Last month, Sony proudly boasted that the PS4 had “won” the month of September. That would mark the ninth consecutive month Sony’s PS4 outsold Microsoft’s Xbox One in the United States (not like the Xbox One is faring any better overseas). My point is, the PS4 is simply killing it, and I’m not really understanding why.
This isn’t a knock on Sony by any means. I even bought the PS4 first last November (though I did go on to buy an Xbox One a few months later because video games — and I’ve got to have ‘em all). With the exception of Driveclub and perhaps the issues with update 2.00, which was fixed rather quickly, Sony has done just about everything right. But so has Microsoft.
Since the Xbox One’s initial reveal — which was met with sharp criticism from just about everybody — Microsoft, under the guidance of Phil Spencer, has done almost everything a company can do to improve the image of a product. For some reason though, it doesn’t seem to be catching on. Why not?
Is it about games? The Xbox One constantly gets bashed for not being able to keep up with the PS4’s 1080p native resolution, but is that really the ultimate factor in choosing which system to purchase? Is 900p really that much of a sacrifice versus 1080p? Depending on who you ask, I suppose. I know a guy who argues that even if he can’t visually notice the difference, just knowing that the PS4 could output at 1080p will drive him crazy.
If it’s about exclusives, then Xbox One has the clear advantage here. Though both systems got off to a fairly slow start with exclusives at launch, Microsoft has since been ahead of the competition. Forza Horizon 2, Titanfall, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Sunset Overdrive have been very well-received by both consumers and critics. As for the PS4, well, we all see what’s going on with Driveclub.
It seems to me that most people who purchase a PS4 are buying it for the potential exclusives. I did it. When I first bought my PS4, I did so based on the games I played toward the tail-end of the PS3. I bought Sony’s new console with the hope that the quality of exclusives that I played on PS3 would carry over to the next-gen. So far, it hasn’t. On the bright side, and this could be a reason people keep leaning towards Sony’s console, the PS4 lineup of upcoming exclusives looks pretty enticing. We’ve still got LittleBigPlanet 3 this month; The Order: 1886, Bloodborne, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End are all coming in 2015.
It’s definitely not the price anymore. With Microsoft scrapping the mandatory Kinect, the Xbox One’s price dropped to $399 — the same as the PS4. Take into account the various promotions Microsoft has held — including the current $50 holiday discount — and the Xbox One is now actually cheaper than the PS4 in many cases. Yet for September it didn’t matter.
So really, what’s holding the Xbox One back? Is the resolution difference a bigger deal than I believe it to be? Is Microsoft’s initial messaging — dating all the way back to pre-November 2013 — still hurting console’s perception? Is it the exclusives? Or is it something as simple as messaging? If you are buying a console and want to play the “best” games, which are you going to flock to — an “all-in-one entertainment system” or a console built “for the gamers”?
I don’t have the answers. I’m not looking to take sides in this “console war” — I don’t even like that expression. I wish success to both consoles because competition encourages growth and innovation (and sadly, timed exclusives). I’m just legitimately interested in what convinced you to purchase a PS4 over an Xbox One or vice versa. Was it the initial messaging? Was it the exclusives, the games in general? Or was it something as simple as brand loyalty? Let us know in the comments and feel free to let me know on Twitter.
