PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X: Why buying at release could be a bad idea

There are just four months left this year, but the event that all the gamers have been patiently waiting for is yet to come — the release of Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X.

But if most of your time is spent asking yourself "PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X", you might want to contain the excitement, as there's a lot more to consider.

If the history of console launches has taught us anything, buying one at launch is almost a bad idea. We're not saying you'll regret the big purchase for which you've been saving up for a long time — the hardware is impressive, and the next-gen games look neat.

Console launches, however, are pretty underwhelming for a few completely different reasons.

Hold off buying PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X at release

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Weak launch line-up

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X boast of impressive titles but how many will be available at launch? (Image Credits: IGN)

While both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are guaranteed to have the best looking games thanks to the cutting-edge hardware under the hood, launch games are usually not up to the mark, historically speaking.

Except maybe the first Halo for the original Xbox, or SSX for PlayStation 2, launch games have just not been great since... forever.

Even if we look at the current-gen consoles, the PS4's launch line-up had lame exclusives like Killzone: Shadow Fall and some under-optimised ports from PS3 (it's easy to forget that The Last of Us and Uncharted were PlayStation 3 exclusives).

Xbox One had a similar fate — Forza Motorsport 5 and Ryse: Son of Rome were available at launch, and frankly, those are not the games that the console is remembered for.

While the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X boast great titles, their launch games don't inspire much excitement — Fortnite is confirmed, but availability at launch is uncertain. Microsoft's Halo Infinite is delayed, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the only 'new' title that has somewhat been confirmed.

So, if the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X don't have many exclusive and new titles at launch, it's always better to wait. Unless, you want to re-play the ports of older games, like Horizon: Zero Dawn.

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Possible hardware issues

The infamous 'Red Ring Of Death' in the early editions of Xbox 360 gave nightmares to gamers around the globe (Image Credits: Author)

Sony and Microsoft have tested their respective consoles behind closed doors, but things are a lot more different when the consumers finally get their hands on them. Remember the ominous 'Red Ring of Death' in the Xbox 360, or the 'Yellow Light of Death' that the PS3 suffered from? Or even the latest 'Joy-Con Drift' of the Nintendo Switch? Yes, we haven't forgotten either.

Joycon drift featuring a mosquito :O it's still too cold for mosquitoes! Go away! pic.twitter.com/LaPbtWEznj

— superhiero (@eRonin) August 27, 2020

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Early adopter tax

PlayStation 4 has been one of the worst offenders of 'Early Adopter Tax' (Image Credits: Verge)

Seasoned gamers and tech enthusiasts have been dealing with this phenomenon for a long time. Still, for uninitiated casual gamers, Wikipedia defines 'early adopter tax' as the trend of new technology costing more at release.

To makes things easier to understand, if you bought the PlayStation 4 at launch (in 2013), then you could've gotten the PS4 Pro less than three years later at the same price. Seems fair? Not at all, but that's the way it works.

While we still don't know the cost of either the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, if one is willing to wait, the chances of getting a better deal are higher.