Despite Microsoft’s constant efforts, PlayStation is still on top by far.
Microsoft has entered the 9th generation with a chip on their shoulder. With Xbox One not even selling half of what the absolute monster that is PlayStation 4 had achieved with an impressive 117.2 million units as of March 2022, the Redmond folks tried their hardest to close the gap with Xbox Series’ pair of consoles.
Acquiring publishers like ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard, signing games left and right for Xbox Game Pass, throwing as many games as they possibly can on backwards compatibility, introducing consumer friendly controllers for those that are disabled, alongside several other tactics have shown little to no budge in their pursuit of catching up to Sony’s PlayStation.
So, what went wrong? If you asked me, nothing. They played their cards right, every single initiative and card they pulled out their sleeve was the right move. At this point, it seems nothing can stop the monumental growth of the Japanese console maker’s system.
Acquisition central.
Since 2018, Microsoft pulled out its wallet and went to town acquiring several developers and publishers across the industry to bolster their array of creative software teams. This includes new studios across Xbox Game Studios like Ninja Theory and Playground Games to new publishers like Blizzard, Bethesda, Activision, and King.
An absolutely robust lineup that has already seen some great success from teams like Tango Gameworks and their brilliant Hi-Fi Rush and the upcoming Fable reboot from Playground Games. Yet despite this, there is this strange feeling that there are still no heavy hitters. Flash over to Sony’s side and we can see the same thing, Sony has hardly announced any games for their upcoming lineup and just recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games, their arguably only large title for 2023.
Which now begs the question of when Team Green’s studios finally get their ducks in a row and fire on all cylinders, what is Sony to do? They had a single major release for the entire year and are struggling pretty hard with their multiplayer efforts while Microsoft now has Call of Duty, Overwatch, Forza Horizon, World of Warcraft, Halo, and Minecraft — all multilayer juggernauts, in a single group. The hopes of cranking out single player marvels from Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda while multiplayer efforts from Blizzard and Activision is the hope, Sony just does not have the studio base, even with their External Development allotment, to compete.
Yet there’s a sentiment, alongside some proof, that regardless of the amount of games Xbox seems to throw out, there’s no possible way that sales can ever turn in their favor versus PlayStation. It is head-scratching, even mind-boggling that the tides are not turning.
Backwards compatibility only got them so far.
Outside of countless studios that have the ability to crank out several games a year, another card in Microsoft’s hands that should have helped them have the edge over Sony is backwards compatibility.
While PS4 and PS5 have some PS1, PS2, and even PSP games available to play with enhanced resolutions and some neat emulator-based functions, the scope is not there. PS3 games are too hard to emulate on either of Sony’s machines, leaving Microsoft the ability to do something Sony isn’t able to do — support the 7th generation. Starting with Xbox One, later evolving with newer consoles, the Xbox line can now play Xbox 360 games via either physical discs or digitally as long as they’re available on the backwards compatibility list. This was seen as a major edge of Sony at the time, giving the Call of Duty series a complete mainline collection on a singular console family plus hits like Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin’s Creed was a monumental play that nobody at the time could’ve seen coming.
The introduction of Xbox One X also brought support for 4K and HDR plus framerate boosts to a slew of Xbox 360 and OG Xbox titles with Xbox Series X bringing that even further. The love and care poured into the emulator by the Xbox team is something to behold, unfortunately, it did not pan out to be in Microsoft’s favor. The PS4 digital library carrying over the PS5 cemented a forever curse of gamers sticking with PlayStation so games do not need to be rebought. It is a very saddening situation as the PlayStation maker should have copied what Xbox has done here.
The Game Pass revolution.
Xbox Game Pass in my personal opinion is the greatest deal in gaming history. The sheer amount of content from both first and third party is a sight to behold. From Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Minecraft to the upcoming Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, there is a large amount of quality games to play. The best part is if you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate you get the benefits of the PC catalog and the ability to stream the games you love on the go if available!
Compared to Sony’s PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium offerings, the value per dollar is much higher on the Microsoft side. This seems to be the only marketing ploy Xbox has to take a punch against Sony as it continues to grow larger and larger while the pair of PlayStation Plus tiers are hardly mentioned throughout the community.
Xbox Game Pass has a major potential to turn the tide in the future as games like Call of Duty will one day have the ability to be day and date on the service. That will make the value proposition skyrocket tenfold.
Trying to capture Japan.
PlayStation has been the reigning champion of Japanese home consoles since the late PS3 days when Wii U could not get its footing off the ground. A load of Japanese publishers and developers would bring their beloved franchises like Persona, Yakuza, and Trails to PlayStation as that’s where they found their success and blossomed to new heights thanks to that platform family. The occasional Nintendo Switch exclusive Japanese game or simultaneous releases across Nintendo and Sony systems also happened, but outside of the major IPs like Resident Evil or Sonic, it’s rare anything from Japan went to Xbox.
That all came to an end around 2019 when Microsoft made a major push to get games on Xbox from the eastern land. Since then, the entire mainline Yakuza franchise alongside games from Final Fantasy, Persona, and Kingdom Hearts have been ripped from the other Japanese console maker’s grips and put on an American console. There are still hundreds of games from Japan that do not see an Xbox release, but that gap is closing very fast.
What is not closing fast though is the sales of Xbox in Japan. While true that there is a spike compared to Xbox One, it has only beat PS5 twice in sales week to week due to lack of units for Sony’s machine. The PS5 usually sells anywhere from 10–15 times the units per week, giving them a massive lead that major IP from the country can’t even help Xbox pull out any sort of win.
Europe’s refusal of adoption.
With everything talked about so far — Japan, Game Pass, mass amounts of studios making exclusives, and so much more not mentioned, the European market does not seem to care. In France, Sony is closing in on a 90% marketshare, while UK, Italy, and Spain all are becoming more and more PlayStation oriented as the days go by.
There is nothing I could think of that could attract these markets. Racing games always performed extraordinarily well yet despite that, Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon are not drawing enough sales. The day and date PC and Xbox system that Microsoft has in place is surely not doing them any favors in this regard.
Sony remains victorious.
Now a lot of people will get the impression that I am trying to put Xbox down and that is not the case. If anything, I’m rooting for Xbox. The more they do good, the more pressure and competition that Sony will have. Although numbers have proved otherwise which is the scary part because Sony will not have to react as fast as they already don’t to adopt features like a Game Pass alternative or a major acquisition since they aren’t in trouble sales wise.
I believe at the end of the day that there is no hope for Xbox to ever catch up. While I do not want that to be the case, the amazing things Microsoft has done to turn the brand around have not done them anything as Xbox Series is still trailing Xbox One in sales. The sales difference between PS5 and Xbox Series are legitimately in line with what PS4 and Xbox One had but now the gap is widening this early on.
Hopefully the continued great things of what Microsoft is doing can one day end up helping them instead of just keeping the brand afloat.
Check out my other work here.
The Future of PlayStation Part II.
PlayStation’s massive bet on Asia.
PlayStation Studios’ future — what to expect?
As Fortnite reaches new heights, should Sony enlist Epic for a multiplayer project?
The heartbreak failure of PlayStation Vita.
PlayStation 2 — the true king of consoles.
The Xbox and Activision Blizzard merger.
You can follow me on X here — @LumberjackRy
