How to choose your video game console in 2022: PS5, Xbox or Switch?

Five criteria are taken into account when buying a new home console, to choose between Sony's PlayStation 5, Microsoft's Xbox Series S/X and Nintendo's Switch.

Choosing your next home console is a delicate task in 2022. In your sights: the chronic shortages which particularly affect the PS5, Microsoft's announcements which outline a complicated future for its competitor Sony. Above the fray, Nintendo continues to fire chestnuts more than ever with its Switch, which will celebrate its fifth anniversary in March 2022.

Under these conditions, how do you make the best decision? Below we compare the main machines according to five criteria:

1. The availability

2. Games

3. Online services

4. The price

5. The future

Here are the forces on each side: PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Sony, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S at Microsoft, Switch Model OLED and Switch at Nintendo.

1.Availability

Sony is clearly the big loser in this battle. Except for a small miracle, it is very difficult to find a PlayStation 5 or a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition (without disc drive) on the shelves. In Belgium, stores are flatly refusing to take pre-orders. Worse, in a maneuver that penalizes retailers, Sony has just opened an exclusive PS5 waiting list for Belgian customers.

Microsoft is in an intermediate position. If the Xbox Series X is almost as hard to find as the PS5, it is relatively easy to find the Xbox Series S. Reminder bite: less powerful than the Series X and deprived of a disc drive, the Series S still allows you to take advantage of the new generation games in good conditions.

Compared to its two competitors, Nintendo is relatively spared from shortages. It is easy to find the revised and corrected Switch of September 2019, a little more difficult the Switch OLED model of October 2021.

+ The 4 Nintendo Switch models: which one to choose, how to recognize them?

2.Games

Roughly speaking, there are two main families of games: those which are published simultaneously on the main consoles (PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Switch), those which are exclusive to a single machine. It is this last category that can help you determine which home console is made for you.

The major Switch exclusives are obviously all the games that feature Nintendo heroes and franchises: Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Metroid Dread, Super Mario Odyssey, etc.

These exceptional titles try to make people forget that the Switch is technically struggling with demanding games from other publishers, to the point of being deprived of certain releases. Example: Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla does not exist on Switch.

As for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, each camp has its share of enticing exclusives. At Microsoft: Forza Horizon, Gears of War, Halo, Flight Simulator, etc. At Sony: Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man, Gran Turismo, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc.

3.Online services

Each home console offers you the option of subscribing to an online gaming service, which goes beyond simply competing "online" with other players.

For €8.99 per month, €24.99 per three months or €59.99 per year, PlayStation Plus on PlayStation 5 includes online play, exclusive discounts and access to three to four games of the month, which accumulate in a large library available as long as the subscription is extended.

Provided you pay more (€12.99 per month), Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offers much more, with online play, exclusive discounts, three to four games of the month, but above all unlimited access to a catalog of more than 400 games. Titles from Xbox Game Studios, for example, are available from the day of their release.

The Game Pass is a strong argument in favor of Microsoft consoles, especially for the Xbox Series S which, without a disc drive, relies exclusively on digital services.

More modest and nostalgic in its ambitions, the Nintendo Switch Online (€3.99 per month, €7.99 per 90 days, €19.99 per year) combines online play, exclusives and access to old games from the NES and Super Nintendo consoles. To take advantage of the old Nintendo 64 and Sega Mega Drive games, it is necessary to take out the subscription for more than €39.99 per year.

4.The price

This is unheard of in the history of consoles. Nintendo is taking advantage of the success of the Switch to keep its price at the level of its launch price. In March 2017, the first Switch cost €349. Almost five years later, the revised, corrected and improved edition Switch Model OLED retains the same pricing. To save €50, you have to opt for the Switch from September 2019 (€299).

At the top of the range, Sony and Microsoft apply the same grid: €499 for the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox Series X. If the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, without a disc drive, loses €100 (€399), the Xbox Series S (€299) squarely joins the Switch under the €300 mark.

5.The future

Microsoft has just struck a blow by buying the all-powerful game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It's an earthquake that shakes Sony to its foundations.

Activision Blizzard is a war machine, a factory for popular franchises: Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Crash Bandicoot, etc. Franchises that could eventually desert PlayStation consoles forever.

At the very least, Activision Blizzard games will be prime additions to Xbox Game Pass. As a reminder, Microsoft had already acquired ZeniMax Media in March 2021. Following this acquisition, Bethesda Softworks' next big role-playing game, Starfield, will only be available on PC and Xbox Series S/X in November 2022.

The Switch Lite, the only portable

Mobile gaming (smartphone, tablet) has largely killed off the portable console market once populated by Nintendo DS and 3DS, Sony PSP and Vita. The Switch Lite (€199) is a survivor. It allows you to enjoy Switch games in nomadic mode, but it will never be able to connect to the TV.

The temptation of second-hand

The second-hand market is also in a strange situation. Due to shortages of semiconductors, the PS4 and Xbox One have also become almost impossible to find in nine for long months. This drives up their second-hand prices.