There are so many things I love about gaming, but one of the things I truly hate is the on-going idea of a “console war”. Healthy competition and debate are fun, but I just don’t understand the notion of willing a console to have bad games out of some childish competitiveness. Another game being bad doesn’t make the one you’re playing any better. Great games are great, no matter what console they are on – and I will happily play them all (if financially viable). Thus, I try and avoid direct comparisons between Sony and Microsoft, and instead focus on discussions and comparisons between specific games.
But this year they really are making it hard not to draw comparisons. Not only are they launching new consoles within weeks of each other (probably), but they seem to have identical launch strategies. I just sat and watched an hour-long showcase focussed on gameplay – with an exclusive launch title at the beginning and a reveal of a future (non-launch) big name RPG exclusive in years to come. During the rest of the presentation a smattering of games were shown, some with gameplay, that ranged across genre and scale and varied in how much they pinged my excite-ometer. I saw a console, but didn’t get a price or reveal date.
It was groundhog-day from the 12th of June, where I had a near-identical experience – just with Sony.
Yes, there are some slight differences. The Sony event had the console reveal (a hurdle Microsoft had already cleared). Microsoft had a large focus on the power of their console – frankly beginning to sound like a broken record. Today was entirely made up of first party games, while Sony had a relatively large proportion of games in their reveal that will also appear on Microsoft’s machine. But, as a general showing, they were remarkably similar. A big focus on games, and gameplay, to get a potential audience excited.
It sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m really not. This launch is becoming about what it really was always about, the games. The price of course will play a part when it’s announced, but for now the only real separators are those exclusives. The launch line-ups seem to be a straight face off between Miles and Masterchief, and whichever one of those you prefer is likely to be the console you should go with. Along with some third-party games already announced (thinking of you Cyberpunk and AC: Valhalla) that should be more than enough to keep you happy until 2021. Looking further forward it is again all about which exclusives you are more invested in, and currently that is Fable (and possibly Avowed) versus the Forbidden West. More will get added to the mix of course, but the comparisons are inevitable – and the promotion strategy just underlines this.
So, a straight fight – yes? Well… no, not quite. There is the impact this generation has, and I think it’s going to be a big one. Playstation 4 has a much larger user-base than Xbox One, so Sony are relying on those players to transition over to the next generation with them. It’s a sound tactic, give them what they know and love from this gen (hello Miles and Aloy), and they should come. Meanwhile Microsoft are all about attracting a lost, or new, audience to their machine. Entries in pillar series from Xbox past is one strategy, but they have another ace up their sleeve – Game Pass.
For those who swerved Microsoft this generation, and there are quite a few, Game Pass is an absolutely crazy bargain. Buy your shiny new Series X and a subscription, and you have thousands of hours of fun awaiting you. Not only do you have all the titles shown today (including Halo), but you also have all those exclusives you’ve missed over the past five years. New consoles are an expensive business, so minimising the extra expenditure might prove a shrewd move to attract a new and lapsed fan base. Game Pass has been touted by many as the greatest value offering in games, and it’s clear it will be an absolute key player in the years to come.
Who will be the winner, who will sell the most consoles? Well – on the sales front there is no way to know. Time will provide us with the answer to that, anything else is pure conjecture.
As for who will be the winner? That’s a bit easier as it’s always the same answer. Gamers. All of these games look incredible, and whichever console you go for you’re pretty much guaranteed a great time. Halo, Spider-Man, Fable, Horizon and all the dozens of others announced (looking at you, The Gunk) means whichever way you look, the future is pretty bright for gaming.
