Is buying a PS4 or Xbox One still worth it?

Is ownership a PS4 or Xbox One still worth it?

(Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

If yous're in the market for a PS4 or Xbox I, you are surprisingly not alone. In spite of the PS5 and Xbox Series X coming out months ago, Sony and Microsoft'southward last-gen consoles are just every bit pop equally ever, not to mention increasingly hard to notice.

It'southward non difficult to understand why people are ownership PS4s and Xbox Ones in droves. They can't discover PS5s or Xbox Series Xs, and it'southward better to take an outdated console than no console at all — particularly if y'all needed something to give every bit a holiday gift.

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Also, the PS5 has few true exclusives; the Xbox Serial X has none. The PS4 and Xbox One still have at least a little life left in them. Simply is information technology worth picking up i of these aging consoles instead of their hard-to-find replacements?

The brusque respond is "no." While the current-gen consoles have their charms, particularly for new gamers, they simply no longer correspond a adept investment.

ps4 pro ps4 — (Prototype credit: Mike Andronico/Tom's Guide)

Why buy a PS4 or Xbox One?

During big sales events such as Blackness Friday and Cyber Monday, the Tom's Guide staff uses search trends to help us notice deals. Imagine my surprise when I found that "PS4" and "Xbox One" were, far and abroad, 2 of the most popular search terms.

Customers were drastic to discover PS4s and Xbox Ones (specially PS4s), and when we were lucky plenty to detect the elusive consoles in stock, they sold out well-nigh equally fast as their newer counterparts. (The Switch was besides ridiculously popular this holiday flavour, just yous can now notice one pretty much anywhere. The PS4 and Xbox 1 are still fairly elusive.)

As I said, I think the time to purchase 1 of these consoles is past unless you can find a new-in-box model at a staggering discount. (Think $200 or less.) Just clearly, at that place must be some reason why people are nonetheless ownership these systems in droves.

The simple answer is that no 1 can find the PS5 or the Xbox Series Ten, whereas the PS4 and Xbox Ane are comparatively more bachelor. Since nosotros're very early in the next-gen consoles' life cycles, the electric current-gen consoles nonetheless play 99% of the same games. Combine this with the holiday compulsion to requite gifts and it's not hard to understand why the PS4 and Xbox Ane are having i concluding hurrah.

In all seriousness, there are a few reasons why the PS4 and Xbox One are nonetheless viable. There'southward the game library, every bit discussed in a higher place, which should be relatively stable for at least the next year, maybe more. Also, most consumers don't own 4K TVs, so 1080p-optimized consoles aren't every bit much of a dealbreaker as you might think.

If you haven't endemic a console in a while (or ever), the PS4 and Xbox One libraries could theoretically go along you busy for years. If and when you upgrade to a PS5 or Xbox Series X, you tin take your games and your save files with yous, thank you to cross-gen compatibility. Declining all that, you can always apply a current-gen console as a very large streaming box.

Yet, I can't think of a great reason to buy a PS4 or Xbox I at this phase of the game, and information technology has to do with backwards compatibility. That, and the fact that the PS4 is in the process of being discontinued as I write this article.

Xbox One X — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Don't buy a PS4 or Xbox I

This is common noesis for dedicated gamers at this point, but may not be immediately apparent to more than coincidental consumers: The PS5 is fully backwards compatible with the PS4. The Xbox Series X is fully backwards compatible with the Xbox One, and partially backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 and original Xbox.

Every bit such, you tin pay $300 for a PS4 or an Xbox One, or $500 for a PS5 or Xbox Serial 10. When you consider that you'll probably have to upgrade within a yr or two anyway, putting that $300 toward a new console instead of an old one makes a lot of sense.

The calculus is even starker when yous remember that the 4K-capable PS4 Pro and Xbox One X variants still go for around $400, and both the PS5 and Xbox Series X have cheaper versions bachelor. The $300 Xbox Series X isn't 4K-capable, but is otherwise a very powerful trivial machine, while the $400 PS5 Digital Edition lacks a disc bulldoze only is otherwise identical to the standard PS5.

A PS5 will play every PS4 game (with a few niche exceptions). It will also play 4K Blu-ray discs, which no PS4 model has ever supported. An Xbox Serial X will play every Xbox I game, and yous can even get all first-party Microsoft releases for a flat monthly fee with Xbox Game Laissez passer. (The Serial Ten volition also play 4K Blu-rays, but to be fair, and so will most Xbox One models.)

Essentially, ownership a last-gen console simply delays your adjacent-gen purchase, while tacking an extra $300 onto the price tag. Except for firsthand availability, at that place's no real benefit — and enough of drawbacks, once you accept to figure out what to exercise with a bulky, outdated, unsellable console a few years down the line.

As for when you'll be able to pick up that shiny new PS5 or Xbox Series Ten, well, that'south harder to answer.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site'south coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a scientific discipline writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and applied science. Afterward hours, you can discover him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.