Though not a flat out failure, Titanfall failed on multiple levels. It failed to be the Call of Duty killer that it was hyped to be. It failed to set the kind of sales records many expected, and it failed to increase Xbox One's sales dramatically. PS4 still outsold it that month. Things have changed though. Microsoft may have it's first XB1 victory this year. Why? The price reduction to match PS4. That extra money they were charging for that fancy camera is gone, therein, XB1 drops the price barrier that kept some at bay. Now head to head, toe to toe, the real battle begins!
Even though I felt that Sony bombed at E3, I am still primarily a Sony gamer. I want PS4 to crush XB1, but there is a chance it will not now. Right now, XB1 has more game variety, the same price, and they had a more impressive E3 showing. PS4 has no fighting games or racing games that can compete with Forza. It is still early in the game, but I think from a gaming perspective only, XB1 is looking slightly better. However, there are blemishes that could keep PS4 on top.
The worst of those blemishes is the disasterous decision that made MS look really bad and uncool to Americans for the first time. I speak of when MS announced plans to make you connect to the internet to play even single player games and the horrid DRM they had planned. Next, is how they shifted focus away from games to be an overall media center. It didn't help that they forced Kinect on many people that didn't want it. To add insult to injury is that the Kinect was unbundled after MS stated that there would never be XB1 without Kinect, so people that bought the $500 model thought that they were getting a device that would be fully supported for the entire XB1 lifespan. In turn, MS offers no free games to those early buyers that were lied to. All of this has left a bad taste in some gamer's mouths. Word of mouth and reputation may kill the XB1's chance at recovering America.
Of course there are those that are faithful to the brand, as I am to Sony, plus those that want to keep their achievements in the next generation. Now the real battle for America begins. I don't think they have much hope in Europe or Japan, but they could take back America. Either way, this is an exciting console war! Thanks for reading.
