The reveal was absolutely abysmal, and a contender for worst reveal ever of a console. Yes, the reveals of the Sega Saturn and the Wii U were still somehow better than the Xbox One's. Let us recap what a disaster the start of the Xbox One was:

-100$ more expensive
-Less games (even if PS4 did not have that many exclusives early on either)
-Used games are banned (even if that got rectified, it left an absolutely horrible taste; I remember the PS4 reveal outright making fun of this)
-Always on DRM
-Mandatory Kinect

Yeah, no wonder it flopped hard; I am almost surprised it sold as ""well"" as it sold, with such a reval you'd expect it to compete against the freaking Wii U in sales.

Here is how Microsoft could have saved the Xbox One and beaten Sony (or at least tied like PS3 vs 360):

-Sell it at the same price as the PS4
-Xbox 360 backwards compatibility on day one (and make fun of Sony at this)
-Do not even attempt the mandatory Kinect nor the always on DRM or the used games thing
-Focus more on the games and not on TV and what not (PS4 did not have that many exclusives early on, though as the generation goes on Microsoft will need to improve their exclusives compared to what they launched)
-As a bonus, launch Xbox Game Pass on day one, which would have been the "killer app" of sorts against Sony. Even if Xbox One gets less exclusives, it would still be the cheaper way to play the multiplats

Yeah the always on DRM implementation left a lot of bad taste in people mouths. Even when it was revoked it was openly bad mouthed in the media outlets around the world.

Really glad it didn't take off. The implications it had for console gaming would have been downright horrible. If it did work, we would see the rest of the industry follow. Like paywall online service. No thanks. I have 0 trust for a company trying to do that.

This is exactly why I'm against all digital. They can sell you a license but you never truly own the game.

Games and price I think are the most important factors for most people I suspect.

A terrible first impression was the biggest factor on why the console could never catch up to the PS4. A DRM console that was primarily marketed as a cable box, with someone doubling down on the DRM. The damage was already done when they did the 180.

Also the exclusives, both in quality and quantity, were severely lacking on the platform.

The PR disaster from the reveal, the lack of brand power outside the US,  the lack of actual exclusives and the fact that Sony did everything greatly, so no PS3-esque disaster to take advantage of.

I also attribute it to the gaming media of the day. They've controlled the narrative multiple times. When PS3 launched, they BLASTED it while praising the Wii and 360. Then, a few years later they changed their tune. Did the same thing with the Wii U. They tore the machine a new asshole and then tried to switch up and saying the Wii U had the better library.

The Xbox One lacked in every area. Can't sugarcoat it. Maybe it deserved the venom it got but some of the criticism sent its way was just inaccurate and nit picky. By 2014 I owned both consoles and watched videos as journalist did things like slam the YouTube app on Xbox when it was the exact same app on PS4. It's like there was a hit on it.

They'll do it again this gen. Watch. There's going to be legitimate complaints against each system but the journalism community is going to find something minor and use it to attack a single system. My instincts say it's going to be Sony. Not because of anything the PS5 does particularly wrong. They're just going to (maybe even subconsciously) feel the need to tell you that you're wrong for liking what you liked last gen and that _____ is what you should be playing.

Just a feeling I have.

Initial bad PR, Lack of software, and price point.

The notion that the PS4 has a vastly superior software lineup over the X1 is utter BS. The PS1 and PS2 did have vastly superior software lineups over their competing systems. When it comes to 3rd party games the PS1 and PS2 was the clear winner. When it comes to 1st party games the PS2 was the clear winner and the PS1 gets a slight edge over the N64.

1) $100 more expensive
2) The lack of consistency regarding quality exclusives
3) Weak brand outside USA

Everything else like media blasting them, Bad PR are just very small factors.

Current media doesn't live by telling the story or investigating, they live by creating ruckus and the like. So they will make questionable decisions.

Wait, is this an onion article? I ask because that's like, one of the most universally agreed upon realities. the Ps4's lineup is vastly superior to the XBox One's in literally every way. Reception, sales, variety, etc. you can argue backwards compatibility and power and multimedia aspects all you want, but if you're honestly arguing that the console lineups were similar, you deserve all the laughs you're going to get.