PS4 Installs Games Faster Than Xbox One

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Curiosity arose over at Kotaku and they decided to run a test to see which console installs games faster. It was only testing how fast the games install; the games take the same amount of time to boot up once the installation is completed. The games tested were multiplatform only. The PS4 won every time; however, the install times varied on the Xbox One depending on the internet speed via Wi-Fi, or the console being completely disconnected from the internet – and here’s why.

The Xbox One doesn’t begin to install a game until the game’s update is downloaded and installed. Once the update is downloaded and installed, then the console begins to install the data from the game disc.

The PS4 installs the game rapidly and then downloads the update in the background. The positive side of this is you aren’t forced to stop playing to install the update – you can install it when you want to play multiplayer, for example, or the next time you boot up the game.

Both consoles allow users to start a game before the install is completed. However, on the Xbox One, some of the single player components don’t need to be fully installed to start up the game (during their test of Madden 25, they were able to start the game while the Connected Franchise and Practice modes were unavailable until they were installed from the disc). On the PS4, those modes were available after the install which took a mere 38 seconds.

For Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, they tested the install times (using two different Xbox Ones) offline sans day one update, online with day one update using a connection speed of 9-11 mbps, and online with day one updates using their “fastest connection” (they don’t state the speed of this connection). All other games were tested on their office Wi-Fi of 9-11 mbps including the day one update.

Assassin’s Creed IV:
Xbox One (offline, no update): 5 minutes 50 seconds
Xbox One (with update, fastest connection): 7 minutes 2 seconds
Xbox One (with update, 10Mbps connection): 10 minutes 32 seconds
PS4: 42 seconds

Need For Speed Rivals:
XBO: 09:25 (including update)
PS4: 00:32

Just Dance 2014:
XBO: 08:48 (including update)
PS4: 00:45

NBA Live 14: 
XBO: 16:26 (including update)
PS4: 00:35

FIFA 14:
XBO: 16:06 (including update)
PS4: 00:34

Madden 25:
XBO: 9:38 (including update)
PS4: 00:38

After all this is said and done, we can all enjoy our games once they’ve completed installing. So, regardless if you have to wait 30 seconds or 5 minutes, you’ll get to dive in and play your games along with the rest of the world.