Why 2020 Is Microsoft's Year - Thanks To Covid

[NormanD]

Okay, so i've got Sony fanboy friends who fight me tooth and nail and refuse to look at the facts, and the facts show that Microsoft is setup to blow Sony up on sales this generation. Let me explain why, this year is all Microsoft. Regardless of the great Sony exclusives (which they do make banger exclusives!). I hate to break it to the Sony fans, but Covid has set Microsoft up for a win this year with their Series S $25/mo (Series x $30/mo) financing + GamePass Ultimate deal. Allow me to explain.

Currently because of the Covid lockdowns, there is an 8.4% unemployment rate in the US, that is 13.6million people and family's without work and on benefits. In Canada that number is a 7.47% unemployment rate. You have people who have to decide on paying rent or eating, going out to eat or stocking up on pasta noodles and eating at home with what little money they have to spend now.

Come time for Christmas when these consoles are released, those people (gamers, parents buying their kids for Christmas, grand parents, etc) will have 4 option.

• The PS5 at $499 (No included games out of the box, and online play is an additional monthly fee.)
• The PS5 Digital at $399 (No included games out of the box, and online play is an additional monthly fee.)

or

• Series S $25/mo (finance to own).
• Series X $30/mo (finance to own).

Both Xbox options come with:

              -Gamepass Ultimate (100+ games)

              -EA Play library (40+ EA games)

              -Cloud Gaming via their app.

              -Online play at no additional cost.

---------------------------------------------------------

Now Sony will move numbers, there is no denying that at all! However, they are going to be feeling the heat from MS this year. Because in the 2020 Covid economy, the average typical consumer (not what we would consider a gamer boy/girl) aren't going to be nearly as concerned with the having the "highest end graphics", as much as they are going to want to get the most value out of what little spending money they have available due to the financial changes they've experience from the pandemic. So long as they can actually play the newest games.

And $25/$30 upfront is far easier to stomach than $399 out of pocket. Also another factor to think about is the multi kid households, you can get up to 4 Xboxs for as little as $100 upfront, each with their own library of games and Xbox Live. That is insane.

[gloop]

1 minute ago, NormanD said:

• Series S $25/mo (finance to own).
• Series X $30/mo (finance to own).

Both Xbox options come with:

              -Gamepass Ultimate (100+ games)

              -EA Play library (40+ EA games)

              -Cloud Gaming via their app.

              -Online play at no additional cost.

I’m probably just stupid, but could you provide sources to all of these things? I don’t remember seeing gamepass included with them. 

[HanZie82]

To be honest this all looks very Xbox fanboy to me.
Just as bad as Playstation fanboiism...

Also like @gloop said, you CANNOT come with numbers and not provide a source for it. Now it just looks like something you wanted to vent about and not facts.

 

 

To the rest, just get what you prefer, both consoles are good. Do you have young kids get a Nintendo! (dont listen to fanbois they always have it wrong!)

[WereCatf]

7 minutes ago, NormanD said:

Series X $30/mo (finance to own)

Seems to actually be $35/month.

5 minutes ago, gloop said:

I’m probably just stupid, but could you provide sources to all of these things? I don’t remember seeing gamepass included with them. 

Presumably OP means Microsoft's own site: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-all-access

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

3 hours ago, NormanD said:

 

Interesting write up, but it is a very US centric.  

The US is the only region where the Xbox was 50% with the PS current gen.  Outside US, PS completely outsold the XBOX. Resulting in 111m PS4s to 55m Xbox sold.

Because all PS4 titles can play on the PS5, people view it as an upgrade of what they have, and a continuation of their library, switching is highly unlikely.

 

The UK market is very interesting, because our houses are quite small, consoles are more common than PCs and multi-functional devices are very desirable. 

XBOX series S doesn't output 4K, so it will be a kids console(fortnite, fall guys etc..) or for someone with an old TV. 

XBOX series X is interesting but the digital PS5 is cheaper with similar hardware.  So for casuals these 2 will fight it out.

 

What a few of my PS friends has said is PS5 digital/disc and XBOX series S for gamepass (Forza, Halo, Gears...)

What by Xbox friends has said is there is nothing to make me upgrade, or Xbox series S on subscription.

 

My predictions are that PS5 will again outsell XBox outside the US, however there will be more people who buy 2 consoles.

 

[Fatih19]

On 9/20/2020 at 1:44 AM, TheFlyingSquirrel said:

Outside US, PS completely outsold the XBOX.

 

Can confirm, PS is a household name where I live while not many people know Xbox.

[HanZie82]

I mean the PC is still better and outsells both of them combined.

But ill let the numbers do the talking:

 

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles

(And the real sources are in that Wiki-article as are the notes mentioned in table).

[Monkey Dust]

I wonder how many people switch between XBox and PS? I suspect not enough for Xbox to 'win', though they may catch up somewhat this generation.

 

I'm not sure the OP's assumption that rising unemployment will push people to the cheaper Xbox Series S is correct, I suspect it will push them to stick with what they have.

 

There doesn't appear to be a killer new game for either console. That combined with the economic situation makes me think both are going to be a slow burn, at least until a must-have game comes along.      

[Kawaii Koneko]

On 9/19/2020 at 9:51 AM, NormanD said:

You have people who have to decide on paying rent or eating, going out to eat or stocking up on pasta noodles and eating at home with what little money they have to spend now.

Then I highly doubt they are going to add another $25 or $35 bill to their expenses every month if things are that tight for them. However, in cases where money is just tighter overall, yes, I can see the allure of the financing.

 

That said, I do agree, this is probably going to be a good generation for MS. There are just so many advantages to the XBox this gen even beyond the financing deals with everything included. Just between the systems themselves and everything Game Pass Ultimate brings to the table such as over 100 XBox games, PC games (don't remember the number), EA Access, Live included, and now streaming your games to Android devices, they have a great deal. Not to mention, it sounds MS exclusives will be cheaper as Sony is going to be charging $70 and MS is still going to charge $60.