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EricHiggin on 03 April 2020
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DonFerrari said:
EricHiggin said:

Power matters more if you're lacking elsewhere. MS has lacked in high end titles so they need something else to boost their image. Nin doesn't care about performance much because they don't need to for more than a few reasons. SNY cares enough and also understands what too much of a hardware power focus can do, or can't. MS also needs to strengthen AAA games if they want to make much progress, but the power narrative will help in general.

There certainly will be people who want the XBSX simply because it'll be marketed as the worlds most powerful console. That's one of the things that hooked me at the time of the PS3. The unlimited potential of the cell had me cross eyed and drooling at that point in my life. Now if SNY hasn't completely lost their mojo, they will market PS5 as the worlds fastest console as one of their hooks. This will mean more to some than power, and it will also confuse those who don't understand what that difference really means for a console. This would put the pressure on MS to deliver superb marketing and messaging.

In terms of resolution, I don't see the same thing happening this gen. Both will be marketed as 4k/60 devices and should hold true for both early on with third party cross gen titles for a while. That narrative will stick for casuals well into the future. The hardcore will know the smaller details behind the scenes though, especially as the gen rolls along.

As for price, it again, depends a lot on Lockharts existence. Assuming it's just PS5 and XBSX, worst case scenario, both will cost the same, so $499 each. If SNY feels that MS has control over the narrative and that enough gamers are leaning towards XBSX, they will make sure they undercut XBSX by $50-$100. SNY would and could since it's much more important to them to get as many consoles as possible under TV's compared to MS.

While SNY hasn't shown to care about dropping PS4 prices in comparison to XB1S, they also didn't care to drop them much for PS3 later either. SNY has always boasted about their cheap launch prices, except for that while the PS3 sub was massive, it was still too expensive. While it certainly looks as if MS subsidized XB1X to some degree, it's likely that a subsidy for XBSX would put it at $499. A $449 PS5 would steer some back to SNY, where as a $399 PS5 would be a problem for MS in multiple ways. XBSX would not only be $100 more, but XB1X would have to drop to $299 on shelves immediately or they might as well discontinue it at that point. PS4 Pro would also have to drop to $299, but that won't be a problem for SNY since Pro isn't the leap that XB1X was, if they don't discontinue it that is.

That's not to say we would have another gen just like this. I think a $399 PS5 vs a $499 XBSX would be a closer battle than last gen, but it would take some pretty dumb moves by SNY to have it be neck and neck.

Haven't seem Sony boasting about the power of PS3 or PS4 so not sure why so many users in VGC are talking as if Sony do it.

And this was the first gen where the most powerful console won, and if we consider X1X then never the strongest sold more. So also not sure where Xbox fans are getting this hope, I even remember 2013 when most were betting PS4 would lose just because "the strongest console never won".

Well SNY did boast about the PS3's power because 360 wasn't a slouch, and PS3 also didn't have the same quality online or third party titles. SNY screwed up with PS3 and they know it, which is a good thing going forward. MS needs to do a ton of brand building and the power narrative is an easy way to start that off. Hopefully that's the case because the hardware boasting eventually wears off if it's not eventually followed by stellar games.

SNY didn't even need to bother bragging about PS4 early on because MS just kept punching themselves over and over. PS3 wasn't all that much different in terms of negativity initially, it's just that it was the gamers that were punching SNY after seeing Kaz punch himself just once, hard, while MS celebrated.

This gen could be more proof of whether hardware performance really matters that much. As long as it remains XBSX vs PS5. Odds are good with mid gen consoles, XBSXX will still outperform PS5 Pro on paper. Now if Lockhart shows up, then the power narrative will be tough to decipher unless MS puts out separate sales info, if they release it at all.