Seamus Blackley, the designer of the original 2001 Xbox console, reckons the raw hardware horsepower of new consoles is no longer relevant in an industry where wins and losses are decided by content more than anything.
Speaking to VideoGamer, Blackley recalls the ways of old, back when consoles were still making sizable technical advances generation over generation, and the idea of a box o' games was still relatively novel. The Xbox was deliberately built to out-muscle Nintendo and Sony competitors as part of Microsoft's strategy of, "'Okay, we’re going to lose money on these to make them super powerful' and take a bet on the games being awesome."
"[Being the most powerful] was also important to get the guys going into the future," Blackley adds. "And then, you know, how they managed that brand and the story going forward is not my f**king fault, and it's not, you know, I would not have done things the same way. I don't know if it would have been more or less successful, but I certainly think that this narrative around being more powerful is not helpful today."
Blackley points to PlayStation's Gran Turismo as an example of the kind of technical leap that you just don't see with consoles anymore. "I had to buy it just because I couldn’t believe what was happening on the screen was happening on the screen, right, and that was compelling and that doesn’t exist anymore," he says. As consoles deliver smaller advancements with each generation, we no longer see "graphics that make you feel that way."
Instead, consoles win people over with games that make good use of their tech to deliver fun experiences, and you don't need the strongest hardware to pull that off. Blackley agrees that you needn't look further than the runaway success of the Nintendo Switch, which was weaker than its competitors even at launch and is now several processor generations behind the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Based on leaked specs, early reports, and Nintendo's holding pattern, the impending Nintendo Switch 2 will be weaker than the current new-gen consoles as well. I've heard game developers describe the Switch as a PS3.5, and there are fair expectations for Switch 2 to be a PS4.5, and even that is probably on the high end.
Praising the Switch's games and functionality, Blackley says: "I have played through Breath of the Wild maybe three or four times. I’ll just keep playing through it and I can carry it with me. I can have it on a plane [if] I have a long plane flight, or Skyrim on Switch. Skyrim on Switch? I can blow six hours in Skyrim, no problem."
Xbox itself is also focusing on the content war nowadays, partly by pumping everything it possibly can into Game Pass, and most recently committing to bringing yet more of its once-exclusive games to other platforms, including PS5. In this case, Xbox software has basically outgrown Xbox hardware, which has long struggled with market share. So it makes sense for the business to maximize game sales, even if it means losing one traditional way of "trying to move" players "over to Xbox," as Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer put it.
