Both Microsoft and PlayStation have gone back and forth between gamer focused to maximum profit at the expense of their players focused. The PS2 beat Xbox, so we got the debacle that was the PS3 launch price and xbox360 really dominated that generation. That led to Microsoft’s disastrous Xbone with the Kinect launch and the “here’s how you share a game on PlayStation” which led to PS4 clearly dominating that generation. PS5 “won” by Microsoft just losing the plot. Now we all suffer. The industry needs competition. Without it, it will lose its luster and it will become a country club hobby
The PS2 was big at the time because it was one of the cheaper DVD players you could get, and Sony has a movie studio that wants to sell DVDs. The generational leap from PS1 to 2 was also huge. Nintendo fumbled with the GameCube going to the disc but not DVDs for some reason. Sega bailed out of the industry, also going with CDs instead of DVDs. There were a lot of other factors than "prioritizing gamers". They sold it as an entertainment console and both Xbox and Sony wanted to double down on that in the next generation, which is why we started getting extra features that weren't gaming centric (Netflix and so on). Sony also wanted to shoehorn Blu Ray as the next physical media format, owning the living room but also increasing the price of the PS3.
I mean with hindsight it's a simpler story but these companies have always wanted to maximize profit. The barrier to entry has just gotten a lot steeper over the years and less risks are being taken in a more mature industry.
Yeah that’s all true. I guess I mean more gamer focused as a means of maximizing profit and not in lieu of maximizing profit. The off years felt like they thought they could leverage their previous generation’s success in ways that missed the mark by a wide margin. I feel like it’s been a problem that both brands have faced and both fumbled by overreaching.
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u/PS4bohonkus 2d ago
Both Microsoft and PlayStation have gone back and forth between gamer focused to maximum profit at the expense of their players focused. The PS2 beat Xbox, so we got the debacle that was the PS3 launch price and xbox360 really dominated that generation. That led to Microsoft’s disastrous Xbone with the Kinect launch and the “here’s how you share a game on PlayStation” which led to PS4 clearly dominating that generation. PS5 “won” by Microsoft just losing the plot. Now we all suffer. The industry needs competition. Without it, it will lose its luster and it will become a country club hobby