The release of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S has left a lot of owners of older generations of consoles worried about how their machines will perform with new and more demanding games. The bad news is that some high-end titles won’t play as smoothly on them as on the latest gaming consoles. Many won’t play at all, as the developers have focused entirely on the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S. As such, a lot of these games won’t be compatible with older consoles. Nevertheless, the good news is that this won’t affect iGaming.
The developers of casino games have made sure that their applications are compatible with all consoles. Since their games are web-based, their job is that much easier, compared to the one their colleagues in traditional gaming studios have.
So, if you still have any concerns, we will try to dispel all of them by the end of this article.
History of iGaming on Consoles
Enjoying iGaming on consoles was made possible ever since the engineers included the option for the web interface in them. As we mentioned, all iGaming applications are web-based, meaning all you need is a browser and an Internet connection to play them.
PS2 was the first PlayStation that had that ability. Then, the first version of Xbox, which was released in 2001, also allowed players to access the web. Since then, the Internet connection was an essential part of all gaming consoles, including Nintendo’s Wii and Switch.
This has made it possible for game developers to create massively multiplayer games that people could play from all over the world.
Famous LAN parties from the 1990s slowly went to the way of the Dodo in the face of this new way of playing with (or against) your friends. With that, the iGaming industry quickly noticed the potential in this and included console support in their games.
iGaming Performance on Consoles
Some people worry about the hardware in consoles and how it will affect the performance of games like slots. Fortunately, the way how slot machines work either console will play them just fine. Both have sufficient CPU and GPU power and more than enough memory to run all casino games smoothly and in excellent resolution.
So, if you are concerned about the performance, don’t be. You will be able to enjoy all your games without any issues. This goes for older generations as well as the latest PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles.
PlayStation 5 for iGaming
The launch of PlayStation 5 has been met with absolute hysteria. The new, modern design and powerful performances have stirred the imagination of gamers across the planet.
However, the launch was marred with scandals, as scalpers were able to buy most of the first batch, trying to resell them at astonishing prices. This has caused ire in the gaming community, which basically caused Sony to be forced to speed up the manufacturing to satiate the market and shed some of the bad publicity they got for their botched release.
Performance-wise, the PS5 is the pinnacle of modern consoles. It comes with a custom 7nm AMD Zen 2 CPU with eight cores with variable frequency, peaking out at 3.5 GHz. This allows the system to control the power consumption and wear and tear depending on the game’s demands. With 16 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM onboard, it has enough high-end memory even for the most demanding titles.
Xbox Series X/S for iGaming
Microsoft managed to beat Sony and release their latest Xbox two days earlier, on November 10th, 2020. Supporting resolution of up to 6K and amazing frame rates, its performance is similar to its rival, the PS5.
Microsoft’s new Xbox comes in two flavors, the Series X and the Series S. The Series X is the standard console and the more powerful model. Contrarily to that, the Series S is designed to be smaller and easier to transport, as it was designed to fit in a backpack.
Regarding the performance side of things, both consoles are similar in some respects, but still, the Series X holds a clear edge. Both consoles are powered by AMD 8-core Zen 2 processor, but with different performances. Series X runs at 3.8 GHz, while Series S is capped at 3.6 GHz. A Custom AMD Radeon RDNA 2 is in charge of graphics, but the X version is vastly more powerful, delivering 52 CUs at 1.825 GHz, while S manages only 20 CUs at 1.825 GHz. Series X has 16 GB of memory, while Series S comes with just 10 GB. Finally, the storage tells a similar story, with Series X boasting 1 TB and Series S just half of that.
Controversies
Gambling has always been a target for critics claiming that it is immoral, and iGaming definitely had more than its fair share of it.
Since consoles are mostly viewed as kids’ toys, the possibility to play online casino games on them has been met with some serious backlash. Of course, casinos do their utmost to prevent minors from accessing their sites, but their measures aren’t full proof.
The main reason why casinos spend all that money on restricting access is more of a practical matter than a moral issue for them, as online casino businesses simply don’t want to lose their license over it.
On the other hand, many AAA games include similar gambling mechanics, like loot boxes, and only recently have we seen a broad law-enforcing movement against them. Just recently, several countries have passed laws declaring that loot boxes gambling and made games containing them are now illegal for minors.
