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Are you expecting a mid gen refresh this gen?

Are you expecting a mid gen refresh?


  • Total voters
    358

MidGenRefresh

*Refreshes biennially
kid-guilty.gif
 
This gen is interesting. Neither console is significantly underpowered/overpowered in comparison to the other, so there isn't going to be an impetus for change due to that. Also the switch from 4k to 8k is a long ways off, unlike last time when the consoles released just as 4k was taking off. Throw in the inability for both companies to meet demand, and if one comes out is going to be much later in the gen.

On the other hand though I could see there being a pro model and extending the gen to 10 years long. It might not be a "pro" version as much as it is constant iteration. I highly doubt either Microsoft or Sony want to give up on backwards compatibility, so that would push the more iterative approach

Thing is, what are they going to upgrade?
CPU - no major advances have come out since launch
Memory - more memory is better, but speed is fine now
GPU - this is probably the upgrade, but we need to see much more powerful APUs before this needs to happen
Storage - We need bigger drives, but current speed doesn't need an increase
 

blastprocessor

The Amiga Brotherhood
Haven't seen a current gen game push the systems to it's limits yet. So if it happens going to be years.
 
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HoodWinked

Member
Probably not. It comes down to marketing. How would they even go about selling it when they already sold the current consoles as 4k consoles.

Also prices are going up in some cases. And because of diminishing returns to have much of a discernible difference would require exorbitantly expensive components.
 

RayHell

Member
Both Sony and Microsoft are planning it but it might just make no sense for those reasons.
  1. Economic conjuncture
  2. Supply chain issue
  3. Game development time.
  4. No major gain visually
They might just want shorten the current gen lifecycle and go for next gen.
 
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John Wick

Member
Normally I would say yes, but considering the current situation with component shortage, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Agreed. If the pandemic never happened and the component shortages weren't an issue then it would have been a certainty.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
I think we will get new consoles but I really dont no if they will be "pro" models.
With sony raising the price and Microsoft saying that node shrinks are not producing the same price reductions as prior gens, a pro model will be pricey, for a 20 tflop PS5 it may be like £599.
And with sony bringing there games to PC is there really much point?
 
I think we will see the consoles updated to lower the cost of manufacturing or slim editions. But I don't think we will see pro models because its just not necessary, PS4 pro/Xbox one X happened mainly because of the push of 4K content but that's not the case now and with the way the economy is going (as you can see from the PS5 price increase) trying to sell a more expensive Pro PS5/Series X just doesn't make sense.
 
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supernova8

Banned
Not sure but it would be hilarious given how I've still yet to see a PS5 on a store shelf in Japan. I want to go back to the time when scalper fuckheads were only doing it for stuff like limited edition sneakers etc.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
The upgrade are not worth it imo, it would basically be rx6900xt performance, and that only gives native 4k, and better settings.

Only a small minority care about, its not like last gen where there launch consoles looked not great on big 4k TVs.

The ps5/xsx look good even on 8k TVs.
 
I really hope not but who knows.

Last gen was in a weird spot because 4K tbs were becoming the norm so they had much more reason to exist (new tv technology sells the consoles and vice versa so more incentive from both Sony/MS and tv manufacturers). I bought both the Pro and X last gen (hell I bought a S when it released as well).

This gen is different. 8K tvs aren't going to become the norm anytime soon, and with all of the supply constraints it doesn't make much sense to me.

I would love to see a slim PS5 though.
 
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Knightime_X

Member
If there's a mid-gen refresh this year i'm done buying launch consoles.
It's like buying half a console at launch and expected to buy the rest at a later date or enjoy worse performance.
 

Pimpbaa

Member
Only “slim” models. PS4 Pro and XB1X were stop gaps due to the popularity of 4K TVs. I can’t see 8K TVs doing the same due to you really need a larger TV to really see the difference (apparently), plus it would require ridiculous GPU power. As for stuff like performance or better ray tracing, I really can’t see the public going for that. Plus you have all the supply issues with their current standard models delaying “next gen” for a lot of folk.
 
Probably not. It comes down to marketing. How would they even go about selling it when they already sold the current consoles as 4k consoles.

Also prices are going up in some cases. And because of diminishing returns to have much of a discernible difference would require exorbitantly expensive components.
they'd probably market them as 8k machines, with the option to play older games at 120fps.

to hit 8k, they may use a native res of ~4k + advanced hardware-accelerated upscaling. hardware shouldnt be too pricey at that time.
 
Slim consoles? Sure. But not expecting any kind of Pro mid gen refresh, that was a one time fuck up due to rushing out the previous consoles and miscalculating the rise of 4K TVs. Nothing this gen implicates anything close to that on the horizon, and all of the low hanging fruit in terms of hardware upgrades has been picked now that SSDs are standard. DLSS was the only thing with any potential, but neither the PS5 or XSX use Nvidia GPUs.
 

tvdaXD

Member
I hope not, resources should be spent on power efficiënt variants, or ones that are easier to make to better reach the demand for them.
Also saves game developers yet another variant to pour resources in.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I honestly dont expect a midgen refresh beyond "mini" die shrinks

There just isnt really a need for them this generation.
Last gen started before 4K became "standard" so a midgen refresh was needed for gamers to feel they were fully utilizing their new 4K TVs.
This gen with all the upscaling techniques hitting FauxK is not an issue, and the consoles are plenty powerful.
 

GenericUser

Member
We are 2 years into the generation and sony and microsoft are only barely able to deliver enough supply for the demand that is there. I don't see how releasing an even harder to build and therefore harder to supply PS5 Pro/Super Xbox will help them. I guess they planned it, but I'm pretty condident they scrapped the plans once they saw how it all turned out (covid and chip shortage and russia and inflation and all that shit).
 

Tommi84

Member
Mid-gen refresh for PS4 was because the console was not powerful enough for VR. This time around it's not the case so no.

I hope for PS5 slim (-er) at least :D
 

Zathalus

Member
6nm slim and 5nm pro consoles will allow Sony and Microsoft to utilize both wafers to address stock issues.

A potential PS5 Pro console can also leverage Zen 4 to offer native PS3 support thanks to AVX-512 which offers a massive performance advantage for PS3 emulation. We might have to wait for the PS6 on that one though.
 

Elios83

Member
If the whole shortages situation isn't fully addressed and they can't manage to reduce manufacturing costs on the original hardware because of the global economic situation, expecting a more powerful and expensive hardware has no sense.
They're probably working on it because they need to be ready but I wouldn't expect anything concrete until late 2024.
 
I hope there will be a ps5 pro, that I would gladly buy if price not reasonable. Mor SSD space and a GPU*2 to enjoy current quality modes at 60fps. And if possible, form factor reviewed. But probability seems quite low.
 
I honestly dont expect a midgen refresh beyond "mini" die shrinks

There just isnt really a need for them this generation.
Last gen started before 4K became "standard" so a midgen refresh was needed for gamers to feel they were fully utilizing their new 4K TVs.
This gen with all the upscaling techniques hitting FauxK is not an issue, and the consoles are plenty powerful.

The need is to be able to do true next gen visuals AND 60 fps. The current consoles really aren't powerful enough to do both.

Lets face it, this console gen is going to last a very long time... probably another 7 years at least. If there even is another console gen.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
The need is to be able to do true next gen visuals AND 60 fps. The current consoles really aren't powerful enough to do both.

Lets face it, this console gen is going to last a very long time... probably another 7 years at least. If there even is another console gen.
Arent powerful enough?
We havent even seen devs push these systems yet, but youve already gauged they arent powerful enough?

Giving devs extra headroom is always nice, im not denying that, but calling the consoles not powerful enough is silly when no dev has pushed them yet.
They have enough memory(stares at Series S), the CPUs are plenty powerful, their SSDs and I/O capabilities are stellar and the GPUs should easily be able to pull 60fps with good visuals.

How exactly are you gauging that the systems arent powerful enough?
We are still unfortunately in a crossgen phase, devs havent really had a chance to stretch their legs with these consoles.
Which devs have done a nextgen only game and have reached a bottleneck, and what bottleneck was that?
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Metro Exodus E managed it just fine.
Hell id say even Rift Apart had Steller Raytracing.
Devs are still stretching their legs.

Imagine what Insomniac is gonna do next, or 4A Games, they updated their Raytracing pipeline and basically transformed their game.
If they are starting with the nextgen consoles as base, we are in for a good time.

People gauging these consoles as weak so "early" in the gen is a weird one, we literally havent seen devs truly push these machines, when we starting getting to the point devs are actually begging for more GPU or CPU power then maybe we can talk about refreshs.
For now we are doing nicely targetting 4K with whatever upscaling techniques are implemented.....native 4K is a waste of resources.
 

I Master l

Banned
Inflation and supply shortages would mean they’d have to be like $800 consoles, There won't be a mid gen refresh again
 
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I’ll be getting the Switch successor launch day (providing it is backwards compatible). Probably no mid gen refresh for me though if one is announced. I have a top spec PC and I can’t justify spending even more money on consoles following the Switch.
 
If we don't get a 6nm supposed to be easier shrink soon, they probably will go directly to 5nm next year. For the Slim. A Pro requires probably already at least 4nm or 3nm to not explode the size even further. Although if a Premium Edition (PS+ nomenclature) just has the same shrink as the Slim and only adds something like Tensor cores for FSR3.0 and provides 8k optionally and more probably super sampled to 4k, or only adds some Raytracing capabilities and efficiency it might be nice enough to be called a Pro/Premium while adding next to no work to developers, not increasing the size, allowing a slim and a slightly slimmer Pro and both can be almost the same chips. A "real" Pro with the same upgrade as the first Pro for 4k shit seems pointless.... Marketing a Premium to some enthusiasts is easy but the masses don't care about better 4k and some better reflections.
 

Haggard

Banned
we are in for a good time.
we are in for more tiny near meaningless partial implementations of RT in near static environments because that is the max the consoles can do and even tools like Lumen can`t make RT more budgetfriendly but instead just offer scalability.
The consoles do not have the performance budget to break the PS4/X1 gen formula of "static setdressing with a few handselected actual lightsources and everything else faked as good as possible".
The static setdressing will continue to get more beautiful as the gen progresses with tools like Nanite, but not much else will change.
Contrary to your beliefs the hardware power of the consoles is not a "big unknown" for devs anymore and the "how do we mask the shortcomings" is already well underway.
 
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