Which do you want to be, Sony? Ryu or Ken? No you can't be Dhalsim, Microsoft is already Dhalsim.
Oh sure, you’ll read plenty of articles on the relative merits of owning either console.
Which has the higher specifications? Which has the better selection of games? What’s the point of owning either when you can’t even play as a mustachioed plumber riding around on a dinosaur?
All vital questions that consumers need answering before being able to make an informed purchase decision.
Of course you could just buy both, in which case you would be feted as some kind of god at my school, but you’d probably never leave the house again.
Then again, why would you need to? What with both console companies operating ecommerce sites where you can not only order discs but download expandable bonus content from the comfort of your own home.
Let’s take a look at how these giants of the entertainment industry treat their customers...
Playstation 4
Its first crimes are in operating a non-responsive desktop site that has no idea how to lay out its webpages in an efficient or even professional-looking manner.
This is below the fold of The Evil Within’s product page...
Above the fold there’s an embedded video, which is an integral way to market video games (more product pages should definitely include video), but unfortunately this doesn’t play immediately. Instead it pops out and you have to click play again.
There’s a nice big orange ‘buy now’ button, which is immediately eye-catching, unfortunately it leads to this dead page...
It’s not really the internet’s fault either, is it now Sony? This seems to be the case for all the PS4 game ‘buy now’ buttons I tried... Destiny, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Diablo III all led to dead pages.
If I want to buy a console itself I’m presented with this plethora of alternative stores, which all thankfully link to a fully functioning PS4 landing page.
Oddly Sony’s own store is only fourth in this list of choices.
Attempting to buy a PS4 from here is a little more user friendly. The page layout is appealing and the ‘buy now’ button actually works.
Shame it’s out of stock.
Heading back to the Playstation site, there is a direct link to an ecommerce store within a dropdown menu on the top navigation.
When I click on the above link, I’m taken to this page...
Notice that there is still a further button I have to click to actually access the store. The store itself is a pop-out version that removes all of my bookmarks and browser preferences, and I can’t type anything into the address bar.
I’ve had to go old school to screenshot this one...
This whole experience has been pretty laughable so far and if I wasn’t using this site for a UX test I would have given up and gone elsewhere a while ago.
As it stands, I’ve left the pop-out version of the Playstation store to visit Google. I searched ‘Playstation store’, clicked on the paid-for search result (the organic results take me back to the pointless webpage one screenshot above the last), and finally I’ve arrived at a normal, functioning ecommerce website.
I’ll even link to it below to save you the above trouble.
It’s still non-responsive but at least it has a straightforward enough navigation and a decent predictive search box.
For the checkout test I’ll be purchasing Alien: Isolation GOOD LORD IS THAT HOW MUCH GAMES COST NOW? Excuse me, I was startled for a second there.
The product page is good. Although the darker shaded text may cause accessibility issues with the navy blue background.
Also the add-to-cart button is simply the wrong colour. When I see grey I assume something negative like ‘unavailable’ or ‘sold out’. Why not stick with the bright orange from earlier?
Other than that we have an actual embedded video, screenshots, a decent enough description, although this just copies its own package blurb.
Social proof is utilised in the huge 930 five star ratings. Although I can’t actually find where you can add your own rating or customer review.
This is the sorry state of ‘people also bought’...
Perhaps nobody actually did buy anything else after spending more than £50 on a single video game.
When I click ‘add to cart’ this is where the true horror begins. Not after I receive the game, pop it into my console and enter the space station Sevastopol as Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda where I desperately fight for survival. Oh no, it’s here in one of the most poorly designed ecommerce experiences I have ever encountered.
Clicking on ‘add to cart’ doesn’t actually add anything to a cart. Instead it takes me to this sign-in page which looks terribly out of date, much like the least user friendly part of your own company's intranet.
Which leads to this...
Which leads to all of these...
Six separate pages that I have to fill in, before I’ve even added anything to my cart.
The information asked from me includes an online screen name, a security question, my name, address, notification preferences, it also asks to provide credit card information before I’ve even decided if I want to make a final commitment to buy.
This is optional though so I decide against it.
There’s no guest checkout option, there are no alternative payments offered. I even have to verify my email address. A quick glance in my inbox reveals three separate emails all asking for verification all sent in the last eight minutes.
I don’t want to open an account on the Sony Entertainment Network. I just want to buy a game. What if this were a present? Well obviously I would have bailed and gone to Amazon a long time ago.
Finally I am signed in, and Alien: Isolation is added to my basket.
Then when it comes to purchasing it I’m told that my “wallet has insufficient funds. Please add funds to your wallet…”
Clicking on ‘add funds’ takes me back to a page that I might as well have filled in during registration.
I’ve had enough now. It’s getting late. I might just sell my PS4 and get an Xbox One. Or Buckaroo.
Xbox One
Xbox has an equally unresponsive website but at least its ‘buy’ button is easier to find, logically housed in the relevant dropdown menu.
Xbox also offers a choice in where you can purchase a console, but remembers to put its own store as the first option.
Here you’re presented with a complete collection of available packages all with clearly laid out details and pricing.
The Microsoft store site is actually fully responsive, the product page is easy to look at with a wealth of detail available as you scroll down below. ‘Add-to-cart’ is also subtly eye-catching.
The cart reveals that shipping is free, although it would be good to offer premium services for specifically timed delivery.
Otherwise it’s well laid out, relatively uncluttered, reveals faster payment options such as PayPal and finds room to offer other essential items you might like with clear pricing.
When I click next though I’m presented with a Microsoft sign-in screen. This would be fine if a customer had an account, in fact I do have a Hotmail account and my email address was already filled in for me, however this could be a huge barrier for some people.
This is the rather lengthy account registration form...
There’s also a Captcha at the bottom of the page for added mirth. I once again have to verify my email address.
When all that’s over with checkout is relatively smooth, but frustratingly I have to fill in my name and address details again.
The only saving grace is that autofill has been enabled, and at least when it comes to payment I can just use PayPal, saving on another page’s worth of data entry.
In conclusion…
When compared to the Sony Playstation experience, Microsoft’s store is wonderful, purely because it works. It’s not without its faults, having to sign up for an entire Microsoft account is a huge barrier for conversion and should be presented as an option after the purchase has been made, but at least I probably would have perservered with my purchase.
With the Playstation site, I can count into double-digits how many times I would have abandoned my purchase.
Further reading…
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