Lately I've been having some internal conflict or change of heart regarding MS. I've owned all xbox consoles so far. The original, 360 elite and traded my xbox one for the xbox one s, and up until recently been eagerly anticipating trading in my one s for a one x. I've also owned every competing PS consoles. The PS2, PS3, and PS4. I had the PS4 at launch and the xbox one a year later after the price drops and removal of kinect. The PS4 was a dust collector, playing only Resogun at launch and then InFamous Second Son the following spring. Surprisingly it was the Wii U getting the most play between Mario Kart 8, Mario 3D Word, Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2. Wii U fulfilled my gaming needs while PS4 collected dust, until the Xbox one arrived then the Wii U joined the PS4 as a dust collector. The xbox one was great i played Halo MCC, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum break, Ori and the Bind Forest, Gears Definitive, Gears 4. At this point I started thinking if I need to continue the trend of owning PS and Xbox consoles. I don't like that I have to have 2 gaming subscriptions XBL and PS+. So with the one x around the corner, I was thinking I can ditch PlayStation going forward. The xbox was better because it would be more powerful, play 4k blu rays, xbox live gave better free games and i actually keep the 360 free games, xbox has backward compatibility with OG Xbox and 360, and better services like EA Access and recently game pass. I could be a content gamer owning just an Xbox.
But then I sold my PS4, and purchased a PS4 Pro to go with my new Sony 4k HDR TV. I started reconnecting with the PlayStation library and falling in love with gaming. I was blown away how good Horizon Zero Dawn was in terms of graphics, game play, story and presentation. Older titles like Bloodborne had me awed at the details in the level and atmosphere. Recent titles like Uncharted Lost Legacy, had me just staring at the game for the graphics on display. And the Spiderman demo at E3, along with God of War and Days Gone. Last of us 2, Detroit become human. I'm excited to go back and play things I've missed like The Last Guardian. And try new franchises not found anywhere else like Yakuza, Gravity Rush 2, and Persona. Currently I'm enjoying the remake of Ratchet and Clank and in 4k (checkerboard) and HDR and it's really amazing. Amazing to the point where I now feel I don't need to get the one x any more. And i'm considering doing a 180 and staying with PlayStation and ditching Xbox and here's why...
Most agree competition is good for the consumer, but MS presents an example where their entry in space negatively affected consumers. We pay for expensive consoles, games are expensive and we also pay for internet access. We used to expect that when we buy a game, the multiplayer portion is included. Xbox changed the game, we now have to pay extra to play online with our friends. Opposite of PC, PS3 and Wii U. No doubt the move to charge for online multiplayer with PS4 and Switch are MS influenced. As well, MS decisions are not consumer friendly. The whole always online no used games thing that affected xbox one's launch. And also, I always hated how on Xbox platforms you would have to pay for your internet access, pay for your Netflix subscription and then pay for Xbox live in order to use netflix on the console. They held back other services behind their paywall. In this case, competition from Sony benefited us by forcing MS to remove Netflix from behind the paywall as they were getting killed by PS4, and probably it caused them to add more features to the one s like the 4k blu ray drive, and many price drops again because they were being killed by Sony.
Also I feel like Sony sees gaming as core to their success and invests in 1st part studios and developers to have a nice output of new and exciting games. Where as I feel like MS is more profit driven and invests in proven franchises. Halo was a success, they didn't care to keep Bungie exclusive and have them make another franchise, they let bungie go and kept the Halo franchise. Same thing with Gears of War, they only care to keep the Franchise and let the developers go on. GTA is a big franchise, last gen they spent 50 million just to get DLC first for something that is popular than to invest in developers or studios. Currently PlayerUnknowns Battleground is big title they are investing in that it.
Sorry for the long winded post, to bring it back around to the topic at hand, I guess the above lays out the reasons why as a Xbox fan I wouldn't really care greatly if MS sold off Xbox and exited the console space. With their desire for profits I can see them bring gears of war and halo to PlayStation anyways. The only problem is who would be there to scoop up customers if Sony got to ridiculous in their policies.
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