Last week at E3 2017, Microsoft unveiled the most powerful console ever, the Xbox One X. What does this mean for a PS4 Pro owner like myself? I do some soul searching for answers.
Straight off the bat, this is not one of those, XBOX vs PRO articles. No, instead I’m going to weigh in on my thoughts of what the new machine actually means for a PS4 Pro owner. In case you wondering if I’m going to be biased and fanboyish, let me set you straight. I own both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One as well as still having my PS3 and Xbox 360. In other words, I game regardless of platform. However, from a PS4 Pro owner’s perspective, there are undoubtedly things that will cross your mind about the Xbox One X (I’m just gonna call it XBOX from now on).
Firstly as a PS4 Pro owner, you probably wondering if it’s worth jumping ship. We’ll get to that in a moment. It has to be said that Microsoft has done a phenomenal job with the creation of the XBOX. It is in every way more powerful the Pro. Deserving of the moniker of “Most Powerful Console Ever Made”. There’s no doubt in my mind that every game that gets released on both consoles will have better visual fidelity on the XBOX. Fanboys should really just chill. Does that mean you should abandon PS4 Pro? In my opinion absolutely not. Let’s face it, if raw graphical horsepower is all you want, you wouldn’t be looking at a console, will you? You’d just build a god killer gaming PC. However, that will cost a small car. If anything, XBOX is great news for PS4 Pro owners. Sounds crazy, but bear with me.
The biggest problem with the PS4 Pro right now is not really its power. It’s the lack of developer investment in Pro enhancements. Haven’t you wondered why some games come out with “Pro enhancements” that are really half-assed and barely take advantage of the hardware? A simple reason is the install base is really small and doesn’t incentivise the devs to put in the effort. After all, that extra work is for just one platform. Now with the rise of the artist formerly known as Scorpio, that incentive grows. Now the install base, when combined with Pro (if XBOX does well), gives the teams reasons to really put in the work. That means better quality enhancements. Everybody wins.
“True 4K”, actually this game is Checkerboard Rendering just like PS4 Pro
Plus if every game is mandated on XBOX to support Supersampling for 1080p owners, perhaps they can implement the same for Pro platform. Somethings that is sorely missing in some of the games released. After all, not everyone has a 4K TV. Another minor caveat is Xbox’s lack of quality exclusives. I’m not saying the Xbox has no games. There’s plenty of games on the platform but most of them are also on PS4. It’s the exclusives I’m talking about. Let’s look at E3 for evidence. I count only 4 AAA exclusives for Xbox. Forza 7, Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2. Everything else was either Indie or multiplatform. Let’s look at PS4. God of War, Spiderman, Uncharted The Lost Legacy, Gran Turismo Sport, Days Gone, Shadow of the Colossus Remake, Detroit Become Human, and a slew of PSVR titles just to name but a few.
But the biggest reason why not to make the jump is the diminished returns on 4K gaming. Let me explain. Take a 1080p native game and bump it up to some flavour of 4K on a TV where you are sitting several feet away. To the normal person, they won’t really notice the bump in visuals. So the jump from 1440p game on PS4 Pro to 2160p on XBOX is even less noticeable. So you ask yourself is it really worth the price of entry? A better return on investment would be in performance where 60FPS is hands down more noticeable than 30 FPS. Provided the devs give players the option to select a Performance option like in Rise of the Tomb Raider or Infamous Second Son.
At the end of the day, you’ll probably end up picking the console where all your friends are. Chances are if you bought a PS4 Pro already, then most of your friends are already gaming on PS4 platform. Which means you stick with it. And if you can spare the hefty XBOX price tag, why not play on both. That’s what I’m going to do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a kidney to sell. That Xbox One X isn’t going to buy itself.
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