PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 got quite a few excellent exclusives this year. However, most of them fell into the first three quarters. Disappointingly, the console didn’t offer any concrete competition on the gaming front in Q4. Admittedly, the console didn’t need them. Plenty of gamers used the holiday to catch up on games they had missed out on from earlier in the year, like Horizon Zero Dawn and NieR: Automata. However, no PlayStation 4 exclusives were quite able to match the Switch’s Super Mario Odyssey or Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The Xbox One and PC at least tried, offering players exclusives like Forza Motorsport 7 and A Mortician’s Tale.
The PlayStation 4 lost its title as the most powerful console as well. The PS4 Pro, which has been tiptoeing around the concept of 4K gaming all year, couldn’t compete with the new Xbox One X. The Xbox One X, though more expensive, offers increased graphical power and runs games at a native 4K at 60fps. The PS4 Pro can do the same, but it usually can only manage a native 4K at 30fps or use fancy graphical tricks to make a game look like it’s running at 4K. The Xbox One is making strides to catch up with the graphical superiority of the PC, so it was a little disappointing to see the PlayStation 4 make no move in the latter half of 2017 to catch up.
Ultimately, the PlayStation 4 lost Q4 2017. The console had a great year overall, but it lost most of its steam right at the end by conceding console superiority to the Xbox One and game exclusivity superiority to the Switch.
