The release of the new Playstation 4 (PS4) this Friday adds another chapter to the war between video game consoles. After the release of the Wii U by Nintendo this year, and now Sony’s PS4, the last console to make up the eighth generation of consoles is the Xbox One by Microsoft, scheduled to be released on November 22, 2013 (1). Sony reported sales of 1 million PS4 consoles in its first day of sale humbling Nintendo’s 3.91 million units sold as of 30 September 2013 (1) (2). The new Xbox One is also predicted to do well in the gaming market, being surpassed only by Sony and leaving the Wii behind in terms of market shares. This is a big change from last year’s demographics where Wii dominated the market.
Despite the new Playstation being cheaper than the Xbox One by $100 US dollars, the lack of compatibility with past Playstation 3 games and devices (a weakness also shared by the new Xbox One) and the inception of online gaming fees have set gamers weary of Sony’s console (3). System issues with faulty HDMI ports and mere 26 games in the market for the PS4 also deteriorate Sony’s appeal (4). It seems like the new Xbox could compete and even surpass Sony’s sales to revive this more than 20-year-old dispute between the 3 gaming powerhouses.
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U
(3) http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-9020_7-57612317-222/ps4-everything-you-need-to-know/
(4) http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2013/11/14/some-ps4s-shipping-with-faulty-hdmi-ports/