#oneaday Day 705: Next-Gen?

S-Rank patrons: Don't forget to get your questions in for the November 2020 Q&A. Click here for details.

I've found the launch of this new generation of games consoles quite interesting and a little disappointing to watch. With America getting both PS5 and Xbox Series X/S/whatever the other day and Europe catching up on things next week, these systems are finally getting into people's hands.

And… I've heard absolutely nothing about any games that people are playing. There's a few people on my Twitter timeline who have the new systems, but all I've seen from them is a few oohs and aahs about loading times and the like, but that's about it. Where's the excitement over the new games?

I think there are a couple of significant problems stopping there being any real game-related excitement. Firstly, these new consoles feel like a much more incremental update over the previous generations than pretty much any other "next-gen" launch. While both the new platforms can run stuff faster and smoother… there's not a ton of stuff that has that obvious "wow factor" any more. The "wow factor" had already worn off a bit by the PS3-PS4 transition, and it's really noticeably absent this time around. The jump from SD to HD was much more significant than the jump from 1080p to 4K… at least partly because it's already possible to get 4K out of some of the "last-gen" systems.

Second, and perhaps more significantly, is the absolutely moribund lineup of launch titles for both systems. While you all know my tastes aren't exactly "mainstream" when it comes to gaming, I find it difficult to see much among the current launch lineups for either platform that truly qualifies as a "must-have" — particularly as pretty much all of the big-names are cross-generation titles anyway. This latter situation will, I'm sure, resolve itself over the coming months when we start seeing more "B-tier" titles and some exclusives… but at the moment I am, to be perfectly honest, not seeing the appeal of either PS5 or Xbox at present.

That will all change when visual novel and RPG developers start jumping on board, of course… but I'm actually questioning if that will ever happen at this rate. Sony has destroyed the trust it had with Japanese developers over the course of the last couple of years, and Microsoft has consistently failed to make any impact whatsoever on the Japanese market with any of its consoles, outside of a few shmups and RPGs on the 360 (which, in the latter case, ended up with enhanced, expanded versions on PS3 some time later in most cases). With Switch being in such a strong position, I can see a lot of those developers and publishers happily staying with Nintendo for now… which I'm 100% fine with.

Anyway, we'll see. It's too early to write either of the consoles off, of course, but I'll be interested to see how long it takes for them to pick up any sort of momentum with anyone other than the "people who only play Call of Duty and sports games" crowds. I'm in no hurry to pick up either, though… and my wallet is thanking me for that!