Are you going to *change* your platform of choice going into next-gen?

[Phil]

We already have a poll to vote on the question who intends to get which console. Since many of us are loyal to a certain platform due to commiting to that eco-system and building up friend-lists to play together or a game catalogue (that may be backwards-compatible some day), I wouldn't be surprised if most Xbox360 owners would upgrade to Xbox One - and PS3 owners that upgrade to PS4.

What I am rather more interested to find out is..... which of the current loyal console owners are thinking about switching to the competing platform, and why.

I.e. If you are currently an Xbox360 owner, will you be getting a Xbox One - or are you likely going to purchase a PS4? Why?

and

if you are currently an PS3 owner, will you be getting a PS4 - or are you likely going to purchase the Xbox One? Why?


I would imagine switching to a different platform is not that simple. It means adjusting to a new controller, perhaps different games/franchises (the exclusive ones anyway) and the whole business model might be different too. Also, if you have an extensive friends list that are loyal to a certain platform, by changing, you are essentially giving up on them too (unless they are changing as well, which might be a possible reason?).

Hopefully, this will spark some additional discussions on the reasons and mindset behind current owners and how they feel their next-generation console of choice is shaping up.


Of course, I'm aware that some of us are fortunate enough to own both current consoles. Perhaps the question to those should be - will my primary console of choice change as of next gen?

I'm also aware that this poll totally ignores Wii U or other platforms, but I thought it would be especially interesting to see the results in scope of Sonys and Microsofts platform because their business strategy is quite different - with different compromises in the hardware to meet the business model. It's also interesting because in the past, these two consoles have been very similar - with similar performance and similar games, targeting to a large degree the same market. Now that this might change with Microsoft also focusing on a more casual broader market, I'm interested to know who of those will jump ship for exactly these reasons (or perhaps PlayStation owners that may jump ship for exactly these reasons too).

...and to those that have not made up their mind yet, perhaps you just want to post without voting and follow in on the discussion before you might decide.

Happy voting!

 

[Jwm]

Where is No I will buy both button?

 

[Phil]

Where is No I will buy both button?

I guess I missed it.

Although, in the interest of the poll, I guess those that are buying both are less interesting (to the poll), because they are effectively a +1 sale for both console manufacturers. The point of the poll is to show those consumers that likely only have the budget for one console (the majority of the market I would think) and if they will remain loyal to their platform, or are willing to shift. This might help draw a picture if one of the console makers will gain or lose substantial marketshare with their next-gen console, although this forum is probably a bit small to draw any accurate conclusion from it.

The results of this poll however, might underline some of the resulting discussions in the Business Approach Comparison PS4 and Xbox topic...

I would update the poll, but unfortunately, there is no such option once it's created.

 

[Nisaaru]

You should add a "maybe" option.
I'm a XBox users and will maybe get a PS4. I don't consider to buy a XBone currently at all because of mandatory Kinect but if they fixed that I might.

 

[Phil]

Perhaps to answer my own poll (now that it's clear that there's no way I'll end up being the only one to vote for my own poll )...

...I voted that I am currently a Sony console owner and will definately be getting PS4.


Why?
- I have a numerous friends who are likely going to upgrade to a PS4 eventually
- I have been a Sony console owner since the first one and like the exclusives/franchises
- I think Sony have made the right choices in regards to hardware and business model going forward into next-generation. Even if they may not be perfect/faultless, the pros still outweigh the cons in my case.
- the multi-platform games I enjoyed this gen are also going to be multi-platform next gen too
- I'm not too interested in the Xbox One, due to different games (that I haven't missed so far) and the features that are offered that go beyond (Kinect and the app switching) is less of a reason for me.
- I'm also not too interested in the Windows marketplace, because the only thing windows related is my work PC - everything else is Android or Linux.

yeah, that's about it, I think.

 

[Archgamer]

Where is the option that I own both a PS3 and 360 and will end up only getting a PS4?

DRM's, used games, always online, a camera requirement, etc., those are huge issues to me.

 

[Kb-Smoker]

I'm going from a ps360 to a PS4/PC

Woot! This is be the first console I will be there day one.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

It misses the option of "had both, but will only get one"

Things can change, but ATM it looks like I will be skipping the MS console and game with PC and PS4.

For me Kinect or PSeye isn't worth a dime and I don't want to pay extra for them, but my biggest issue still is the 12CUs and everything relating to that fact. Xbox was of course about games for me, but big part of that was great hardware. They now charge 415€ per Teraflop, whereas Sony charges 221€. The pricepoint with that GPU imo is unacceptable and I want no part of it. They should have put more power into it. Maybe I'll revisit the issue if Xbone drops to 299-349€ in the future. I don't care that much about the DRM issues, but as a whole I think Sony has been hitting the right notes lately whereas MS imo has gotten similar arrogance as what Sony had prior to the PS3 launch.

I'll vote had Xbox, will go to PS4, because it feels the closest option. I probably played 6-7 games on 360 to every PS3 game I played. I also bought both Xbox's day 1, the only consoles I have ever done so. I got PS3 when it dropped to 399€ and played only the best exclusives on it and mainly used it as a Blu-ray player.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I own both PS3 and 360, but 360 was used far more, so I chose "own a 360, buying X1." I'd get a PS4 as well, but I've decided to cut back this gen and stick with one.

 

[tcrews]

Own a 360 and will be getting the One.

Why? Kinect is awesome (for voice control features...use it now on 360 a lot) and I love the Cable/Sat box integration with HDMI In and being able to instantly switch from TV > Game > Apps or whatever combo of those. I personally don't feel any graphical advantage the PS4 has will be enough to overshadow the TV/Game/App integration the One will have. Plus I love the idea of all my games being available anywhere at anytime. I go to my brothers, friends, wherever and they have a One.....I just sign in and have full access to all of my games.

 

[McHuj]

I'm a 360 user and order a PS4. (In the prior gen, I only had a PS2).

While specs do matter to me, the difference between the platforms wasn't that big to me so my main factors for switching platforms are:

1. Kinect - I don't want to use it and I don't want to attach it. Maybe a stupid reason for some, but I like the aesthetic of my TV setup and I don't want to put a big device in there as well. A discrete microphone that can be placed else where (instead of dead center) would have been sufficient.

2. I'm not interested in the MS TV offerings. I rarely watch live TV, so unless it's the X1 become a complete DVR/cable box replacement I'm not interested.

3. I'm not a big multiplayer gamer so I'm not going to pay for Live, but that renders all the other apps like Youtube, Netflix inoperable. I find that disgusting and will not pay for that.

4. I think Sony will end up with more and more unique games in the end. MS may "win" in the US, but I don't think MS will "win" the world-wide sales. I think more Japanese and European devs will support the PS4 better than the X1 due to that.

 

[James Car]

I'll be jumping ship (back) to Sony after being a xbox and xbox360 gamer since 2001 w/ Halo.

There are many reasons to jump back to Sony. The primary one being that PS4 is more powerful. More specifically, xbone is underpowered. ($100 entry-level-equivilent-7770 gpu for a nextgen system is a joke)

The fact that MS seemingly made extremely poor and shortsighted decisions WRT xbone hardware design and platform policies just made it impossible for me to support them. If Sony were to have followed the same route, I'd be jumping back into the buggy world of pc gaming. Thankfully, Sony has learned from their past mistakes (starting with ps2) and have gone back to their ps1 roots of designing powerful hardware which is affordable, easy to develop for, and user-friendly.

This past e3 reminded me a lot of 1995.

Sony faced an inferior spec Saturn (which was also more difficult to dev for), undercut the competition by $100, dropped the mic and left the stage. We all know how that gen turned out.

I see a return to the Sony of old and it makes me smile. I see them actively trying to court the core gamer again and I think they will reap the benefits. The same seems to be holding true for developers as well. Time will tell if publishers also are “feeling the love”, but with actions such as those taken by Sony in the design of ps4, the end result should be a nice dominant position in the marketplace which in the end, will make publishers smile too.

As for MS, this gen was theirs for the taking. They were on a great trajectory the past decade, but somewhere along the way, they jumped the shark. They got too greedy and too shortsighted. They forgot who brought them to the dance in the first place and honestly remind me a lot of Sony circa 2005. Arrogant, brash, stubborn, and foolish.

Honestly, it does seem to be a 3rd console curse of some sort. I’m not sure why, but it seems that Nintendo, Sony, and MS all fell into the same description at about the time they were launching their 3rd console.

Nintendo got lucky with Wii, but GC saw them fade into obscurity after their n64 failure. Now with WiiU, it seems they are right back into the bottom dweller category of an afterthought-console. Sony seems to be right back into the thick of it after falling hard on their face with ps3.

So where will MS end up on this scale?

Will they find success again with xbox Two (Too?), or will the damage that has been done to their brand be insurmountable and relegate them to an afterthought?

For those that think xbone failure is impossible, MS is far from perfect and in fact, their successes in non-core (OS) business are far more infrequent than their failures:

Vista
Kin
Zune
WebTV
Windows phone7
Windows8

It would not surprise me to see MS lose 50+% of their xb360 userbase that they’ve built up. From that point, who knows how MS will respond, but as we saw with the ps2 gen, it might not matter how they respond. An unpopular product release can set the brand back years and in some cases, can cause irreparable damage to the brand which makes it more feasible to kill the brand and start fresh.

To summarize, hardcore xbox gamer here that is not looking forward to the ps controller again after nearly a decade with xb360 pad, but I feel I’m left with no choice.

Sony, welcome back.

 

[Nisaaru]

I go to my brothers, friends, wherever and they have a One.....I just sign in and have full access to all of my games.

You're aware that it takes a *while* to download all that game data first, don't you? Even with reasonable fast ADSL2 we talk here about hours. So then you would have to walk around with your disc again initially or with your external usb storage.

 

[BadTB25]

Voted not another poll. But Halo and KI has me really wanting to get an X1. I own both PS3 and X360 and will likely end up with both PS4 and X1.....eventually.

 

[Jwm]

I'm a 360 user and order a PS4. (In the prior gen, I only had a PS2).

While specs do matter to me, the difference between the platforms wasn't that big to me so my main factors for switching platforms are:

1. Kinect - I don't want to use it and I don't want to attach it. Maybe a stupid reason for some, but I like the aesthetic of my TV setup and I don't want to put a big device in there as well. A discrete microphone that can be placed else where (instead of dead center) would have been sufficient.

2. I'm not interested in the MS TV offerings. I rarely watch live TV, so unless it's the X1 become a complete DVR/cable box replacement I'm not interested.

3. I'm not a big multiplayer gamer so I'm not going to pay for Live, but that renders all the other apps like Youtube, Netflix inoperable. I find that disgusting and will not pay for that.

4. I think Sony will end up with more and more unique games in the end. MS may "win" in the US, but I don't think MS will "win" the world-wide sales. I think more Japanese and European devs will support the PS4 better than the X1 due to that.

I can send you my current Kinect, no clue why but at least once a week it ends up flopping itself behind our Tv in the middle of the night.

 

[Nesh]

You're aware that it takes a *while* to download all that game data first, don't you? Even with reasonable fast ADSL2 we talk here about hours. So then you would have to walk around with your disc again initially or with your external usb storage.

So actually we will have to wait for a portion of the game to be downloaded before we can play.....it defeats the purpose of the convenience it wants to offer

 

[RedVi]

Own a PS3 and getting a PS4. To be fair, the PS3 launch was horrible and I decided not to get one unless it got very cheap and enough great games came out. However, in 2008 I wanted a HDTV. Sony were giving away PS3's with bravias, and I got myself a free 40GB PS3. Before that I was using my house mates X360 for next gen gaming. When his 360 died a few years later, he also got a PS3, just because he wanted something different.

I've always had Playstations, but I wasn't excited about the PS3 for many reasons. I am predominantly a PC gamer, but PS1 and PS2 offered great 'console' games that you simply couldn't get anything like on PC. I never desired the original Xbox simply because I had a PC. The 360, however, was appealing, not as much as the PS1/2, but still. The problem with PS3 despite the crappy hardware design choices (IMO) and expensive price tag were that it was shaping up to be just like the 360. A decent supplement to PC gaming, but it was geared more as an alternative than PS1 and PS2 were. I didn't want an alternative. I want to play my shooters and RTS and western RPG's on PC, and my Japanese RPG's, 3rd person adventure/action, fighters and racing games on console. That's why I've always loved having a playstation and a PC. This time around, the PS3 just didn't deliver on that anywhere near as much, and I expect the PS4 will be much the same. Still, there are a number of IP's on PS that I love, the hardware and price look great to me and I still expect to get enough games that for whatever reason, I will just never get anything like on PC. So yes, I am excited to get a PS4, probably at launch. I haven't had this sort anticipation for buying a next gen console since PS2.

 

[MrFox]

Would have been interesting to see the result of Nintendo losing people this gen.
I used to be a big fan of Nintendo for 2 generations, and this will be my first generation without a Nintendo console. I "almost" bought a WiiU on launch.

 

[Strange]

Owned a PS3 that gave me a very good experience and will simply step up to PS4. Microsoft first parties have been good, but the only ones that really enticed me were the ones during the first 2 years or so. The ones that came after ~the 4th year started to be the usual sequels and sure they're fun (I do have chances to play at my friends') but they're not exactly bringing about new experiences on the level as PS3 titles have.

Within the past 2 years the exclusives on PS3 (including the numerous Japanese titles) are simply not to be found on Xbox, and further adding on to that, Microsoft has shown the determination to effectively ditch the Asian market by launching here somewhere around one year later.

Not that they've gotten much Asian support lately, but hey, if you're not going to try, I'm not going to bother either. Simple as that.

Further adding to the fact is the C/P ratio that we in Taiwan have come to accept as a metric to evaluate products. It stands for capability/price ratio. As current specs and feature sets stand, PS4 simply is putting out more capability at a lower price than the Xbox One, especially in the Asian market. Adding on to that the DRM issues, the Xbox One is really a hard sell to me.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Wow! Only 33% are switching to PS4 on a tech oriented forum. That bodes very well for MS.