Currently Online 
Xbox is often ahead of the curve but since they go first by a number of years, they receive the most shit for their decisions, then Sony will follow after and come out of it unscathed, Lol. Business doesn't wait for nobody though, often Microsoft has failed in markets precisely because they came in far too late, I think Microsoft's recent business changes will be more about them trying to survive the future and I think these Sony results show us once again that Xbox is maybe ahead of the curve with their business plans.
It happened with paid online which Sony eventually followed, it happened in a pivot towards mobile/subscription services/cloud gaming which Sony is now diving into, Microsoft received shit for their cross-gen focus which gave Xbox Series no true exclusives only for Sony to follow, they shifted to day and date for PC and then Sony for the first time started releasing titles on PC, albeit they were timed, but then they evolved into day one for GAAS titles, now it's day one for smaller titles (Until Dawn) and I have no doubt it will eventually be day one for everything.
The PS5 may be ridiculously successful but those profit margins are bad, especially in comparison to their record revenues, all we see is PS5 dominating the high end console market but that doesn't pain the full picture about their business. The console wars are over and have been since early in the Xbox One gen, console exclusives is an outdated business that only hurts the games and hurts the overall business but they're both too afraid to upset their console fanbase. Meanwhile profit margins suck, the business side will win out eventually though.
Nobody cares about the console wars now, a huge portion of the current generation of gamers really only play the multiplatform GAAS titles, all those titles have cross-play, they aren't sitting around like "haha, my exclusives are better than yours" but instead "want to play Roblox?" "okay" Lol. The console market has hit a ceiling, it is stagnant, it isn't growing but AAA development is growing and rapidly, the Mobile market dwarfs the Console market, the PC market is huge and growing, you lose out on potentially millions of gamers by ignoring it and only issuing them old ass ports.
Helldivers II shows how successful day one can be and will likely convince Sony it's the way to go.
The singular console only mindset is an outdated one, it simply isn't good enough, it's a tiny portion of the overall market and a portion which isn't growing, only Nintendo figured out a way around this so far, by creating a unique piece of hardware which appeals to two markets and not chasing after blockbuster AAA's so their profit margins are brilliant. Sony and Microsoft meanwhile are only hurting themselves by focusing so hard on a singular console device, they will both need to evolve, the profit margins don't justify it.
No business wants to spend billions/thousands of employees for a profit margin of 6%. Something will have to change, Microsoft's profit margins aren't likely much better and are likely only better thanks to gobbling up ABK, if you don't want to massively cut AAA budgets then you need to be elsewhere, the only issue is how they evolve and maintain console as an attractive proposition still which I do believe is possible, but yeah, outside of Nintendo, the single console only business isn't healthy right now.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 14 February 2024
