Xbox Has 8 Advantages Over PS5
Because of growing prices, buying a console is no longer just a purchase — it's an investment. Purchasing both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 would cost a boatload, so most gamers pick between one or the other. But how do you go about doing that? Simple: with math.
Once upon a time, companies engaged in wars of the words, throwing around terms such as "blast processing" and slogans like "Sega does what Nintendon't." Today, gamers are more savvy and technically aware. Instead of relying on impractical technobabble to pick between the latest consoles, gamers use cold, hard facts to mathematically determine which console is superior. Deciding between the Series X and PS5 is as easy as weighing their features and determining which has more, and which can claim advantages over the other.
These advantages run the gamut of the entire video game experience and include factors such as exclusive titles, higher frame rates, and console volume. These are gamers' weapons of choice when picking between rival consoles, and Microsoft has provided several number-backed factoids that demonstrate why the Xbox Series X is superior to the PlayStation 5. Here are but a few of the Series X's advantages.
Bigger, beefier teraflops
When Microsoft started advertising the Xbox Series X, it proudly declared the console was the most powerful ever — or at least the most powerful Xbox ever. And, Microsoft provided the numbers to back it up.
True to the company's word, the Xbox Series X boasts more graphical punch than prior Xbox consoles, as well as rival consoles. The Series X packs a whopping 12 teraflops, while its PlayStation 5 rival only weighs in at 10.28 teraflops. In case you were wondering, "teraflop" isn't a useless buzzword like blast processing. Teraflop is a real mathematical term that determines the number of calculations a graphics card (GPU) can perform at once. The more flops, the more frames per second and higher resolutions a GPU can provide.
However, while teraflops is a real term, it only measures how much you can theoretically squeeze out of a GPU. Higher is usually better, but console performance isn't won by GPUs alone. Developers will need some time to harness every flop in the next-gen consoles, but once coders figure out how to use all 10.28 teraflops in the PS5, the Xbox Series X will still have 1.72 left over, which means that console could end up featuring better graphics.
More room for your games
When you search for hard drives, what do you treasure more: size or speed? Are you the kind of gamer who prefers a lot of space for your games, or would you rather load them in lightning time? It's the modern day equivalent of the tortoise vs. hare story, and Microsoft bet all its chips on the tortoise.
When Microsoft revealed the Xbox Series X's specs, one feature caught audiences' eyes: a 1TB SSD. Once gamers knew what to expect from the Xbox Series X, most hoped the PS5 could match it. While Sony eventually announced the PS5's SSD would leave the Series X's in the dust, that speed came at the cost of storage space. The PS5 can only store 825GB of data on its SSD.
The difference between 1TB and 825GB doesn't sound like much, but game storage sizes have ballooned. What could you fit in the Series X's extra 175GB worth of space? Titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 would take up most of it, but you would just have some room left over for Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
More backwards compatibility means bigger libraries
While it's fun to play the latest video games, there's a primal satisfaction revisiting titles you loved from previous console generations. Or maybe you just want to play something you missed out on. Whatever your reasons, if you want to play bygone titles, you will either need an older console or one with backwards compatibility. The further a console's backwards compatibility reaches, the better.
When the next gen console hype fire was lit, many gamers theorized Microsoft and Sony would implement unprecedented levels of backwards compatibility in their upcoming consoles. Microsoft delivered on these hopes with backwards compatibility that stretches as far back as the OG Xbox. Meanwhile, rumors spread that the PS5 could play all previous PlayStation games, including the PS2 and original, but reality didn't live up to expectations. Sony announced that the PS5 will only be backwards compatible with PS4 titles. The exceptions to this rule are a handful of PlayStation 3 titles available through PS Now and a limited number of emulated PlayStation 2 games — dubbed PS2 Classics.
This news is particularly disappointing because if you already own a PS2 or PS3 game available on the store or through PS Now, you can't play it by inserting the disc. You either buy the game again digitally or purchase a subscription — or crack open an old PS2 or PS3 console and hope the disc is readable.
Everything is relative, including the Series X's size
Microsoft subscribes to a "bigger is better" mentality, which is reflected in the Xbox. Instead of designing sleek Lamborghini-esque game consoles that disguise their power, the company churns out big, blocky Humvees that wear their strength on their monolithic sleeves. While many gamers make fun of Microsoft for this design aesthetic, it surprisingly won out in the upcoming console generation.
The Xbox Series X is infamous for looking like a big, black fridge, and that label is well-earned. In order to make the Series X the most powerful Xbox console ever, Microsoft also had to create the biggest Xbox console ever. Standing 11.85 inches high, the Series X towers over its contemporaries. But you know what they say: There's always someone bigger.
The PS5 is thinner than the Xbox Series X, but that design is deceptive. To match the Series X in power, the PS5 stuffed similar hardware inside its case, and since there was no room for it to spread outwards, it needed to stretch upwards. To that end, the PS5 is 15.74 inches tall, almost one-third of a foot taller than the Series X. Depending on your shelf space, you could potentially stand a Series X upright but not a PS5. You could cure this problem by laying the PS5 on its side, but that opens up a whole different can of worms.
Upgrading storage is as easy as plugging a card into a slot
Storage drives are increasing exponentially in size, and one cause is expanding game sizes. Call of Duty: Warzone is an infamous example since it is now almost 250 GB. Upgrading storage is a daunting task since one wrong move or errant spark of static electricity can destroy your hard drive, and that's just with PCs.
For console storage upgrades, Microsoft is going the idiot-proof, old school route. You can purchase custom 1TB expansion cards that plug into the Series X, not unlike a PlayStation 2 or Nintendo GameCube memory card. Since the PS5 features a smaller SDD out of the box, you might assume upgrading that console is easier than adding to the Series X, but that is not the case.
To upgrade your PS5, you need to pop off a side panel to utilize its spare SSD slot. Sure, you can pick from a selection of SSDs (that Sony has yet to provide), but the PS5's upgrade process is, well, a process. If you don't know what you're doing or manhandle your console, you risk breaking something. For the Series X, you only need to channel the skills you learned from inserting square pegs into square holes.
Play the most recent games on Game Pass
Recently, gamers' wallets received some bad news: many Xbox Series X and PS5 games will cost $70. That is $10 more than the previous generation. Since the newest consoles already cost an exorbitant $500, gamers might not have enough dough to buy the latest titles. If only there were a subscription that provided new games. Luckily for Xbox gamers, there is.
For $10 a month, you can subscribe to the Xbox Game Pass, which provides hundreds of games. Chip in an extra $5 per month, and you can upgrade your subscription to include Xbox Live Gold and play multiplayer titles. But, you might ask, doesn't PlayStation have something similar? Yes and no. PS Now delivers an analogous service for the same price but without the option to add multiplayer for $5. If you want PS Plus, that's another $10.
Moreover, Xbox Game Pass is constantly updated with the latest games. The Medium, Halo Infinite, and Psychonauts 2, for example, will launch on Game Pass day one, but PS Now still doesn't have PS4 exclusives such as Marvel's Spider-Man or The Last Guardian.
Microsoft will try to ensure that the latest Xbox Series X "exclusives" will be available through the Xbox Game Pass, but fans can't count on Sony to release Demon's Souls via PS Now anytime soon.
Save a few hundred bucks with the Series S
Savvy manufacturers are always trying to figure out how to cut down on production costs and pass the savings on to customers. Since digital download games seem to be the wave of the future, why not cut out optical disc drives? PC and laptop manufacturers already do this, and Microsoft and Sony are following this path with their upcoming consoles. However, Microsoft is going one step further.
The Xbox One S All-Digital was Microsoft's first stab at a digital console. All the power of a regular Xbox One S, $50 cheaper. The digital rendition of the Xbox Series X, the Xbox Series S, runs with the original All-Digital idea and adds in a few more budget cuts. The Series S will include a weaker CPU and GPU, less RAM, and a 512 GB SSD, all stuffed into a box the shape of a school intercom. Sure, the Series S is technically weaker than the Xbox One X, but the Series S is also an affordable $300.
Meanwhile, Sony is playing it safe with its PS5 Digital Edition, discounted at $400. You can't use your discs anymore, but the tradeoff is a console that costs the same as a PlayStation 4 Pro.
If you cannot afford a new console at $500 or even $400, Microsoft's budget $300 Xbox Series S might be the solution you're looking for.
Pay as you go with All Access
With the rising prices of video games and video game consoles, selling a kidney might seem like a better alternative to paying the upfront cost. If only a manufacturer offered a payment plan to take the sting out of buying a next-gen console. Fortunately, Microsoft does just that for the Xbox Series X and Series S.
Microsoft and Citizens One have joined forces to create the Xbox All Access service. When you sign up, you can take home an Xbox Series X or S and 24 months of Xbox Game Pass for 24 monthly installments of $35 ($25 for the Series S) — with 0% interest to boot. You still have to pay off the price of the console and subscription in the allotted time, but on the bright side, you won't have a giant Xbox-shaped hole in your wallet immediately after purchase.
Sony, meanwhile, doesn't offer any equivalent installment plan. GameStop stepped in to provide a payment plan for both the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, but it splits the console's price into four payments over the course of six weeks. That payment schedule is not as forgiving as Xbox All Access since you are still paying the full price of the console within a month (or a month and a half).