Lets be honest, sony can price their console same as xbox and still with lower specs and still will beat it in sales, if sony was smart, they would actually release the ps5 before xbox, 80% of gamers already planned to get it, the other 20% who want an xbox might just not wait and change to ps. Look at the ps2 that was released before the xbox, it killed the xbox in sales around 158 million against 25 million, even tough xbox had better specs and more sales.

I believe the same would happen again if sony releases a couple months before xbox. People are ready, xbox fans not so much because they just upgraded to the X.

Here in the UK I literally know of no one planning to get an xbox, I'm the only one I know of that buys all consoles, money is not an issue at all for me, my house is fully paid so I can buy a ps5, xbox series X and switch with the saving of 1 month work, and I still would have money for a couple games.

Cross gen will not make a smooth transition instead " super extreme  hard transition ". Gamer will not smoothly change to new platform instead waiting for a reason to change and to upgrade, gamer 100 % will obviously (no rocket science) will stay on current platform if a lot of launch games are cross gen. Gamer logically will think that is unnecessary to upgrade if games can be achievable or available on current gen. 

In the other way smooth transition can be achievable by product price that is relatively affordable, backward compatibility, accessibility, a reason  for upgrade (value , uniqueness ) , market readiness, macro economic situation on global scale, product availability on the place. 

Sony doesn't need to be the cheapest.  If it has better specs than Lockhart, which it will, of course it will be more expensive.  The goal would to be cheaper than the Series X.  Really if the PS5 is only $100 more than the Lockhart, but 2.5x-3x more powerful than it, I doubt many will see the need to pick the Lockhart up.

There will always be late and early adopters. Many want something new and or the best version. Others don’t have the budget or even desire to get a shiny new console when they just got a Xbox x. 

You mentioned “gamers logically”....just as many gamers are the opposite of that lol. I am NOT a early adopter for my entire life, but I know MS gonna push Halo Infinite marketing hard. I’m almost certain their will be a limited edition console. MS has me by the balls and I’m day 1 buying...but also I have the money to not have the “poor mans” version. I have the means to play the best, that’s what I’ll do 

Heh, sounds like Sony and Microsoft are in a giant game of chicken. First one to swerve has to set the price.

Probably for Xbox community being cross gen is the best choice due to how Microsoft treat generational games as cross gen and console gen as an upgrade rather than a new generation . late adopters will be much more on Xbox side because most of gamers already has Xbox One X or they think it's not worth to even upgrade. Also Xbox are very weak on games in 8th gen less games are produce and lee quality games were produce on Xbox One. I can see they are willing to enjoy 8th gen games longer than PS4.

Sony fans a little bit different they hungry for new Ip and new innovation, they already has enough 8th gen games and ready for next gen. :)

I know that's crazy... Sony is making games for PS5 for the next generation.

It's not because MS has no exclusive and no choice to put their game everywhere because they never win any generation that you need to be mad.

No exclusives? Last I checked none of their games are going to be on PS, that’s exclusive enough for me :)

Hey in the end MS is more pro consumer with how they do things. Launch games for every gen never get the same out of a console as a 5th year exclusive anyway. 

That’s a bit funny considering Xbox has Bleeding Edge, Grounded, Everwild, and Project Mara announced for new and innovative Ips and Sony just revealed the same font style for PS5. Maybe wait till Sony is less quiet before you can make these arguments going forward ;)

Minecraft, We Happy Few, Physchonauts 2, Wasteland 3, The outer Worlds, Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice, Pillar's of Eternity 2 - Deadfire,... ect.

^ some of these are up comeing games, not yet released, that are heading for Playstation 4/5.
Its too early to say "none of their games", when currently it doesnt look that way.

Hell they put Ori & the blind forrest, on the Switch (where it looks and runs better).
Thats probably the best success story of a new IP xbox had all gen (in terms of quality) and its gone to another platform.