written by Johann Sulaiman
Let us not kid ourselves. Between Sony and Microsoft, only one of them wants to keep our infatuation for video game consoles alive and burning. No surprise that it is the company that has been plying us with juicy, single-player gaming extravaganzas with production budgets that make even James Cameron blush.
I almost feel bad for Microsoft whenever someone compares the number of PS4s sold (108.9 mil) to the number of Xbox Ones sold (46.9 mil). But then I remember we are talking about corporations that rake in billions in profits every year across a range of products and services.
Still, when you are trailing behind your closest rival by more than half in unit sales, it is embarrassing. What is worse is that the Xbox One could have very easily avoided this predicament if Microsoft had heeded the alarm bells their own fans have been sounding since the end of the last console generation.
From 2011 onwards, the Xbox 360 had given up on bolstering its line-up of fresh, original IPs, and resorted to coughing up fun but predictable games from the Halo, Forza and Gears of War franchises—the same three franchises that Microsoft has been milking for the Xbox One. Not only has Microsoft not made any effort to produce exciting and innovative games to invigorate their player base, they have also made all—with the exception of Halo 5—their biggest Xbox One game releases available on Windows—often on the same date, giving gamers even fewer reasons to purchase an Xbox One. For better or worse, Microsoft seems intent on continuing this simultaneous games-release model for the Xbox Series X.
In 2013, while Microsoft was hyping the world up for a new breed of high fidelity games that could only be done on Xbox One, the PS3 put its finger to its lips and delivered The Last of Us, a technical and story-driven masterpiece that made everyone question whether there was even a need to enter the next console generation so soon.
Sony has not looked back
The PS4 has continued Sony’s tradition of delivering hit game after hit game from familiar Sony IPs—God of War (2018), Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Part 2, as well as new IPs such as Until Dawn, Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone and Ghost of Tsushima. Every one of these gems can only be played on PlayStation 4 (as of July 2020).
Is it any wonder that the latest IGN poll shows that gamers are overwhelmingly more stoked about purchasing the PS5 than the Xbox Series X?
We know Sony will stick to their tried-and-true strategy of emphasizing AAA first- and second-party games for their next console, which explains their purchase of Insomniac Game Studios for a whopping $229 million. The long-time Sony collaborator already has plenty of critically acclaimed and commercially successful PlayStation games in its repertoire including The Resistance series and Ratchet & Clank series, making one wonder why Sony had not snapped the studio up earlier.
While Sony’s overarching game plan for the PS5 is obvious to everyone, it would be foolish to believe that Sony does not have more tricks up its sleeves. For one thing, Sony has yet to unveil details of its successor to the PSVR, another trump card that Microsoft has no answer for. One can only hope that Sony will offer a VR device that is technologically comparable to the Index. Who knows, maybe Valve would be tempted to port Half-Life: Alyx to it.
But hold up. Microsoft does not deserve to be counted out just yet.
For starters, the Xbox Series X has the slight edge over the PS5 in processing power, at least on paper. It is almost guaranteed that it will also undercut the PS5 on price, thanks to its lack of proprietary components. For instance, the Xbox One controller is wholly compatible with all games on the Xbox One Series X, but games made for the PS5 can only be played using the PS5’s DualSense controller.
Since 2018, Microsoft has also gone on a shopping spree for game studios, purchasing Compulsion Games, inXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Double Fine. All pedigreed developers with a history of churning out quality titles.
To say that Microsoft is no longer in the business of making great games is inaccurate. Instead, it looks more like that the Xbox Series X is not meant to be pitted against the PS5 directly, but rather act as a Trojan horse to get folks signing up for Xbox Live, Game Pass and xCloud—aka Microsoft’s suite of online gaming services that will take them closer to becoming the Netflix of gaming.
I would not be surprised if Microsoft eventually starts publishing games for Sony’s consoles since that will play into their strategy of owning a greater share of the online entertainment marketplace. In this age of seamless digital media playback, Microsoft might be wise not to put all their eggs in a hardware war that is being dominated by two industry veterans.