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Forums - Gaming Discussion - In Your Opinion… Do Video Game Consoles Compete or Complement?

 

Complement or Compete?

10% Compete / 90% Complement 0 0%
 
20% Compete / 80% Complement 1 10.00%
 
30% Compete / 70% Complement 0 0%
 
40% Compete / 60% Complement 1 10.00%
 
50% Compete / 50% Complement 3 30.00%
 
60% Compete / 40% Complement 0 0%
 
70% Compete / 30% Complement 1 10.00%
 
80% Compete / 20% Complement 1 10.00%
 
90% Compete / 10% Complement 1 10.00%
 
100% Compete / 0% Complement 2 20.00%
 
Total:10

Being that there exists minimal market research on this topic (from all that I have found, that is), it’s hard to provide much of a definitive/objective answer as to whether — contrary to conventional thought — consumers purchasing one video game system actually helps other video game systems sell better. So, I will open the question: How much do you believe video game hardware competes versus complements?

Here’s a testimonial example: Prior to Nintendo Switch, I was very disinterested in video games, choosing only to purchase the latest Skylanders game that would release during the holidays. With the release of Zelda BotW, however, I would — as if over night — become a huge video game fanatic. For the longest time, this fanaticism was solely fixated on Nintendo products, but as time went on, my interest in Nintendo would eventually evolve into interest in the entire industry. Seeing the release of heavy-hitting titles such as God of War (2018), SpiderMan, and Read Dead Redemption, I would make it a priority to get my hands on a PS4 system (which I would eventually obtain as a Christmas present during 2019). Hence, the success of Nintendo Switch cinvinced me to purchase a PS4, and — in the long term — a PS5, XBSX, PSVR, and Steam Deck.

Another testimonial example: To elaborate on my disinterest in video games growing up… the games I was solely interested consisted of Luigi’s Mansion, Pikmin, SSBM+SSBB, SSX Tricky, and Super Monkey Ball; i.e., I was completely uninterested in Zelda, Mario, MarioKart, Kirby, Paper Mario, etc. Having fallen in love with these GCN classics, my parents would make it a priority to purchase a Wii back in 2008; hence, GCN complementing Wii figures. And, upon having learned about the DS, I would beg and plead my parents into putting down the money for a DS system (which I would eventually get for Christmas 2009 w/ a copy of Pokémon Platinum); hence, Wii complementing DS, and thereby providing a contradictory example to the theory of many on this site who claim that Wii and DS did not complement but in fact competed with each other.

Last edited by firebush03 - on 31 January 2025

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I'm thinking on study sales curve for multiple consoles and calculate correlation score

I'm no economist, I only know statistics (and barely), so I by no means an authority to understand whether two products are in direct competition or not

But statistics can help to understand, at least some degree, how two consoles sales interact with time


I have some hypothesis I want to test:

Sony vs Microsoft (First, remove Japan as Xbox don't sell a thing there)

- Original Xbox and PS2 have no correlation
- Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 had strong correlation over time, Xbox One and PS4 too
- Xbox Series and Playstation 5 have weaker correlation compared to other XBONE-PS4, but higher than OXBOX-PS2

Microsoft vs Nintendo

- Xbox and Game Cube had average degree of correlation
- Xbox 360 and Wii had average to high correlation
- None of their other consoles have any kind of correlation


Sony vs Nintendo Handheld line have high correlation... but in a different way. Both increase in sales together, and decrease in sales together. On ecomics this would mean they are complementary products rather than competing products. I know this is a weird hypothesis but alas, I want to test it anyway


Sony vs Nintendo consoles

- PS1 and N64 had strong correlation in America, but not in Japan and Europe
- PS2 and Game Cube had small correlation
- PS3 and Wii had average to high correlation in America and Europe, and small in Japan
- PS4 and Wii U had no correlation
- PS4 and Switch had strong correlation in Japan, but weirdly negative correlation elsewhere (same case of their handheld lines, implying they are complementary devices)
- PS5 and Switch have strong correlation in America and Europe 



With so few making consoles from the 2000s onward, I have to say it's 40% compete but 60% complement.
I knew tons of people who had at least two consoles during the 7th Generation. And having a Switch and Xbox or Switch and PlayStation is pretty common.
The Big 3 have different targets that allows them to complement each other if you mix and match two or get all 3. Admittedly, Xbox's relevance as a console is burning out quite noticeably, but a lot of that started with Xbox One and I can't just blame Xbox Series for it.
PS3 and Xbox 360 complement each other quite well. Get the exclusives and Sony games on PS3 while getting most multiplats, Microsoft games, and exclusives on 360. Xbox One and PS4 was more redundant and Series and PS5 is super redundant most of the time unless you're invested in the Xbox ecosystem.



Lifetime Sales Predictions 

Switch: 161 million (was 73 million, then 96 million, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million, then 151 million, then 156 million)

PS5: 115 million (was 105 million) Xbox Series S/X: 40 million (was 60 million, then 67 million, then 57 million. then 48 million)

PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)

3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)

"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima

If it wasn't for Nintendo Switch, I'd have a Playstation 4 and 5.
However, back in the N64 and Gamecube era, I owned Playstation consoles, because neither N64 nor Gamecube satisfied my RPG needs (or really any of my gaming needs by the Gamecube). PS3 was a little different, I had one, but DS satisfied my RPG needs more, so I abandoned my PS3 about halfway through the gen. Sometime not too long after Assassin's Creed 2.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

80% compete / 20% complement.

The curiosity to try new and different games on other platforms is dwarfed by money/time/space constraints, and also challenged by "tribalism" to an extent. Some people are so attached to brands that they let them dictate their tastes and interest, forgetting the once honest admiration that made them attached in the first place.

Even if you do have multiple platforms (and tens of millions of us do), one purchase you make on one platform is often one less on another.