The_Liquid_Laser said:
PS3 was more powerful than the 360. I am including the Blu-Ray drive in that, since a Blu-Ray disc has significantly more capacity than a XB360 disc. Overall the specs on the PS3 were clearly better (disc drive, clock speed, hard drive, etc...), but that drove up the price. PS4 also proves my point, because the PS4 launched at a cheaper price and it trounced on the XB1. Price matters a lot. Price matters so much that it also makes power a disadvantage. All other things being equal the weaker console has an advantage over a more powerful one. Of course an expensive peripheral like Kinect can totally destroy that advantage, but that doesn't change the fact that having the weaker console is an advantage. This is especially true when comparing Sony and Microsoft consoles, because they get mostly the same games. In the end a lot of people just buy the cheaper console, and the easiest way to be cheaper is to be weaker. |
The PS4 doesn't prove your point, though. There is much more to it than A console is cheaper than B console, so A will win. Take the Dreamcast, for instance. When the PS2 launched, Sega dropped the price of the Dreamcast so that it was $150 cheaper than the PS2. So, why didn't it just completely trounce the PS2 like your theory says it should, since it was weaker AND cheaper? Because the PS2 was seen as the better product, both in power and game releases. It also helped that PS now had some brand loyalty.
This is what happened with the PS4 and XBO, as well. Even if they launched at the same price, the XBO had bad PR prelaunch, some they were able to dispel before launch. They also could not change the fact that the PS4 was more powerful than them. Even if they launched the XBO for $50 cheaper than the PS4, that gap would not have been enough for people not to buy the more powerful system with the greater game output and better performing multiplats. Like before, it also helps that the PS brand loyalty is now in full swing.
Looking at brand loyalty, it's easy to see that the Xbox has very little chance of winning a gen, unless Sony fucks up royally ($200 price gap and highly custom chipset, resulting in inferior multiplats), which I highly doubt they will. The XBox's big disadvantage is that it does better in a region with very little of it. In Japan, the PS is always going to sell millions more than the Xbox. In EU, the PS is always going to sell tens of millions more than the Xbox. In the US, however, it's a toss up. This region has gone back and almost every gen, with PS and Nintendo being one of the few repeats. With PS5 being B/C and them most likely launching at the same price, I think next gen will most likely play out just like this one.
Another thing to consider is that HW sales are very important for Sony, where Xbox is shifting to be a service. MS isn't going to be willing to take the same loss on HW that Sony will. We could see a more powerful PS5, which rumors are circling that that is the case, but they launch for the exact same price.
Last edited by thismeintiel - on 21 July 2019
