At this point, the console war feels as old as time itself. Ever since the first PlayStation shipped gamers have been arguing about which is better. Of course, it's next to impossible to say conclusively which is better, but an independent study reveals that the Xbox One wins in terms of network
IHS Market performed tests on both the PS4 and Xbox One, looking at three different metrics: Reliability, Speed, and Overall Quality.
Most Reliable Network
The study defined reliability as “the ability to complete specified tasks required for gameplay.” Its main focus was on if gamers can connect to the network, and whether they could complete their gaming tasks once connected.
Consistency of logging in, game load times, matchmaking and stability were the four main metrics of the test. In all but one of these, the Xbox One outperformed PS4.
Xbox fell slightly behind in its matchmaking ability. However, it scored significantly better than PS4 in login times for both network and game servers. Disconnects were also slightly less frequent.
Fastest Network
The speed category of the test contained four different scenarios: latency, matchmaking, game-load times, login service and friends. The friends metric may sound a bit confusing, but involves measuring the amount of time it took to send invites and the subsequent speed in which the acceptance notice was returned to the player.
Once more, Xbox Live beat PlayStation Network in three out of four of the metrics. User experiences a faster login to the game server and network and a quicker upload speed. PlayStation was ahead in the speed of finding other players, however.
Overall Quality
To discover which network comes out on top overall, IHS combined the speed and reliability results, while also throwing in some other metrics. These included the experience of joining a party and voice chat quality.
As with the other two scenarios, Xbox came out on top in three out of four. As you would expect, it lagged behind in matchmaking speed and reliability, as was indicated in the other tests.
Microsoft has had a field day with the news, creating an entirely new webpage dedicated to the results. The Redmond giant is now labeling Xbox Live as “the fastest, most reliable gaming network.”
Of course, the tests are far from definitive in proving that Xbox Live is better than PlayStation Network. A faster, more reliable network doesn't always mean a better one. The test doesn't take into account UI, update frequency, features and other preferences that are hard to measure.
They were also conducted through June and July, and were limited to the five most popular matchmaking games. IHS Markit states that results may vary and the study isn't an endorsement of any kind.
Nevertheless, it marks a significant win for Microsoft, and could encourage some users to choose the platform in the future, especially now that the service is opening up to the PC audience with Xbox Play Anywhere.
Let us know what you think about the results in the comments below.
Last Updated on January 31, 2017 7:27 pm CET by Ryan Maskell
