Analysts whose horizons were limited by the obvious realities concluded that the Xbox One would triumph over the PS4. The Console war began in November of 2013 with the PlayStation 4 having a week head start over the Xbox One. What went wrong in the camp of Microsoft? How did they lose grip of a slim lead? We take a look at what could have caused the Xbox One to suffer a devastating blow from Sony this gen.
Both Sony and Microsoft had big budget campaigns leading to the official launch of their next-generation gaming consoles which paid off with an official statement from both camps revealing an incredible sale of one million units of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 on the first 24-hours of their commercial availability.
In early 2014, reports confirmed that Microsoft had moved 3 million units of the Xbox One and 5.3 million units of the PlayStation 4 had flown out of store-shelves. It became obvious; Sony was getting results faster than it had estimated while the Xbox One struggled. Despite Microsoft’s mega marketing, the PlayStation 4 continued to dominate Xbox One in sales. The introduction of the Xbox One X, the most powerful console in the market hasn’t been of significant impact either.
In 2018, estimated sales of both consoles from independent sources puts sales of the PlayStation 4 at 76 million and sales of Xbox One at 30 Million.
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Kinect
With all the talks about the NSA collecting user’s data from big corporation like Microsoft and Facebook. It would be safe to say that gamers were scared of living with a device that has a video and audio recorder permanently starring at their face. You couldn’t get rid of it and it won’t give you break. Kinect was not a friendly device and gamers were wise enough to realize it.
These days big corporations can no longer shove just about anything down the throat of consumers and expect them to accept it. Microsoft should have known better, give gamers options and they’d definitely stick with you. When Microsoft realized that the mandatory Kinect option for every Xbox One was a dangerous mistake, Sony had already taken a giant leap against its rival console.
Although, Microsoft no longer forces gamers to user the Kinect, the damages have already been done.
Price
The PlayStation 3 was able to survive backlash for its outrageous price because of its strong brand, unfortunately the Xbox brand do not command such brand loyalty.
Sony’s arrogance last-gen read:
“For consumers to think to themselves ‘I will work more hours to buy one’. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else.” – Ken Kutaragi
Sony basically asking gamers to get extra jobs to afford the PS3, it was a big slap on the face of gamers, at a time when the PS3 was nothing but an expensive black box with no games to really show why gamers needed pay more for what was available on the Xbox 360.
This was Microsoft’s selling point, they were able to drastically reduce the price of the Xbox 360 and it became very popular. Why Microsoft had to take a step backwards from what worked from them and released a newer console that was $100 more expensive than the PS4 makes no sense.
Xbox Live Gold
Microsoft was strategic in creating the Xbox Live; a network that allows Xbox gamers have access to multiplayer games and just about every other great add-ons like Neflix streaming on a subscription plan. Meanwhile, Sony has been working tirelessly since they launched the PlayStation Network in 2006 and in E3 of 2010 Sony announced the PSNPlus, a premium version of the PlayStation Network. Prior to that event, the PSN was just a mediocre online platform, but with massive investment into the service, PSN now matches XBL, stripping off the online bragging rights of the Xbox brand. With great innovation, there was the need for a charge but Sony acted smartly, giving gamers options.
PSNPlus give gamers access to multiplayer games, online saves as well as access to free premium games and lots more. However, without a subscription, gamers could still get into Sony’s PlayStation Network and have access to add-ons like Netflix. This isn’t the case with the XBL, without a subscription, the network lacks value. So gamers consider price, and then what’s in the network also influences their decision on what console to get.
Games
The days of third-party exclusives are literally over and Sony has made it clear that the PlayStation 4 is a gaming device but Microsoft had a different approach when it launched.
“Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.”
There you go! A core gamer will find no use in most of what Microsoft was forcing into the Xbox One. Gamers care only about games. Sony knows this and aligned itself into delivering jaw-breaking games to gamers with the PS4. Games like Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War 4 have pushed the PlayStation hardware successively like never before. And there are more exciting games like The Last of Us 2, this is obviously not the case, if you look at the Xbox One strategy.
Gamers have moved entirely to MP Games is a myth and one which Microsoft has adopted with third party developers, we have already seen that block buster single player games with compelling detail, story and combat can move consoles.
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One Comment
Aaron haynes
Nice blog, well executed