With the launch of the Sony PlayStation 5 today and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S on Tuesday, this week marks harmonic convergence of the console giants all over again—an endless cycle of hyped hardware releases that occurs every eight-ish years.
Here’s the rundown on the two warring tech companies and how they’re approaching the growing gaming industry.
Choose your weapon: Sony
Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, and more...Sony is launching the PS5 with an impressive lineup of popular titles to entice buyers. The towering console (judging by its historic size, it ate all its predecessors) is also being hailed for its controller, which apparently rumbles players’ hands into the fourth dimension.
Sony continues to be the hardware leader for die-hard gamers. DFC Intelligence predicts PlayStation 5 sales will double those for the new Xbox, a big but narrower margin than the 113.7 million PlayStation 4s sold compared to 48.4 Xbox Ones.
- Plus, Sony has a more advanced virtual reality headset reportedly in the works for when gamers’ wallets recover.
Choose your weapon: Microsoft
Execs don’t seem to be sweating Sony’s hardware advantage. Why? Monthly subscriptions are becoming the unit’s bread and butter. A new offering called “All Access” lets gamers pay for the new Xbox in monthly installments, and—here’s the kicker—also signs them up for Xbox’s Netflix-like Game Pass Ultimate gaming subscription service.
Microsoft wants to turn one-time console buyers into lifetime customers who, instead of buying a physical Xbox, could eventually opt to use xCloud, Microsoft's cloud gaming service. (Learn more about that bag of chips here.)
Looking ahead...this week, Sony and Microsoft both released high-tech consoles that, as far as the actual hardware specs go, are pretty on-par with each other. But, while both gaming giants sell subscription services and hardware, Microsoft is focusing on recurring payments.
P.S. Neither Sony nor Microsoft is expected to sell the most consoles this holiday season. That award will likely go to the three-year-old Nintendo Switch.
The Link LonkNovember 12, 2020 at 05:36AM
https://ift.tt/2IrrpLl
Sony and Microsoft Take Different Approaches in Their Latest Console War - Morning Brew
https://ift.tt/2ZeUDD8
Sony
No comments:
Post a Comment