The different strategies of Microsoft and Sony next-gen consoles

We’re just days away from the next generation of console gaming with the upcoming Xbox Series X / S and PlayStation 5 releases. And now that we’re so close to those releases, we have a pretty good idea of ​​how both companies are approaching. this next generation.

Microsoft is moving toward a future where the hardware you’re playing with hardly matters. If you want to play an Xbox game, Microsoft is trying to make it possible on many different devices. Sony, on the other hand, follows a more traditional approach with the PS5, where you can only play exclusive PS5 games on the console itself. But at launch, both companies are relying heavily on older generation libraries to complete the first few months of their lineups.

It should be an exciting new generation. Here’s what we know about Microsoft and Sony’s strategies.

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Microsoft X / S Series

You’ll get your hands on Microsoft’s newest consoles first, the $ 499 Xbox Series X and the slightly less powerful $ 299 Xbox Series S, when they launch on November 10. There is no marquee launch title, it was supposed to be Infinite Halo until it was delayed until 2021.

But that doesn’t mean you won’t have a lot to play for on day one. The X Series will be backward compatible with a huge amount from the previous Xbox catalog, and you will also have access to more than 100 titles if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass. That ability to play a large number of Xbox games, whether you own them or are paying Microsoft a monthly fee for the privilege of doing so, is key to Microsoft’s approach with its new Xbox consoles.

Let’s talk about backward compatibility first. If you still have multiple Xbox One games, they should work on the new consoles unless they require Kinect. And the Xbox Series X and Series S will also support Xbox 360 backward compatible and original Xbox games. That alone gives you a huge potential library of games that you can play, and Microsoft has a list of all the backward-compatible games here.

Backward-compatible games will run natively on the new consoles, meaning they can take advantage of their more powerful hardware for faster load times, Microsoft’s new Auto HDR feature, and more. In his tests, my colleague Tom Warren found that a pre-release version of the X Series loaded most games much faster than his Xbox One X.

And many games are receiving patches or updates to take advantage of new hardware in upcoming consoles. On launch day, several older games will have optimizations for Series X and Series S, including Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4Y Sea of ​​Thieves. Meanwhile, Halo: The Master Chief Collection It will receive an update on November 17, just a week after the launch of the new consoles, which adds 120 fps in campaign and multiplayer modes, among other updates.

You can also play any of the more than 100 games that are available on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service for games. And the value of that subscription will only increase over time, as full versions of all upcoming games of their own will hit the service on their launch date. With some developers raising the price of a game to $ 69.99 for this next generation of consoles, having access to new games for a monthly subscription of $ 9.99 or $ 14.99 is a bargain in comparison.

And an Xbox Game Pass subscription will be even sweeter with Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda Softworks’ parent company ZeniMax Media. The acquisition means that Microsoft now owns large franchises such as Condemn, Ancient documentsY Fall, and any new entries from those franchises will be available to Game Pass subscribers on day one. And current Bethesda games will be added to Game Pass over time, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer.

A subscription to Game Pass Ultimate of $ 14.99 per month also includes access to Microsoft’s cloud gaming service, known as xCloud. Right now, xCloud only lets you stream compatible Xbox games to an Android device, which means you can essentially play Xbox games wherever you take your Android phone (assuming you have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection that is capable of handle it). Some games even have touch controls, which means you don’t need an Xbox controller to play them on the cloud gaming service.

xCloud will be available on Windows PC sometime next year, and a web app for iOS is supposed to be released in early 2021. There’s another way to play your Xbox games on your phone too: Microsoft offers a gaming feature remote that allows you to stream games from your own console to your Android or iOS device.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will further includes games on EA Play starting November 10, which means you play several of EA’s biggest titles without paying a separate subscription.

And if you don’t plan on upgrading to Microsoft’s next-gen consoles yet, some Xbox One titles will be compatible with Microsoft’s Smart Delivery program, which allows you to upgrade an Xbox One version of a cross-gen game to your Xbox version. Series X for free.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Sony PlayStation 5

Sony’s PlayStation 5 will be available on November 12, just two days after Xbox Series X and Series S. While Microsoft is focused on letting you play games from the entire Xbox family of consoles wherever you want to play them, Sony seems to be focused. more on selling you next-gen games to play on your next-gen console.

The company arguably has a stronger launch line than Microsoft’s new consoles, with the Demon souls remake and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales as highlights, not to mention the package Astro Game Room, which serves as an ideal showcase for the new DualSense controller. And we also know of some promising titles of our own slated for 2021, including Horizon zero dawn continuation West horizon forbidden and a sequel to God of War. (Microsoft has also announced some intriguing titles of its own, including a new Fable game, but many of those games don’t have launch windows yet).

That new DualSense controller is also a key part of Sony’s strategy. It has haptic feedback and adaptive triggers meant to immerse you more in your games, and the first signs show that they can change the way games feel. Sony will undoubtedly integrate the new controller features with its own PS5 titles, but third-party games like NBA 2K21 Y Fortnite they also have unique DualSense features. The controller helps promote that idea of ​​exclusives: If the developers support DualSense, they are offering an experience that you cannot get on any other console.

Sony’s promise to deliver great games from its beloved franchises in the future is similar to how it approached the PS4. You could argue that the PS4 had a limited set of launch titles: Killzone Shadow Fall was the most notable Sony exclusive, but the day before the launch of the PS4, Sony revealed what it would become Uncharted 4 and gave a release date for Infamous second son. And for the life of the PS4, Sony’s strategy of continually releasing great exclusive games worked very well. Uncharted 4 was a great success, as were titles like Marvel Spider-Man, BloodborneY The Last of Us Part II. All of Sony’s exclusive blockbusters were the main reasons why the PS4 was the fastest home console to hit 100 million units sold.

But Sony isn’t completely ditching the PS4 just yet. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales It was first announced for the PS5, but we learned in September that there will be a PS4 version as well. West horizon forbidden it’s also coming to PS4.

And Sony is focusing a little more on this generation’s cross-generation games, as the PS5 is compatible with more than 4,000 PS4 titles. (Certain games “may be buggy,” according to the company, although only 10 games won’t work at all.) PS4 and PSVR “Select” games will also get “faster and smoother frame rates.” Tsushima ghostfor example, it will run at up to 60fps and have faster loading times on PS5, according to developer Sucker Punch.

Sony will also offer a new game subscription service for the PS5 called the PlayStation Plus Collection. It allows users who pay Plus to play any of the 20 PS4 games that are part of the collection on their PS5, including hits such as God of War, Person 5Y Bloodborne. But that’s a much more limited library than Xbox Game Pass, which lets you play multi-generational games and has its own games available from day one.

Sony has said that PlayStation Now, its gaming subscription service with PS4, PS3, and PS2 games, will be coming to PS5 at some point, but we don’t have a timeline for when that might happen. And the PS5 doesn’t natively support PS1, PS2, or PS3 games, so you’ll need to have an older PlayStation console if you want to play them.

If you don’t plan to immediately upgrade to the PS5, you’ll have a few options if you finally want to get a next-gen experience for the games you play first on PS4. Some PS4 games can be updated to a digital version of PS5, although that will be at the discretion of the developers, and developers can decide if that update is free, paid, or only available for a limited time.

And similarly to Microsoft, Sony also offers remote play functionality for PS5, though your options with Sony allow you to stream PS5 games to PC and Mac, in addition to Android and iOS.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

A new generation of console games will soon begin

Choosing between the next Xbox or PlayStation will be less about hardware and more about the philosophies of Microsoft and Sony about this generation of console games. With Xbox Series X and S, you will have access to many older games at launch, but we have to wait and see if actual next-gen games are a compelling case for updating. Meanwhile, Sony is betting on a strategy focused on exclusives for the PS5 that worked well with the PS4, but that will only work if Sony releases exclusives that are worth buying a PS5 to play.

In the past, choosing between a console meant comparing specs and analyzing release schedules. This time, the choice is much more philosophical.