Don’t Count Out the Xbox
After an extremely long summer game of chicken between Microsoft and Sony, just less than 2 months away from launch, we finally get details on said launch for 2020’s next gen consoles. Not only that, but NVIDIA decided to get in on the action in the form of new GPUs, albeit more on the heavy enthusiast side, but makes things interesting nonetheless. However, outside of the internet clash of console warring from fans, here at The DMGT, we don’t think it’s a matter of which is “winning” or “better”, but who’s buying and the market competition that is ultimately best for consumers.
Obviously, based on the title of this post, I’m making a case for why the Xbox won’t fall behind in the NA market share when it comes to home consoles the way the XB1 did against the PS4. For the purposes of this conversation, it’s important to note that we’ll exclusively be talking about the US/NA market, as quite frankly, the Xbox market share and brand strength is negligible to the rest of the world. All that being said, here’s why I believe the next gen Xbox can’t exactly be counted out.
First, let’s talk about who video game consoles are for. As a PC gamer myself, the argument needs to stop as far as feeling superior to the console gamer. The truth of the matter is, when it comes to EASE of use and VALUE, home consoles are hard to beat compared to DIY gaming PCs. I’m not saying it’s not worth the time and effort to build a PC, but for most people, they just want something to plug in out of the box, set it and forget it, play my games. As much as one can argue about one time setup of gaming PCs and how you can comparatively build systems with used parts or future upgradability, that’s an effort the average gamer simply does not want to bother with. At the end of the day, when it comes to raw dollar for dollar, consoles simply hold the edge. NVIDIA (and likely AMD in the next month) has made things very interesting with incredible pricing in the new RTX 3000 series cards, but when you consider the cost of a GPU that will perform on par with the new consoles including the other parts one would need to purchase, the price is simply too high, not to mention the hassle (again, to the average household) of setting up and maintaining. It’s possible that the new GPUs and how older model price drops, PC gamer numbers increase, but it’s simply too difficult to convince a consumer to become an enthusiast when price is the major driving force.
And that’s exactly why I can’t count out the Xbox, in the form of the Series S. For the price of a Nintendo Switch (which, by the way, is outpacing both the Xbox and PS4 as seen in the link above), you get near next gen performance in the form of high FPS and ray tracing. Now, there are legitimate concerns as to the longevity of the Series S, but at $299, that hasn’t stopped the Switch, despite very clear performance differences compared to PS4/XB1 third party games. And that’s exactly it, ultimately, third party non exclusive titles make up the vast majority of game sales each generation, so while I personally would rather play God of War over Gears of War, the fact of the matter is the majority of the market is playing Call of Duty, FIFA, NBA 2K, Madden, Fortnite, Minecraft, and GTA. And that’s just on the AAA front, the vast majority of indie titles are also multi-platform. So it comes down to price to play, as well as the system your friends are on.
Are there real concerns about the Series S potentially holding back next gen for the Xbox? What about households moving to 4K televisions? Yes, these are valid questions, but especially now where price is important, that $100 savings over the PS5 digital edition to spend on a game and accessory for someone’s holiday gift, at least for the year or so that is a launch period, the Xbox brand can’t be counted out. After that it’ll be on Microsoft to capitalize and deliver high quality games.
