Perhaps almost every gamer at some point in his career played in the battle of gaming machines, although indirectly. Which is better: PlayStation or Xbox? Previously, this issue was the topic of hot discussions and disputes, but it was still related? Ign.com information portal speakWhy the race of the game giants has lost the intensity of the previous passion.
In recent years, the gaming industry has developed strongly. If in 2019, global revenue amounted to $ 285 billion, then in 2024 475 billion dollars for the context, this means that video games earn more money in the world compared to films and music in 2023-$ 308 and $ 28.6 billion. And it seems that growth will not stop there. According to experts, by 2029, the expected circulation of the gaming industry will increase to $ 700 billion.
In that context, it is not surprising that more and more Hollywood actors are flowing to the stage with such a bright future. Mads Mikkelsen, Keanu Reeves, John Bernal and Willem Defoe plays a role in quite large games. Their participation in gaming projects is emphasized by a monumental change in the awareness of video games. Even the giants of the entertainment industry, such as Disney, are trying to break into the game field: For example, the group has recently invested $ 1.5 billion in monumental games as part of Bob Aiger's efforts to get a foothold in the market.
Theoretically, an increase in money and attention will positively affect all players on the market – but Microsoft is not one of them. Xbox Series X and S should become better than Xbox One in all sense, but their advantages do not gain the attention of the audience. A sales still exceeded the data of the X/S series nearly double. And said that, according to analysts, the current generation of gaming machines is the peak of sales, the Xbox position seems sad. Microsoft for 2024 can only sell less than 2.5 million gaming machines – PlayStation 5 has surpassed these indicators in the first quarter. In addition, there are rumors that Xbox is closing parts, where the production and game delivery to physical sellers, may be related to the answer to the question of leaving the company from the EMEA area (Europe, the Middle East, Africa).
But Xbox did not back down – she surrendered. In the long absorption process of Activision-Blizzard, the documents appeared in the information without Microsoft without believing in the defeat of Xbox in the console-platform war that is said to have no chance to win.
What companies built around a failed control panel? Obviously, to leave the operating business of the control panel. It is no longer a secret that the Xbox game has become the main priority of Xbox. Internal documents are flowing to reveal the amount of money the company is expected to pay for the largest AAA-IGRA rights. Therefore, Grand Theft Auto 5 costs $ 12-15 million per month and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor- $ 300 million. The Xbox is ready to carry out such costs shown by the company's focus on cloud game as a main business direction. The recent marketing company, this is an Xbox also emphasized that Xbox wants to change the brand image – to transfer the voice from the control panel to an affordable multi -platform service, including mobile devices.
Why does Microsoft decide suddenly change the course? Because mobile games continue to grow. In 2024, out of 3.3 billion gamers, more than 1.93 players on mobile devices. This appropriate horse has long stopped covering the usual audience: in the past 10 years, it has become one of the pillars of the gaming industry. Over the past year, the final market capitalization of the market amounted to $ 184.3 billion and it accounted for half of this amount – 92.5 billion dollars. More than 2.8% compared to 2023 and gaming machines only accounted for $ 50.3 billion, equivalent to 27%, 4% lower than 2023.
At the same time, smartphones are not the only platform to pull the audience from the control panel. Gaming PC is also growing, although not the booming speed like mobile. In 2020, the number of PC gamers increased by 200 million users, online to become a more attractive hobby for many people through the pandemic errors. In addition, PC users have been more technically educated, allowing them to build their own machines from different components.
What happens to PlayStation? Sony feels great. If you believe that the new quarterly profit report, the publisher has sold 75 million PS5, more than twice as much as the Xbox Series. Astro Bot has scattered 1.5 million copies in less than two months, the final sales of the Ghost of Tsushima reduction of Tsushima Director has exceeded 13 million.
However, the Sony position looks very profitable compared to Microsoft. If we consider PS5 separately, the image is less rainbow. 50% of all PlayStation users still play old PS4 instead of a completely new control panel, although PS5 has entered the second half of their life cycle. Why? Because, if you do not take into account the prints of games from PS4, only 15 exclusive types appear on PS5. The issuing library is not large enough to justify the cost of buying a new control panel.
And even if PS5 hardly justified its price of $ 500, PS5 Pro did not justify $ 700.
Therefore, winning or losing in the control panel is a point of view. For Microsoft, the war took place first, because the publisher never believed that he had the opportunity to overcome the PlayStation. For Sony, the current generation of PlayStation has become successful, but so far it is not enough to be called a real dance. Only companies in the mobile game market retain their stable good position.