The only reason xbox360 is handedly outselling PS3 in the US is cross game chat.  PS3 is outselling xbox360 everywhere else but still lag in global sales because xbox360 almost outsell PS3 2 to 1 in the US.

You could argue most of the 3rd party game are better on xbox 360, but I think this matters very little to majority of American video gamers (wal-mart shoppers, COD players, significant others gift shoppers, non-fanboys) and they don't even know which games perform better on which platform.  All my friends on xbox live only get all games (especially) multiplayer on xbox live because party system is so difficult on PSN.  Everything else (netflix app, bing, etc) doesn't factor much into buying a console.

If PS4 can even the playing field by inclusion of cross game chat/party, why pay to play online?

Doubt it.jpg

I'm sure justification of live will still be present even if PSN gets every one of its features.

lol only reason? No, party chat is amazing and why XBL gets bragged on but not the reason people are buying Xbox its self. Xbox just has more games that attract the western market than Sony does which is why it's successful in america, not to mention kinect.

If sony wants to expand to the western market and dominate there then they need to make more western games. Uncharted does good, but I think that is its only big title in the west. I'm sure someone will correct me, but it's the only one that comes to mind. Besides that they rely on multiplatform for western games.

If PSN  has all the same features and is still free then PSN will be better.  

I don't think that will push Sony over the top, but more importantly: why is cross-game chat so coveted?

Being able to communicate with friends and teammates playing the SAME game makes perfect sense. But why is it so important that I can chat with my friend while I play Halo 3 and he plays Crackdown? Shouldn't we be immersed in our games?

If it's just about a free way to chat with friends over long distances, there's always Skype.

It is a nice feature but not the "I WILL / WILL NOT BUY IF THEY HAVE / LACK THIS FEATURE" factor you make it out to be.

"only reason xbox360 is handedly outselling PS3 in the US is cross game chat"

Please give me a break. These are the reasons:

Kinect
Halo
App's
Best third party games
Live arcade

just out of curiosity, what does live offer that PSN doesnt? other than cross game chat on the ps3

Totally, it's not like the games matter or anything like that.