PS4’s true potential lies beyond the 2015 holiday season

There's no denying that when looking strictly at exclusive blockbusters coming this holiday season, Xbox One trumps PlayStation 4. Looking at the calendar of upcoming games, there's plenty of great third-party titles hitting both systems, but Microsoft has a slight edge with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Halo 5: Guardians both launching exclusively for Xbox. Sony, meanwhile, is banking on Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection — or so it would seem. However, when you take a step back and look at the larger picture, as Sony Computer Entertainment's president of worldwide studios Shuhei Yoshida did in an interview with Eurogamer, you'll see the PlayStation 4's value extends far beyond just the 2015 holiday season.

"People wouldn't just look at the first party line-up when they're making a purchase decision. We have great third party titles coming this year – Call of Duty, Assassin's, Battlefront, Destiny just came out and Metal Gear just came out. There's no shortage of huge titles available to players on PlayStation 4," Yoshida said when asked what he thought of the PS4's holiday lineup in comparison to the Xbox One's.

While it appears the PS4 lacks a competitive holiday lineup, that's actually because some of the system's biggest exclusives have already been released. Bloodborne released in March and Until Dawn released in August. Not to mention, there's been countless indie exclusives released for the system, including the wildly popular Rocket League. As Yoshida pointed out, Sony is releasing "smaller, creative games this year." With Sony's committment to indies, PS4 owners can experience games like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, or The Tomorrow Children.

"That can be complementary when looking at the line-up of PS4 games," he said. "We've got lots of great big titles announced for the next year. We're focussed on delivering these titles. People make purchasing decisions for the long-term. Consoles, once they've purchased it, they expect to use it for 5-6 years. Having exclusive, unique titles coming in the near future, starting with Uncharted 4, must play a role from a first-party standpoint, to help people make those decisions."

Looking to 2016, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the next installment in Naughty Dog's flagship series, highlights what looks to be a promising future with other exclusives like Street Fighter V and the newly announced Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. With the PlayStation Experience in December, I'm sure we'll also learn of a few more games coming next year. So the future is bright for Sony, despite the lackluster holiday 2015 lineup.

This isn't to take anything away from Microsoft either. The platform-holder has managed to do a wonderful job supporting the Xbox One with its own great exclusives, like the two aformentioned upcoming holiday titles, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Forza Motorsport 6, Rare Replay, and my personal favorite, Sunset Overdrive. And it's not like Microsoft is taking a break either. In 2016, we've got Killer Instinct: Season 3, Quantum Break, and I'm sure more will be announced.

At the end of the day, both systems are going to have great exclusives. I'd say Microsoft probably has the edge right now, with Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider obviously, but it's hard not to buy into Uncharted 4. I suppose what it all comes down to is personal preference. Personally, I say buy both.

[Eurogamer]