Build a gaming PC…

It depends which one your kids friends are on really.

There are so few exclusives on either console at this point it really doesn’t matter they will be happy with either.

Maybe if you know what more of there friends have, or if you don’t want to have to buy too many games gamepass is generally considered a better service than PlayStation plus.

Xbox Game Pass is one of the absolute best deals in gaming.

Good on you for honoring the bet with your kids! A lot of people out there wouldn’t.

In recent history PlayStation has had more/better exclusives. Xbox’s gamepass is really good though. I primarily game on PC but I have a PS4 and I use the Xbox gamepass on PC.

Ultimately, see if you can find out what systems your kid’s friends have. Enabling them to play together will ultimately be worth more than exclusives and such in my opinion. When I was in school way back when, which system people had ended up determining who became my close friends and who stayed acquaintances. Being able to play online together is just so huge compared to anything else.

PlayStation is the king of the rock right now. Can’t think of a reason to get an Xbox.

Don’t worry it’s the Lions, they’ll fine a way to help you win this bet.

I was gonna recommend you a Switch for that age group but looks like you already got one.

Other option is to get a PC (easier to upgrade, games are cheaper, more titles available)

PlayStation 5 is the more popular console by a landslide. It’s outselling the Xbox around 2:1.

Obviously ask them what they would prefer, and what all their friends play on, but the PlayStation 5 is typically regarded as the better console by most gamers currently

Xbox and gamepass and download psychonauts 1 and 2

PlayStation has better exclusive games. I mean, the Horizon Zero Dawn games alone are enough of a reason to go PlayStation.

At that young, go with what their friends have, but understand they’re gonna want a PlayStation when they’re older, regardless.

Looks like you’ve got plenty of feedback already, but as another person who owns both, hopefully I can provide some kind of insight.

I like both, they’re both good. The answer as many have said is which one more of their friends game on. I stuck with xbox during the ps4/xbox one generation where microsoft really screwed the pooch and convinced a lot of people to drop them in favor of Sony. I ended up losing a majority of people I used to play games with, and that sucked. Seems like this is less of an issue, as you’ve said the friends are pretty mixed.

I dust off my ps5 occasionally for the one off “exclusive” that I binge for a couple weeks, then wait for the next one. Great games to be sure, but for some reason, any multi plats I prefer to play on my series x. I’m also pretty fond of gamepass and have used it to play a good amount of games I probably wouldn’t have considered buying by themselves and had a lot of fun.

Another thing thats purely personal preference is my preference for the Xbox controller. The dual sense is the absolute best PlayStation controller they’ve ever made. The features they’ve managed to cram in there are pretty noteworthy and innovative. Having said that, the battery life is garbage, and I just don’t find it that comfortable for really intense gameplay since the left stick is positioned lower in the middle. As an example, we got a physical copy of stray (which is now available on Xbox BTW) on deep discount during black Friday at gamestop. My wife and I were going back and forth trying to get an achievement where you’re running down this corridor avoiding these little bacterial creatures that want to eat the poor kitty. To get the fast twitch movement to juke the mfers, I was having to hold it at a weird and uncomfortable angle to get the thumb dexterity I needed to finally get through it without getting touched. I’ve never had this problem with an Xbox controller. I’m sure there’s someone with the opposite experience as me, just sharing what I’ve noticed for me personally. As for the dual sense having an integrated rechargeable battery, Ive had a series x since launch week, and purchased 3rd party rechargeable batteries that came with a charge dock, and I haven’t had to think about it since. The battery’s still far outlast those in a dual sense, and the cost was similar to sonys dual sense charge dock (which I also highly recommend if you go ps5).

Either way they’ll be happy and there’s plenty available to them no matter what they end up with. Still, if you’re going with one, hard to beat the value with an Xbox.

I have every system and a PC.

The number one reason to play one over the other is friends at that age.

At my age it’s based on whatever game I’m most interested in playing. If they are super amped to play Spiderman games than PS5 is your winner. If all of their school friends have call of duty on Xbox then Xbox.

The new Atari 2600+ counts as a non-Nintendo system. Just sayin’. You can educate them on the old school games.

It 100% depends on console exclusives they’d be most interested in. Otherwise they are basically the same tech, just with different controllers.