Xbox Live is the pioneer of the console online experience, when it was introduced back with the original Xbox, there was nothing like it out there. Back then Sony was not a believer; thinking gamers would not buy into the new form of play, the giant almost totally ignored the phenomenon continuing down the path it’d set. Remember in the days of PS2, what Sony said was gold – the giant led the industry in those days.
Well they were wrong. By the time the first Xbox was loosing steam, the Live Xbox experience had gain immense momentum to outlive its mother (the Xbox). In 2005, Live was adopted by its new parent, the Xbox 360 and ever since it has been the dominant force of the online experience; it is, in fact, a very live place!
Sony could not ignore the magnet that was Xbox Live and so it forged its own online service deemed PSN or the PlayStation Network. The effort started measly, yes slowly with little to no content that was enjoyable; it was boring, empty and dry. But that was the past, because in the present day, PSN has seen immeasurable growth. So much so that it rivals Xbox Live in almost every way and according to SCEA Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations, Rob Dyer, it’s now on par, if not better than Xbox Live.
“When I first started here [at SCEA] two years ago, it was slow and cumbersome and we were really struggling to put any kind of a dent into Xbox Live. But PSN has come a long way in just a couple years. What we’re now finding is we’re at par and offering as good if not a better experience; and publishers are putting a lot of content on our system now that they can’t put on Xbox Live. And having been a publisher on the other side, I can say that PSN is a lot more egalitarian. It’s easier to get stuff up, it’s easier to get it promoted and easier to get it to your consumer, versus what you have with Xbox Live.”
And that’s in just two years. I don’t think it’s better than Live, but on par? Probably, I’m sure Aaron Greenberg would have a different take on this however.
Via Industry Gamers.
