XBOX Cares About The Ecosystem

Gaming
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As we head into the new generation, I recall people saying that Generation 8 was the worst one that Microsoft could have picked to stumble.

After yesterday’s newscycle for the PS5, I whole-heartedly disagree with that idea.

We’ve received confirmation that there will be no PS1-3 backwards compatibility through hardware or software emulation, and the messaging is still cloudy regarding PS4 games that will work on PS5 at launch.

There has been no confirmation on whether or not current owners of Spider-Man will receive the next-gen upgrade without paying out-of-pocket.

Sony announced the Playstation Plus collection, which is a group of games from both 1st and 3rd party that is available to everyone subscribed to Playstation Plus…on PS5 only. I don’t understand why PS4 owners are getting the proverbial shaft here.

Long story short, the Playstation ecosystem is a hot mess.

On November 10th(hopefully), I will turn on my Series X, and have access to every* game I’ve purchased on Xbox One, and the other backwards compatible titles made available through the program.

I will have access to a rotating library of over 200 games that can be accessed whenever I want, including first party titles day-and-date, for as little as $10 a month.

I can play most of the games from said-library on the go on my Android phone with xCloud through GPU.

All of my cloud saves sync seamlessly and are stored for free.

But Xbox doesn’t get it right all of the time.

For example:

They still have to make the “X-osystem”(:wall_peek:) seamless in regards to the multiplayer paywall. PC players access online gaming and Xbox Live social features for free, while console players have to pay a premium.

A Gold subscription is still required to play free-to-play games online, something that the competition does not do. Series S could be the ultimate F2P system if they remove this, but they should just remove the MP paywall entirely. It should go away. It NEEDS to go away. (Free advice, @XboxP3! :grin:)

All-in-all, my purchases and content are more valued on the Xbox ecosystem than on the competition’s, and that is going to be the real marketshare battleground in the coming years.

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I would not say that Sony does not care about their ecosystem. They do listen to their fans and react accordingly.

This is an example of Sony listening to their fans. PS+ Collection is a temporal replacement of free games with PS+ for PS5. Sony knows they shouldn’t give free ps5 games for a period of time (too costly for price of PS+), and that hardcore fans are asking for a “game pass” with “high quality games and not high quantity of games” (damn, I hate myself for writing this sentence. I completely disagree with game pass focusing on quantity vs. quality, but it is PS-fans perspective). But, in reality, hardcore fans do not care about PS+ free games (we neither! that is why we are asking xbox to remove gold) and will not use PS+ Collection. Sony is providing the tools to make their fans feel the value of the PS ecosystem - mostly, their IP and studios - and getting new users into their ecosystem.

In other aspects of the “ecosystem value”, backwards compatibility, xbox is far ahead of sony (but… not competition, as Nintendo has been doing a fantastic job reviving their old games through all console generation) because they have been more proactive listening to the community, and they are years ahead on manpower. PS1, PS2, PS3 will eventually get into PS5, but it will take time.

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While I respect your opinion, I strongly disagree with some points you made.

  1. “Sony knows they shouldn’t give free PS5 for a period of time”

Why? Xbox is including The Medium, Tetris Effect, Haven and other Series X games in the Game Pass catalogue day one this year – and that’s not counting Smart Delivery games that are being optimized for the next generation.

Even Sony gave away two PS4 games through PS+ when the console launched in 2013: Resogun and Contrast.

So I don’t really see any reasons on why Sony shouldn’t give PS5 games through PS+ this year.

  1. “We don’t care about free PS+ or Gold games”

I also don’t believe that’s true. The reason Xbox owners have started to care less for Games With Gold is because Game Pass has pratically took its place.

The paywall behind multiplayer has been a pain in the ass for quite some time now, but the free games helped a bit. Since Xbox now has Game Pass with hundreds of free games, its userbase doesn’t care that much for 4 monthly free games.

PlayStation users on the other hand still care a lot about the PS+ freebies since they still don’t have a Game Pass-like program. Without those free games the paywall is much harder to disgest. You just have to check the reaction on any forum when the montly games are announced.

  1. “Nintendo has been doing a fantastic job reviving their old games”

I have just spent 60 dollars on a emulated Mario 64. I have paid for countless expensive Wii U ports. It’s not that bad for me because I have never owned a Wii U – but I know many people who have spent a lot of money on Wii’s Virtual Console games and have no way to play those games on the Switch. And if somehow Nintendo launches a new Virtual Console program, those people will have to spend more money to play the same games they had already bought.

On the other hand, Xbox has made available games from decades ago with free enhancements. And if you already owned them, you wouldn’t have to pay for them again.

  1. “PS1, PS2 and PS3 will eventually get into PS5”

It’s been 7 years since the PS4 launched and there are around 20 PS2 games and no PS1 or PS3 games made available to purchase through the console.

We also have to remember that those PS2 games are not backwards compatible. You had to buy them even if you owned the original versions.

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The main problem about the PS+ Collection is that it is next-gen exclusive. It’s a kick in the balls of the 100+ million PS4 userbase. And that’s not an example of “respecting its ecosystem”.

Not to mention current gen accessories not being forward compatible, not offering free upgrades for its first party games, and so on…

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PS plus collection is ps5 only because by reducing the potential user base that will access the game it reduces the cost that is to license those games.

It’s just one of the many ways Sony adds value by exclusion rather than by addition. Adding value across the board is more expensive, so Sony makes the experience of everyone but the device they want to target worse, and that’s cheaper for them.

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My point was that Sony cares about their ecosystem… on their own way and based on what they hear from their fans. So it is ok that we (as part of the xbox family) do not fully agree :slight_smile:

Some clarifications on my points.

  1. “Sony knows they shouldn’t give free PS5 for a period of time” > Why? Xbox is including […] in the Game Pass catalogue day one this year

My impression is that they are loosing way more money per unit sold than in PS4 launch. Somebody told me that PS4 was sold at 60$ loss. Now we are seeing a 100$ reduction on the digital edition, for a disc drive that should cost around ~30$. So, ps5 disc-less is being sold at a loss of “loss of ps5 + 70usd”. They need to recover this money. Not spending more money on PS+ for the first years of PS5 will help.

  1. “We don’t care about free PS+ or Gold games”

At launch, mostly hardcore fans will buy these consoles. From what I have seen on both xbox and ps hardcore fans, ps+ and gold games are a by-product of being able to play online and they do not care about these.

When you zoom out of hardcore fans, it might be true that ps gamers are more leaning towards playing ps+ freebies, whereas xbox players are more interested in game pass / games with gold.

  1. “Nintendo has been doing a fantastic job reviving their old games”

I should have been clearer. Nintendo has always had the option to play older games on their franchises. And with some sort of respect for their franchises, promoting their games and giving them visibility. And this has always been core to their platforms. They haven’t implemented this on the best consumer-friendly way, but gamers have the choice.

  1. “PS1, PS2 and PS3 will eventually get into PS5”

We have plenty reasons to doubt this will happen. My prediction is that it will happen (I’m an optimistic!), on a Nintendo-like way (virtual console, paying for games) or an increased catalog on PSNow/PS+ Collection.