What happened to the duel Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4?
Analysis of the success of the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's (non-)success with Xbox One.
We are in the eighth generation of consoles and somehow everything is different from the generation before. The Xbox 360 was many years more successful than the PlayStation 3.
Sony did everything right with the PlayStation 4, but the Xbox One is far behind. Nintendo's success with the switch gives the Xbox One the rest.
The success of the PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 is about to beat every seventh-generation console in sales. After all, more than 70 million consoles have been sold to gamers on the planet so far. Of course, the success of PlayStation 2 (155 million units sold) is not in sight, because this generation of consoles will not last that long. But the PlayStation one with 103 million copies sold is within reach. To refer to the seventh generation: The PlayStation 3 sold "only" 87 million times in its lifetime, the Xbox 360 an estimated 85 million times.
"Cover-up" on the Xbox One sales figures
On the other hand, the Xbox One - which we would now like to discuss in more detail. For the Microsoft console, there are no more official sales figures on the part of the Redmond company for a long time.
They don't talk about it anymore. According to NDP Group figures, Xbox One has sold an estimated 35 million units worldwide. Japan is certainly not the hot spot, but the Xbox One and its "upgrade console", the Xbox One X, is also struggling in Europe.
After all, Sony keeps supplying its gamers with exclusive titles, whereby Microsoft has long since shared its exclusive titles with Windows 10 gamers with the "Play Anywhere" program - probably in order to increase sales to its expensive in-house productions.
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PlayStation 3 versus Xbox 360 was more exciting
The fight PlayStation 3 versus Xbox 360 was not decided for a long time. In the early years even the Xbox 360 was clearly in the lead and only through price reductions on the hardware itself could Sony slowly catch up. The PlayStation 3 was a lot more expensive and it felt like Microsoft had the lead.
The reason for the failure of the Xbox One was actually carved at the beginning of its announcement before the console was even available for purchase.
But more about that later.
In the early 2000s, Sony was at the zenith of success with the PlayStation 2, the most successful video game console of all time.
Microsoft's first work, the Xbox - a huge black X box with oversized controllers and Nintendo's purple game cube, the Gamecube, weren't bad on the road, but they couldn't do anything against the sovereign power of Sony. The PlayStation 2 was the first console that could also play DVD's, unlike SEGA's wonder console, the Dreamcast and Nintendo's Gamecube.
The Xbox could play movies with a remote control - just like a DVD player and stayed in the race - but clearly, behind the PS2 The SEGA Dreamcast was at the beginning even a glimmer of hope for the battered video game hardware manufacturer SEGA, but with the launch of the PS2 everything was over.
Sony's arrogance helped the Xbox 360 to success
The Xbox 360 appeared on the world market at the end of 2005, the PlayStation 3 followed a year later and in Europe only in March 2007.
Again - so one believed - at Sony, one could assert oneself with a console that could read and play the new format for movies, the Blu-ray. But the technology was expensive and it was not yet clear which new media format would prevail: The Blu-ray or HD-DVD.
The problem was that Sony had misjudged the hardware and had to give the price to the end customers. For example, the 20 GByte model cost a whopping 500 euros at the start and the 60 GByte model "unbeatable" 600 euros. Too much for one console, as you can see on the Xbox One X. For the next two years, Microsoft had to roll up the market with its far from cheaper Xbox 360 "easy game" and break the dominance of Sony.
More and more different PS3 models came onto the market, which caused even more confusion. No one knew anymore which console variant he really needed. Only when several exclusive games such as The Last of Us came onto the market, marketing was improved and the final price of the console was lowered, the success of the Xbox 360 could be "broken" and the race to catch up could begin.
Microsoft's arrogance made PlayStation 4 a success
I didn't run out of ideas for this headline, but it should show that Microsoft made exactly the mistake that Sony once made with its PlayStation 3.
Namely to believe, only because one had had a "high flight" with the previous console to create this also with the next console. Just because the name "Xbox" is on it doesn't mean anything. Sony had to go through that with PlayStation.
Just like Sony, Microsoft launched a successor console, the Xbox One, which was expensive and had a wealth of features that were largely unnecessary and only served to keep the price high and destroy the "mission statement of the console".
Despite a fire of criticism from the media and fans, Microsoft had no inhibitions about making the same fucking mistake as Sony once did.
It took many years - actually, it still continues to correct the errors and repair the damage. There are a few "individual successes", but they are rare. In the meantime, Sony had taken over the market with its PlayStation 4. Nintendo's Wii U was just a side issue and we know how this story turned out, but this is more about the Xbox One.
"No Fireworks" for the Xbox One X
With the start of the Xbox One X Microsoft has learned nothing new again.
If the marketing had been changed as Sony once was and a "firework of innovations", i.e. exclusive games, then one could have turned the tables. It would have been possible to repeat history and break the success of the PlayStation 4. But no. You release an upgraded console, the killer for the PlayStation 4 PRO, the most powerful console on the market today, and you don't make anything of it.
A few enhanced updates or no updates are no real reason to buy for the masses. How many people really have a 4K TV at home? If good and playable games had been introduced to the market, this would certainly have been more successful than high degrees of resolution and fast image movements.
Who knows how Microsoft really thinks and acts in the background. There are already rumours not to bring out a console in the real sense, but to convert to Azure cloud technology.
In times when the super-fast broadband Internet is not available everywhere, especially in Austria and Germany - when it comes to connection possibilities for households it looks more disastrous than in countries such as Angola, Puerto Rico or Ecuador, makes the matter a failure again with a security guarantee.