While Sony’s PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch have their own unique selling points, they are also both missing out on some cracking features.
Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles may not be the top selling hardware right now, but they do come with some exclusives.
The Xbox Games Pass allows players to download and play games for a monthly fee, much like EA Access, which is also exclusive to the console.
But Microsoft recently revealed another killer feature that might make PS4 and Nintendo Switch owners a little jealous this holiday season.
The new feature of Game Gifting is now available to all Xbox owners who are part of the Insider Program.
It essentially allows players to buy each other games via the Microsoft Store.
This is of course limited to digital purchases but it gives players another option to share games via their consoles.
Microsoft also allows users to share their games library for free with another person if they choose to, which requires a sign-in on the other person’s console.
Sharing logins on an Xbox One means players can double on titles, with Game Gifting the next step.
The same sharing feature is available on the PS4, although Sony have not said anything about Gifting Games, as of yet.
This new feature – which has been around on Steam for sometime – hasn’t been fully released yet but it appears that Microsoft are getting close to launching it.
So can we expect something similar for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch?
Nintendo are currently busy with their own Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, which will launch early in 2018.
Currently, games can be shared between consoles, but don’t allow for sharing like on PS4 and Xbox One.
With the hybrid device still relatively new, it appears fans may have to wait and see what comes next.
Sony, however, may make changes much sooner.
It was recently revealed that the PS Plus subscription service has grown in importance at PlayStation, following the news that more than half of current fiscal year sales have come via the PlayStation Store.
This would suggest that retaining users has become a major priority to grow these numbers further, which could explain the recent uptrend in free PS Plus games.
Last month saw the launch of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as a downloadable PS4 game, with fans hoping more of its kind are on the way.
“The business model used to be a B2B royalty model,” an executive explained during a recent conference call.
“Now it has shifted to a direct-to-consumer model. Hardware is important, but rather than hardware, the number of users is getting more important: monthly average users, PS Plus subscriber numbers, and also how much time are they putting in using this console? The accent seems to be shifting from hardware to userbase.”
This suggests that Sony will be quick to offer as many new ways to spend money on the PlayStation Store as possible.