This is after a generation that saw half-step

improvements to consoles with the PlayStation 4

Pro and Xbox One X. Rumors also strongly

indicate Microsoft and Nintendo will soon release

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weaker Xbox Series S and a stronger Nintendo

Switch Pro. That means scalability is more

important than ever in game development, so one

cross-gen purchase can run on a variety of

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be swapping in better components ourselves as

these console games get closer to their PC

counterparts.

This piecemeal release strategy is new territory for

game consoles, but smartphone enthusiasts have

seen it for years with annual phone upgrades. A

2020 iPhone is certainly a generation ahead of a

2013 iPhone, but that transition happened in

increments buyers could opt into whenever they

wanted. Ironically, Apple once invited Epic Games

onstage to demonstrate the power of a new iPhone

with an Unreal Engine gaming demo. It might as

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that was before Mario showed up.

CROSSING THE STREAMS

Even the expensive hardware bottleneck may

become irrelevant if game streaming technology

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through a laggy version of Just Dance over Google

Stadia is not our recommended way to play.

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to play games they actually own instead of renting

a game to stream over the internet. Thinking that

everyone will immediately get onboard with

streaming is a pretty privileged mindset.

J

o

r

d

a

n

M

i

n

o

r

Gamers will

always want an

offline way to

play games

they actually

own instead

of streaming

a game.