We've had several 10+ page celebration threads when PS5 had 0.1% higher average frame rate (usually at substantially lower resolutions btw).
We also just had a thread where one of the seemingly Xbox-only people (I refuse to use dumb-ass insult names for people who seem to only want to play games in one place) state that we shouldn't rely on screenshots to determine comparative image quality. Because their platform of choice was losing in this particular case. Hilarious.
But I'll try to explain this phenomenon pretty simply. This is from my perspective of course. I could be wrong. But, here we go. This is gonna be long.
Microsoft markets Xbox pretty clearly using their typical speeds and feeds strategy. System power. Number of games you get on GamePass for one "all inclusive" price. They know they goofed with the underpowered Xbox One, and tried to make up for that with X1X. A system that was pretty clearly better off than the PS4 Pro in terms of horsepower. Before that the OG Xbox and the 360 were generally at the top of the heap in terms of their GPU prowess. Yeah the PS3 could do great things in exclusive games, but as we all know it was tough to pull off. Multiplatform games were generally noticeably better on the 360. It's THE go to platform if you wanted the best performance.
Or it was.
The PS4 was probably the first and only time that Sony could advertise they clearly had the most powerful hardware, and it wasn't by a small amount. This, on top of their exclusives library, was kind of a killer blow to the Xbox platform, and that clearly manifested in the sales difference we saw globally for the two competitors. This had to be a crushing feeling if you were Xbox-only. I know from experience because back when N64 launched I was a die-hard Nintendo child and Sony pretty much came in and smushed them with their more flexible system, forward thinking cd-room drive, and cheap licensing structure. Developers loved the PSX. Even though to me it looked like a jank-fest. But Sony knew that
software matters. And they were able to take the lead in one generation as a result.
But back to the point.
With the PS4 taking the performance lead, MS tries to fix the situation with X1X. To the many Xbox-only crowd this "righted the ship," even though there was almost
nothing to exploit the system. People like to point out Gears 5 but that series is tired at this point, and of course it didn't move the needle at all. So we had another bomb on our hands so to speak. I liked the system but aside from RDR2 and Panzer Dragoon Orta (awesome game), I don't know if there was anything on it I even played.
Enter the XSX. A chance to get back to the glory days of the 360 era. MS itself is even trying to reference this period in their current marketing, without any kind of demonstrable results that indicate we are there. The power narrative pre-release was such that Microsoft has a total PS killer on its hands. The PS5 overheats. It's underpowered. The internal development studios are in disarray! Microsoft is focused. They are delivering such a beastly box that it's going to deliver 4k60 native, easily, on every title. The PS5 is struggling to hit 1080/60 on Resident Evil 8. The power gulf here is
huge! This is everything the Xbox-only crowd wanted to believe as well. As I mentioned above, this is how MS markets their products to their core audience, so you have to believe it. If it's not true it means you bought into it like a fool.
Well, it ends up basically not being true. Most people who don't give a crud about the differences rightly looked at the (real, not wishful) specs of both and realized ... these systems GPUs are probably the two closest we've ever seen from competing systems. There are trade offs for both. XSX will likely see a slight advantage in many cases, but not necessarily because of the respective trade offs each system made. And, again, the real world performance is so close you are likely going to see "slight" differences.
And that's exactly what we are seeing.
A frame drop here, a resolution bump invisible to the naked eye there. And not always in favor of the same platform!
And this also does not match up with the Microsoft marketing narrative.
So, you either have to realize the story MS tried to sell us on was just not true, or you have to defend the Xbox platform to the death, to try and maintain that headspace you're in where the XSX is by far the superior platform ... dammit!
There is a clear contingent who have chosen to engage in the latter. I won't name names, as that's silly, plus I think we all know who they are. To the point where I've often wondered if they know whether MS pays bi-weekly or semi-monthly.
To reiterate, these companies approach things very differently. Microsoft is trying to sell their customers on power. "Xbox power memes" are visible on this board. They market "all you can eat" games, if you sign up to their subscription service, essentially positioning themselves as the Sizzler of gaming. Do you care what's at the salad bar? Hell no, but I can eat all I want from it! It's the best deal around! Once again, speeds and feeds. System power. A cheap service to fill up your time with whatever they have on offer. On the other side, Sony and Nintendo typically don't advertise this way. They sell the experience of the games. You want to have fun? You want to go on adventures? Play on our platform. You know what you actually want, you don't sign up for all you can eat and then see if you can find something to your liking. You would rather go to a steakhouse and pay 100 dollars for exactly the experience you want.
SO ... to answer your original point about ten page long celebration threads when PS5 had 0.1% advantage in frame rate. It's simply "pay back." Rubbing it in the faces of people who were dumping on the PS5 platform for
many many months. I don't think it's clever, and certainly not needed, but that's where it stems from. They also know this royally ticks off Xbox-only people, hence why we now have thread after thread of "tiny differences only seen on spreadsheets," as I stated above, with those same xbox folks stating
in all seriousness "Another clear win for xbox!" And again, for the xbox people it remains a need to convince themselves the original XSX power story remains true. Some of the Xbox contingent are still trying to argue PS5 is not RDNA2 and a bunch of heretofore untapped features are about to be unleashed on the Xbox and crush the competition! Meanwhile, the other platforms are pumping out
software, while the Xbox-only crowd continues to sweat about
technology. But what has proven, over and over, to "win" the generations? I think everyone knows the answer to this.
In the end it's still a war, but it's a war of stupidity because each side is essentially getting
the exact same game for all intents and purposes. But sure, argue over 1820p vs. 1780p. But if that's what you're worried about, why DO you play games exactly? I'm about to start up Legend of Mana on Switch and I am just as excited to try that as I was the new Ratchet and Clank. As long as the atmosphere is there, and the gameplay is there, I simply
do not care where I'm playing a game.
A small addendum. Console warring is quite silly because a console in itself is an exercise in compromise. It's a box trying to be built for as cheaply as possible so that games are easy to play and the general public can afford to do so. If you actually want real power, go get a PC. The gulf gets so massive a few years after the consoles are launched it's like seeing a couple of guys arguing about their Civics and Corollas when people are zipping around them in Lambos.
In closing, let's all just get a life. But games can be a fun part of it. Dang, that was a lot of writing.