Tokyo (AFP)
The battle between Sony and Microsoft entered its decisive phase Thursday with the launch by the Japanese of its new PlayStation 5 console, two days after the release of the Xbox Series of its American rival.
Unlike Microsoft, which had bet on a single global launch, Sony will put its console on sale in two stages: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Canada and Mexico being served from this Thursday, when the rest of the world, and in particular Europe, will have to wait until November 19.
Pandemic requires, purchases were made online, Sony having warned that no console would be sold in stores on launch days.
In a store in Sydney (Australia), only a handful of customers who managed to pre-book online came to pick up their purchase on Thursday morning, AFP noted on the spot.
"With the Covid, I imagine that people did not want to congregate in the stores", remarked Theo Pasialis, who came to get his PlayStation 5. "In addition there was not enough stock for everyone".
Demand, boosted by more home-based lifestyles with the health crisis, promises to be strong, and the copies available for pre-order have been sold out in record time.
Analysts believe that it will be very difficult to get a new console before 2021.
Like its American competitor, the PlayStation 5 will be available in two versions: a "premium" which Sony has priced at the Xbox Series X, at 499 dollars, and a "digital edition" as powerful but devoid of a disc drive, at $ 399, 100 more than the Xbox Series S.
These digital versions, which only allow you to play downloaded games, are a gold mine for the two manufacturers to compensate for the weakness of their margins on console sales.
They can thus control the prices of games, eliminating the costs of manufacturing and distributing discs while preventing re-sales in the second-hand market.
- Repeat the exploit of the PS4 -
The machines of the two giants having globally equivalent performance, the Japanese will count above all to stand out on highly anticipated games like "Spider-man: Miles Morales", "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart" or "Horizon: Forbidden West", including however, some are not expected for several months.
These games are developed by studios acquired by Sony, a way for the manufacturer to ensure the development of exclusive titles for its console and to guarantee its profits on sales.
The Japanese thus has 14 studios at present.
Sony, whose video games represent about a third of sales, will try to repeat with this generation of consoles, the ninth in the history of video games, its performance of the PlayStation 4, released in 2013, which was twice as good. sold as the Xbox One in the world.
"With the PS4, Sony has absolutely killed the game", summarizes Serkan Toto, analyst for the firm Kantan Games in Tokyo.
"He will want to put the package on the Western market to make sure to maintain this gap" with Microsoft, he told AFP.
In recent years, Sony has in fact abandoned the Japanese archipelago, where the console game market, considerably shrunk in recent years, is dominated by Nintendo.
Sony only sold 8% of its PS4s there.
Refocusing its strategy on the American market, the only territory where its competitor Microsoft is not completely left behind, in 2016 it moved the operations of the PlayStation from Tokyo to California, and unified its decision-making and production process, under the leadership of its American teams.
According to most analysts, Sony should still overtake its American competitor in the number of consoles sold.
However, in the long term, Microsoft could catch up on its great rival thanks to its strategy more focused on subscription and streaming gaming.
mac-burx / etb / ybl
© 2020 AFP