Blog: console gaming

Sony just announced its worst-kept secret, the PS5 Pro. It's launching for $700 in November 2024, four years after the debut of the original PS5. Compared to the original, PS5 Pro will offer better visuals and performance: Larger GPU with more speed : Sony says the PS5 Pro’s GPU will render 45% faster than the current model, with substantial improvements to ray tracing (three times better in some cases), a favourite of graphics aficionados CPU improvements : An “enhanced mode” will allow for more CPU power.

The days of gaming as a hobby only for young people are clearly over. Unlike in the past, gamers are now sticking with console and PC games into adulthood and old age. Consumers aged 55+ account for a quarter of gamers now, and that share is on the rise.

Thanks to console manufacturers and third-party publishers moving content to Steam, Valve now boasts one of the most diverse AAA offerings on the market, benefitting from new strategies adopted by Xbox and PlayStation.

“Things aren’t like they used to be”, a common refrain of anyone over the age of about 25, is a sentiment especially prevalent amongst gamers today. Is this blind nostalgia, or have games really gotten worse? To investigate this, I looked into user rating data from TrueAchievements.

PlayStation recently announced “ PlayStation Tournaments ”, a new on-console tournaments platform designed to centralise events. Participants can enter a range of tournaments and win prizes based on their performance – including in real life (IRL) prizes.

This month Microsoft released the results from a consumer survey they commissioned into Christmas-period gaming habits. According to the survey, video games are a more popular seasonal activity than either board games or outdoor activities (among those who celebrate the season).

As we predicted in MIDiA’s 2019 Predictions Report published in November 2018, Amazon is now reportedly working on a games streaming service. With plans to launch in 2020, Amazon has commenced talks with publishers about distributing their titles through the service.

As you probably know by now, Microsoft launched Xbox All Access in the US. It is a bundle deal offering an Xbox console and a two year access to Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live – all this in return for 24 monthly payments of $21.