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The fight between Sony and Microsoft on the video game console market entered its decisive phase on Thursday, with the Japanese group launching its new PlayStation 5 console, two days after the launch of the American rival’s Xbox series, AFP reports.
Unlike Microsoft, which is based on a simultaneous global launch, Sony will sell the PlayStation 5 console in two phases: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, United States, Canada and Mexico starting Thursday and the rest of the world. especially Europe, will have to wait until November 19th. Also, due to the pandemic, the purchase of the new console will be mandatory online, writes Agerpres.
The demand for the new consoles, stimulated by the fact that the population is isolated at home due to the health crisis, promises to be strong, and the copies available for pre-orders have sold out in record time. Analysts believe buying a new console will be difficult before 2021.
Like the US Xbox Series console, the PlayStation 5 will be available in two versions: a premium version, for which Sony has priced the same as the Xbox Series X – $ 499, and a digital version, equally powerful, but which doesn’t have a player. of discs, priced at $ 399, $ 100 more than the Xbox Series S model.
These console models that allow the user to play only games downloaded from the Internet are a gold mine for manufacturers, who can thus control the price of the games, eliminating the costs of producing and distributing the discs, as well as reselling them on the second-hand market.
“Sales of games downloaded from the Internet are constantly increasing. Last year we were at 50/50 but in 2020, in the midst of isolation, we have reached two thirds of digital games and one third of games in physical format”, said Jim Ryan, director of video games at Sony.
Given that the consoles of the two groups have comparable performance, Sony wants to distance themselves mainly thanks to planned games such as ‘Spider-man: Miles Morales’, ‘Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’ or ‘Horizon: Forbidden West’. These games are developed by studios bought by Sony, a way for the Japanese manufacturer to ensure that they will develop games exclusively for its console and benefit from their sale. Sony currently controls 14 video game studios.
“We do not rule out the possibility of an external acquisition in this regard,” said Jim Ryan, after American rival Microsoft recently took over the Bethesda studios and its catalog of games which includes hit series, such as’ Fallout ‘or’ The Elder Scrolls’.
With PlayStation 5, Sony wants to repeat the success of the previous PlayStation 4 console, launched in 2013, which it has sold twice as well as Xbox One worldwide.
“With the PS4, Sony has devastated the game console market. It will have to do everything it can to conquer the Western market to make sure it maintains the gap that separates it from Microsoft,” said Serkan Toto, analyst at Kantan Games.
For several years Sony has given up on the Japanese market, dominated by Nintendo. For example, only 8% of all PS4 consoles were sold in Japan. In order to refocus its strategy on the US market, Sony moved its PlayStation operations from Tokyo to California in 2016 and unified decision-making and production under the auspices of its American teams.
Most analysts expect Sony to outperform its US competitor in the number of consoles sold. However, in the long run, Microsoft could catch up with its Japanese rival thanks to a strategy focused more on subscription watch games and streaming.
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