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As an example, last gen when I bought a PS3 I already had an Xbox 360. One of the reasons I was able to justify my purchase was because PS3 was also a bluray player. On its own that would not have been a big selling point but it helped tip the scales for me. That is the kind of thing consumers will be doing when choosing consoles, and with such a huge early lead in sony's favor, xbox may soon need to also justify itself as a secondary console for a lot of gamers, the same way I did with PS3 last gen. |
You are correct in your statement regarding first party exclusives on the PS4. An indication of this was in Sony's Gamescom 2014 conference. All of the games that they showcased during that conference were games that are coming out in the next 6 months (as specifically stated by Sony represtentatives themselves). That 6 month span includes August 2014 - February 2015. One can only begin to imagine the unannounced games that they have in store for E3 2015 as they did with LBP3 for E3 2014. Their reasoning behind this is to yet again, create that WOW factor that was captured during E3 2013. It appears that Microsoft has shown all of their cards in terms of exclusive games up to this point.
So yes, you are right in the fact that Microsoft has an uphill battle in terms of competing with 1st party exclusive games. As stated in my previous post, it would be benefical for Microsoft to include new services into their console. Game sharing is probably the only thing that they could incorporate into the XB1 at this current moment. Again, a virtual reality headset would be a nice addition to the XB1 console; however, Sony built their entire console around this new piece of hardware. Therefore, I highly doubt that Microsoft will be even able to tap into the virtual reality market this generation, which still hasn't proven to be profitable in the first place.
I believe what you are failing to realize is that games sell gaming consoles. The sole purpose of these additional services/pieces of hardware is to extend the life of the console. I understand that having these services when purchasing a console is an added bonus. In my opinion most consumers purchase a new gaming console to either play games with their friends, or to play a new exclusive game.
The one HUGE difference, apart from games, between the XB1 and the PS4 is the Kinect 2.0. It is this same huge difference that Microsoft seems to have completely abandoned. Making a Kinectless XB1 bundle has already pissed off game developers who intended on releasing a Kinect only game in the future. Microsoft has also came out with empty promises that were even seen on the original Kinect (Project Milo or scanning skateboards into the game as examples of these empty promises).
There are a lot of things the Microsfot needs to do right now. The first step is to regain trust back in the game developers to make exclusive games for the XB1. This in turn will regain trust of the consumers and provide a better future for the XBOX brand. Failure to provide these new 1st party exclusives will lead to their downfall in my honest opinion. It has already begun. The real question is...can they stop the bleeding?
