If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to jump into the current generation of game consoles, 2026 is your year. Game catalogs are filling out, more deals are showing up on the secondhand market, and a clear winner is emerging in the Sony vs. Microsoft debate. All signs indicate that you should get a PS5 over an Xbox Series X, primarily because that’s where the games are.
The PlayStation 5 has a decent lineup of big-name exclusive titles scheduled to release in 2026, such as the Rahul Kohli-led “Saros” as well as “Marvel’s Wolverine”. Xbox has no such claim to fame in 2026, and in fact, even the historic Xbox franchise “Halo” will be shared with PlayStation when “Halo: Campaign Evolved” launches on both platforms this year. Couple that with the concerning series of events that Xbox left in its wake in 2025, and it becomes abundantly clear that the PS5 is the safer purchase.
The Xbox brand fell a long way in 2025
Microsoft laid off thousands upon thousands of workers in 2025, a move that certainly affected its Xbox gaming divisions in a big way. This led to the cancellation of many great projects that could have been developed into critically-acclaimed games for the Series X in 2026. These included a long-awaited “Perfect Dark” reboot, a new IP by the name “Everwild”, and an MMORPG from the makers of “The Elder Scrolls Online”, which had been in development for the better part of a decade.
2025 was also a year of drastic price increases. PlayStation and Xbox products alike became more expensive, but the rising price of Xbox consoles and accessories hit especially hard. The Xbox Series S was meant to be a very affordable alternative to the more premium Series X console, but even many casual gamers found themselves priced out of the Xbox ecosystem.
Toward the end of the year, Microsoft announced a price hike for Xbox Game Pass, its iconic subscription service that became widely popular for providing access to a huge library for a nominal monthly fee. However, the new pricing structure was met with harsh criticism when it raised the price of the “Ultimate” tier by 50%. When you consider the lack of upcoming Xbox exclusives and the widespread cancellation of promising up-and-coming games, it surely feels as though Microsoft is asking consumers to pay more money for far less content.
Is the PlayStation 5 better than the Xbox Series X?
Defining the “better console” between Sony and Microsoft’s current hardware is largely a matter of preference, but there are certainly things a PS5 can do that an Xbox Series X cannot. Thanks to the PS VR2, PlayStation is still the definitive console for VR gaming. Many gamers also love the unique features of the PS5’s DualSense controller; motion sensing, adaptive triggers, and advanced haptic feedback have literally changed the game for a lot of people. Both PS5 and Xbox Series X make it easy to add storage space, but the PS5 makes it especially easy to upgrade internal SSD storage.
When it comes to game consoles, though, it really does all come down to games. The available exclusives make up one part of the answer, and the other part comes in the form of subscription services. Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus both offer access to large libraries for relatively small fees, but trends from the past year show that PS5 will likely reign over Xbox Series X for the remainder of this console generation.
