I currently have this on my PC and quite happy with it though I am considering the above options for the living room. Wife wants a DVD player to watch movies and i thought it would be fun to play MSFS2024 on it as well.

As Xbox seems to be supported best I wonder if it would be the preferred choice. 

For those that use these consoles if you have  a little time perhaps you'd share your thoughts.

Thanks.

Hi:

I’ve been on Xbox since the early days of MSFS2020, now for about 5 years…(was on PC through my FSX years), have moved on to Xbox/MSFS2024.

The Xbox/MSFS was a surprise for me one fine morning from my teen, who had installed MSFS2020 overnight, ready to play on the family 4K TV. However due to conflicts of interest..🙂…the teen wanted to play PS5 games (not MSFS), and my better half wished to watch Romcoms and Christmas movies, on the same TV…🙂…So, I thought it best get another 4K TV just for my Xbox/MSFS use, in a different location.

I’m not sure about MSFS2024 on PS5, but the (closed system) limitations on Xbox are well-known such as no access to Flightsim.to, other freeware, and delayed availability of products in the Marketplace (PMDG and iniBuilds are leading the charge to offer their products there, but you will not have access to e.g., Fenix and FSLabs a/c at the moment).

You should be able to use your miscellaneous peripherals with the console. So far, I have managed with the Xbox Console (mostly used for Camera), and Thrustmaster and a keyboard. It has worked for me.

You may like to do a bit of research before you try on the console, but if you’ve a dedicated PC for MSFS now, that you wish to maintain, then, I’m not sure it will be very convenient to run MSFS in the living room..🙂…

Good luck.

1 hour ago, dbw1 said:

I currently have this on my PC and quite happy with it though I am considering the above options for the living room. Wife wants a DVD player to watch movies and i thought it would be fun to play MSFS2024 on it as well.

As Xbox seems to be supported best I wonder if it would be the preferred choice. 

For those that use these consoles if you have  a little time perhaps you'd share your thoughts.

Thanks.

I can’t give any comparisons to PS5, but I note that Xbox hardware is quite long in the tooth now, and it was only ever “mid range” hardware at best. 

with certain 3rd Party addons, it’s known to frequently run out of ram/vram to the point that glass cockpits go dark, etc. 

Probably a decent experience for flying Default aircraft where they generally have lower overhead and higher optimization than 3rd Party addons  

All depends on the use case, especially since this is a secondary gaming rig and shared entertainment device. 

I’d evaluate the age/specs of the PS5 hardware, and more importantly, the reported performance by those users. Probably not going to find enough here on avsim to make an informed decision. 

oh, and don’t forget to include hardware peripheral compatibility into the decision matrix. Eg I could never fly with a controller, and joysticks / HOTAS and such aren’t universally compatible. 

p.s.: ONLY consider the Xbox X for MSFS. 🤙

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by UrgentSiesta

If you like VR, go for the PS5. If you are planning on playing blueray or DVDs, check that the console you are buying has a player. Most do not these days.

No, do not get an Xbox. The hardware is pretty much dead, and the PS5 is by far the better way to spend your money. 

I have both an Xbox Series X as well as a PS5. The Series X has been in a closet for months - flight sim is on my PC, and the PS5 is just better at all the other gaming. And MSFS 2024 works great on my PS5 (non-pro). 

If I was spending money on a console today, it would be the PS5, no question. PS5 will soon have many many peripherals for FlightSim, and since Microsoft has pretty much killed the Xbox consoles, Sony is the only high-end console left. Nintendo isn't high end, and the Steam Console is not yet out. 

The only reason to get an Xbox Series X is if you get a great deal from someone that's selling their console. 

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by JonathanC

Although the PS5 is more powerful than the Xbox, note that marketplace purchases from PC will transfer to Xbox, but they will not transfer to the PS5.

4 minutes ago, Funky D said:

Although the PS5 is more powerful than the Xbox, note that marketplace purchases from PC will transfer to Xbox, but they will not transfer to the PS5.

True. And additionally, PS5 is in its own closed ecosystem. The marketplace will likely be different as well (Jorg says "more curated, better quality"). Just think of it as a separate thing - don't expect to fly multiplayer with PC/Xbox people. PS5 only. 

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by JonathanC

Yes, if Xbox, consider only Series X. That’s the one I’ve been using since MSFS2020.

There are some indications that there may be a more powerful Xbox console coming in future, but currently only Series X is closer to PS5.

The Xbox and PC now sharing the same Marketplace, the products you purchase in the Marketplace are usable on both platforms (look for the Xbox and PC icons next to the product).

Anyway, as said, both consoles are in their own closed system, hence quite different from your PC experience, and the customizations that come with it.

Cheers…!

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by P_7878

1 hour ago, Funky D said:

Although the PS5 is more powerful than the Xbox

It depends on the versions, it goes like this, in order of "power":

Xbox Series S ->-> PS5 -> Xbox Series X -> PS5 Pro.

The bigger gap is between the Series S and the PS5 standard. The Xbox series X is slightly more powerful than the PS5, and the PS5 Pro is slightly more powerful than the Xbox Series X.

Edited December 20, 2025Dec 20 by virtuali

10 hours ago, Funky D said:

Although the PS5 is more powerful than the Xbox, note that marketplace purchases from PC will transfer to Xbox, but they will not transfer to the PS5.

So does this mean that anything purchased on my PC through the market place, I won’t be able to use on the PS5? Seems a bit backward, I understand that it’s Microsoft vs Sony, but it’s a Microsoft game available on the PS5, surely they could just allow the same login credentials as the PC?

PS5 all the way !

When I see topics where PC users are thinking about going the console route, I always think about:-
 

• What about community content?  You will have none!
• You're only way of buying addons will be the Marketplace.  Prices are often very expensive, because the console users are a 'captive crowd'.   Eg. The new native 146 by Just Flight is £65 ($87 !!) on the Marketplace, where as it's £52 ($67) from Just Flight. (But console users can't buy from Just Flight).

I know that MP addons bought on PC will transfer over to Xbox but not all are compatible with Xbos.

These two reasons along with others such as limited hardware (no TrackIR etc) would keep me away from console use.

This is not intended to put console users down. Just highlighting what will be lost if a user goes from PC to console.

Edited December 21, 2025Dec 21 by JYW

My main sim set up is a PC, but I do have an Xbox (the little Series S) in our living room which also has flight sim on it.

My takeaways are; it's good. And when you consider the cost (couple of hundred quid compared to 2 grand for the PC), as well as the micro-form factor and the fact it looks really neat under the TV, it's a seriously impressive feat that it runs as well as it does and looks great. But it's not going to be my main sim platform. It's fun to just boot up on the TV and mess around with the Xbox controller, maybe showing off how good the scenery is in the current gen flight sims to family members who maybe played a version of it once years ago. But by comparison to playing it on PC the lack of the whole community-mod ecosystem, plus the lack of support for hardware (yeah there are some joysticks now but nothing like the WinWing stuff etc) is severely limiting.

I'm not hating on Xbox at all, I think they're great and as I said above I own one myself. Your own quote "thought it might be fun to play MSFS2024 on it as well" is precisely how it is - yeah it's a bit of fun for 20 mins, but far too limited in scope to last any longer than that, in my opinion. Sure there's a lot of people who do and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it - but as a forum on here I feel most of us fall more into the hobbyists category than the casual category, and for that I feel it lacks too many of the things we take for granted on PC to make it last for us.

5 hours ago, gman1986 said:

So does this mean that anything purchased on my PC through the market place, I won’t be able to use on the PS5? Seems a bit backward, I understand that it’s Microsoft vs Sony, but it’s a Microsoft game available on the PS5, surely they could just allow the same login credentials as the PC?

Sony doesn't allow it. That's the rules of their platform and that's their choice (and similar to all platforms.. xbox, ios, etc). Not much we can do about it. MS and Sony need to negotiate for this to happen. 

 

1 hour ago, Tom Wright said:

o have an Xbox (the little Series S)

The Series X (or PS5/PS5 Pro) are in an entirely different league, and the experience is perfectly fine. Obviously not like a full on PC, but you can buy many high quality addons, you have many third-party peripherals available (Xbox, PS5 soon), graphics are great. 

I would take a PC over a console.. BUT that's cause I always have had, and will have a good PC. If i'm starting out, and don't want to spend $$$$.. a console is perfect.