Take-Two exec says PS5 And Xbox Series hardware redesigns are "probably" coming soon

Cal Jeffrey

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Time flies: It's hard to believe we are approaching the middle of the current console generation's lifecycle. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X turn three in November. It feels like it was just yesterday we were trying to track down a console that wouldn't cost us $1,000+ on eBay.

This period is also historically when Sony and Microsoft refresh the design of their systems. Although neither company has indicated PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series mid-generation upgrades are in the works, one game studio exec says a hardware refresh is likely coming soon.

In a pre-briefing earnings call with Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, GamesIndustry.biz asked if "we should expect to see iterative hardware" soon and what effect that will have on the studio. Zelnick said, "We probably will," but that these mid-cycle iterations typically do not affect Take-Two.

Whether that means we'll see something this year depends on how you define "soon." If forced to speculate, we would have to say console refreshes are still over a year away. The pandemic and the supply constraints that lasted almost two years seem to have set everybody back. That said, we might start hearing more solid rumors about a refresh in the coming months and maybe even some official news before the end of the year.

Another interesting tidbit from the interview is that we might have a vague release window for Grand Theft Auto 6. In February 2022, Rockstar indicated that work on GTA 6 was "well underway." In fact, development could have started as early as 2018 if anonymous sources were to be believed. However, Rockstar and Take-Two have been tight-lipped since then.

While Take-Two's financials showed good growth, the company doubled its losses for the fiscal year 2023, which ended on March 31. Furthermore, it projects net losses to continue in FY2024. However, the company estimates bookings to spike to $8 billion in FY2025, meaning something big is on the horizon.

When asked if the $8 billion mark was attainable without releasing a GTA title, Zelnick said:

"[Without] talking about specific titles ... We believe it's highly achievable. As you know, it's exceedingly rare that we talk about out years. And when we do, it's because we have a high degree of confidence. It's a reflection of a pipeline we've been investing in for years. We're beginning to see that come to fruition in fiscal 24, and then in fiscal 25, we expect to see some great successes."

The CEO said there are currently 36 games scheduled to launch in the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. One of these is most assuredly Grand Theft Auto 6. Take-Two's books run about a year ahead, meaning we could see the GTA 6 as early as 2024. However, rumors from 2021 indicated that the game is not expected to arrive until 2025, which falls right in the middle of the 2025-2026 timeframe.

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No thanks

Wasn't GTA 5 created for ps3/360? That game still looks good and runs great on my series x, and Im running the xbox one 900p version….

Meanwhile the Switch is still selling with 10yr old+ specs/ 7th gen graphics

ALSO, if this is happening, it would be nice if take2 would actually take advantage if these hardware iterations. No GTA 5 ps4 pro or Xbox One X patch, and the patch for current gen is a PAID ONE! If a PC can run the game on a potato or a $5k machine, how hard is it to do the same for consoles?
 
No thanks

Wasn't GTA 5 created for ps3/360? That game still looks good and runs great on my series x, and Im running the xbox one 900p version….

Meanwhile the Switch is still selling with 10yr old+ specs/ 7th gen graphics

ALSO, if this is happening, it would be nice if take2 would actually take advantage if these hardware iterations. No GTA 5 ps4 pro or Xbox One X patch, and the patch for current gen is a PAID ONE! If a PC can run the game on a potato or a $5k machine, how hard is it to do the same for consoles?
Runs great is an odd comment. We live in the year 2023, and GTA 5, this decade old game still can't run at 2160p 60 FPS.

It's either 2160p 30 FPS or 1440p 60 FPS "target" framerate. Target, as in, dynamic resolution, so not even that in reality.

And it's not a unique problem, it's the same issue for every game, and has been for a decade now. The first GPU marketed as "4K ready" was the GTX 980 Ti.

https://p1.akcdn.net/full/390666350...chill-x3-ultra-6gb-gddr5-c98t3-1sdn-n5hnx.jpg

And that was in 2014. But that was a lie in 2014, and continues to be a lie to this day, even after 4 more GPU generations.

So... what are you even talking about? 2160p 60 FPS should be the absolute minimum. When we can finally reach that, you may actually say "we have enough performance already".
 
And will Mark Cerny finally figure out how to apply a fan to a SoC properly, or will that be postponed again?

I mean at this point it's beyond belief. I couldn't design such lousy cooling if I tried. A youtuber designed a "slim" PS5 that's like 2 cm thick yet runs 30 C cooler. Yes, it was built literally from copper and a water block, but that's not the point. The point is that the possibilities are limitless, yet here we are.


I mean it's not like some insurmountable challenge, we're talking about 200 Watts. A Ryzen CPU takes 170.

There are so many so great coolers these days, I really can't believe how one can design a console to be this enormous yet at the same time this hot. With the cooling even killing the SoC if you leave it standing, I might add. Because design issues.

Pathetic.

Disclaimer: no, I'm not a Microsoft fanboy, I own and play on my PlayStation, but the cooling is objectively garbage compared to... anything really, period. And I say this as an IT architect that's built hundreds of PCs with dozens of different coolers.
 
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