PSN and XBOX Live Post Mortem

[Nesh]

Sony has went a long way towards improving their online features and Microsoft hasnt stayed back. Both the PS4 and the XB1 have improved immensely. The PS4 has had its fair share of network problems at the beginning but now things appear more stable.

I dont own both consoles but to people that own both consoles where do you think these two services stand now that both consoles require subscription, offer cloud services and free games every month?
Its apparent that competition has helped substantially in the improvement of both PSN and Live

Also how good is the quality of multiplayer on each service?

 

[Metal_Spirit]

Same thing... Although some can claim diferences you would be nitpicking. At least for Portugal I really see no differences, and they used to exist on the PS3 vs XBox 360 era.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Stability of PSN is less than stellar. It's very noticeable for people that play FFXIV. I can't count how many times my raids have been interrupted or had to be cancelled because the PS4 members couldn't log into PSN and thus couldn't log into the game.

If we're lucky it's just one raid in a month. If we're not lucky it may be 4-6 raids in a month that get interrupted or cancelled. When it happens our Brazilian, Australian, and US members won't be able to log into PSN or FFXIV (obviously). If you look at the FFXIV forums, it's littered with PSN problems.

That said, the service is tons better than it was during the PS3 days according to those same members.

Regards,
SB

 

[DrJay24]

Why blame PSN for FFXIV issues? If it were the PSN, then all the games would have issues. SE is going to have it's own servers for an MMO, that is one reasons games come out on the PS4 and not XB1, they allow external networks.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Why blame PSN for FFXIV issues? If it were the PSN, then all the games would have issues. SE is going to have it's own servers for an MMO, that is one reasons games come out on the PS4 and not XB1, they allow external networks.

Because they can't log into PSN. How much simpler can it be? And you cannot log into FFXIV on the PS4 without being logged into PSN.

Sometimes the interruptions are only for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes for 30-60 minutes. And sometimes, it's for hours. For short interruptions the majority of PS4 users not playing an always online game probably won't notice.

If it affected everyone, it would affect PC users as well, which it doesn't. They all use the exact same servers.

Sometimes the effects on raid cancellations isn't even that they can't log in, but that PSN is so overloaded or having other problems, that the Brazilian, US, and Australian players all experience massive lag at the same time, while the PC users (on the same servers) do not.

I can't compare this to XBLive as I don't play an MMO that is available on XBLive.

Regards,
SB

 

[Nesh]

Because they can't log into PSN. How much simpler can it be? And you cannot log into FFXIV on the PS4 without being logged into PSN.

Sometimes the interruptions are only for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes for 30-60 minutes. And sometimes, it's for hours. For short interruptions the majority of PS4 users not playing an always online game probably won't notice.

If it affected everyone, it would affect PC users as well, which it doesn't. They all use the exact same servers.

Sometimes the effects on raid cancellations isn't even that they can't log in, but that PSN is so overloaded or having other problems, that the Brazilian, US, and Australian players all experience massive lag at the same time, while the PC users (on the same servers) do not.

I can't compare this to XBLive as I don't play an MMO that is available on XBLive.

Regards,
SB

That is kinda weird. I have never encountered a sign in issue. I am not the kind of guy that plays online much but I never get a notification that I cant sign in or that I have been signed out. MGS V is always connected online and it never disconnected except those times that Konami was doing maintenance but I was still signed in into my account. And I am living in a country that doesnt matter.

Thats weird.

Have people been experiencing similar issues on Destiny? Star Wars Battelfront Beta and Destiny Beta didnt present me with any problems when I was playing them.

I did have issues with the Street Fighter V beta though not finding players

 

[DrJay24]

Because they can't log into PSN. How much simpler can it be? And you cannot log into FFXIV on the PS4 without being logged into PSN.

Sometimes the interruptions are only for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes for 30-60 minutes. And sometimes, it's for hours. For short interruptions the majority of PS4 users not playing an always online game probably won't notice.

I call BS then, sorry. 4-6 raids a month would equate to a huge amount of outages when accounting for all the times the raids are not attempted (unless you assert raids only happen during outages). I've been playing Destiny non-stop since summer and have yet to have an issue getting on the PSN. Sometimes there is scheduled maintenance, but random outages are extremely rare. The last I heard of a real issue was a morning of Black Friday, not exactly random though - it broke a bunch of PSN records.

The last time I could not log in was the DDoS crap with the Lizard morons.

 

[orangpelupa]

i often got PSN outage. luckily most game will still work fine as long as you already logged into the game before PSN outage.

but if your PS4 is not primary, then you cant play other digital game while outage.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

but if your PS4 is not primary, then you cant play other digital game while outage.

Huh?

 

[Billy Idol]

PSN is super bad.

Right with the start of PS4, it went completely downhill:

1.) brutal regular stability issues, where people cannot login, thus cannot play online

2.) you need plus to play online

3.) in comparison to PS3 era, there are no good games for free with plus anymore.

Thus, everything just got worse.

Sony sucks up all the PS+ money, but don't invest into software and hardware infrastructure.

What about a poll: will we be able to play PS4 online games during holidays...yes/no?

I fear I know the answer...

 

[Nesh]

I check the free games on Live for XB1 and they dont really fair any better whereas free games on PS3 and 360 are much better.
Regarding instability are you talking out of first hand and continuous experience of a PS4 you own or is your rant based on last years issues discussed over the internet?

I am curious because although I dont play much online, my PS4 has never failed to sign in, and it goes throughsome stress tests daily because I remote play with my Vita MGSV which is alway connected and my PS4 issigned in

We havent heard of network downtimes for quite some time except in black friday.

So I ask again. Is your comment an assumption based on last years issues?

 

[orangpelupa]

PS4 also have weird issue where the download can work even while PSN is completely down (from PS4 game login, from PC, from phone). But if the download server is down or download process got interrupted, it randomly failed to auto-resume download.

the PS Store interface also much worse than xbox marketplace. especially the store for my region. you cant even check all games that currently discounted or got price cut. you only can see list of PS plus discounted games.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I dares say opinion may be affected by regionallity. Live seems universal. PSN isn't. Thus you can have some regions with PSN blackouts while the US works. You also have better content and deals in US. This disparity irks those who know of it, generating less enthusiasm for EU PSN (don't know about Asia PSN) than EU Live users feel.

/theory

 

[goonergaz]

PSN is super bad.

Right with the start of PS4, it went completely downhill:

1.) brutal regular stability issues, where people cannot login, thus cannot play online

2.) you need plus to play online

3.) in comparison to PS3 era, there are no good games for free with plus anymore.

Thus, everything just got worse.

Sony sucks up all the PS+ money, but don't invest into software and hardware infrastructure.

What about a poll: will we be able to play PS4 online games during holidays...yes/no?

I fear I know the answer...

I don't know where this talk of onine issues is coming from, my kids are always online and have had few issues mostly down to game specific reasons (ie CoD 3 was offline so they play something else) - my eldest daughter is online a heck of a lot of time and I don't hear her complain.

You need plus to play online for full release games, F2P games don't require PS+ but the reason is Sony are supposed to be improving the service and from my experience it has improved (not that I ever had any major issues).

I will say the quailty of games has dropped off, I can't remember the last month I was looking forward to the free stuff...I haven't tried this months games yet tho, however I think it was inevitable.

They have improved the save space substantially from 1GB to 10GB so that's a very nice improvement.

 

[orangpelupa]

@Shifty Geezer yups. PSN is very regional.

the service up/down is regional
the game license is region locked (xbox region free)
the discounts is regional
the prices is regional (games from Ubisoft and Sony always 10-20$ cheaper than US)
the customer service is regional (although they never answer even once, so its better to contact US PSN lol)
the content availability is CUNTRY SPECIFIC instead of regional or region free. for example, legend of korra available in Asia PSN (singapore, hongkong, etc) but only available in Indonesian after a few months later.
the developer support is regional. In the US you can apply for indie developer on PS. on Asia, you must live in Japan or have shadow-company in Japan.

 

[Metal_Spirit]

PSN is super bad.

Right with the start of PS4, it went completely downhill:

1.) brutal regular stability issues, where people cannot login, thus cannot play online

2.) you need plus to play online

3.) in comparison to PS3 era, there are no good games for free with plus anymore.

Thus, everything just got worse.

Sony sucks up all the PS+ money, but don't invest into software and hardware infrastructure.

What about a poll: will we be able to play PS4 online games during holidays...yes/no?

I fear I know the answer...

1 - That may be your experiênce, but shure is not mine. Destiny, Star Wars, Driveclub (not at start), COD, Farcry 4, etc, etc. Never had any real problem.

2 - No you dont! Although some games do! But this can only be considered comparing with PS3, not with Live!

3 - The original question was about the multiplayer, on PSN vs Live, not the value vs PS3 or any other console.

As for your fears just name a system imune to DDoS...

 

[goonergaz]

the game license is region locked (xbox region free)

What do you mean? Games are not region locked, DLC is.

 

[BRiT]

I check the free games on Live for XB1 and they dont really fair any better whereas free games on PS3 and 360 are much better.

Going forward all the free games on the x360 are also playable on the XboxOne.

 

[Nesh]

Going forward all the free games on the x360 are also playable on the XboxOne.

Oh right, but still, this is more of a side effect of BC rather than Live offering more/better XB1 content in comparison. For some reason PS4 and XB1 conventional titles dont see their way into Plus and Live.

 

[Nesh]

@Shifty Geezer yups. PSN is very regional.

the service up/down is regional
the game license is region locked (xbox region free)
the discounts is regional
the prices is regional (games from Ubisoft and Sony always 10-20$ cheaper than US)
the customer service is regional (although they never answer even once, so its better to contact US PSN lol)
the content availability is CUNTRY SPECIFIC instead of regional or region free. for example, legend of korra available in Asia PSN (singapore, hongkong, etc) but only available in Indonesian after a few months later.
the developer support is regional. In the US you can apply for indie developer on PS. on Asia, you must live in Japan or have shadow-company in Japan.

Some of your points are kinda irrelevant to the subject but regardless regarding region locked game license I am not sure what you mean.
PS3 and PS4 are region free, minus the downloadable content which has to be of the same region as the game you purchased. The XB1 is the first console from MS to move towards complete region free games and it was about time. I dont know if DLC though is region free or not on the XB1. Can someone shed some light?