This holiday season is going to be all about the battle between the gaming consoles. Yet, there’s a third contender that many fail to mention, but is very, very present.
The Playstation 4 went on sale, November 15th and Microsoft is rolling out their Xbox One just a week later. Still, while both gaming juggernauts will be competing for the hardcore gamer, they’ll also be vying for non-gamers who have their choices of Apple TV, tablets and Google’s Chromecast. All of which offer options for streaming movies, TV and music. Something that seven years ago was generally allowed with only Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
The Xbox 360 was streaming Netflix back in 2008 and the Playstation 3 doubled as a Blu-Ray player. Both aimed to replace cable boxes and be the dominant living room console, and each is again vying for that throne of the entertainment den.
While both gaming systems will have competition between each other and other tech entertainment options, they’ll without a doubt sell a slew of units. Sony is expecting to sell 5 million units of the $400 PS4 by the end of its fiscal year in March. Microsoft hasn’t yet released their sales outlook for the Xbox One, but Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter says it’s very comparable with Sony and wouldn’t be surprised if they move 4.5 million units by March.
One reason that the Xbox One will probably be slightly less of a big seller this holiday is the $100 price difference. At $500 compared to the $400 PS4, many gamers are expected to jump ship or stay with their already preferred console of choice. Dan Perkins, a 40-year-old librarian from Syracuse, New York is one of those gamers.
“I bought the Xbox 360 primarily because I preferred the titles it offered to the PS3. A major contributor to this decision was the ‘Mass Effect’ trilogy, which was initially unavailable on the PS3 at the time of my purchase. Neither platform has the edge on games in my opinion. In the end though, a big factor will be which system my friends adopt.”
Price and popularity among friends are both factors that will be influencing buyer’s decisions, but one thing that won’t be is old games. Neither console will be compatible with older games, so in a way, it’s a clean slate for both teams.
The challenge for each console will be convincing people to start over with a new console completely, rather than going for a new iPad and popular title for their old PS3 or Xbox 360. It’s a challenge that both Sony and Microsoft will probably have little difficulty overcoming.
Via MSN