The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett have been teased by Sony and Microsoft in recent months, but there is one individual in the video game industry who isn't enthusiastic about the upcoming console generation.
Atsushi Inaba is one of the founders of PlatinumGames and is currently the head producer of the development division within the company. Inaba spoke to the Video Games Chronicle at E3 2019 and voiced his concerns with the upcoming PlayStation and Xbox systems.
When asked about the upcoming consoles, Inaba expressed disappointment with the fact that they are made with existing hardware.
“It’s OK. And by that I mean, I’m sure that things will move faster, graphics will be better and maybe it will be easier with less wait times… that’s good for the consumer," stated Inaba. “But it’s more of the same, quite frankly, compared to previous generations. It’s nothing that’s disruptive or super innovative, if you ask me.”
Inaba talked about how systems like the Nintendo Switch were composed of existing hardware (such as the Tegra X1 chip) and how consoles mostly use components that can be acquired for PCs.
The one thing that Inaba is excited about is streaming services, like the kind provided by Google Stadia, as they represent a new direction for the industry. “That’s why for me, things like cloud platforms represent innovation and something very, very different – they’re platforms that excite me and where I feel there is a lot more innovation happening,” said Inaba.
The specifications for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett have slowly been revealed over the past few months, but there is still a lot that we don't know about the systems. As a high-ranking member of a prominent Japanese development house, it's likely that Inaba knows a lot more about what to expect of the upcoming systems than the gaming press at large.
The upcoming systems are promising to have better graphics and performance, but they likely won't be revolutionary in the same way that older systems were. It's still too early to tell exactly what the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett will be capable of, but there is at least one individual who doesn't seem to be interested in the future of the console market.