Games Thirst – Amazing Life
Although Microsoft made a 180 turn on its Xbox One DRM policies, some analysts believe that, although it will help Microsoft somewhat, the damage is already done and PS4 will sell double the amount of units in 2014 compared to Xbox One.
That’s according to Senior research analyst at Ascendiant Capital Markets Edward Woo, who expected both PS4 and Xbox One to sell 2 million units when they launch later this year, however he believes PS4 will take a commanding lead in 2014, selling 10 million units that year as compared to Xbox One’s 5 million.
Speaking to Edge, Woo said:
I think this is a big move by Microsoft. They obviously felt that things were turning badly against them and now they don’t have a choice but to match Sony. While this levels things more, I still think Sony, with the $100 price advantage and goodwill from the Microsoft mess, still has the upper hand.
Unlike Woo, IHS Screen Digest’s senior principal analyst and head of games Piers Harding-Rolls believes that the field is now leveled when in relation to games, however Sony’s console being $100 cheaper than Xbox One is definitely a factor.
We believe price will be the biggest differentiating feature and have slightly adjusted down our Xbox One sales expectation for continental Europe at launch, based on the €100 gap in pricing.
It was clear Microsoft needed to do something to douse the flames of discontent and the U turn means early adopters can now make a straight purchase decision based on content, price and features between the Xbox One and PS4.
Woo believes that Microsoft will struggle to successful pitch Kinect as a needed addition to the Xbox One, therefore the console’s $499 price tag will be hard to justify.
I think the consoles are very similar so the $100 price difference will now be very important. Microsoft will have to explain why the $100 is worth the price. I don’t know if they will be successful, though they do seem to have a slight edge with more exclusive software right now.
Harding-Rolls added that the existing userbase will also play a role, and being impressed by Microsoft’s Xbox One exclusives at E3, he believes it will help the firm with the core demographic.
We were impressed by Xbox’s exclusives at E3. Those consumers already embedded in Xbox Live and PSN are less likely to jump ship which changes the dynamic for this gen’s launch. Beyond these aspects both platforms have differing value propositions. Xbox One’s broadcast overlay offer is skewed towards the US consumer at launch and PS4 has some interesting features using streaming technology. Neither of these features is top of list when considering purchase for the early adopter.
