PlayStation's future looks bleak if Sony doesn't change its game plan

OPINION: PlayStation has been the undisputed king of games console in recent years, as long as nosotros're counting success solely by hardware sales.

Website VGChartz claims the PS4 has sold 115,787,816 units worldwide as of Baronial 2021, while the Xbox One failed to fifty-fifty ship half of that tally, with a figure of l,189,746.

The aforementioned website claims the PS5 has the edge over the Xbox Series X / Series S consoles in terms of sales too, with the former shipping 15,276,712 worldwide and then far, and the latter reaching 9,838,177. Of course, the ongoing GPU shortage volition no doubt murky the water for these figures, simply information technology's still articulate to encounter that the PlayStation make is as strong every bit always.

Success has been largely credited to PlayStation'south popularity in Japan, too as the stiff line-up of exclusives in the last decade or and then, with the likes of The Terminal of Us, God of War and Marvel's Spider-Human seeing universal praise.

But questions are starting to emerge whether PlayStation can continue this successful record going, especially with Microsoft starting to flex its financial musculus. By acquiring both ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard (reportedly costing $7.five billion and $seventy billion respectively) Microsoft has immediately addressed the Xbox make's almost glaring flaw: the lack of exclusives.

Just a couple of years ago, the only major Xbox IPs included Halo, Gears, Forza, Minecraft and Fable. At present, depending on whether the Activision Blizzard conquering is completed, Xbox Game Studios will be able to add the likes of Phone call of Duty, World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Crash Bandicoot, Diablo, Overwatch and plenty more to its roster – it's been able to turn its greatest flaw into its biggest force in just a couple of years.

That's not to say PlayStation'due south ain portfolio isn't stiff. The likes of Naughty Canis familiaris and Insomniac boast an astonishingly good record in recent years, while Santa Monica Studio and Guerrilla Games have also seen major success stories. Only as impressive every bit these studios have been in contempo years, information technology would be unfair to wait them to compete with the wealth of franchises that Microsoft could soon own.

The Call of Duty serial solitary is an absolute juggernaut. Co-ordinate to VentureBeat, Call of Duty: Vanguard was the highest selling game of 2021 on PlayStation consoles in the United States. Even more surprisingly, Telephone call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold State of war took up the third spot despite launching the year earlier. It's as well worth pointing out that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) managed to squeeze into the rankings with a modest 16th place in the sales.

How did Sony's exclusives fare in comparison? Marvel's Spider-Human being: Miles Morales impressed by securing the 4th spot, but the likes of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Autonomously and Ghost of Tsushima were but able to secure the 11th and 8th positions respectively. PlayStation'southward first-party games are certainly popular, just nowhere to the same extent as Call of Duty.

There'due south no question about it, Call of Duty would exist a massive loss for PlayStation if Microsoft did decide to make the franchise an Xbox exclusive. Bloomberg has fifty-fifty suggested that PlayStation took a $20 billion hit to its value following the news of Microsoft'south Activision Blizzard acquisition.

PlayStation's console sales may nevertheless be very salubrious right at present, but I'm sure there volition be a big swing in Microsoft'southward favour one time the likes of The Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, Doom, Overwatch and more start turning upwards on Xbox consoles every bit exclusives. PlayStation'due south fourth dimension at the top could well be coming to an cease.

The next move for PlayStation?

So what can PlayStation exercise in response? I've seen many people suggest that Sony should striking back with its own acquisitions, just it simply doesn't have the same financial strength as Microsoft to brand an conquering on the same calibration as Activision Blizzard.

I could personally see Sony acquiring a studio such as FromSoftware, peculiarly given they've previously worked together for games such as Demon'south Souls and Bloodborne, but the Souls series is still relatively niche when compared to the likes of Phone call of Duty.

There'due south besides talk that Sony could presently improve PS Now in order for it to compete with Xbox Game Pass, but I reckon it'south too little, as well tardily. Sony invests so much coin into its first-party games that I really incertitude it will make the likes of Horizon Forbidden West and God of State of war Ragnarok available through the service on the starting time day of launch, sacrificing all of those sales in favour of more subscribers.

Plus, I don't see why many people would ever subscribe to PS Now over Game Pass when the latter now boasts and so many high-profile franchises. Sony tin no longer rely on having a greater output of first-political party games than Microsoft, and so it needs to look for a new forcefulness.

Rather ironically, Sony is probably all-time looking at Nintendo for inspiration – the same visitor that had to bargain with similar circumstances when PlayStation muscled its way onto the games console industry back in 1994.

Nintendo hasn't been able to compete financially with PlayStation and Xbox in the last two decades, which has meant its hardware has often lagged behind in terms of specs. And all the same, Nintendo has still been able to remain competitive past edifice upon their near popular game franchises (such as Mario, Zelda and Pokémon), while also thinking outside the box past launching innovative hardware such as the Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Switch.

For all of the fiscal might of Microsoft, the Xbox 360 is its only gaming panel that has been able to scissure the tiptop x list of the best best selling consoles (according to IGN). In comparison, Nintendo has four video game consoles that brand the top ten, which is an incredible achievement. More money doesn't necessarily make y'all a stronger brand.

So right at present, yes, PlayStation's future looks pretty bleak if it continues with the aforementioned strategy to accept on Xbox. Merely it's far from over for Sony, as it can all the same utilise innovation to brand up for Microsoft's financial reward. The DualSense controller is a great example of innovative design, while the upcoming PSVR 2 headset also looks to accept a lot of promise. Sony needs to continue in this vein if information technology hopes to stay relevant in the gaming sphere for the long-term future, otherwise it could terminate upwards following the aforementioned path as Sega instead of Nintendo.

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