Gabe Newell Thinks Xbox Series X is Better than PS5 "Because It Is"

The console war is more or less over, what with most people having decided to just settle into their camps and live and let live. On the rare occasion a console “skirmish” emerges, it’s usually because some exciting exclusive just launched, or when a new console generation is released, and people try to convince each other that their purchasing decision was the superior choice. It’s a pretty low-stakes thing, which is actually kind of nice in our increasingly high-stakes lives, and I almost look forward to some harmless memes and banter as we grow increasingly close to the next iteration of the console wars.

That said, it seems that Gabe Newell, a guy who has literally almost no stakes in the conflict, decided to fire one of the first shots the other day on New Zealand TV – the place he’d decided to settle down in while waiting out this COVID-19 situation.

Anyway, as a guest on The Project, he was asked which he preferred, the Xbox Series X or the PlayStation 5. And he immediately answered, without pause “Xbox Series X.” And when asked why, he just said “[It’s better] because it is.”

Not exactly a detailed answer.

That said, it makes perfect sense. Gabe Newell is in the business of PC gaming, and the Xbox Series X is almost literally just a gaming PC you can hook up to a TV. So if you’re a PC gamer and you have to pick between the two, of course you’re going to lean in that direction. Although it seems a little weird he couldn’t articulate that beyond just saying “because it is.”

Maybe I’m overthinking it, and he just picked one at random because he doesn’t even care enough to put thought into it? Actually, that’s probably it. In which case, this has been an even bigger waste of time than it could have been.