, as Tom's Guide reports, he spoke to how the usability of next-gen consoles won't necessarily reflect their raw specs. "As a programmer, I say PS5 is much better and I don't think you can find a programmer that could name one advantage that XSX has over PS5," one translated quote reads.
In essence, Salehi's opinion suggested that while the Xbox Series X is more powerful than the PS5 in several areas, it will be easier for developers to harness the power of the PS5. He also pointed out that the opposite was true for the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation, with the PS3's proprietary infrastructure seriously hampering developers despite its stronger components.
Again, these opinions are coming from archived quotes translated by a random Twitter user reading an interview which no longer exists, so we can't confirm their validity. It's not entirely clear why things got so messy, so we've reached out to Crytek for clarification. We'll update this story if we hear back.
If nothing else, this situation presents a good opportunity to remind everyone that the great PS5 vs Xbox Series X debate is both multi-faceted and ongoing. We still have a lot to learn about both consoles, and the additional teraflops delivered by the Xbox Series X won't necessarily lead to better real-world performance. At the same time, accounts from those who've already received next-gen dev kits are still largely split, with most focusing on what each console does well as opposed to what they do better than each other. This tone may shift in the months ahead as the true capabilities of the two consoles come into focus, but for now, the field is fairly even.
