Make no mistake, if you purchased a next-gen console, whether Xbox One or PlayStation 4, you made a good purchase. Both machines are highly capable of bringing video game entertainment to even the most dedicated gamer. However, now that some time has passed, there is a better decision to be made between the two consoles. Granted, both consoles are remarkably similar and your brand loyalty will play a bigger role in making a decision than anything else, but if you are still on the fence, consider the following.

Loyalty is a two way street…

Brand loyalty is a power force. It has single-handedly created and destroyed companies, even if they were all on an even playing field. However, a company has to be loyal to you as well this symbiotic relationship to flourish. To that end, PlayStation has been more in touch with its fan base than Microsoft has. Just take a look at E3 2013 and the events following it for proof. All PlayStation had to do was listen to what its fans wanted and deliver on those promises. They heard that gamers want to buy and trade new games, play games from all over the world with no region locking and not have to always be online. PlayStation simply listened and its fan base went wild with love and adoration.

E3-2013-Sony-PS4-Supports-Used-Games-Disc-Based-Games

Meanwhile, Microsoft had their own vision for the future of gaming, which didn’t necessarily overlap with its fan base’s vision. It was a valiant idea to create a more competitive and digital platform, but people just weren’t ready for this. What should have been a moment of excitement, turned into confusion and disappointment. These forces spread through the fan base and shortly after reversed course and adopted a strategy in line with what PlayStation had presented.

While I agree that you can’t blame Microsoft for trying to be different and you can’t hold one failed experiment against them, if does beg the question, “Who has my best interests in mind?” It took the eruption of a fan base to change Microsoft’s mind, however, is that how you want to spend your time should some policy change in the future bother you? Why not just go with the company that has been listening to you all along?

Sometimes the Difference Lies in What’s Ahead of You…

Let’s say for argument’s sake that you are offered a job by two different companies. Both jobs are functionally the same, doing the same exact work under the same exact conditions. There are a few minor differences in some of the finer details, but as far as pay is concerned, you get two identical offers. However, company A says, “If you do well and the company grows, you’ll make a little more.” Company B offers no such incentive. Which job do you take? I would assume that a vast majority of people would choose company A because you are going to bank on potential if everything else is equal. There is a similar situation going on here.

From a technical standpoint, the PlayStation 4 is the more powerful machine. You see the stories about it all the time including its effect on game performance. Now, most third party games are going to be designed in such a way that the game will run pretty close to equal on both platforms. However, the differences can be seen in the platform specific games. The Last of Us is by far, the best looking game of the last generation and it was the best looking game because the PS3 was a technically superior machine to the Xbox 360. It took Naughty Dog a long time to unlock that potential, but it did and the results speak for themselves.

PS4-Xbox-One-benchmark1

Whether or not developers ever tap the difference in hardware from the PS4 to the Xbox One remains unknown. Games already run in a higher resolution on the PS4. However, that technological gap exists between the two consoles. That difference could mean that there will be at least one game that will be technically superior than everything the Xbox One has to offer. If that difference is exploited earlier, even more games have the potential to highlight the difference in consoles. At this point, there isn’t much Microsoft could do about that but hope that everyone keeps loving their Xbox Ones.

Built for the Future…

Okay, so maybe you are a die-hard Xbox fan. You don’t care about the roughly 25% performance difference between the consoles and “The Great Reversal” didn’t bother you at all. This brings us back to square one, and in doing so, bringing both consoles back to even ground. Since we don’t have anything to distinguish them apart, let’s look toward the future and see what changes are on the horizon. Maybe there we can see what the major differences will be.

Project-Morpheus2

Looking on the horizon, Sony has introduced us to Project Morpheus. This is a virtual reality project that will be a major competitor to the Oculus Rift. Project Morpheus will work with the PS4 and allow its users to game and explore in virtual reality. The release date for the device is suggested to be sometime in 2015. Meanwhile, Xbox has officially expressed interest in virtual reality, but there are no immediate plan or projects that have been announced for the console. This puts Xbox in a strong disadvantage as the virtual reality era approaches. Whether or not it becomes a must-have item remains to be seen, but I know I’d rather invest in a console that looks to the future rather than one that reacts to the market like the Xbox One has been doing.

Two’s Company, Three’s a Crowd…

Another thing to consider is install base. As of the writing of this editorial, The PS4 has sold roughly 8.2 million consoles while the Xbox One has sold roughly 4.7 million. That number is almost double the sales. That doesn’t necessarily mean that one console is better than the other, but it does mean that if you are a fan of multiplayer games, having more consoles on the platform of your choice means more people to play with. That is a big deal in today’s market where almost every game has some form of multiplayer whether it be competitive, cooperative or otherwise.

Free to Play Behind a Paywall…

Finally, as of this writing, if you want to play an MMO on the Xbox One, you will have to shell out for an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Meanwhile on the PS4, you will not need to sign up for PlayStation Plus to access the MMO. Making you pay to then have to pay again is not an acceptable arrangement. Sure, if the game requires a payment plan, I can understand the necessity. However, that monthly subscription should include access to the network you are playing on. You don’t have to give money to Steam when you play on PC, you don’t have to pay PlayStation when you play on the PS4 so you shouldn’t have to pay Xbox to play on the Xbox One. Unfortunately, that is exactly what you have to do.

elder scrolls online

In conclusion, there are lots of great games to play and already the next generation of consoles is an exciting place to play. However, policy and market direction already show that your money is better spent in one camp over the other. That investment is more deserved by the PlayStation 4. This isn’t to say that the Xbox One isn’t worth the price or that it will never be as good, or even better than, the PS4. This just means that the Xbox One has fixed some of the worst offenses against the system, but it still has some more fixing to do.

The view, opinion, position or strategy expressed by the author, and those providing comments, are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions or strategies of New Gamer Nation or any employee thereof. New Gamer Nation makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.

About The Author

Joe Marchese is the founder / Editor in Chief of New Gamer Nation. He has been a gamer for his whole life but has been focusing on his passion to deliver the industry's new to New Gamer Nation. He is an expert of video game culture and has been featured on Fox News Online. Don't be shy to reach out and let him know what you think!

  • lubba

    most fixes are there now. And the xbone is still a game console no matter what anyone thinks.

    • Joe Marchese

      I don’t think anyone is disputing the fact that the Xbox One is a capable and worthy opponent to the PS4 and considered a full game console. As of this writing, the differences in the consoles are still as described.

  • Kamran

    I’m confused with you saying Microsoft weren’t listening to gamers, quite the opposite actually. They wanted to try something new, the gamers didn’t like it, so they listened to them. What about that is “not listening to their fans”??

    • Joe Marchese

      It is more about the initial reaction than the end result. If you asked me to do something, I went ahead and did the opposite, but later on changed my mind and did what you originally suggested; would you say I listened to you? It wasn’t a mystery or even unknown that gamers wanted to play used games, didn’t want to always be online and other options, but Microsoft chose to ignore those requests. They paid the price when people just didn’t buy the Xbox One. To me, that isn’t listening to your fan base.

  • at

    Whoever wrote doesn’t seem to know what they are talking about. Cause I have both ps4 and xbone and you have to pay for ps+ in order to play online multiplayers.

    • ChadMarc

      he means sony have said you wont need ps+ to play a game that you already pay subscription to, whereas with xbox you still need to pay for gold and the games subscription costs.

      • Joe Marchese

        I thought I made that clear, but just as ChadMarc said, it isn’t to play multiplayer games in general because you have to pay for both PS4 and Xbox One. It is just for the games that you pay a subscription for, that is where the difference is.

    • GotNews4Ya

      FFXIV / Warframe / Black Light Retribution / Zen Pinball 2 / War Thunder / Elder Scrolls: Online / Let It Die and any other game that is Free-To-Play (FTP) or Subscription Based does not need PS+ and it never has.. any AAA title and first party title that isn’t FTP or Subscription Based will need PS+ to use Sony’s Servers. This is due to them upgrading their servers and planning for maintenance on their servers much like Xbox Live. Sony just decided that it is time to do so, as the demand for stability and the demand for multiplayer games has risen so much in the past decade.

  • http://twitter.com/MsVelvet1 Ms Velvet

    i totally agree with this article.

  • ShowanW

    “The Reveal & E3-2013, is the best version of Xbox One (and probably consoles as a whole) every thought of. Microsoft has been hitting my nerve as of late. But man was Mattrick right… For those who are scared of change, stick with the 360…

    I have a PS4 (and a XB1 for that matter) and I’m not knocking it at all. But I want more than just a games console(s) once if I’m dropping $400 on a plastic box. I want Sony to embrace (as well as MS) the other things that the company has to offer. Stuff as much in the box as you can.

    Most F2P games suck 1 out of every 5 are actually any good… And as far as Indies go, well it’s 1 out of every 1000 that are actually good .

  • AlexH

    Sony at the very beginning did everything they could to beat out the xbox.
    They too were going to add DRM, then scrapped it for fear of less sales.
    They too were going to add the Camera, then scrapped it for fear of less sales.

    Fans were their concern??? You truly live in a fantasy.
    They are slowly crumbling as a company as you can see below:
    http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/27/technology/sony-downgrade-junk/

    http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/26/5451012/sony-closing-majority-of-us-retail-stores-by-end-2014

    • aintwhatitlookslike

      Rumors sony never said anything of the sort. We all watched e3 2013 😉

    • aintwhatitlookslike

      Didn’t Microsoft just fire 14% of there workforce? Ouch :p

    • Not_true

      Wrong, they were not planning on adding 24 hour DRM check-ins. You lie.

      It’s sad PS4 is dominating so badly that hateful ms shills are left desperately wishing Sony would go bankrupt. Keep dreaming, it’s not happening.

      Sony will be fine, not going bankrupt. Stop spreading lies, hatred, and FUD.

    • Joe Marchese

      Well what you are presenting is only half-truths. Lots of things were discussed because Sony is a business and they are trying to make the most money possible. However, whatever was presented at E3 was what the company decided on and that is the first official word we had. Everything else is just rumor.

      As for your fans comment, of course Sony is concerned about fans. Microsoft was concerned about fans as well because their fans are their customers and where ultimately all the money lies. However, Sony did a better job at reading its fan base and Microsoft went out on a limb to project what people wanted. As of this writing, they were wrong and I think most people would accept that including Microsoft employees and executives.

      Sony is certainly not slowly crumbling as you suggest. That CNN article is almost 8 months old and since then Sony has liquidated many of its assets to move to profitability. Its stock price is roughly 20% higher than it was when that article was written. The Verge article was covering the move that Sony was making to fix the debt problems it has. What you didn’t post was how PlayStation is Sony’s strongest brand and the single reason why the company hasn’t failed otherwise. It manages to bring in millions of dollars for the firm while its hardware division is still working it out. Sony may not be selling TVs in the future, but PlayStation will always exist as long as gaming is as big as it is.

      • Not_true

        Look at that posters history. It’s just a garden variety microsoft troll/fanboy spreading lies, FUD, and hate.

        • Joe Marchese

          There is no trolling at all, everything that was presented was all backed by fact and performance to date. Trying to attack my integrity is a desperate move for a weak argument. If what I said isn’t true, prove it and I will engage you in debate. Calling me a lair and a fanboy only demotes anything you bring to the game. Be better than that and change my mind, I challenge you to do so.

          • Not_true

            I was talking about the AlexH you replied to.

          • Joe Marchese

            My apologies! I was commenting via phone and lost the hierarchy on the small screen. I take it all back lol.

  • aintwhatitlookslike

    Great article Microsoft shown there true colors at e3 2014 and people will not forget that. Hence the ps4 having double the sales as the bone
    well done Sony better look next gen Microsoft 😡

  • datdude

    Surprised the author didn’t mention Sony’s superior first party developers that make a great variety of games, not simply the Halo and Gears of War types.

    • Joe Marchese

      While I personally agree with you that Sony has better first and third party support especially among indie developers, I tried to keep the argument closer to things I could prove rather than just how I felt about the situation.

  • June

    What a hatchet piece have fun with your indies I’ll be enjoying AAA ON XBOX ONE!

    • Joe Marchese

      Listen, no one said that the Xbox One is not a good console or that you couldn’t enjoy playing games on it. If you prefer Xbox for your gaming needs, then by all means have a blast. Everything that was brought up in the article is backed by facts. Feel free to look them up yourself if you don’t want to take my word for it. To call the article a hatchet piece simply does not hold water especially on the grounds of you not being happy with the conclusions. When you are ready to bring something substantial to the table, I am ready to engage you.