PS4 Beats Xbox One In Install Time Comparisons

The whole point of getting a game console used to be that you didn't want to deal with the load times of a PC. The cartridge era made sure that console gamers could always brag about great looking games that didn't have to load. Then, the CD era kicked into play and console gamers lost the advantage of load times or load scenarios. Still, consoles were lauded for their ability to bypass installations, thus allowing games to only have to deal with load times. Then the hard drive era began, and lengthy install times were required. Nevertheless, console gamers held to their guns, claiming convenience was still at the forefront of home console gaming... and then the Xbox One appeared, and the excuses faded with all the previous conveniences of home consoles.

Kotaku did an article about something that's been etching away at the patience of my soul for some time: The new generation install times. The PS4's install times are noticeable but stealthy, even more so than the PS3's long and sometimes 1995-PC-with-a-slow-2X-CD-ROM-drive slow load times. The Xbox One, however, seems to take forever.

Worse yet is that you can't even play other games while a game is installing on the Xbox One, making it worse than the PS4, Wii U and even Steam, by comparison.

In the article, they compare the load times between both the PS4 and Xbox One and found that the former takes less than a minute to get games up and booted, while the latter can take up to 15 minutes. I noticed this very same thing as well with Forza Motorsport 5, which allowed you to get into the game pretty quickly, but offered very little else after the tutorial stage while the game took its time to install. Check out the Need for Speed: Rivals unbelievably long install time in the sped up video below.

It's just... it's unacceptable, to be frankly honest.

I'm not the only one who noticed that one of the conveniences of the home consoles was compromised with one of the most intrusively slow install and load times in video game history. Attack of the Fanboy doing a thorough report on the matter after users complained about the games taking too long to load (and to be fair to the Xbox One, in some cases the games weren't stuck or broken, they just hovered over 0% for an unbearable amount of time) creating restive conditions for gamers in the meantime.

IB Times and Den of Geek also both noted the Xbox One's insufferably slow setup and install times. Something that was supposed to be a bane left to the regions of Glorious PC Master Race.

Even though the PS4 handles install times like a champ – such as Killzone: Shadow Fall, which gets you up and into the game in no time – it's still funny that these install times have become so pervasive in home console gaming, except for on the Wii U.

As it stands, though, the Xbox One's sometimes 15 minute install times is equivalent to what a lot of PC gamers used to go through when installing games. With the first Steam Machine right around the corner for only $499, the Xbox One and its many woeful burdens are starting to look less and less appealing by the news story.