Did Sony make a mistake by be first to release an upgraded console.

[Mr Puggsly]

hunter_alien said:
I don't think so. MS needs to take a massive loss on the Scorpio if they want it to even perform last years numbers (for the X1 family). In all honesty it feels to me that the Scorpio is to little to late, and the only thing that could make their situation somewhat better is if they announce by surprise half a dozen massive exclusive titles for it. Spoiler alert: they wont.

Its not the hardware that made the X1 fall on its face (compared to the Juggernaut that is the PS4), it was the lack of truly unique exclusives at a reasonable price.

I have the opposite perspective. MS doesn't need to lose money on Scropio because X1 S is going to sell more units regardless. Its cheaper (maybe $249 soon) and plays the same games.

I see the Scorpio is a long term plan, whether its $400 or $500 at launch. The average consumer will want the the X1 S that's also bundled with some AAA game. Down the road (1 or 2 years depending on launch price) Scropio should hit $300, people will want a more powerful device, and sales of the X1 S will decline for Scorpio.

If PS5 aims for the sweet spot of $399 in 2019 or 2020, I'm not sure it can be significantly more powerful than Scorpio while being profitable. People think Scropio is too powerful to hit $399 now, so how powerful can PS5 be really at $399 in 3 years? Look at PS4 Pro, its 3 years later, $399, but not significantly more powerful than PS4 and considerably less powerful than Scorpio.

I also believe MS will want Scropio supported along with the next X1. While PS4 and PS5 maybe not share outside of BC.

Phil Spencer keeps talking about the importance of exclusives, we'll have to wait and see what becomes of that. But less notable exclusives than PS4 shouldn't negate the fact X1 does have some great exclusives. As I said before if X1 can simply maintain its current sales then that's good enough, it would achieve 360 userbase eventually.