Welcome to
the newest chapter of the biggest rivalry in the gaming industry!
Both
Microsoft and Sony are going head-to-head this week with their next-generation
consoles- PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X-hitting stores!
You know the
war is pretty serious when big celebs like John Cena uploaded a crypted post on
his Instagram, surrounding the ultimate rivalry between Sony’s PlayStation 5
and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. However, whose side he is on is still a mystery!
At the start
of the 21st century, Sony dominated almost the entire video game industry, with
fans lining up outside the packed store to buy the PlayStation 2. But almost a
year later, Microsoft dropped its first-ever video game console, taking the
competition directly to Sony’s face; this is when the epic rivalry began.
Nintendo
exited the direct competition with both companies years ago, kicking off with
the launch of the excessively successful and unconventional Nintendo Wii in
2006.
Despite all
the speculation and debate, we know that the war is pretty much over, as Sony
has grown stronger, leaving Microsoft in the dust!
But why?
Because of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure! With the cloud-based games and
game-streaming, Microsoft has undoubtedly beat Sony with the punch! There’s no
doubt that the cloud is the future! But as we have said, it’s a Future and still has to go a long way
to become our present!
The current
reality suggests that fans are still very much into gaming hardware, even if it
ultimately changes in the future. It’s not changing right now, and judging by
its demand, it seems like it won’t change any time soon, either. And Sony is
rightly going along with reality.
Even if we
set these facts aside, the most appropriate way to judge this war’s winner is
to take stock and sales into consideration. If Microsoft is really forward to a
console-free future, it should better work in their favor. But it looks like it
isn’t! Microsoft’s sales are consistently lower than Sony or Nintendo over the
years.
In fact, many
tech experts believe that Microsoft wasn’t really into the war of video games
from the start, as they’ve been playing catch-up ever since they dropped their
first ever console.
Look at these
top-10 bestselling consoles of all time:
Xbox One is
standing way down in 15th place, with an estimated 46.9 million units sold. The
original Xbox is on at 19th place, with 24 million consoles sold. Meanwhile,
Sony’s each generation consoles have clearly outsold Xbox systems with great
margins.
So, it’s fair
to say that Sony is ahead of the game from the start, while Microsoft is still
trying hard to catch up while chasing after a cloud-based gaming future!
As far as
their latest clash is concerned, both companies are invested in delivering the
best hardware. Because you know the best strategy to get gamers using the Xbox
software (cloud-based) is to sell them Xbox hardware, until Microsoft switches its
strategy, the ball is still in Sony’s court all because of its exclusive line
of exclusive titles.
And now that
Microsoft has announced consumers will have to purchase the exclusive games
only once, which will also be playable on any of these platforms – now you have
a reason to upgrade to Microsoft’s next-generation console. After all, you no
longer need your Xbox One since the entire package comes along with Xbox series
X and games you purchase.
But you know
what, you can skip this whole upgrade thing entirely and instead switch to PS5
at cheaper rates. I mean, the only platform you can enjoy PS5 exclusive titles
it’s the PlayStation 5 itself!
In business
terms, Sony’s exclusive PS5 titles can be its strong selling strategy, like the
same strategy they used for their previous generation consoles, which turned
out to be quite successful.
Gamers crave something
exclusive, and robust and Sony is rightly hitting the nerves! That’s the reason
why Sony is and will always dominate the next-generation consoles industry!
Though Microsoft is going in the right direction, it should be, making games
accessible to all platforms. From the look of it, they are not even competing.
Sony has a
powerful console strategy, while Microsoft brings gaming experience through all
of the digital platforms. Do you want to enjoy games on Xbox? A PC? Smartphone?
Microsoft wants to reach gamers across all three platforms.
There’s no
doubt that providing gamers with so many options and liberty to play wherever
they want is extremely consumer-friendly, which is quite impressive! But Sony’s
exclusive titles like Naught Dog
games, God of War, another Spider-Man, and some cool FromSoftware
games are just hard to resist and will definitely draw increasing PS5 sales.
Is it going
to be a fierce encounter this time? We suspect so! Microsoft is not getting
into any blunders with the launch like they did with the Xbox One. Microsoft is
willing to be everything, to be everywhere and for everyone, but they have
somewhat forgotten that they were the gaming machine in the first place!
Sony is
definitely going to take advantage of all that bad press and gamer backlash, which
ultimately drives them to the early lead. But we don’t know if they have the
same advantage this time.
But as they
say, “Content is king!” Why would a gamer even go for a console whose
games can be playable on the system they already own? What’s the fun in that? Why
not buy an exclusive system with the games you can’t enjoy anywhere else, right?
In any
situation, I rest my case with Sony being the winner of this latest clash. When
anytime in the future, if the cloud-based games arrive and dominate, and when
Sony has to borrow servers from Microsoft to stream its games to the gamers, only
then we will call it a win for Microsoft! But that day is still pretty far
ahead…