A year of dueling console launches is upon us once again, but this one feels different somehow. Far from deciding between competing launch lineups or network infrastructure, this time the choice between Xbox and PlayStation is more philosophical. The two companies, Microsoft and Sony, have presented very different visions for the future of console gaming. And that's left me uniquely torn between my feelings of an innate responsibility to reward the direction I want to see from the industry, and simply wanting to have access to all the games I care about.
To state what may be obvious, we don't know the price points for the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, but we're expecting each of them to be roughly $500. Many gamers will have to choose one or the other this year even if they ultimately plan to own every major console eventually. I'll probably be among those making the choice, especially as America collectively tightens its belt in the midst of a pandemic-sparked recession. That difference between each console's approach accents the considerations facing those making a choice between them.
Microsoft appears to be consciously blurring the line between generations, with the promise of a vast back-catalog playable on Series X, the rejection of next-gen exclusivity for the near future, and free upgrades to next-gen through its Smart Delivery feature. Many of its games are also available on PC, and sometimes that includes ownership across the two platforms. Meanwhile, it's leaning harder on services like Game Pass and the included xCloud streaming to make the ecosystem itself an attractive proposition. Even the controllers will work across generations, which is especially welcome news to me as an Elite 2 owner.
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