Why is PlayStation so popular again?

Hi there,

that the PlayStation 4 has sold better than the XBox one can be explained by the fact that Microsoft has made many stupid decisions. (expensive, weak, the announced terms of use…) but with the current generation of consoles, XBox seems to have done everything right, why is the Sony console so much more popular anyway. In various surveys, Sony wins with 80 - 90%. Why?

Games offer, I would say.

Or. Brand loyalty to established brands like "Final Fantasy", "The Last of Us" and what else do I know.

Who is not. Xbox wants to get can also simply assemble a PC, makes more sense

An Xbox is a PC light.

I can get a PC instead of an Xbox. Is more powerful, it runs the same games and I can play with an Xbox controller if I want.

However, there's no such alternative to the Playstation.

My private view:

Xbox is more of a multifunctional console. You can do a lot.

Playstation is simply the gaming console. So actually only designed for gaming. (And emergency Blu-ray player) + all the PS5 only games.

I want a console to play with. The PS5 is preprogrammed. I don't need anything else, what else do I have my PC for?

My view as a programmer:

Ps5 is slightly ahead here too. Although the Xbox is better on the spec sheet.

According to Microsoft, the processor from the Xbox shank as much as 12 TeraFlops.
The PS5 but only 10 and a few crushed ones.

The problem here:

Even if the processor would manage 12 TeraFlops in the best condition, it is very difficult as a developer to do this.
First, in order to manage 12 teraflops, the processor must always be nice and cool. If a user places the console in the far corner and the heat accumulates there, 12 TeraFlops no longer bring anything.

Actually, if you have the Xbox and PlayStation open somewhere, the cooling is very good!

Now continue with the problem:

Microsoft has released the "new" General / Game Development Kit (GDK) for the Xbox.

This should help developers to develop games.
Microsoft only released the GDK for the Xbox at the end of June. (Yes, change all games to it within a few months, it's so quick…)

So. The problem is now with the GDK, you can't use the full 12 teraflops. (The GDK is the bootleneck). So it is very difficult as a developer to let the game run with the best performance on the Xbox. It therefore takes a lot of work and is tedious. (But you don't have the time to do that, that's why Assassins creed Val runs, for example. Better on Xbox one than on Xbox Series X)

In contrast, Sony hasn't made a lot of changes for developers. There were just a few features added and that was it. It's just easier to let the games run at peak performance.

Conclusion: You lose a lot of power through Microsoft's GDK and Cross Platform Xbox stuff. If they can do that, they could get more out of it. (But they don't get it right. Like all the bugs / security holes in Windows, all of which are reported but never fixed. And yes, that's true.)

For me as a developer, PS5 is simply ahead here.

Why is the PS5 more popular? Because the Playstation brand has simply established itself in people in Germany. That has nothing to do with advantages, logic, etc. The Playstation lives entirely from your level of awareness and the "cult image" that it built up during the PS1 and PS2 era.

Especially with the "younger" generation, who only got into console gaming with the Playstation, the Playstation is simply the symbol for console. I've been a gamer & console gamer since 1984 and for me there's no brand image to which I feel I belong. The console that offers me the most advantages or the corresponding software is bought. Usually there are several consoles with me in each console generation.

In order to change the perception in the mind, you need about two console generations if no serious things occur (regardless of whether they are positive or negative). After the great success of the XBox360, Microsoft was well on the way to catching up with Sony or even overtaking them in the long term. For the launch of the XBox One they did everything wrong that could be done wrong and (luckily) Don Mattrick had to take his hat and Phil Spencer took over the helm.

The XBox Series X and S are already very successful, but by no means at the level of popularity of the Playstation, which still lives off its reputation.

It is true that the Xbox is a multifunctional console (the Playstation is also), but in this generation it is advertised as a pure gaming machine, because MS has learned from the debacle of the XBox One announcement.

The argument: "You can also buy a PC there" is absolutely wrong! Then you can also tell someone who wants to buy a mid-range car for 20,000 euro for the way to work: "You can also buy a souped-up and tuned pickup truck with 800PS for 80,000 euro that has off-road tires, a winch and no huge loading area! "

Why do you play primarily on a console: It is cheaper, less complicated and offers a lot of performance for little money. Add to that the "comfort factor": Simply sit in the armchair in the living room, the controller in your hand and off you go! (No, a tower PC is not a typical console player in the living room!).

Microsoft has been pursuing a completely different approach than Sony since this generation: giving as many people the opportunity to enter the XBox ecosystem as possible and as easily as possible and as diverse as possible. The black (or white) box is only ONE way of access of many: I can traditionally use a console, I can use the game pass on the PC, I can stream XCloud to the smartphone / tablet / (and soon) PC. In the future, I can use the XCloud as an app on Smart TV's (MS and LG have already announced a partnership) and will be able to use it on the Series X / S in the future too. Why is the latter so special? Because, if I have a good internet connection, I can even use the Series S as a full 4K console. Because 4K can already be output (e.g. With films), it is just too weak for the calculation. With the Series S, you will have a 4K XCloud Streambox in the future.

Microsoft's focus is gamepass and the concept works. In less than 6 months, the number of users has risen from 10 to 15 million and should reach around 20 million at the turn of the year. In my circle of friends alone, seven PC-only gamers have bought their game pass in the last 10 days.

As a multi-platform gamer, I recently deliberately bought a Series S almost two weeks ago, even though I have a fairly new 4,000 euro gaming PC here, and I won't spend any money on another console for the time being, although I do Money set aside for a Series X, a PS5, and the Series S. Why? Because I don't have a 4K TV yet and that's why a 4K console is not profitable.

Why an XBox at all when I already have an expensive gaming PC? Because PC and Xbox create perfect synergies: The games in Gamepass Ultimate are cross-gaming, cross-save and cross-progression capable. This means that I can play a round on the PC in the office after work, then have dinner with the family and when the children are in bed I continue to play the same game in the same place on the XBox in the living room, etc.

Thank you for your answer, since you have drawn out a lot, I allow myself to write my opinion. So 1. If you have a 4K television, you don't need a Series S to watch films. Because every 4K television is a smart TV.

2. To cite only the fame as the reason for the popularity of the PS4 is ignorant, especially when you dig into the advantages of the XBox. So here are the two most important arguments why 80% of console buyers buy a PS5: Exclusives (the games from the genre you mentioned are only the best known, these games are showered with prizes and awards like The Last of us Part II But there are still tons of great exclusives from other genres that are simply not known for non-playstation players.), The really revolutionary controller that really gives you the feeling of sitting at a next gen console. I mean, not much is happening in graphic now (compared to the graphic jumps from PS2 to PS3.) UHD instead of HD and 60fps instead of 30 fps are only small visible upgrades. The PS5 controller is really the only really revolutionary thing that this generation of consoles has come across across brands. 3. Who plays on the work PC after work at work? 😂

I'll just start with your last sentence:

"Who plays on the work PC after work? 😂"

- Someone who is self-employed and works from home. 😉

to 1.) Absolutely correct. But now consider the following (not so absurd) scenario: You have a Full HD TV, so buy a Series S. At some point later there will be a new 4K TV and by then the XCloud service will probably also be available on the console. So you have the option to continue to use the Series S and still play 4K.

According to current surveys, only a small proportion of console users or households have a 4K TV so far, so the scenario is not that far-fetched.

Regarding 2.) There can be no talk of "just" here, but we're creatures of habit (also confirmed by economic and behavioral psychology) and tend more towards what we know than towards something new that we're unsure of. We always act from two drives: achieving happiness and avoiding pain / mistakes and the latter impulse is many times stronger than the former.

With the AAA-Exclusives, I agree with you, provided that the genre suits you, which for the most part fits into the "3rd Person Single Player Action Adventure" scheme at Sony. That is the current interest trend and Sony serves it masterfully. If you have your area of interest outside of this genre, you will have to look a little harder for AAA exclusives at Sony.

The controller: Certainly a great step, but not a sales argument, but rather a reinforcement of the opinions / emotions of the existing Sony fans. I dare to say: If MS had now integrated these features into their controller, they would still not have converted fans from the Sony camp. Because the features have not yet been tested enough for this and must first show over time whether they really raise the feel of the game to a new, indispensable level, or whether, as I suspect, a familiarization effect occurs again after a short time, making it easy is just "normal".

Example: My PS3 FAT release console had a Sixaxis controller (not yet a Dualshock 3) and the position sensor was "the game changer". In the end, it was hardly used and in many games simply seemed artificially pressed into it and hardly offered any real added value. Over time it became more annoying to swing around in the air to place the explosive charges in Killzone 2 or to balance over a tree trunk in Uncharted.

With my PS4 Pro, I had the touchpad, which was mostly only used as an oversized button, a croaking mini speaker and an annoying front light that I could neither dim nor switch off and, especially in the dark, was reflected quite nastily on the TV. And all the gimmicks could not be switched off and contributed to the short playing time with the controller because the battery was empty after a few hours.

I like the PS5 controller very much, but more because Sony has finally given the part a reasonable size. If the left stick were now in the position of the control pad and the right in the position of the thumb buttons, then this could well be my favorite controller in terms of haptics, provided the battery lasts longer than the PS4.

I didn't have it in my hand yet and for me, for example, the feel / feel of the triggers and bumpers is also important. They looked a bit cheap on the PS4, so I almost bought the Nacon Revolution Pro Controller, which was not worth the extra charge to me at first.