Major Nelson Discusses Albert Penello’s “30%” Comment

Albert Penello recently posted to Neogaf explaining a number of things about the Xbox One. One of the biggest comments to come out of the post was that there was no way Microsoft were going to give up a 30% hardware advantage to Sony, as some figures (and some rather over-excited consumers) might suggest.

People DO understand that Microsoft has some of the smartest graphics programmers IN THE WORLD. We CREATED DirectX, the standard API’s that everyone programs against. So while people laude Sony for their HW skills, do you really think we don’t know how to build a system optimized for maximizing graphics for programmers? Seriously? There is no way we’re giving up a 30%+ advantage to Sony. And ANYONE who has seen both systems running could say there are great looking games on both systems. If there was really huge performance difference – it would be obvious. 

Major Nelson has taken to Reddit, replying to somebody praising Penello for his directness:

As I said above, Albert is one of the most amazing people I work with – that’s why I invited him on my podcast a few weeks ago. I jab him a bit about posting on ‘GAF (fact: they would not approve my account of there) but he’s smart and driven. He’s also right: We have some of smartest programmers in the world working on Xbox One. I am very much looking forward to the next few months (and beyond) as the truth comes out.