Canis lupus
Member
Cerny has admitted having to do 15 separate presentations to first-party staff at Sony when he brought x86 to the table in 2008. Someone (presumably high up) at Sony didnt think the complex x86 architecture could be used for a games console, and Cerny had to fight against that. Clearly he won.
While a complex architecture, x86 is widely used and has an abundance of support across the tech industry. By adopting it, not only did it lead the way for much easier/more accessible game development, it also meant Sony could approach a number of hardware manufacturers to source components. And that must have gone a long way towards the PS4 shipping for $399 compared to the PS3′s launch price of $600+. Having 140+ games in development is also a nice number to throw around prior to launch.
Cerny also confirms it was developers who pushed for a unified memory system in the machine, which surprised the hardware development team but ultimately makes for faster games development. He also reiterated that PS4 is the most powerful games console ever created, but that none of the launch titles will be using anywhere near the full feature set of the hardware. Just like with previous consoles, that will take time and developers getting to grips and unlocking the full performance on offer.
With the PS4 already thought to be the more powerful of the next-gen consoles, and if development truly is as easy as Cerny suggests, that performance lead over the Xbox One could remain for years to come. Experienced developers can hit the ground running and unlock performance faster if they have worked on x86 before. In the end, its the gamer who wins by getting more accomplished games sooner in the consoles lifecycle.
http://www.geek.com/games/mark-cern...s-convincing-sony-to-use-x86-for-ps4-1570945/