We’re fast approaching a new console generation which is exciting. On paper, both consoles should be pretty similar this time around other than an additional few teraflops of GPU power in Microsoft’s favor. There’s differences in compression techniques and how each console’s custom SSDs are utilized I’m sure, but all in all they seem like they’re pretty neck and neck. This generation I’ve primarily been a PlayStation user, but that’s about to change. Let me break it down for you.
A Brief Recap of my History with PlayStation and Xbox
If you know me, then you know I’ve been a lover of PlayStation all my life. I’ve had every console up to the PS4 Pro and, up until Switch, the PS2 was my favorite system I ever owned. My first time as a Xbox owner was during the launch of Halo 3 when my cousin and I both got a 360 with a copy of the game. I opted for the Halo 3 special edition console which proved to be a good choice as it was based on the Jasper chipset revision so I fortunately never experienced the dreaded red ring of death. I eventually traded my Halo 360 in for a slim which I then also eventually traded in at GameStop a year before PS4 released to put towards it.
PlayStation’s Slow Downward Spiral
At the start of the current generation Sony was making all the right moves with PS4: there was no DRM so we could still buy and trade used games. Sony was taking advantage of Microsoft’s many missteps with marketing the Xbox One, which I’ll get into about below, but now as we find ourselves towards the end of the current console generation and leaning into the next, it’s Sony I’m getting sick of. Their reluctance to play nice with cross platform or cross-save titles like Fortnite and Minecraft, both of which now support cross-play long after Sony found themselves in a PR nightmare, has left a sour taste in my mouth. While it’s great those titles support it, they’re part of the minority. Take the newly released Genshin Impact for example. I moved over to iOS and PC because they support cross-save whereas your purchases and save data are held hostage on PS4. Then there’s Sony’s announcement that their first party games will jump up $10 to a new cost of $70 which I just can’t bring myself to pay as the new norm. Oh, and how could I forget the nickel and diming of charging for cross gen upgrades like the Spider-Man Miles Morales Ultimate Edition or the fact that my DualShock 4 controllers are only supported for PS4 games on PS5. Perhaps the most irritating stunt Sony pulled for me was the reveal that what were thought to be heavy hitting PS5 exclusives like Horizon 2 Forbidden West, Spider-Man Miles Morales, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure are, in fact, also releasing on PS4. I know these games will look better on PS5, but I have a PS4 Pro and I really think that’ll suffice for now. All this is just starting to add up to a bunch of bullshit.
A Triumphant Return
In the beginning of this current generation, Microsoft came out infamously saying how the Xbox One would be the one console you’d need for everything—and boy did they mean everything. They rambled on about TV, TV, TV, sports, sports, sports, and TV again. There was talk of being able to trade in your digital games (which is just the kind of shakeup the industry needs right now—especially with digital only editions of next gen consoles) but all anyone heard was mention of DRM check-ins. Oh, and then there was also dumbass Don Mattrick saying “There’s a console for those who don’t have an internet connection.”. You could record TV and watch it in PiP mode while you played games or take advantage of a clunky feature called Snap to pin an app like Twitch on the side while playing a game.
It was a mess.
Even still, I picked up a Xbox One but from the very beginning I was less than thrilled. After about a week or two I returned it thanks the sluggish performance from simply navigating the home menu and a lack of good first party content. I was all about the snappy performance of my PS4 and the PlayStation Store for the first couple of years, but then the next year things started to change for Team Green. The most significant was the departure of Don Mattrick who left for Xanga (LOL) with Phil Spencer taking over in his newly appointed role as Head of Xbox. Phil and his team started shifting the message to make Xbox all about games. He listened to what people wanted. Kinect was dropped, Xbox backwards compatibility became a reality, but there was something massive that would change my mind. Something that Sony said recently they’re opposed to doing.
A Game Changer
On February 28, 2017 Microsoft revealed Xbox Game Pass. Think of it as Netflix for games where a monthly subscription nets you access to over 100 titles including day one access to any game under Microsoft Studios and it’s first party developers. This means you can play Halo Infinite the day it releases and if that wasn’t awesome enough, Microsoft hasn’t stopped there and has since added their cloud streaming platform, Xbox Cloud Gaming (previously known as Project xCloud) for free if you’re an Ultimate member! OH OH OH! And recently the company also announced that EA’s subscription service, EA Play, will be part of Game Pass at no additional cost starting Holiday 2020. That’s a lot for $15 a month in the Ultimate plan which includes Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass for PC. _
But there’s other reasons I’ve been swayed to #TeamGreen as my primary box of choice. For one, my current controllers, including my personal favorite Xbox Elite Series 2, will be fully compatible on Series X. Both PS5 and Series X can play current gen games, but Sony hasn’t said much on how it works or even showed the god damn user interface yet. Meanwhile, I dumped all my Xbox One games onto an external HDD because I can plug it into my Series X on day one and all my games will just be there, ready to take advantage of the beefy hardware. Speaking of backwards compatibility, Series X and S can both play all Xbox Backwards Compatible games spanning from the original Xbox to the 360 and up through the current Xbox library. The full list of Xbox and Xbox 360 games can be found and filtered through on this handy page.
So there you have it. Xbox has busted their asses to change their message and instill confidence in their brand by focusing on consumer friendly ideas while PlayStation is getting cocky off the success of their popular console. We’re basically starting this generation like the last, except the tables are turned. Will I get a PS5? Of course. I’m an enthusiast after all, but if reselling my backup PS5 doesn’t cover both consoles, then it’ll be just Xbox and Switch for me until the PS5 drops in price. Oh yeah, and Xbox bought Bethesda, so I’ll have past and future Fallout/Elder Scrolls games on Game Pass. 😉
