5 Years Later, the PS5 Has Destroyed Xbox. But the PS6 Faces a Bigger Threat

Nobody could have predicted the turbulent state that console gaming is in right now.

Five years ago, Sony and Microsoft both launched next-gen consoles with very similar PC-based architectures. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (and its less-powerful sibling, the Series S ) promised even bigger and more realistic gaming experiences with near PC-quality graphics and responsiveness. We were told that ray tracing—the recreation of realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows in games—would be worth spending $500 for a new box to plug into our 4K TVs.

On the fifth birthday of both consoles, I can tell you we were sold a lie. Jaw-dropping as ray tracing is, few games even support the graphics enhancement. Out of the more than 1,050 games in the PS5’s library, only 60-something game