2 Years In: PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S — Which Console Should You Buy?

It’s been a solid two years since the launch of the current (ninth) generation of consoles, namely that of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S alongside that of the Sony Playstation 5. To be fair, it hasn’t been an easy decision for consumers making their pick of the two, but with some years and experience under the belt of each console, let’s take a closer-look at where each console sits in terms of a prospective purchase.

Xbox Series X/S vs PS5 – The Basics

First and foremost, most people still probably aren’t too familiar with what exactly is available and what these two rivalling machines are. Breaking it down as simply as possible, the Playstation 5 is Sony’s successor to the PS4, which features two different models: the standard 1TB model with a disc drive, and a digital-only PS5 model with no disc drive and a slightly lower profile.

The Xbox Series X is the big-daddy of the Xbox line-up, with a 1TB hard-drive and disc drive, while the Series S is a smaller, discless version with a 512GB hard drive and a little less oomph in terms of power. It’s important to note that the Series S can play all the games that the Series X can, and to date, there haven’t been too many notable technical slowdowns or hiccups on the Series S. How the power limitations of the Series S bottleneck some games is something benchmarkers will be keeping their eyes on.

Current Pricing (November 2022)

Below is the local pricing for each console model:

• Xbox Series X: R11,999
• Xbox Series S: R6,999
• Playstation 5 standard edition – R11,999
• Playstation 5 Digital-Only Discless model – R9,999

While past console generations saw price drops within the first two years of their release, the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 models haven’t seen any RRP changes. If anything, there was an announcement of a price increase for the PS5 due to shortages and shipping complications; however, the current stock hasn’t seemed to have reflected that increase as of yet.

Under the Hood

Playstation 5: The PS5 (and its digital alternative) are rocking an AMD Zen 2-based CPU with 8 cores at 3.5GHz, 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and a custom RDNA 2 AMD GPU that puts out 10.28 TFLOPs of processing power. The digital-only Playstation 5 ditches the disc-drive in order to save cost and space.

Xbox Series X: The Series X is a processing beast, with AMD’s Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures providing 12 teraflops of power. It supports ray tracing, it can render up to 4K (3,840-by-2,160) resolution at up to 120 frames per second, and it’s “8K ready,” which indicates it can upscale to that resolution.

Xbox Series S: The Series S uses the same AMD’s Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architecture at the Series X, but it has only 4 TFLOPS of processing power. It also has 10GB of RAM compared to the X’s 16GB, meaning the Series S has a much lower rendering resolution ceiling of 1440p. It can still handle ray tracing, and supports 1440p at up to 120 frames per second, but games won’t render at 4K. The system still upscales to 4K, so it’ll look fine on your 4K TV, but don’t expect quite as much sharpness, smoothness, or overall detail.

Digital Subscriptions

On the digital front, Microsoft’s GamePass is a winner of a service, providing Xbox gamers with over a hundred games to download and play, including all first-party Xbox titles. Microsoft has also partnered with Electronic Arts’ digital game subscription service, EA Play, which is now Xbox GamePass, so you get a bunch of EA games on there too. GamePass Ultimate (which includes GamePass for PC and console and some extra perks) is priced at R119 p/m, while standard GamePass is R79 p/m for console or PC.

Back in May, Sony’s Playstation Plus subscription service underwent a huge revamp, with the online membership aiming to tackle the more comprehensive library offered by Xbox’s extremely-successful GamePass service.

Instead of getting access to a handful of games each month (which then are replaced with other games), as was the case with Playstation Plus before, the new service has a larger catalogue of games (which you can check out here), with everything from PS2, PS3, PS4, and PS5 games available to play.

The new PlayStation Plus enhancements, which are made up of three tiers, include an expanded library of games to play, which syncs and piggybacks off of the company’s online streaming service, PlayStation Now. The three tiers include Playstation Plus Essential (basically the current version of PS Plus), Playstation Plus Extra (adds a catalogue of PS4 and PS5 games to play, alongside other extras), Playstation Plus Deluxe (adds PS4, PS5, PS3 via cloud streaming, PS2, and PSP games, trials for new games, and other extras).

South African pricing for the Playstation Plus service is as follows:

• Playstation Plus Deluxe – R209 for one month | R609 for 3 months | R1,429 for 12 months
• Playstation Plus Extra – R179 for one month | R519 for 3 months | R1,239 for 12 months
• Playstation Plus Essential – R119 for one month | R319 for 3 months | R749 for 12 months

What about the games themselves?

Of course, as is the case with every console, the value really comes down to the games you can play on it. Both Microsoft and Sony have been somewhat back and forth with big-name exclusives, but if you’ve been a fan of either company’s exclusives in past generations (such as the God of War franchise on Playstation or the Gears of War series on Xbox, for example), you can expect sequels or follow-ups to those respective games on the systems.

Smart delivery/free upgrades: Also good to keep in mind what Microsoft calls ‘Smart Delivery’, which essentially means that Microsoft will automatically enable you to download the ‘best’ version of any game if you’ve already purchased it on a previous generation, i.e. if you buy Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla on Xbox One, you also get it on Xbox Series X/S. Sony does this too with most cross-generational PS4/PS5 games, although they don’t seem to have a buzzword for it.

In terms of current flagship exclusives for both consoles, here’s what’s available:

Best PS5 exclusives*:

• Horizon: Forbidden West
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Demon’s Souls Remake
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal
• Gran Turismo 7
• Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut
• The Last of Us Part 1
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered

*Some of the above games are available on PS4 and PC too.

Best Xbox Series X/S exclusives*:

Admittedly, the Xbox Series X/S consoles don’t have that many dedicated exclusives for those particular systems, as Microsoft has been making an effort to release the games on the past generation Xbox One too. Games like Gears 5, Forza Horizon 5, and Sea of Thieves are Xbox/PC-only games, but ones which feature on Xbox One also.

Dedicated Xbox Series X exclusives include:

• Halo Infinite
• Microsoft’s Flight Simulator

*Some of the above games are available on PC too.

Upcoming games

Of course, it’s always difficult to give too much information on upcoming releases far into the future, as both companies and studios keep platform exclusivity pretty vague until closer to release. However, we know that the two consoles will be getting the following big-name exclusives:

PS5:

• Forspoken
• Marvel’s Wolverine
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Xbox Series X/S:

• Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga
• Starfield
• Avowed
• The Elder Scrolls 6
• Forza Motorsport
• Ark 2
• State of Decay 3

Which one to buy?

Although the Xbox Series X is more powerful on paper, the specs should (almost) never lead to a decision for a new console – the game library should. At the end of the day, the correct purchase is the one that will give you the most value, so more important than ‘which console outmuscles which’, is rather how many exclusive games are there from either platform that catch your eye. Both have impressive games when looking at large studios, but are also providing support when it comes to innovative indie games.

Before making a decision, it’s a good idea to plot out which current and upcoming games you’re looking forward to the most, and if more of them are exclusive to one or the other console, that should lead to your decision. If exclusives aren’t going to play a part in your decision-making, then price-point and technical expectations should play a role. If you want to dive into next-gen at the best possible price and don’t mind not having the highest resolution, the Xbox Series S is an affordable and more-than-capable next-gen gaming machine.

Which console are you leaning towards? Let us know by commenting below and tweeting us @MenStuffZA!