There is no debate that Xbox and PlayStation are very popular consoles. Their similarities have sparked a long-lasting debate that turned into a continuous war over which console is better. But which console is winning this war?
Despite their close contention, PlayStation reigns supreme due to its exclusives, hardware, and overall advantages.
The biggest point to make is sales. Currently, the PlayStation 5 sold 59.3 million consoles worldwide, compared to the Xbox Series X and its measly 29 million units expressed by IGN. Various PlayStation consoles other than the original are in the top 14 most-bought consoles of all time. Game exclusives play a big role in why PlayStation sales are better. People like to choose the PlayStations exclusives over the Xbox. This is shown with PS5 games like Spider-Man or God of War, which are huge among the gaming community, with Spider-Man 2 having 11 million sales in just six months.
Internal and external hardware also play roles in choosing the better console. Xbox has a slight edge over PlayStation in internal hardware and always has. In fact, it used to matter a lot. Xbox was the first console to include a hard drive to save data on games. Now, that edge doesn’t matter when both consoles now have hard drives. When it comes to external builds, PlayStation has got Xbox beat with a more sleek and less bulky console. In addition, controllers take part in the external hardware. PS5 again has the superiority over Xbox, having a more comfortable controller and more favorable designs.
The pair also have a membership that can get users free games: PS Plus and Game Pass. Ultimately, PS Plus is better. Xbox did this gimmick first on June 1 of 2017 and it helped them a lot by hosting a deal people loved and enjoyed. In the past, when it was Xbox One and PS4, if people bought the Game Pass on Xbox, they would pay a monthly subscription and play thousands of games for free. But, if the subscription is not paid for, the games are removed from the game library. PS Plus is newer and it gives fewer game options, but on PS Plus, a person can claim three different games every month and those games will be kept. Then each month, users can claim one more well-known $60 game to keep along with two cheaper games.
An argument can be made for Xbox though. It does have a console in the top 14 most-bought consoles. It has better internal hardware as mentioned earlier. Then, there are the Xbox exclusives, where Xbox has Gears of War, Forza, and Halo. These are all popular games on Xbox, Halo being very popular in the early 2000s with a combined sales number of 30 million copies between the first three games. But Xbox doesn’t have the consistency in its consoles to build a constant customer base. It only beats PlayStation in internal hardware and not external. Even then, the game exclusives have been very lackluster and mediocre. An example of this is Halo and it not being enjoyable to fans or the Forza racing games having the same recurring elements. Every now and again, there are also unimpressive solo entries. Xbox currently produces unintriguing or mediocre games, which makes it hard for the brand to keep up.
PlayStation ends up overwhelming Xbox. Consistency, hardware, and games are some of the many positives PlayStation has, outperforming Xbox on multiple fronts. Clearly, Xbox can’t keep up and isn’t worth buying when presented with the better option of owning a PlayStation.
