The latest DFC Intelligence video game console forecasts <\/a>have the PlayStation 5 outselling the Xbox Series X by a margin of 2-to-1.\u00a0 The PlayStation 5 looks likely to be Sony\u2019s third 100 million unit selling console game system.<\/p>\nMicrosoft is trying its best with Xbox Series X, but the past few months have revealed they are just too far behind Sony.\u00a0 Consumer brand preference is strongly towards PlayStation.\u00a0 As a piece of hardware there is nothing Xbox Series X is doing to change that perception.<\/p>\n
Sony is also a global powerhouse in video games.\u00a0 Microsoft is only strong in English speaking markets.\u00a0 The Xbox has no presence in Japan and is weak in most of Europe.\u00a0 Sony\u2019s strength in global consumer electronics distribution has been too much for Microsoft to overcome, even after 20 years of concerted effort.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Microsoft has slowly been expanding its strategy to go beyond its dedicated console systems.\u00a0 The company has relaunched a major PC initiative and they have partnering with companies like Samsung to get Xbox games on other devices.\u00a0 It is telling that the latest news this week from Microsoft was on Samsung and Game Pass, not Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n
Game Pass and xCloud are subscription services that are platform agnostic. As we have discussed, Game Pass is an extremely attractive service that could be a major growth driver for Microsoft.\u00a0 However, Game Pass does not require an Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n
The big challenge is getting consumers aware of Game Pass.\u00a0 Recently many observers noticed that some Game Pass branding did not include the Xbox name.\u00a0 Casual observers are generally not aware that Game Pass does not require an Xbox console system.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sony has focused on sticking to what it does best, delivering and distributing high-end consumer electronic products and entertainment.\u00a0 The PlayStation 5 may not be inspiring in the way the Nintendo Switch was, but it is a solid addition to an established and loved product line.\u00a0 Sony is not taking any risks and that is likely to lead to strong sales for the system.<\/p>\n
Long-term Microsoft\u2019s strategy may be a winner.\u00a0 The Xbox Series X should have decent sales to the solid core of Xbox fans.\u00a0 However, the video game audience has become much broader than the core console audience Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have fought after for years.\u00a0 Microsoft has often talked about attracting a billion games in a market where even the most successful console system tops out at the 100 millon mark.<\/p>\n
Sony is not the flashy company it was back in the high-flying days of the first two PlayStation systems.\u00a0 Ambitions have been scaled back and Sony focuses on short-term sales, not long-term vision.\u00a0 Sony has many worker ants focused on getting products through sales channels and that should serve them well for the PlayStation 5.<\/p>\n
There is limited competition in the high-end video game space.\u00a0 Companies like Amazon, Apple, Google and Samsung have not proven to be serious competitors.\u00a0 This opens up space for Microsoft to find a middle ground that bridges a diverse audience base.\u00a0 In that regards Nintendo may be a stronger competitor than Sony.<\/p>\n
The latest forecasts are available from DFC Intelligence<\/a>.\u00a0 They include a full assessment of the new game systems as well as the latest updates on the impact of COVID-19.\u00a0 These forecasts are regularly updated as new information becomes available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In recent months it has become clear that Sony and Microsoft are pursuing two very different strategies in the video game industry.\u00a0 The likely result is that the upcoming Sony PlayStation 5 should significantly outsell the Microsoft Xbox Series X.\u00a0 However, Microsoft may have the long-term winning battle plan. The latest DFC Intelligence video game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38,168,58,74],"tags":[52,31,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17293,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17291\/revisions\/17293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dfcint.com\/dossier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}