PS5 Frustrations Show Value Of Xbox Smart Delivery & Cloud Saves

The PS5 needs to catch up on quality-of-life features. The Xbox Series X/S Smart Delivery, Quick Resume, and simple Cloud Saves make gaming easier.

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The biggest challenge with recently released consoles has been getting one at all, but gamers who managed to obtain an Xbox Series X/S console have been met with a far more streamlined experience than PlayStation 5 owners. Quality of life features like Smart Delivery, cross-platform Cloud Saves, and Quick Resume, have made transitioning to the next generation of Xbox simple and user-friendly. These features may have seemed like less than glamorous selling points, and it is possible many gamers took it for granted that similar options would be available on both major consoles. The numerous issues PS5 users have faced with porting saves from one generation to the next and ensuring they have the optimal version of the game installed have validated Smart Delivery and Cloud Saves as valuable assets, and the ease of Quick Resume allowing gamers to suspend their place in multiple games gives the Xbox Series console an edge over even PC gaming. Many gamers are hopeful Sony will step up to match these features, but at present, the Xbox Series X/S consoles provide a smoother experience.

The initial setup of the Xbox Series X/S consoles is simple and fast. Gamers upgrading from an Xbox One to an Xbox Series X/S console have ready access to their full library of Xbox One titles as well as any backwards compatible original Xbox and Xbox 360 games they have purchased through their account. With Cloud Saves enabled, they are also able to resume a game they might have started on an Xbox One system and continue it on the more powerful Xbox Series device. Xbox Play Anywhere titles, which include many third-party games, also share cloud saves with their PC versions, so a player might start a game on an Xbox One, advance their saved game on a PC or laptop, and continue the game on their Xbox Series X/S, with minimal difficulty.

PlayStation 5 also allows for save transfers, but many gamers found it less intuitive, as there are guides to how to transfer saves from PS4 to PS5 for Final Fantasy 7 Remake and games like it. Both console lines allow for Cloud Save sharing across generations, but the Xbox experience tends to be more user-friendly, and the PC save-sharing option is off the table for PS5 users. Fewer first-party PlayStation titles have PC ports compared to Xbox, where it is almost universal, but odd gaps remain, like PlayStation Now’s inability to share saves between PS4 games downloaded locally, and the same PS4 game streamed through a PC using the service.

PS5’s Monetized Upgrades From PS4 Show Value Of Smart Delivery

Smart Delivery was a feature that seemed so intuitive many wondered why it needed to be noted at all, but the PS5’s arbitrary distinction between PS4 and PS5 versions of games has justified the Xbox feature as extremely relevant to gamers. The PS4 and PS5 share essentially the same architecture, as the Xbox One does with the Xbox Series X/S. Consoles have transitioned from the days of highly unique, bespoke hardware, like the PS3’s Cell Processor, to a more uniform architecture. This has allowed for simple backward compatibility between the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S and the PS4 and PS5 generations, as the new consoles are closer to upgrading a computer than ever before.

With first party Microsoft titles on Xbox, players purchase games as a generation-neutral item, and the best version for their hardware is automatically downloaded. With the PS5, Sony has elected to treat games as if they were separate purchases for PS4 and PS5 versions. The initial anti-consumer approach to the Horizon Forbidden West release reflected this mentality, as PS4 and PS5 versions were to be sold separately, and only a very expensive special edition would provide access to both – though thankfully this has been walked back.

Both Xbox Series X/S and PS5 consoles run prior generation games at enhanced framerates and resolution in many cases, and always with faster loading times thanks to the Solid State Drives sported by both console lines. For PC gamers, it is not unlike the experience of buying a new PC, or upgrading a current gaming rig, as their full library of existing games is available to them, and any titles, new or old, could benefit from a new graphics card or an SSD. Given that this console generation is more analogous to a PC upgrade than any that came before, the decision to sell separate PS4 and PS5 versions of the same first-party games is baffling.

Quick Resume Makes Gaming Easy, Sets Consoles Apart From PCs

Due to public backlash, Sony did reverse the decision and ultimately offered a free upgrade for Horizon Forbidden West from PS4 to PS5, but they have confirmed that future first-party titles will require a $10 “upgrade fee” for the PS5-optimized version. While is it not a major cost, the investment of buying a new PlayStation console alone should justify access to the ideal version of a game that has been purchased, per the standard set by PC gaming, as well as on the current Xbox consoles. Given that many gamers are unable to find a PS5 without turning to scalpers and paying far more than the MSRP, a series of $10 fees to later access the PS5 versions of games they purchase for PS4 in the interim is a vexing prospect.

Quick Resume is a unique feature of Xbox systems that provides a strong argument for the console as opposed to a PC. Aside from the initial cost of a gaming PC being far higher than that of an Xbox console, many observed that with the first-party library of games largely shared between Xbox and PC, those who have already invested in gaming PCs may not see the value in an Xbox Series X/S. With Quick Resume, the systems offer a unique selling point. All modern consoles have a streamlined user interface that enable quick access to games and media streaming apps, but with Quick Resume, a player can have multiple games in progress, suspended at a specific moment of play, and return to them at any time. The PS5 allows for the “switcher” option, where a user can switch between recently accessed games and apps without returning to the menu, but changing games still requires a “cold boot,” rather than the suspended state of Quick Resume.

At its core, gaming is about games, certainly, and thus comparisons of the current-gen consoles have tended to lean into things like PlayStation exclusives, or the value of Microsoft’s Game Pass service. Quality of life features like Quick Resume and Smart Delivery are not as attention-grabbing, nor are simple, shared cloud saves across multiple console generations, as well as PCs. Exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Marvel’s Wolverine from Insomniac are certainly worth paying attention to, and services like Game Pass and PlayStation Now absolutely weigh into the decision to purchase a new piece of gaming hardware. For the fortunate few gamers able to obtain both Sony and Microsoft’s latest consoles, they can compare the ease-of-use side-by-side, but for many more hobbyists, both systems remain elusive.

Gamers Focus On Games, But Quality Of Life Features Still Matter

Though exclusives make good talking points, the vast majority of games are multiplatform, including most of the biggest and best-selling titles of every generation. For gamers with both current-gen consoles, the decision of which system to purchase multiplatform titles may be based one ease of use and access, which gives the Xbox Series X/S consoles an edge. For those unable to obtain either of the new consoles, Xbox One also has as advantage over PS4, as there is more certainty that last-gen titles purchased through the Xbox One ecosystem will be accessible in their best form on the Xbox Series X/S consoles, while Sony’s ecosystem remains ambiguous, with a series of upgrade fees for each game likely waiting alongside the cost of the new hardware, when it becomes available.

Xbox is making is easier to access and play games, an approach that is less headline-grabbing than a list of upcoming exclusives, certainly, but in the here and now, it avoids a lot of headaches, and lets players enjoy gaming with ease. Notably, these are all features that the PS5 is absolutely capable of supporting. Ideally, PS5 will receive an update to support something akin to Quick Resume, the Cloud Saves will become more streamlined, and if Sony is willing to reverse their current position, a Smart Delivery-style system could be implemented, allowing gamers to download PS5 versions of their purchased PS4 games for no additional cost. Just as criticism of Microsoft’s poor exclusive selection during the Xbox One era led the company to purchase many major gaming studios, like Bethesda, hopefully the rocky start of the PlayStation 5’s quality of life features will lead Sony to put more emphasis on catching up with Xbox as well.

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