Microsoft decided to weaken competition in the game console market and release a number of exclusives on Sony and Nintendo platforms. The American company claims that it is not abandoning the development of Xbox. According to analysts , the long-term prospects for the industry are vague.
Japan regains leadership
All signs indicate that the development of gaming hardware is becoming less and less important for Microsoft, says Serkan Toto, head of the consulting company Kantan Games. But it is unlikely that things will come to the complete destruction of Xbox: Microsoft will not allow this.
Of the key players in the market, two corporations remain – Sony and Nintendo. There is every chance that the situation of the early 90s will repeat itself, when the Japanese Nintendo fought with the Japanese SEGA and Sony. It was during this time that legendary franchises such as Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy and Pokemon emerged.
But not everything is so rosy
Sony barely managed to prove to investors the need to release the PlayStation 5 – then competition with Microsoft, which presented the new generation Xbox Series X|S, helped, said independent gaming analyst Pelham Smithers. And without competition with an American corporation, business development prospects are called into question.
Sony’s gaming division is now run by accountants, not creators, says MST Financial analyst David Gibson. Previous generations of PlayStation entered the market at a reduced price – the calculation was made that soon the cost of producing components would fall, and the company would break even and even reduce prices for consoles. PS5 has not fallen in price by a dollar even three years after its release. This does not help maintain demand for devices.
Nintendo has a different problem. Its flagship Switch console has not been updated since 2017 – now the gadget is inferior in power even to some smartphones. The company is in no hurry to release the second generation, as it remembers the unsuccessful launch of the Wii U in 2012. As a result, there is a risk that while waiting for the next version of Switch, users will stop buying both new devices and games.