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…