| Kyuu said: Even after the Zenimax and AB acquisitions, I'd bet Microsoft would still be behind Sony in sales for exclusives/console exclusives, especially if their games do make GamePass day and date, which would increase subscriptions at the cost of lower sales (but possibly higher overall revenue). Counting MS game sales on Playstation consoles should put them above Sony's level, but it will not be a threat whatsoever coz they'll continue to sell Playstation systems for Sony who will also get their (30%?) cut. With Bungie in the mix, Sony has never been in a better position as far as 1st party studios. And it shouldn't surprise anyone if they announce one or two more big acquisitions along the lines of FromSoftware. Their only obvious challenge atm is production. I don't know what's going on but Microsoft is kicking their ass right now in production, and this advantage could snowball into trouble for PS5's potential and mindshare. Sony could have comfortably had their best generation; I think they still have this potential if they manage to sort things out within 12 months, otherwise it's unlikely. |
Rumor is MS is paying more for priority chip production. Now MS could have more chips if they shifted and made less XB Series X wafers and more XB Series S wafers. That would lead to more XB Series S units to sell, and it sounds like Series S sales are the cause of the sales increase, which wouldn't really be a surprise.
I'd bet it's both.
TSMC, who makes the chips, is way overburdened and can't keep up with demand, so now every time they can increase production somewhat, they can simply make companies get into a bidding war.
TSMC is one of just a few of these chip makers, who's the go to choice for many reasons. Sony and MS basically can't change to another chip maker or add extra production from another, and wouldn't for many reasons. They have to rely on TSMC.
Now TSMC likely doesn't want to upset Sony or MS too much, so they would probably decide something like, if there's 10% more production available now to MS and Sony, and MS outbids Sony, as per the rumors, MS will likely only get maybe 7.5% and Sony would still get 2.5%.
That way both companies get more chips than they originally contracted for. MS just get's a bigger slice of the extra because they paid more.
MS can then also tell TSMC to make less Series X wafers, and more Series S wafers, and now MS has way more units to sell than Sony.
Last edited by ConservagameR - on 16 April 2022
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