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Xbox One X Has Won An Important Victory Over PS4 Pro In My Household

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Paul Tassi

There are many, many debates to be had about whether or not an Xbox One is a good purchase for you, given your current console set-up, TV and general level of interest. But what I can speak to is my own experience with the system so far, as someone who does this for a living and is almost has to own every system (with a solid TV to play them on).

Since my console arrived, I’ve realized that Microsoft’s stated objective with the Xbox One X has been realized. While it’s a luxury purchase to be sure, once you own one there’s very little reason to play any other system, short of the exclusives for those systems.

In short, yes, I will now be playing more or less every cross-platform, third party game on Xbox One X over PS4 Pro.

There’s just no reason not to. While the PS4 Pro makes games look great, the Xbox One X is flat-out more powerful, and as developers continue to harness that power, will produce the “top end” look and feel of these cross-platform games, even if the difference is somewhat minor.

But there’s just no reason to stick with PS4 for these titles. This includes a few exceptions like Destiny 2, a game I already started on PS4 and there’s no going back now, but between the larger playerbase and exclusive items, I still think that was a good call. But everything else? Unless there are multiplayer games I know that I want to play with friends on PS4 (and there aren’t many), Xbox One X it is, like with Star Wars Battlefront 2 this week. And single player games? Those will absolutely be played on Xbox One X over PS4 without question.

Eidos/Digital Foundry

It used to be more of a coinflip. Back when it was just PS4 vs. Xbox One for third party games, each console had their annoying quirks that might make me choose the other, like PS4’s shredded thumbsticks or Xbox One’s awful Windows 8 UI. But those times have come and gone. PS4 controllers no longer dissolve in your hand, the Xbox One UI is now…tolerable. Really, it’s just a matter of personal preference, and I have to prefer the system that is probably going to be able to extract more power from more games on average.

That may be good news for the Xbox One X, and that sentiment being shared by others in pursuit of power is probably why the system is outselling initial expectations right now. But I don’t think PS4 and the Nintendo Switch are in any actual danger either. Sony is so far ahead of Microsoft they simply cannot be caught at this point in terms of sales. They are continuing to produce must-play first-party exclusives that will keep me coming back to PS4 Pro multiple times a year, at the very least. Nintendo is…Nintendo, never really a huge competitor in the third party space (although now I suppose I can play DOOM on the train if I want to), yet the Switch is clearly a must-own system as well given the insane caliber of exclusives for it.

In short, all three of these systems can kind of exist….harmoniously? It’s weird. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses to the point where they balance each other out if you own them all. If you had to pick one? That’s a much tougher question. Do you give up exclusives for power for Xbox One? Do you give up power and current third party ports for Switch? Do you give up portability and best-in-industry performance for PS4? Hard questions, and ones I’m glad I don’t have to answer with all three on my shelf. But in this case, for most AAA third party games, it’s going to be Xbox One X from here on out.

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