Early reviews of both thePlayStation 5and theXbox Series Xare now available online. For the most part, the reviews are as expected. Both thePS5and the Xbox Series X offer impressive steps forward compared to the current-gen predecessors. But the reviews also invite comparisons between the two consoles, and one area of contrast has led to surprising results. In early comparisons, the PS5 appears to be slower than the Xbox Series X with regards to game startup times.
In a video posted by GameSpot, five cross-platform games have their startup times loaded on both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. The games includeRed Dead Redemption 2,Final Fantasy 15,Destiny 2,Monster Hunter World, andBatman: Arkham Knight. All games are installed on each console’s internal SSD. All games load faster on Xbox Series X, ranging in time differences between just a second and over 20 seconds.
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Red Dead Redemption 2has the closest times between each console, with the Xbox Series X loading in 1 minute and 4 seconds and the PS5 loading in 1 minute and 5 seconds.Batman: Arkham Knightis a jump in distance with a 10-second difference. Next, bothDestiny 2andMonster Hunter Worldare similarly distanced, with around a 15-second faster time on Xbox Series X. It’sFinal Fantasy 15that has the largest difference, with a 48-second loading time on Xbox Series X and a 1-minute and 10 seconds loading time on PS5.
Each loading time consists of the time it takes to go from the console’s main menu all the way to gameplay. In that regard, the startup times onboth Xbox Series X and PS5 are impressive, with their SSDs' power is clearly showing. None of the five games takes much longer than a minute. Still, that just goes to show how substantial even a 10-second advantage is in these comparisons. The power difference appears to be very real.
This news is somewhat surprising, due to how well Sony has marketed its unique architecture for the PS5. Many believed thePS5’s SSDwould provide faster loading times, whereas the Xbox Series X would provide more robust performance in other areas. That might still be true in other areas, like in-game loading screens. There’s a lot left for news outlets to analyze, not to mention this analysis only includes info for 5 games.
It’s perhaps true thatfirst-party PS5 gamesare better optimized for the console, and it could also be true yet as third-party developers get comfortable with the PS5, but for now, the advantage appears to go to the Xbox Series X.
ThePS5releases November 12 and theXbox Series Xreleases November 10.
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