Despite the PS5’s mammoth success, there are still a few things PlayStation should copy from Xbox going forward. This may come as a surprise to those aware of the PS5 outselling Xbox consoles by almost three to one by the end of 2023. This is largely down to PlayStation having far superior first-party titles. Unfortunately for Xbox, their recent studio closures, first-party disappointments, and rumored migration of Game Pass to all hardware has comfortably placed PlayStation in the number one spot.
While it may seem everything is hunky-dory on the surface, there’s still a lot that Xbox does better than PlayStation. Whether it be nifty hardware features that improve the user experience, the far superior Game Pass online subscription service, or myriad other useful features, PlayStation could certainly take a few pages out of Xbox’s book. We go into exactly what we think PlayStation should copy from Xbox below.
5. Free Cloud Saves
Most gamers will undoubtedly appreciate the convenience that cloud saves offer. It allows you to sustain playthroughs of games on multiple devices. You can pick up where you left off and get right back in the action, regardless of whether you have access to a physical game save file. Like Steam, Xbox gives you access to cloud saves free of charge. PlayStation users aren’t so lucky.
If you’re on PS4 or PS5, you’ll need to fork out and pay for PS Plus Essential for the privilege of cloud storage. With it, you’ll get 100 GB of online storage for your saved games. However, Xbox users have enjoyed free cloud saves for a while now. To add insult to injury there is also no limit to cloud storage on Xbox, unlike those using Sony’s platforms. In this day and age cloud saves should come as standard and not a premium purchase.
4. Play Anywhere
Talking of convenience, are you aware that you can make use of Xbox’s Play Anywhere service to play any owned Xbox digital game on any device at no extra cost? If you own a PlayStation, you may not be. With Xbox, you can make a one-time digital purchase of any game on the Microsoft Store and play it on any compatible PC or Xbox console of your choice. It’s a fair and consumer-friendly business practice that puts gamers’ needs above corporate greed. Sony, take note.
Despite Sony’s recent push to get their first-party games onto PC, it seems you have to pay twice if you bought it the first go around. This isn’t the case for Xbox or any other digital gaming storefront. What makes PlayStation so special that they can charge you twice for their games? To add insult to injury, PlayStation has received severe backlash over their nonsensical mandatory PSN account requirement for many of their games on Steam. They need to get with the times.
3. Quick Resume
Even several years after the launch of the Xbox Series X|S, its Quick Resume feature still feels like something from the future. In a nutshell, Quick Resume allows you to suspend multiple games at once, even if your console is completely turned off. This means you can have several games on the go, without having to waste any of your precious time booting up or in loading screens. It’s a literal game-changer.
Sure, you can put your PS5 in Rest Mode to hop back into whatever game you were playing, but it’s just not the same. On PlayStation, you can’t run multiple games at once in the same way as the Xbox. Quick Resume allows you to instantly get back into the action at the press of a button. It may not seem like the biggest deal, but the feature is noticeably absent when playing the PS5 after spending a longer time on the Xbox ecosystem. Here’s hoping PlayStation can implement some form of Quick Resume feature on the heavily rumored upcoming PS5 Pro console.
2. Backwards Compatability
Alas, backwards compatibility was once a given feature in gaming’s glory days but has since become a more premium luxury in recent times. It’s a good thing that Microsoft has put in relentless effort to ensure that most of their vast library of Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox games can be enjoyed on their latest hardware. This isn’t only for digital games either, as you’ll also be able to dust off and make use of any of your old physical game discs. They’ll look and run better, too.
For PlayStation users, the only physical games you can play on PS5 consoles are only PS4 and PS5 games. This means if you’re looking to play anything from any other era from PlayStation, you’ll need to hope that it releases digitally on either PSN or the highest PS Plus Premium tier of their online service. We’re glad that Sony isn’t completely blocking PlayStation fans from playing older games, but we wish it was easier to do.
1. Game Pass
Even despite its more recent lackluster offerings, Game Pass is still the undisputed king as the best value proposition in gaming. It offers a staggering library of AAA and indie games that gamers can access instantly on multiple devices (depending if you’ve opted for higher payment tiers). What sets it apart from other services is its continued effort to release major first-party releases on day one. This means that gamers can access the most anticipated blockbuster Xbox games immediately on release at no extra charge.
More recently, PlayStation has tried to emulate Game Pass with their three-tiered implementation of their PS Plus service. PS Plus Essential gives you the bare-bones online experience, whereas Extra and Premium give you a games catalog that’s more in line with what Xbox is offering. Despite granting access to similar third-party games, it’s clear that PlayStation does not want to go the route of giving us first-party titles on day one. Although we don’t see it happening anytime soon, making the pivot to give gamers first-party games on release could go a long way in completely squashing the competition for PlayStation.
Do you think PlayStation should copy features from Xbox? Let us know your thoughts below! For more like this, check out every PlayStation character in the Astro Bot trailer, ranked by adorableness. You may also be interested in our top 5 best long-running live service games.
