The Enemy of My Enemy May Be My Friend, But My Actual Friend Gets Nicer Christmas Cards

There’s been a lot of information flying around about the Big Three since the beginning of the year and the rumor mill has been churning for years. Now that we actually KNOW what Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are bringing / brought to the table this year, it’s time for some serious comparisons with no fanboyisms. I have owned consoles from all 3 of these companies and thoroughly enjoyed games from all of them. This is just how I see the current state of things as I’ve watched these three companies battle for support and sales. I’m going to focus on one at a time as I have a lot to say on each of them.

Sony

"We’re Really, Really Sorry About the PS3"

Last generation, the PS3 was most certainly not a fan favorite and was often times grouped in with Nintendo as Microsoft heralded the charge to gamer paradise. They got a lot of flack from gamers about things such as the insane sticker price at launch to various hardware issues and then the whole Anonymous hacking debacle. Suffice it to say, Sony was beaten down pretty hard last gen, and a lot of it wasn’t even their fault. Sometimes things just go terribly wrong and need to be set back on course. During this time, however, Sony learned to listen to their community and found out the hard way that gamers are none too forgiving if you don’t do something right the first time. What they have learned can be clearly seen in the PS4 as it is an embodiment of everything gamers have been asking for. By listening to the flack they got from the PS3, they managed to present the perfect apology to their fans for letting them down last gen. Whether the console really is all it is cracked up to be is still yet to be seen, but gamers everywhere remain hopeful.

Charging into Battle

One of the main areas where Microsoft and Sony differ is that Microsoft is like Commodus from Gladiator (2000) and Sony is like Maximus. Commodus sends troops into battle, but doesn’t step onto the field himself and Maximus is in the trenches with his men. Microsoft thinks it can rule over the gamers and send them off from E3 with a whole new way of thinking just because they said so. Sony wanted to join the gamers on a journey together in which they figure out how to make the relationship between publisher and consumer work. Sony is a leader and Microsoft is an Emperor. Last time I checked, most people in the free world do not take too kindly to tyrants. Sony has managed to lead the gamers to the world they were hoping for, but believed to be struck down by Microsoft. Fortunately in this analogy Sony’s family has not been brutally murdered and it has not been cast in a ring to kill people. Although that would have made a very entertaining E3.

The Enemy of my Enemy

To be perfectly honest, one of the biggest draws gamers have to the PS4 is simply that it is NOT the Xbox One. This is a very interesting marketing strategy that Microsoft can really only blame themselves for letting Sony get away with. If there was a Presidential race and somehow the final two were Hitler and a complete and total stranger, everyone would vote for the random guy because they simply didn’t want Hitler. Not that I’m calling Microsoft Hitler or anything…although they did essentially try and round up all the used games (and companies willing to harbor used games such as Gamestop) and toss them all in a landfill…Sony is a bit drunk with power though at this point since they know they won a major battle at E3. As long as they basically make no new announcements to disrupt the status quo, they should be lined up for a sure fire win.

The Indie Sector

Something that both Nintendo and Microsoft basically completely overlooked with their consoles was the indie developer. Indie games are becoming more and more popular, as are indie movies (and I’m not referring to the ones with all the long winded dance numbers and cheesy singing). Video games are getting easier to make and colleges have started to teach it as a major, there are even universities just for making video games now. With this progression comes a ton of new people with the know how and their own specific vision. These people start up their own little companies, as do all of the people who learned how to do it off the internet (learning legitimate skills from the internet has also become much more popular in recent years). In the next 10 years, there is going to be a massive boom of indie developers and games. Who took the temperature of the market and saw this coming? Sony. Who made it one of their top 10 main focuses at their conference? Sony. Quite simply, Sony’s console was made for developers, specially indie developers, to design games for. They have put down real roots in the indie world and have begun to establish themselves, and this is going to pay off in the long run. This is also one of the many reasons why the PS4 will last the full generation cycle, but the Wii U and X1 most certainly will not.

Show Me the Money!

Let’s get real right now, there is one factor that has strongly helped determine who wins each generation and that is cost. If your console works properly, has adequate game support, has hardware at least on par for the generation, and costs less, you win. This is how Sony won generation 5 and generation 6 of the console wars and what they completely forgot about with the PS3. This is how Microsoft nabbed the generation 7 win out from under them and how Sony is going to win back the title. All a console has to do in game releases, hardware, and features is be mediocre. Same as everyone else and completely not unique at all. If they do this and find a way to release their console cheaper, the battle is won right there. The PS4 is basically the same as the Xbox One, it even looks the same. Same hardware, same number of exclusives, same features. There’s some slight differences and then the whole indie game thing and whatnot making it slightly better than the X1 and then there’s the whole policy differences thing, but at their absolute core, they are basically the same. The PS4 is a whole $100 cheaper though, therefore it WILL win this console war beyond a shadow of a doubt. Upon release of the two, the casual gamer won’t want to spend as much and the hardcore gamer knows enough about Sony and Microsoft that he will pick Sony. If Sony can lock down the vast majority of sales on launch and the first quarter, Microsoft will bleed customers until it dies. After the first quarter, if most of your friends own a PS4 instead of an X1 and it’s a whole $100 cheaper, you are buying a PS4. There really is no decision at that point.