For the past year, I’ve been saving up for one of the two next generation consoles. With each passing reveal, I made notes and weighed my options. Recently, I made up my mind and locked in a pre-order for a PlayStation 5.

Really excited to get new hardware in November! While there are a lot of great reasons to pick up an Xbox Series X, from superior hardware, to Xbox Game Pass, better backwards compatibility, and their recent acquisition of Bethesda, here’s why I chose one over the other for the time being.

PlayStation-exclusive games

Sony’s first-party studios have consistently paid dividends. Though we haven’t seen much of their hand going into the next generation, the bits they’ve shown have me more excited than anything I’ve seen from Microsoft so far. I plan on picking up Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales at launch and am excited for new entries into the Ratchet & Clank and God of War franchises.

Meanwhile, Microsoft really let me down last gen with subpar entries to franchises I loved during the 360-era and new IPs that fell flat. In recent years, they’ve been on an acquisition-spree, bringing a number of formerly third-party studios into the fold. Fingers crossed that these moves pay off and they provide me with more reasons to get a Series X or S!

PlayStation 5 is where my friends will most likely be

In light of Microsoft’s massive missteps leading up to the launch of the Xbox One, almost all of my friends jumped ship to the PlayStation ecosystem. Though I haven’t had a chance to ask everyone I know, I don’t see any reason for my current PlayStation friends to migrate again. Even though cross-platform play is becoming more prevalent, I’d rather play it safe and stay in the same ecosystem where my friends are.

May play Xbox games on PC instead

Earlier this year, I upgraded my PC for the purposes of streaming. That being said, I’m also one graphics card short of having a PC more powerful than either console. At some point, I will get a new graphics card to improve my stream. Why not use that extra horsepower to play games?With Microsoft shifting their approach in such a way that all of their exclusive also get ported to PC, I might be better off experiencing those within that ecosystem instead of buying the box. Whether I end up buying an Xbox or just playing Microsoft games on PC, I do want to have access to their good stuff in some form.

Whether you decide to buy anything or nothing this holiday season, I hope you make the gaming decisions that make you happy without jeopardizing your financial security. What do you plan on treating yourself to this holiday season?