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SvennoJ on 29 April 2023
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Soundwave said:

I mean you have literal proof of what happens when Sony has no direct competition ... the PS5 got a price raise in every market region basically did it not?

Which region did they not raise the price in? The US market. Why didn't they raise the price in the US market? Because that's the one market the XBox is the strongest competition for them, they didn't want to raise the price in the US because they knew that it could help the XBox. Sony knows they have to price competitively in the US market because it's the market XBox is strongest against the Playstation globally. 

So you can wax poetic about MS going away all you want Sony fans, but those of you in the US should also know this plainly -- if there was no XBox, your ass is paying an extra $50-$100 for your Playstation 5 hardware.

That's what happens when there is no direct competitor.

Erm that was all because of currency fluctuations. I calculated the different raises through at the time and all the adjusted prices pretty much matched up with the US dollar price. It had nothing to do with competition, they simply already got extra money from US sales thanks to the dollar going up.

What could happen when MS withdraws from the hardware market: (They'll still sell games, subscriptions and xCloud. Yet are currently focusing on getting streaming off the ground directly onto your tv without the need of a console or PC)

- The hardware race is no longer necessary. With only Sony left with a premium console, they can prolong the generation as long as they want and design hardware that doesn't need to be sold at a loss. With the high end PC market pricing itself away from the average gamer, also no need to design a box that can keep up with high end PC hardware at launch.
- PS6 and Switch 2 might end up sharing more games as their performance profiles will be a lot closer than right now.
- PS+ / Extra / Premium will go up in price
- Games will likely go up to $80
- Games might run a bit better, not pushing for the best looking screenshots without XBox 1st party games to compete with. (They will be there of course, but either running on PC or a less detailed version in the Cloud)
- DF face offs will become a bit pointless, or rather comparing PC/Cloud/PS6 versions.
- Sony might focus more on VR, the one thing cloud streaming really sucks on.

MS won't be needing consoles anymore for much longer.
Consumers won't be needing consoles anymore either with Cloud streaming starting to gain traction.
The only ones that need them are those looking for subsidized mini PCs to game at medium/high PC specs.

Consoles were a very convenient way to play games and have always benefited from the more involved and more expensive setups needed to play on PC. Streaming will trump that convenience by leaps and bounds. The casual console gamer will go for convenience. There will still be a market for home console games, but it will be a shrinking market.