Sony vs. Microsoft. A tale as old as 2001. What’s depressing about that is how some of you reading this may not have been born by then, which makes the PlayStation 2 (Sony’s big boy in the fight), and the original Xbox things you’ve only heard about in myth. The greatest selling console in history, being taken on by Bill Gates, who let the Xbox name slip in 1999, a year before the announcement and two before release. It sounds simple looking back at it in retrospect.

If we were to be children about this, by projecting for the future and what one should buy in the next generation of gaming; one would need to look at the sales history. The issue with doing that is Sony had trounced that metric of success before the Xbox released in 2001 and 2002. According to Sony’s own sales records, the Sony PlayStation (or PS One) had sold 102.49 million worldwide by March of 2007. While the Xbox, in its lifetime, sold 24 million. The pattern repeats I’m afraid to say.

The focus of each console through their generations has also been evident, with the first Xbox having online play as standard. Meanwhile, the PS2 required a massive brick, seventeen passwords, a dictionary to find out what DNS meant. Then and only then, you might get online games to play before your mum got a three-hour phone call. You whippersnappers don’t know how good you have it with your broadband, and in America’s case, ISPs stopping your access to some sites. Those were the heydays of local multiplayer, where you could hit someone for using the blue shell.

Nonetheless, since the release of the PS2 in 2000 and the Xbox the year following, there’s been this fight. We’d previously seen such battles with Nintendo, the granddad of the “consoles wars,” facing off with Sega and Atari who’ve both stopped competing. We also saw occasional sparring between Amstrad with their GX4000, Coleco with the ColecoVision, Bandai (merged with Namco to create Bandai Namco) creating the WonderSwan and Apple making the Pippin Atmark. Over the years several other companies have joined in too.

What’s called the “console wars” is really just two fandoms of two competing companies, who previously did wildly different things. Sony’s PlayStation opened up to be one of the largest gaming libraries in console history during the PlayStation 2 era of gaming, with the console having roughly 3,500 titles and backwards compatibility. Microsoft’s Xbox has almost always been a heavily curated catalog of first-person shooters with a focus on multiplayer. Neither is wrong for doing so, though I love the PS2 over the Xbox because of my fond memories; and hatred of multiplayer.

I’ve grown up with all the PlayStation consoles around me from the PS1-4, the PSP, and that Vita thing Sony forgot they owned. If I were to pick a camp to pitch my tent in through tradition, it would be around Sony’s fire. However, for the last year, I’ve owned and been playing this thing called the Xbox One S. Now if we were to decide on recent playtime, I’d probably say Xbox hands down if it wasn’t for Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Though, I wouldn’t say I was won over by either this generation.

What won me over, or more importantly, what kept me around the Xbox camp was several things, most importantly the Xbox One Elite controller. I consider it the best controller in the world and I will fight people over that claim if they say otherwise. I love this rubber, plastic, knob flicking, and button clicking masterpiece. I love the weight; and how strong yet nimble it feels in my admittedly large bear paws. I don’t think there’s a bad thing I’d say about it. Other than the batteries dying quicker than those in your mum’s toys.

It is almost the sole reason I have been playing with the Xbox more than the many PlayStations around my house. I also enjoyed Xbox Gamepass quite a bit, until randomly and without warning my monthly subscription stopped days before it was supposed to. Since then I’ve been unable to gain access to the monthly subscription for some unknown reason. Nonetheless, I did enjoy being able to have a taste of several games, or even complain quite a bit about Rise of the Tomb Raider.

If you can, I can’t recommend Xbox Gamepass enough for the several games you’ll try without “the risk.” The closest Sony had to this service is their game streaming service, something Google wants to muscle in on with Stadia. Given how strong my opinions are on that, I don’t think it would surprise anyone to find that I’m not excited for Stadia’s release anytime soon; Nor am I excited by the delay that streaming a game could and would cause for several people.

I also have to note exclusivity, something the console wars uncomfortably cling on to as a child does to a blanket. The phrase: “Sony does the Sony exclusive, and Microsoft does the Microsoft exclusive,” says so much about their respective focus. Sony will create a third-person action game with a single player focus, meanwhile, Microsoft will continue with an predominantly online shooter focus. In recent years, it has become less prominent, but we still see the Sea of Thieves, Gears (of War), and Halo releases.

However, both consoles have some interesting games, such as Forza Horizon 4, State of Decay 2, God of War (2018), Marvel’s Spider-Man, Bloodborne, and Yakuza. None of them are console sellers though; maybe if you are a Dark Souls fan you’ll want Bloodborne, or if you are a fan of the color brown, State of Decay 2 is your thing. Moreover, Yakuza has become partial to a PC release in more recent months.

I think the status of exclusivity would be listed as about as complicated as Avril Lavigne’s career; starts out well and gravitates towards the same mass as everything else. However, everything listed is what is in the past. What’s to come for the future of the console wars? That’s a hard question.

All we really know about the PS5 is that it will be called, and brace yourself, the PlayStation 5. We’ve heard very few details about the specs that aren’t too specific, though as far as we know, there is a push for higher resolutions and streaming. As for the next Xbox, that’s represented by the word scarlet spelled wrong and a trailer of people talking. It’s hard to speculate what either will do to excite fans of either side.

One of the biggest mistakes from the last generation both companies need to counteract would be the lack of titles on launch. They need titles that are exciting and worth investing several hundred dollars into. I know I wasn’t particularly excited by inFamous Second Son, and I doubt many others were taken in by Particle Effects: The Game. I doubt anyone stopped in their tracks for Super Lucky’s Tale or Sunset Overdrive either.

Another issue for the previous generation for both was their price being $399 for the PS4 and $499 for the Xbox One. Both are looking to hit 8K; and the “next-box” if you will, is aiming for 120 frames-per-second. Since both are generally looking to up performance greatly, I could see the price tag being a little larger this time around. Whichever releases with the lowest price will take home the gold at their respective reveals, but neither win at E3, they fight it out post-launch.

Of course, speaking of E3, we have to assume there will be huge mistakes once again at the convention (or Sony’s equivalent). For the PS3 it was the stupid controller and $500-600 price tag. More recently it was the back-peddling on a penny-farthing that caused the Xbox One to nose dive when the Kinect 2.0 was announced. Then there was the always-online connectivity, lack of pre-owned titles, and everything the Xbox One stood for in the first few days during and after its reveal. If patterns continue it would be Sony’s turn to make the PlayStation 5 look stupid.

What both need to focus on, in my opinion, would be more titles at launch, better frame-rates over resolutions, and ultimately just being a console. One of the biggest mistakes of this 8th generation was the idea of making your console your entire entertainment system. With “Smart” TVs on the rise, 4K expected to take over half of US households by 2020, and every system that connects to your TV already providing the same features, there’s no need for Microsoft Word on your Xbox.

Another issue I think they both need to address is their internet services. The one issue I’ve found with the PS4 is the horrendous download speeds, which is worse if you’re on Wifi and not next to your router. Recently while downloading Travis Strikes Again for the PS4, while on Wifi with 75 percent strength on a 40 Mbps download connection, I would be downloading at 250 Kbps. The Xbox One on the same connection with the same strength downloads at between 20-25 Mbps. Meanwhile, both companies want to push game streaming and digital sales.

In conclusion, the unsurprising solution to many of Sony and Microsoft’s problems would be to look back at what went wrong last time. At this current time, which one could/should win? On console sales, history would say Sony; and on my experience with the Xbox One Elite controller, that would tell me Microsoft. Analyzing current trends to predict those further down the line is like studying quantum theory. Several factors will dictate the outcome of the 9th generation of gaming, something neither you or I could predict with confidence several months ahead of release. If Nintendo keeps up with the Switch, the others don’t have a chance.

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