The eagerly-awaited PlayStation 5 from Sony will open its holiday season with a competing Xbox Series X console as the gaming industry flourishes during the pandemic in November.
The competing consoles, both aimed at capitalizing on a rare light spot in the economic carnage caused by the corona viral crisis, will be launched within two days each other before the Christmas Rush.
A $400 “Digital Edition” has been planned to allow the increasing popularity of downloading games from the cloud as well as $500 premium version of PS5, with no discs.
Both go on sale from November 12 in Australia, North America, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan and South Korea, becoming available elsewhere a week later, the Japanese firm said Wednesday.
Microsoft has come up with its next-gen Xbox Series X, last week and will launch on November 10.
The initial price is roughly the same as that of their rival PS5, while the Xbox S-S console, which is down-size, will also be on sale for $299 later that month.
Sony is hoping for new games like “Final Fantasy XVI,” “Hogwarts Legacy” and “Spider-Man Morales” to help hold him in the lead, and the PS4 has more than two to one outsourced the Xbox One.
Amir Anvarzadeh, a strategist at Asymmetric Advisors in Singapore, said some of the latest games would be exclusive to PS5, giving Sony a clear lead in the fight.
“The PlayStation would have a great advantage, as always, because Xbox is still far behind in Europe, as it dominates the PlayStation,” said AFP.
But you need hardware for selling PS5 games which has a “Huge demand”
Sony boosted the capabilities of this device with the unveiling of its new console — a dark tower enclosed by white sides.
“Without waiting for the incredible tempo, higher immersion and the exciting games our fans experience for themselves,” said Jim Ryan, Chief of Interactive Entertainment.
Gaming firms have seen rising sales and an increase in demand as people are trying to occupy themselves during virus shutdowns.
In the NPD Community, video-gaming market spending in the United States amounted to almost a third over the same timeframe last year, hitting a total of $11.6 billion in the April-June quarter.
In the first fiscal quarter 2020-21, Sony revenues in its video gaming business rose 32.5%.
And, in July, Microsoft said revenues rose 13 per cent to $38 billion, which resulted in major increases in cloud storage and gaming services.
But the recent peaks, like the flattering success of Nintendo with the ‘Animal Crossing,’ we’re not going to last.
Coming year at least from development, side all these platform holders and developers will have to face challenging scenarios.
Sony’s stocks dropped 0.95% to 8132 yen, with investors disappointed by the decline in US tech equity on Thursday.
