TLDR SCROLL DOWN BABY!!!
Next gen is a few years away. We are talking 2019 at the earliest, more likely 2020 and no later than 2021. Last time it was M$ that fell for the motion control hype train. They released an underpowered, overpriced, kinect box and it was HUUUUUGE. And they wanted always online before they quickly changed course. Surprise, it got spanked by the competition.
If you read these boards you will see constant threads about how weak the CPUs in consoles are. The CPU hype machine is strong so you may see one of these two companies fall for the CPU hype and that would be really bad.
Current consoles do have weak CPUs, that's true. Next gen we need a big bump in CPU power, that's true too. But the trick is to make sure you have enough GPU power within the budget constraints.
Allow me to explain how this could happen. Let's say Sony is the one to fall for the hype. Sony for example would release a $499 PS5 let's say. They would have 24 GBs of GDDR5 RAM, 10 teraflops of GPU power and a 6 core/12 thread powerful CPU.
The problem with that setup is that it would have to go against the competition. The new Xbox's hardware could be much better for gaming at the same $499 price. For example, it would have 24 GBs of GDDR5 RAM, 16 teraflops of GPU power and a 4 core/8 thread powerful CPU.
Since 99.999% of gamers game on HDTVs then it is safe to assume next gen console games will be built with the 60 fps target. A 6 core CPU vs 4 core for example could be a big mistake if it means you are using up too much die space on the CPU and not enough goes to the GPU. That could leave it considerably underpowered vs the competition.
On the PC side a decent 4 core/8 thread is all you need to run games at way over 60 fps. That's why even on PC you see guys upgrading their GPUs rather frequently compared to their CPUs. If only 60 fps is the target for consoles and it is, it would be a huge mistake to waste resources on an uber powered CPU. The only reason a Sony or Microsoft would do that is because they fell for the hype that these fanboys on boards like this are spewing.
TLDR; If either of the big two spends too much on the CPU, they would face a dramatic GPU power deficit which would be much more detrimental. Because on consoles 99.9% of the time you will not be gaming at over 60fps. The extra CPU power would have little use. Extra GPU power however is always very welcome and needed.
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