PlayStation fans have a lot to be excited about, as the PlayStation 5 has been announced and will be releasing holiday 2020. While there is still boundless speculation, as details have been scarce, holiday 2020 puts PlayStation’s latest console in direct competition with the Xbox Scarlett, Sony’s main competitor. While Sony has had a clear direction ever since the PlayStation 4 launched, Microsoft, on the other hand, hasn’t. Their first-party titles (or lack thereof) have been a disaster, aside from a handful. Kinect was laughable. While graphically stunning, there’s no real reason to own an Xbox One X. Microsoft mishandled this console generation, terribly, while Sony has been soaring. They still have three big titles coming out before the PlayStation 5 launches: Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us: Part II, and Death Stranding. What does Microsoft have in the meantime? Seemingly nothing.
While the Xbox Scarlett may be launching with Halo Infinite, the company will be coming off of a year-long drought. At this point, we still don’t know what features the console will have, though at this point this is irrelevant. The PlayStation 4 has destroyed the Xbox One this generation and the Nintendo Switch isn’t far behind. While Halo is a system seller, in order to compete, Microsoft needs more than their revolutionary first-person shooter franchise if they’re going to compete. Sony could release the PlayStation 5 with ports of The Last of Us: Part II, Death Stranding, and Ghosts of Tsushima and it would still destroy the Xbox Scarlett, despite Halo. Microsoft needs more. We’re at a point in the console war where specs aren’t nearly as important as software. While Microsoft bought out a bunch of different studios, they still don’t appear to be ready for the next generation. And that’s worrisome, not only to gamers but to the industry as a whole. A weak Microsoft is a weaker industry.
Microsoft needs more than just Halo. They need their Horizon Zero Dawn, which was a once under the radar game. Microsoft has all the tools in order to succeed and compete, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve been able to put all of the pieces together. They’ve even said, on the record, that they don’t think it matters how many consoles they sell. Wow. If the Switch launched when the other two consoles did, it may be a close second to the PlayStation 4. The Xbox One is a distant third at this point. It’s great for third-party titles, but that’s about it. No doubt they’re not going to reveal their entire launch lineup a year early – that would be idiotic – but given the position they are in, they need to hint at something to build hype for the Scarlet, or it won’t have the capacity to compete. Simple as that. Their E3 reveal was boring and all they did was go over specs. No one cares. If the Nintendo Switch has proved anything, it’s that people care about games.
Microsoft has acquired some incredible studios under their banner, but it won’t be enough. The brand is not as strong as it was in the 360 era. The PlayStation 5 has a better brand, will have better games and will decimate the Xbox Scarlett. The Nintendo Switch is its own thing, but gamers, for the most part, will own a PS5 and a Nintendo Switch. Period. The Xbox One is a great console, but the lack of first-party titles has destroyed the Microsoft console brand. This console generation isn’t about specs, it’s about games. The specs have come almost as far as they’re going to, or rather, to the point where people won’t care any further. The human eye can only detect so much. People want games. Sony delivers. Microsoft, outside of Halo, Gears, and a few other games, doesn’t. If you’re going for third-party, the Xbox Scarlett may be a better choice, but in the long run the PlayStation 5 is a better bet. It will have the games, the infrastructure, and the brand recognition that at this current point in time, Microsoft doesn’t have with the Xbox.
No one wants Microsoft’s next console to succeed more than I do, but the PlayStation 5 will decimate the Xbox Scarlett if they don’t get things together. They simply don’t have the infrastructure to compete at this juncture with the juggernaut that is Sony.