It's been 18 months since the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S launched. How has your experience been with both consoles?

[andymcc]

My PS5 has been mostly used to play PS4 games, I own one PS5 game (Elden Ring) and it's not even exclusive. Not super impressed with the system from a software standpoint, but I'm sure it'll have something I like eventually. Felt this way about the PS4 mostly too, fwiw.

 

[Marvie]

Love my XSX and XSS. The XSS hasnt gotten a lot of use since I got my XSX so I think it's going to be an emulation machine before too long

 

[Genesius]

I got the PS5 at launch and usually play something almost daily. I think the Dualsense is the best controller I've ever used.

I got the XSX after MS started subsuming publishers mostly out of nervousness that it might become my default console unwillingly. I got a year of Gamepass using the truck and I turn it on maybe once every three months to essentially rent a game.

 

[Betty]

PS5 has been fantastic, play it daily, feels like an improvement on the PS4 all over… though I wish we could have custom wallpapers back.

Xbox Series X is a great piece of hardware and I like the improvements made to older games like FPS boost and 4k… but I haven't had it plugged in since I beat Halo infinite and likely won't plug it back in until Starfield comes out.

It's just has a really dry release lineup.

 

[defaltoption]

I adore the series x hardware but its my tv machine at the moment as I mostly on pc and already played through most 360 BC I';ve wanted to since xbox one x.

I hate the ps5 hardware and UI but I freaking loved Miles Morales and Ratchet, since then its been in the box, when did Ratchet come out? I think about a year ago so yeah. I almost took it out for GT7 but tbh I just want to play that on pc so im holding out hope

Very excited for God of War on ps5 and the xbox will get more play as Epic releases more epic store exclusives or if theres any games I cant play on pc.

 

[KingDrool]

As expected, my Series X is my GamePass machine, and nothing else. Even that gets little use. My PS5 is more active, playing Horizon and Elden Ring quite a bit.

 

[ciddative]

PS5 here. No game has really impressed me since Astro, but it's nice to play PS4 games with benefits

 

[DuvalDevil]

Only have a Series X but I use it every single day. I told my wife that the Series X and the C9 are the two best purchases I've made in years. I love them both so much.

Click to shrink...

Yep. Same for me!

 

[PolskiGamer17]

I started out the gen with a PS5. I eventually got series X and man, I fell in love in my Xbox. It got to the point where I re bought almost all my games on Xbox.
The dualsense is great, but I am in the minority who is not fond of adaptive triggers, they seem gimmicky to me.
While Xbox may have a standard controller it is more solid to me. Also game pass is a factor.
I am keeping my ps5 mostly for exclusives. Still a good console, but Xbox stepped up more imho

 

[Wanchan]

I don't have an Xbox but PS5 : I played the few exclusives on it and it's collecting dust now.

I mainly play on PC now that almost all games are released on PC + with the steam deck I got a month ago, it will probably be months before I ever play on console again. Games are way cheaper on PC + I can play almost all of them handheld now thanks to the steam deck, which is a big + for me.

 

[linkboy]

My only experience with a PS5 is getting to hold the controller when my ex boss bought one and had it at work last year.

 

[SpottieO]

XSX is probably one of my favorite costumes ever. I've had a blast with it since getting it last Christmas.

 

[Duxxy3]

Series S:
Cool little system. Great for taking on trips. Doesn't put out much heat. It was nice and cheap. Quick resume is awesome.
But backwards compatibility is mediocre, with many games using the poor looking XB1 performance profile. Not having a disk drive really hurt. But if you're playing at 1080p, don't play BC games and only want it as a gamepass machine it's fantastic.

Series X:
Lots of power and space. Backwards compatibility is fantastic. If you want to play older games on newer hardware, this is the system to get. Quick resume is awesome.
But I don't like how much heat the system puts out. That is its biggest weakness. I play in a fairly small room without great airflow, and it can easily heat up the room in short order.

PS5:
I like how relatively cool and quiet this machine is. Backwards compatibility is alright, but there's too many games that have been abandoned without updates (bloodborne). The build quality of the system and controller seem solid to me. Probably has my favorite lineup of exclusives to start this generation.
But I still don't like playstation controllers. I hate Sony's lack of cloud saves as a basic function. Rest mode is a crapshoot.

There's no real dominant system for me this gen. I play them all pretty evenly. The hardware is actually really good for both companies. Sony has a better lineup. Microsoft has a better feature set and it has gamepass. Sony is working on its own gamepass and Microsoft is working on its software lineup. It's shaping up to be a good generation. It's just taking a bit longer than most of us expected.

 

[DaleCooper]

What experience? What PS5? I keep hearing about the PS5. But where is it?

 

[Kaguya]

60fps being a standard feature and fast load times make this the best console generation for me since PS2/GC era.

 

[degauss]

PS5 Digital - honestly it's largely a CoD Warzone machine, but I've been playing a bunch of other things. Ratchet, GT7, Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, Last of Us 2, Lost Legacy, Return, Wreckfest, Cyberpunk, and having a ball. The only real downside I have encountered is the Pulse headset battery life, which could be better.

Xbox Series X - decent machine but I don't like the UI as much or the controller as much or the library as much, and it doesn't fit in my media unit. Subscribed to gamepass for now (loophole pricing). Didn't enjoy Halo Infinite or Forza Horizon 5 much at all. Starfield dissappears off into the future, and I fear my gamepass will be expired by it's release. Psychonauts 2 has been my most played game, great game. Will certainly keep it, but it will probably become an exclusives box on which I'll just buy Starfield/Hellblade 2/etc

 

[HOUSEJoseph]

I may be in the minority, but I've been primarily playing on my Switch. My lifestyle makes it difficult to get to my PS5, and it's just been kind of a strange cross-gen period for PS5. Can't believe the last PS5 exclusive Sony-made game in 2021 was Ratchet and Clank.

 

[Valcrist]

PS5 gets the most use out of all three consoles (PS5/Series X/Switch). I am someone who prefers to buy their games, so gamepass doesn't entirely appeal to me unless a big exclusive drops. Psychonauts 2 was the last time I spent a decent amount of time with my Series X, though I did enjoy Tunic for a short while.

2023 is probably going to be a pretty good year for my Series X hopefully.

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

I use my Series X way more than my PS5 mostly because of Game Pass.

 

[Krombopulos_MK]

I've been really happy with the Series X. Granted, there have been few things that are awe-inspiring next-gen moments, but the quality of life stuff has been really nice. The course correct from the underpowered crap of the last decade would have been enough for me. And quick resume/SSD has been a game-changer. So nice to dip in for 20 min and actually get something done.

 

[Deleted member 41651]

I really enjoy my launch PS5 but I'm not gonna sugarcoat things and say I use it all the time. I'm grateful to own one but there are long stretches of time where I don't even use it. The impact of Covid and insistence of cross-gen make playing an actual PS5 game a rarity. I've never had this experience with a new console before. In this span of time for the PS1 I'd be playing like Resident Evil getting my mind fucking blown, FFX on the PS2 and like LittleBig Planet on the PS3. Again tho, Covid didn't happen back then but still sucks.

So far, my Series S is being used more for b/c and gamepass. Never had a Microsoft console before and never woulda imagined I'd be using one more than a Sony console.

I really hope the next 2 or 3 years will heat up with actual next gen games cuz it really sucks to just rely on cross-gen and backwards compatibility stuff.

 

[Chucker]

I use my Series X daily, and actively looked for a PS5 for the first 6 months and then gave up and took a "I'll get it when there are enough games I can't play on my PS4" to justify it. Granted the same could be said of my SX but I was able to easily grab one (and then a Halo edition) with no issue.

The kicker is that the SX has been a gamepass/apex/fn/destiny machine which could be any console really. Just finished playing Chrono Trigger on it because of Retroarch though. I dunno, this gen is weird.

 

[Spazerbeam]

I haven't had much of a reason to turn on my PS5 recently but my Xbox occasionally gets some use when I'm not on my PC. especially with backwards compatibility. In general I like the controller a lot more.

 

[Sword Familiar]

I still haven't seen one IRL.

 

[LightKiosk]

Have had a PS5 DE since launch and the amount of playtime I have gotten out of it so far is absurd, can't recall any other gen starting out like this for me personally. The DualSense is also the best controller I've ever used up until this point and it's gotten to the point where it does improve the game experience for me. There are still extremely annoying things like lack of 1440p (luckily my monitor can downsample a 4K image) and their VRR implementation doesn't include FreeSync, but overall this is probably the best $400 console I've bought.

Series X has been in my sights for a while though in place of a GPU upgrade as most of my PC gaming is Xbox 1st party and Rocket League. Might grab one next year when their 1st party rollout starts to build momentum and Starfield drops.

 

[Hasney]

Play my Series X a lot more than the PS5 by quote a wide margin, but I enjoy both systems. Bar the PS5 controller.

 

[Shock32]

I use my ps5 pretty much daily, even if it's too watch a movie. The load times are the biggest game changer this gen along with the Dualsense haptics. Don't see a need for an Xbox right now.

 

[reKon]

I have a PS5. I've been very happy with it. The controller is fine still and I've had no issues with fan noise. Still wish the design was better, but it has a spot on my TV stand so there wasn't much I need to do.

I have exclusively played PS4 games enhanced on it and upgraded experience has been fantastic. I made the wise move of selling my slightly appreciated PS4 Pro during the pandemic to offset the cost by $300+. Therefore, BC was a important feature for me and main reason I felt comfortable with getting this day 1. I think I made the smart move. What's the point in waiting 3+ years for a console with BC to potentially drop by $200 when you can sell your last gen console and get more than the $200 savings?

I've gotten upgrades on the 1st party games I cared about.

The performance is so good that I've actually replayed some (TLoU Part II is still better than 99.9% of shooters from a gameplay perspective and playing it at 60fps is a joy).

One of things I appreciate the most is the ease of using expanded storage for all these PS4. I'm glad that they took to page from Microsoft here. This has allowed me to find use for the extra 1 TB SSD that used to be in my desktop. Space is essentially not a worry for me. I also intend on buying 2TB of high speed SSD to put into the PS5 in the future (prices have been falling faster than I expected). Not in a rush to do this though.

I'm just starting to dive in now into PS5 games I have and expect to be impressed by visuals from Spiderman: MM and Demons Soul.

 

[Ferrs]

Got a PS5 at launch. Load times are a godsend, Dualsense is alright but triggers kinda got old, haven't even touched the cards and at this point probably never will so it's a pointless feature. Shit's also big , ugly and noisy, don't really care about the first two but I hate how noisy is mine considering it's a fucking tower. Build quality just feels cheap.

Demon's souls graphics still impress me though.

 

[LaytonWright]

got both.

I use my ps5 semi regularly as I have a VERY good pc, and my xbox series x is used every few days with gamepass.

 

[Terraforce]

PS5 has been great for the abbreviated load times, but I feel like I haven't used it for something I couldn't do on my PS4 outside of the launch period. There was Ratchet and FFVII Remake: Intergrade, but those were both pretty short experiences I won't go back to. It's been well over a year since the last fully exclusive PS5 game, and it's very disappointing.

Feels almost like upgrading a phone rather than jumping into a new gen.

 

[Joe White]

Got both XSX and PS5 on day-1, but only kept Series X when got offered couple of beers for the PlayStation. And that was the best thing ever, as those beers were really good and currently don't really feel like increasing Sony PlayStation MAUs and supporting such mess of a corporation, at least until they resolve their many issues. But really happy with Series X, and it feels like best possible console on the market for our household.

 

[matthewnfr]

I saved money for 3 years to finally get my first console and i got a Series X since September of 2021.
Living in Latin America, i can't put in words how much Gamepass changed my life as a gamer. It's such a good deal and i always have so much to play. Last holiday was incredible with the Halo Infinite and Forza launches, and i'm still kinda sad about the Starfield/Redfall delay, but i will get over it.
That said, i'm loving my Xbox. Having a blast with Quick Resume and the FPS Boost in many games i always wanted to try.

 

[OaklandKao]

Lately? My PS5 has been a daily thing for me to play. I love that it has an SSD, so for the most part, quick loading.

My biggest issue outside of how massive the thing is, is that I seemed to have a bit of input lag. I was playing Like a Dragon, and decided to play Virtua Fighter 2 in it. It nearly became unplayable. I'm not sure if it's because I had my PS5 in sleep mode from the day before or if VF2 has a memory leak or whatever. Reseting the console did fix it at least.

 

[ImPacaTheCat]

I have both. I think the last time switched on my Ps5 was in 2021. I use xbox from time to time mostly for rewards, and I spend most of my time playing on pc and xcloud

 

[Gestault]

Both Series X and S have been some of the most convenient gaming I've done in my adult life. I love the hardware, they're relatively small for the power, and totally silent. There's a huge novelty for me in terms of the Series S in particular, because I'm playing games on higher-end displays, and things like 120fps modes feel extra neat on a relatively tiny $299 box. There's been a steady supply of games (on top of MP/social games I play regularly) that play meaningfully better on the new hardware, plus a few unique experiences that really leverage the new specs. Cross-play being more common has also made the social experience better in general, which is a nice change for the start of this gen.

This is in contrast with the last year or so where I've noticed more cases of mild stuttering on PC titles I've wanted to play, which that seems to have nothing to do with hardware performance. That's all the more frustrating knowing I'm on (relatively) strong hardware. That's definitely not unique to PC, but it feels more frequent now than a did a few years back. I have VRR on all my gaming displays, and this is the one thing that still feels disruptive when I game.

 

[Alternade]

Usually I wait until the new Final Fantasy gets released for PS consoles but them being $500+ still most places, very low stock, and the lack of must haves is keeping me from even entertaining the thought of obtaining it.

 

[Neuroxia]

My experience has been that i wasn't able to buy either one of them so far :)

But my main platform is the PC, so i'm not too sad about it;

 

[PennyPasta]

i almost never use my ps5 and i think rift apart is the only thing worth playing on it

i use my series s a little more regulary.. but mostly as an emulation machine thanks to retroarch

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

Love my ps5. My series s is good too but i constantly feel like I'd rather play it's game pass games on ps5 or switch. That said they each have their strengths.

Wish ps5 UI had themes, tho dual sense is amazing

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Fantastic for both of my PS5s. Only one or two real crashes in a game (Astrobot, oddly enough) but it's been smooth, even throughout the Beta firmware phase. They've basically replaced our PS4s for use as those systems, too, so I'm getting the benefits of a Pro (and then some) without upgrading to a Pro. As it is we mostly use them for Genshin Impact, Destiny 2 and a few other games (wife plays a lot of Overwatch), but it's great for everything.

We have been hit by the stick drift a few times, but I've found a pretty nifty workaround for it (that I may have a working fix for) and it's mostly because maybe the controller is too advanced in how it does things that it ends up hurting itself, in a manner of speaking. If it works the way I think it might (it requires a lot of time testing) I'll be sharing with others (of course).

 

[TooBusyLookinGud]

I use both.

 

[neonxaos]

I've played so much on my Series X. I haven't even seen a PS5 in my country yet, only one of my friends even has one.

 

[0ptimusPayne]

I mostly play my Series X, and only use my PS5 for the exclusives I want to play on it.

 

[Sealord of Braavos]

Series X is by far the best user expereince I've ever had in a console. Just need the games to start arriving from the massive collection of Xbox studios.

 

[Bran]

I've found myself playing on PC/MiSTer/Dreamcast/OG Xbox far more than my XSX and PS5 this past year. Even my Switch has been somewhat neglected.

Whenever I do use my XSX/PS5, it's mostly for back-compat games. Been extremely uninterested in the vast majority of Sony and Microsoft first-party exclusives as of late.

 

[Linus815]

not a fan of how overpriced ps5 games are and i found most of the 1st party output to be a bit disappointing. GT7 was a huge disappointment, Forbidden West was just ok, R&C was eh, alright, I guess.

But I do enjoy 60 fps being an option in practically every game and I did play a lot of multiplats on PS5 due to EGS exclusivity/busted up PC versions, so it gets good usage of me. Plus replaying Judgment at 60 fps and then playing Lost Judgment was already enough to justify the purchase for me.

Hope FF16 is a good one.

The console itself is ugly, i don't like the noise it makes (its not loud but the coil whine can be pretty annoying), the UI is far from good but im used to it, the gamepad is nice, though the haptic feedback can be annoying in some games. Gamepad battery is pathetically bad.

 

[Equanimity]

I'm really happy with both systems.

PS5 UI is surprisingly fast, it may just be the fastest across the board - smart phones included.

Xbox Series X does VRR so much better, and BC is great. I recently finished Batman: Arkham Origins.

 

[Deleted member 26039]

Series S (and now with the X): Only a handful of crashes, but some freezing (especially lately). PS5: A lot more hard crashing during sleep mode and some while in game.

I like both consoles a lot but I am a little more impressed with the X so far. If only the controller was a bit bigger and it looked better laying on its side.

 

[vixolus]

Fine with both. They play games