A winner appears to emerging in the great Xbox One vs PS4 debate. Unfortunately for Microsoft, it's not the Xbox One. Why is the PS4 outselling the Xbox One by an estimated 2-3 million units? it's not just one reason. Part of it is price, with the Xbox One costing $100 due to a Kinect that is basically just a voice-activated TV remote. Part of it is loyalty, the PS3 did (eventually) outsell the 360 in the last generation. More PS3 users means more potential PS4 customers. It could also be tied to issues with Microsoft's marketing campaign, the inferior graphics or a lack of exciting exclusives. Yes, Titanfall is great, but it's not drop-$500-on-a-system-great. And it's available on 360.
There are plenty of analysts and commentators speculating as to why the Xbox One is lagging behind, but I want to focus on what they can do to catch up. In my mind, Microsoft has one hope: the backwards compatible cloud.
The Xbox One needs a backwards compatible cloud, and soon. Sony is already moving firmly in the direction of backwards compatibility with the Playstation Now service. So while you won't be able to put PS3 discs into your PS4, you will (soon) be able to stream the greatest hits of that generation to your PS4. Sony is taking concrete steps to make its old game library available on the PS4 and Microsoft needs to do the same for Xbox One. The problem is that Microsoft isn't close to delivering on the project, and the company sees it more as a good idea rather than a must-have feature.
"There are [plans], but we're not done thinking them through yet, unfortunately," Frank Savage, Xbox development lead, told Kotaku Australia. "It turns out to be hard to emulate the PowerPC stuff on the X86 stuff. So there's nothing to announce, but I would love to see it myself."
So while Microsoft hems and haws over how to make this happen Sony is already beta testing PS Now and users are starting to get a glimpse of how the service will work. Take a look:
Microsoft's biggest liability going forward is going to be games. Sony already has a huge head start when it comes to indie development, but it's still early enough in the launch calendar that both systems are sharing all the big AAA titles. But as Sony begins to widen the sales gap it will become less risky for publishers to abandon Xbox One development in favor of PS4 exclusives. The Xbox One could soon suffer from the same issues as the Wii U. If the Xbox One install base continues to languish behind the PS4 then it will be easier for publishers to give exclusives to Sony. The Xbox One needs to stay competitive, which is why they need an Xbox One backwards compatible cloud sooner rather than later.
If Microsoft can get the Xbox One backwards compatible cloud up and running by the end of the year it will help keep them stay competitive with Sony. The Xbox 360 games library is fantastic and there are plenty of Xbox One owners who would love to replay their favorite 360 titles, especially right now when the Xbox One games library is pretty light. And if you're doing Xbox One vs PS4 comparisons, the Xbox One is already behind when it comes to price and graphics. If Sony launches PS Now and Microsoft still hasn't made the Xbox One backward compatible cloud happen then it is going to spell big trouble for the bottom line. The PS4 will be a more powerful, cheaper system with access to a last-gen game library of hundreds of games. The Xbox One will let you talk to your TV and play Titanfall for the bajillionth time. Which system do you think will dominate the holiday sales this winter?
Sony is winning the Xbox One vs PS4 sales war right now but there's plenty of time for Microsoft to catch up. But it's not going to happen with more Kinect features or a better dashboard. Microsoft needs to give a win to its fans and the Xbox One backwards compatible cloud is the best option on the table. Without it, Microsoft will continue to lose gamers to Sony and, eventually, the next-gen console race too.
