Nvidia's CEO: Second Half of 2020 to be the Best Gaming Period Ever
The year 2020 did not start well. The pandemic made life difficult for most of us. However, it seems that the second half of the year will be very good for gamers. Or at least that's is what Jen-Hsun Huang, the head of Nvidia, says.
- The launch of the next-gen consoles - Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Sony's PlayStation 5;
- New Nvidia GPU from Ampere generation - RTX 3000;
- New AMD GPU from RDNA 2 family;
- Game launches - new titles, new installments of well-known franchises and remakes of older ones in connection with the release of new hardware;
- Growing popularity of Nintendo Switch.
This year is hard to be counted among successful ones. However, there is a chance that it will improve its image a little. Or at least for the part of us, that plays video games. The second half of the year seems to be very promising for gamers. The number of announced hardware launches is impressive for both PCs and console gamers. The games will also be great, so we will not be bored.
The head of Nvidia, Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang, is of the same opinion. He spoke quite extensively about what awaits us in the second half of the year and did not hide his delight. Of course, his statements were not only about the imminent launch of Ampere family GPUs. Although this is also important because RTX 3000 for some will be a source of more power, an opportunity to expand the computer, but there will also be those who are waiting for a reduction in the price of older generations of GPUs.
Jensen has outlined the situation that could become reality at the end of 2020, adding a little bit of color to it (source article on TweakTown):
'We are expecting a really strong second half for gaming. I think this may very well be one of the best gaming seasons ever and the reason for that is because PC gaming has become such a large format. The combination of amazing games like Fortnite and Minecraft, and because of the way people game now, their gaming and their e-sporting, even F1 is an e-sport now.'
'The number of different ways you could game has just really, really exploded. And it works on PCs because all the things that I described require cameras or keyboards or streaming systems and - but it requires an open system that is multitasking. So, the PC has just become such a large platform for gaming.'
Further on, he addresses the development of GPUs from the introduction of shaders (15 years ago) to the first ray-tracing chipsets in RTX cards. All this described in the context of the excellent graphic experience that awaits us in the announced games for next-gen hardware. At this point he proceds to the topic of new console, which is understandable, as both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X also include ray-tracing in their list of advantages.
The launch of PS5 and XSX at the end of the year will be a great event. This is what the console conmmunity has been waiting for for many months. The next generation of consoles will introduce a lot of new hardware solutions (including SSDs, streaming) and will be a big leap in performance. And if the leaks about Xbox Series S are confirmed, this will be a great time for those with smaller budgets too.
Nintendo cannot complain about the situation. Jensen noticed good sales results of Switch:
'We are already seeing amazing numbers from our console partner, Nintendo. The Switch is about to sell more than Super Nintendo, more than all the Famicom, which was one of the best gaming consoles of all time. I mean, they are on their way to make Switch the most successful gaming platform of all time. And so, I am super excited for them. And so, I think it's going to be quite a huge second half of the year.'
It is worth remembering that apart from Nvidia, AMD is also preparing fresh graphic chipsets from the RDNA 2 family, so the company's fans will now be able to enjoy ray tracing, as the new Radeons will offer hardware support for the technology. Same as RTX graphics cards and ninth-generation consoles. As we can see, real light counting is about to become a standard in the visual side of video games.
And a fact underestimated by many, and in my opinion very important. Nvidia and AMD will be up against new competition in the field of graphic chipsets. Intel also wants its GPUs. High-performance Xe-HP and Xe-HPG chipsets will be designed for demanding players. Of course, they will also provide hardware support for ray tracing. However, it needs to be said that 'enter the Intel' is planned for 2021.
I left the video games at the end. I'm sure there will be plenty of those. The most interesting situation is in the console market, which involves the launch of new hardware. Developers are preparing completely new titles, new installments of well-known franchises, but also remakes of games from older consoles. A good example is Observer: System Redux. There are so many announced games that I won't even try to list here, but I'll refer you the links under the news.
