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Sony and Microsoft’s Secret Weapon

By on December 31, 2012

xbox live 2

Normally everything is up for grabs at the start of a new console generation. Loyalty goes out the window and gamers go for the console with the cheapest price tag and best launch line-up. We all know someone who was a diehard PS2 fan, but now his or her console of choice is the Xbox 360. Brand loyalty was so easy to abandon back then, but not anymore. Here’s one simple reason Xbox gamers won’t convert to PlayStation next generation, and vice versa.

Sony and Microsoft’s secret weapon is your PSN and Xbox Live account.

These accounts have your trophies, achievements, friends’ list, downloadable games, and DLC. Gamers have become too attached to these things; they’ve invested too much time and money in them to just walk away now.

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Some of us spend thousands of dollars on PSN and XBLA games; we’re already in too deep. We can’t sell these games back to GameStop. We could sell the console with the games on it, but then we would be giving up our account (bye friends, trophies and achievements). Sure, we could keep our old consoles around, but the majority of us don’t want to deal with the unnecessary clutter.

If Sony and Microsoft handle things correctly they could get almost everyone who bought their previous console to buy their new one. That’s why backwards compatibility is more important than ever, every PS3 & Xbox 360 game, DLC item, and downloadable game must be backwards compatible.

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This could negate price, one console could cost more than the other and it wouldn’t matter. You may go for the more expensive one because you can carry over all of your content from a previous console. What’s an extra $100 when you’ve already invested thousands of dollars and countless hours into a platform?

There’s no way around this, not allowing us to carry over DLC and everything else would hurt both companies in the end. Gamers would become reluctant when it comes to downloadable content — “All of this stuff will be tied to this console, so why bother?” Most of the PS Vita and Wii U’s games are available for download, the same will be true for the PS4 and Next Xbox. So ensuring that the PS3 and Xbox 360′s content transfers over is a must if Sony and Microsoft want gamers to continue to buy digital next generation.

If Sony and Microsoft have any sense left in them — digital backwards compatibility will play a major role in the marketing of their next generation consoles. Make it obvious that everything will carry over; if both companies nail this then they have nothing to worry about. It’s their secret weapon, ace in the hole, etc. Their consoles will basically sell themselves and no one’s gaming division will go out of business.

I'm DeShaun Zollicoffer, and I approve this message/bio. "26-years-old, Proud Northeast Ohioan, a Gamer Without Loyalties, an Equal Opportunity Offender, Apple Evangelist, Apple Hater, Music Lover, Anime Junkie, Little Monster, Frequent Flyer, Dexter Fanatic, Title Case Addict, and Geek Revolt's Founder and Editorial Director."
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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Avi-Patel/100002076529431 Avi Patel

    SOME GREAT POINTS. I DEFINITELY AGREE. HAVING BEEN ON MY XBOX LIVE ACCOUNT AND RACKING UP ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS FOR IT OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, I REALLY DO HOPE IT ALL CARRIES OVER TO THE NEXT XBOX.

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      It better, if it doesn’t no one will invest in downloadable content next generation.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Avi-Patel/100002076529431 Avi Patel

        I MEAN, IF IT DOESN’T, I’D STILL BUY DLC, BUT I WOULDN’T BE AS HAPPY.

        • http://twitter.com/Dakunclear Joseph

          I could careless TBH with you because think you have those consoles already just buy the new one and keep your old one for that old stuff easy as that problem solved

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1323575184 Rich Unsworth

    My reason is I simply cannot get used to that dammed ps3 controller – my ps3 sits in the bedroom so once in a blue moon the wife and i can watch something from amazon prime otherwise i would probably play games on it

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      I rarely played my original Xbox because I hated the controller. I like all of them now, though.

      • Jason

        The PS3 controller is tendinitis inducing unless you have small hands.

        • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

          We’re off topic, but I have large hands and it feels fine to me ha, so I don’t agree :)

          • Jason

            Doing research during my Plastic Surgery internship, I investigated hand injuries from diverse origins. Modern day Quervain’s tendinitis was very closely attributed to gaming and almost all of the patients in that category were PlayStation gamers using DualShock controllers (the gamer’s thumb as most of us now call it). The position of the analog sticks and the lack of grip on them is most likely the largest contributing factor. The Xbox 360 controller is simply more ergonomic and suitable for more diverse types of hands. The article will be published sometime next year (in a couple of months).

          • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

            Make sure to send me a link. I would love to read that (I’m not being sarcastic by the way)

          • Camara Wilson
          • Axe99

            I’ve got medium-sized hands, and have pumped thousands of hours into the PS3 controller (and PS2/PSOne before it, and they’re all pretty much identically shaped from an OHS perspective). I agree that the shape of the bits that sit in your palms isn’t as good as the 360 pad, but in my experience, I’ve found the 360 thumbsticks promote slightly assymetric holding of the controller (as the thumbsticks are damn assymetric, even though my hands, by and large, are not). I haven’t used the 360 controller as much, so it may be an issue of not ‘acclimatising’, but I have more RSI issues with it than the DS3/2/original.

  • http://www.facebook.com/InternationalGamer1 Christopher Bosak

    I sure hope some of my Achievements on my 360 continue onto the Xbox 720, though most of the time I’m playing on my PS3 anyway. I am at level 12 on my trophies. I’ll be ranking up 2-3 levels over the next month with all the gaming i’m doing being on break and all. Not to mention all the RPG’s I own “Tales of Vesperia”, Tales of Graces F”, “Disgaea 4″, and more.

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      Yup, people work hard to get those things so it would be a slap in the face if they didn’t transfer over.

  • http://www.facebook.com/InternationalGamer1 Christopher Bosak

    PS4 & Xbox 720 better be compatible with Physical media i.e. discs. I like having Physical copies of my games, and prefer to generally have them over the digital copies. Which gets me thinking the biggest problem with digital is once the Companies stop having the games on the server after the console is about to leave market. You’re fucked, and there goes your digital games. This is why I’m FOREVER for Physical discs. Thank God SONY knows that people still want Discs from them.

    • http://www.geekrevolt.com/ DeShaun Zollicoffer

      I think they’ll support the previous consoles discs, at least I hope they will. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the PS4 since Sony won’t be using the cell processor in it. That means no backwards compatibility since emulating PS3 games would probably be too difficult.

      My theory is that we will see two models, a cheap one without BC and a more expensive one with BC. Maybe they’ll put the cell processor in the more expensive one, just so it can play PS3 games. It’s what they did with the PS3 (putting PS2 parts in it) and I think they’ll do the same with the PS4. And then they’ll remove PS3 BC in a few years, but by that time no one will care.

      • http://twitter.com/Dakunclear Joseph

        From what they are saying there will be no backwards compatibility, but if you want you can go to the store and it will be an adapter which will allow it for 100 bucks so the people that want it can get and the people that don’t care for it, don’t need to be buy it :D