Christmas is less than a week away, and it's time to make some big purchasing decisions, if you haven't already. Out of every question posed to me by readers (and even Forbes staffers), one comes up more than any other. PS4 or Xbox One?
Obviously there are other gaming options this holiday season, but it will be a relatively niche group that wraps up gaming PC components for under the tree. And as for the third console in the current scene, the Wii U, I've already made my argument as to why that actually might be the best system to unwrap Christmas morning, due to its amazing collection of local multiplayer-focused games like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.
With that said, I think in the grand scheme of gaming, the Wii U is still best as supplemental system to either PS4 or Xbox One. If you use it as your primary system only, you will miss out on 90% of major third party releases every year (plus Sony or Microsoft exclusives, obviously). If you wanted to play Dragon Age, Far Cry, Shadow of Mordor, Wolfenstein, Destiny, Call of Duty, Madden or Assassin's Creed this year, you either have to own a PlayStation or Xbox. No matter what the Wii U offers, its biggest downfall is that it lacks the capability to play so many of these huge third party titles.
PS4 vs. Xbox One has been a battle two years running now, and though many articles like this one have been written in the past, the systems are constantly evolving, so the matchup isn't the same as it was say, last Christmas right after both consoles had just come out. And now, the two systems have become more similar in ever both in price and functionality, which is why this decision is probably harder than it's ever been, and the reason this question is posed to me so often.
Given that I own both systems (plus the Wii U), I'm in a better position than some to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each in their present form. Here's my take on both systems based on how they've evolved over the past year, and what's to come in 2015.
The Price
For all these comparisons about which console is best, it isn't up for debate which system has moved the most units so far. The latest confirmed data we have is that 13.5 million PS4s have been sold to consumers, compared to 10 million Xbox Ones sold to retailers, which are two different metrics meaning the One is even further behind than it looks. We can go into great detail about why this is, but suffice to say the One had a rather bad launch, debuting with a price $100 higher than the PS4 because of a forcibly bundled Kinect, a peripheral many consumers didn't want or need, so they went with the lower priced system that was reportedly performing better as well.
What does this have to do with current price? Well, the tables have turned somewhat since a year ago. Sony, because the PS4 has sold outrageously well, has kept the price relatively high, $400 for its holiday bundles which include a game like GTA 5 or The Last of Us Remastered. Add in the compounding factor of Sony struggling in nearly every other aspect of its business, and PS4 isn't going to see a major price cut for quite a while.
The Xbox One is now desperate to catch up with Sony, which has come with deep discounts to the console. Most famously, the Xbox One extracted itself from the Kinect, which allowed it to cut $100 off the price immediately, and ahead of the holiday, both systems were selling for $400. But now since around Black Friday, Microsoft has come out with bundles for games like Sunset Overdrive, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin's Creed Unity for $350, which, if you were planning on buying the packaged game anyway, means the effective price of the console is about $290-300. For a year after release, that's not bad at all (unfortunately two of those three packaged games had catastrophic launches, so the bundles may have had their impact lessened).
For many families, a $50-100 difference could be the deciding factor when it comes to buying one console over a seemingly similar one, which is why I'm stating this difference first. But given that a console is an investment that will likely be played for six, seven or eight years in the current market, $50 over that time may be relatively trivial. Microsoft used to have a clear disadvantage with a $50 a year Xbox Live Gold subscription that was a hidden, required cost of operation, but now with Sony charging the same for PS Plus, that's no longer a distinct point in their favor.
So while yes, the Xbox One is a tad cheaper than the PS4 (and way cheaper than a year ago), I think there needs to be consideration of additional factors as well.
The Performance
Sony sold so many PS4s based not only on their lower price, but also the perception that their console was able to more consistently hit benchmarks of 60fps and 1080p resolution. The PS4 is indeed a more powerful system than the Xbox One by a nose, but for most the difference may not be noticeable enough to matter.
This is where we can bring gaming PCs and the Wii U back in. A high-end gaming PC will almost always perform noticeably better than either the PS4 or the Xbox One in every metric that matters. That's just how PC gaming works, and if getting the best performance out of every game you purchase is your number one priority, that's the gaming route you should take. And that's in contrast to the Wii U, which does have visually splendid games, yes, but overall its performance is closer to the PS3 and Xbox 360, rather than their new-gen counterparts. The difference between Xbox One/PS4 and the Wii U is very much noticeable, and the Wii U's hardware is much of the reason so many third party games skip the system.
But when compared to each other? It's just hard to say that the Xbox One and PS4 are really all that dissimilar. When they succeed, they both succeed. I've played 100 hours of the visually splendid Destiny across both systems, and never once has there been a time when one game looked better than the other version. And when a game fails, it fails on both systems. Assassin's Creed Unity's enormous framerate issues occurred on both consoles and PC, and it just isn't as if one game will launch broken on Xbox and be perfectly fine on PS4.
After playing both of these consoles for a solid year, I just can't say that the visual component of their games has been a significant difference between the PS4 and Xbox One. And that's even essentially playing them side-by-side. If you only own one, you will quite literally never go to your friend's house, see them playing something on Xbox/PlayStation and say "whoa, that looks way better than my system!" So while the PlayStation 4 may have a slight advantage here, I think this is one of the smallest factors at play when comparing these two systems.
The Feel
This is a rather abstract concept, and one that may come down to personal preference more than most, but I think general usability can be an important factor when choosing a console, and unlike the visual section above, I do notice significant difference between the PS4 and Xbox One in this area.
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, I hate the Xbox One user interface. It's a messy system of Windows 8 style tiles that makes no sense to navigate with a controller, and works horribly with Kinect motion controls, which you would hope would be intuitive. I've spent well over a year with my Xbox, and I'm still at a loss half the time as to how to get to specific menus. The tiles shift and change and the large central window often turns into "tile-ception" as you use the central button on the controller to zoom in and out of the dashboard. It's not unusable, but it is a mess. The bright side is that Microsoft is known for sweeping dashboard redesigns, and its possible one might come this year. The one advantage Microsoft's UI does have is the console's ability to be hooked into your cable box to control your TV, which is admittedly pretty cool.
The PlayStation 4 dashboard may not be brilliant by any means (both systems have a problem of hiding important information), but it's certainly more user-friendly than Xbox One's. It's far more simple and streamlined, and is just more aesthetically pleasant to boot. It's why when I'm using a console for Netflix or Amazon, I always turn on PS4 instead of Xbox, even if the difference isn't world-shattering, it's better enough to be a distinct preference.
But the second part of feel has to do with the controller, and PS4 suffers a bit in that category. Namely, PlayStation has a thumbstick problem. In the current controller, you'll run into an issue where depending on the motion you're trying to do in a game, sometimes your thumbs will slip off the thumbsticks as they lack very much grip. So much so, that I've seen aftermarket accessories sold for the system that act as little rubber hats for your existing thumbsticks so your digits stay in place. But past that, PS4 thumbsticks also have the unfortunate tendency to shred over time. The rubber gets gouged by fingernails or general overuse, and it can get pretty bad and require a warranty replacement.
The Xbox One controller has none of these issues, and I really do love its design, especially for shooters. The controller alone is the reason I pick up nearly every multiplatform first person shooter for Xbox One over PS4, as it just feels right. Though I will say advertised gimmicks like rumbling triggers don't really do much for me. And one thing the Xbox One controller lacks is the inborn ability to be played with headphones (ie, sound not coming out of the TV), which the PS4 has natively. You have to buy an aftermarket jack and update your controller software in order to do it, while PS4 is just plug and play with any set of headphones you have (a must for parents trying to play games quietly around kids, or video game journalists trying to play games around wives studying for medical school tests).
Lastly, there's the superficial factor of the overall look of the console. I absolutely love the angular, slim design of the PS4, while I hate the giant, pudgy box of the Xbox One. I built shelves on either side of my TV to hold all my consoles, and while the PS4 fits snuggly against the wall, the Xbox One hangs over the edge of the shelf like it's about to end it all by dashing itself on the wood floor below. Slimmer versions of each console will follow, but right now the One is something of a behemoth between the box itself, its ever-present power brick and Kinect and its thick cable. In that respect, it's kind of awful.
The (Current) Games
Games may indeed turn out to be the most important factor when it comes to buying one console over another, and yet, a year in, there are still only a handful of exclusives to sway you to buy one system over another. If we're being honest, Nintendo undoubtedly has the best first party exclusives of the year between Mario Kart, Smash Bros and Bayonetta, with Sony and Microsoft lagging behind.
And yet, we still have to compare them, because both the PS4 and Xbox One share a huge number of third party games. We've established that one system doesn't really have a huge leg up on the other when it comes to these shared games, so it really comes down to personal preference for those titles, or something superficial like squeezing a tiny bit better performance out of PS4 or liking the Xbox's controller more for shooters as I've mentioned.
So rather, we have to focus on the games they don't share, and this is what really defines all console wars.
Between both systems, there really aren't any exclusive games just yet that scream "yes, I have to have that!" The closest thing to a must-have from Sony is probably The Last of Us Remastered, given how excellent the original game was, but if you've already played it, it may not be worthwhile. Microsoft's best exclusive is also a remaster, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a series that has quite a bit more replayability than The Last of Us, but unfortunately has been one of the biggest missed opportunities of the year. Though the remade campaigns of Halo: MCC are great, the multiplayer aspect of the game has ranged from mildly glitchy to completely broken since launch, with 343 constantly running around trying to fix it even weeks after the game's launch. As a result, I compared Halo: MCC to a finely cooked steak dropped on the floor at the last minute. It may be perfectly functional someday, but it's a long road to get there, and it's the biggest missed opportunity of the year.
Elsewhere, PS4 and Xbox One boast two equally fun superhero sandbox titles in the form of Infamous: Second Son and Sunset Overdrive respectively. Infamous evolves on the electricity-based concept of the past games of the series in new and creative ways, while Sunset Overdrive is from the loony minds that gave us Ratchet and Clank, and is a great deal more fun than commercials would have you believe as a sort of bizarre blend of Jet Set Radio, Tony Hawk and Saints Row. Both are fun, though perhaps they kind of cancel each other out in terms of quality.
Other exclusives for both systems are just so-so. Ryse was better than I thought it would be for Xbox, but still far from great. I hate Dead Rising as a series, but that may be personal preference. I have little interest in racing sims like Forza. Titanfall could have been Xbox One's crown jewel with a huge exclusive arrangement between Microsoft, Respawn and EA, but with such a limited scope it managed to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year, despite being mechanically and conceptually excellent.
For PS4, its launch shooter Killzone Shadow Fall was adequate, but forgettable. Racer Driveclub was another huge launch disaster of the year with completely broken online play. Knack was a neat concept that turned out to be really bad in execution. One bright spot may be puzzle/platformer/creator Little Big Planet 3, though it's not quite a blockbuster series.
This is the problem. When everyone is making their game of the year lists for 2014, it's very likely there will be no Xbox One or PS4 exclusives on it. Most of the best games out this year are from Nintendo (Smash/Bayonetta), on PC (Hearthstone/Warcraft), or multiplatform (Dragon Age/Far Cry/Wolfenstein/Mordor).
That's why we have to look ahead.
The (Future) Games
Here's where competition really starts to heat up. Both Xbox and PlayStation have significant games on deck for 2015, and it may be enough to sway your decision one way or the other.
Xbox One's biggest exclusive will inarguably be Halo 5, the multiplayer beta of which actually started this weekend, practically nine months before the game is released next fall. From what we've seen so far in this very, very early build, it seems pretty great, despite some significant changes to the formula. There are many fans who will buy an Xbox because of Halo alone given how good the series has been, and its one franchise that will never, ever go multiplatform.
Xbox One also has a new Crackdown game in the works, which closed out Microsoft's show at E3 this year. There's Fable Legends, which could be an interesting turn for the series (or a disaster). And we haven't heard anything about Gears of War in a long while, but Microsoft paid big money for the rights to the franchise, so expect a new game soon (though possibly 2016). Past these established series, there are a few unknowns in the form of Scalebound, Quantum Break and a resurgence of Phantom Dust.
Sony recently devoted an entire live show to pitching the public on what's to come for the PS4 at Vegas's PlayStation Experience. It was well-timed with the holiday, and really did make 2015 look like a killer year for the system.
First and foremost there's Uncharted 4, which released a huge amount of gameplay footage that looked absolutely incredible. The new Uncharted will probably be the best looking game of the console generation when it's released, as Naughty Dog knows how to extract more power from PlayStation than anyone else. But past that, combat looked creative and intense, with amazing level design and a cinematic quality we've come to expect from the series. It'll be a can't-miss.
Then we have Bloodborne from the creator of Dark Souls, but a fast, more horrifying version of the game that moves into new territory. It's a hugely anticipated new IP, and may turn out to be the next super-franchise from director Hidetaka Miyazaki, and no one has anything but positive things to say about it so far.
Past that there's The Order: 1886, which is still stingy with its footage, but is from much of the team that brought us past God of War games. The monster hunting, steampunk-ish game is set in Victorian London, and looks to be a unique concept all its own.
Both systems have a claim on a few games where the exclusivity remains a little shaky. PS4 has No Man's Sky as a timed exclusive over Xbox One, I believe, and also Street Fighter V, which they helped fund. Similarly, Xbox One will have exclusive rights to Rise of the Tomb Raider, which they also backed financially. It's a bit murky if these games will forever be locked to one console or another, but they certainly will for at least a year or more as a result of these deals.
In Conclusion
You want an easy answer? I don't have one. I do have 3,000 words of analysis above, but as you can see, it's a pretty tight race, and so much of it comes down to personal preference. Xbox One has an edge in price now. PS4 has slightly better hardware. Xbox One's UI is bad but it's controller is good, and it's somewhat vice-versa for PS4. And in terms of games, I think Xbox One may have a very slight exclusive advantage at present, but I think 2015 is going to be an absolutely killer year for Sony between Uncharted, Bloodborne and The Order. I'm just not sure Halo and Crackdown will be enough for Xbox to compete.
I think the Xbox One might be the better purchase right now, in this moment, but again, since this is a multi-year investment, and PlayStation is clearly gearing up to put out some incredible titles, many of them within the next year alone.
I've said enough good and bad about each console to be accused of being a fanboy for either camp, but hopefully I've provided you with enough information to make an informed decision. Happy hunting, and happy holidays.
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