Microsoft: Xbox One vs PS4 performance difference not that great

Last Updated: September 5, 2013

xbox-one-vs-ps4-controllers

Albert Penello, Microsoft Director of Product Planning, new “go-to-guy” for Xbox One info, and someone who we think is doing a helluva lot better job at promoting the X1 than Don Mattrick, has been posting in the NeoGAF forums of late. In fact it seems Penello has been a member for quite a while (being the dedicated gamer that he is).

Anyway, he recently made a couple of potentially controversial statements comparing the power and real world performance of the Xbox One and PS4, as well as giving out a few juicy new pieces of information as follows:

Disc Installs

The reason that both the Xbox One and PS4 require mandatory disc installs is that without them you’d be giving up too much performance and bottlenecking the entire system – “the speed and throughput of the consoles exceeds the transfer speeds of the disc.”

Performance – PS4 vs Xbox One

Next Penello said that the performance difference between the two systems is not as great as the raw numbers would otherwise suggest (like the PS4 being 30-40% more powerful than the Xbox One).

… the performance delta between the two platforms is not as great as the raw numbers lead the average consumer to believe. There are things about our system architecture not fully understood, and there are things about theirs as well, that bring the two systems into balance.

There is no way we’re giving up a 30%+ advantage to Sony.

Shot at Sony

Finally, Penello took a shot at Sony for consistently over-stating the performance capabilities of their consoles when comparing them to competitors (like the Xbox and Wii).

I get a ton of hate for saying this – but it’s been the same EVERY generation. Sony claims more power, they did it with Cell, they did it with Emotion Engine, and they are doing it again. And, in the end, games on our system looked the same or better.

Personally I think it’s very refreshing to see someone like Penello getting stuck into the thick of it in the NeoGAF forums! And if you want to watch a video of the interview he gave at PAX then simply take a look below. It’s very insightful!