It has been almost four months since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in the United States, forcing Americans to stay home and businesses to shutter. It has been a volatile few months, I must add. Protests, organized by conservative groups, broke out across several states on the social and economic impact of government imposed lockdown in effort to slow the spread of Covid-19, preventing the collapse of United States’ brittle for-profit healthcare system. Seemingly just as these protests quiet down, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by the hands of law enforcements reignited centuries of anger about the gross mistreatment of black and brown bodies in the United States. Since then, fireworks have flooded the skies of black and brown neighborhoods across the nation, while law enforcers drive by and watch.
It is truly a terrifying world we currently are living in. As human beings, there is only so much fighting, learning, teaching, that we can endure and carry out during a given time span, that is until we ultimately exhaust ourselves. This is true then, and especially true now. Given that, gamers still had to endure a few delays from video game publishers with the purpose of reserving space for voices that are in desperate need of being heard. After due time, however, we were given the escape that many of us were actively seeking.
The wait is no more!! Another generational console war between two fiercest rivals in recent time are officially on the way, with PlayStation finally revealing their launch titles a few weeks back.
Having completely demolished the Xbox One during the 8th console generation by over 60 million units sold, Sony is poise to maintain their superiority with its astonishing lineup of launch titles from PlayStation Studios, as we usher in the 9th generation. Before diving deeper of both consoles’ launch titles, it is worth looking at these companies’ business model in relation to their launches.
Sony stated in June that all revealed titles during the presentation will be made exclusive to the PS5, driving demand for the console off the roof. It has been well reported, however, that due to Covid-19’s impact on global supply chains, gamers may not only be facing a sky-high price tag imposed by Sony, but also a lack of availability of consoles at launch as well.
Microsoft, going the more traditional route, decided that upcoming releases, within the first year or so, will be playable both on the new Xbox Series X and the old Xbox One, similar to the transition from the 360 to Xbox One. Why Microsoft decided to go this route remain to be seen, as this will surely dampen demands for the new console. Given rumors related to the PS5, however, this could be a strategic move on part of Microsoft to maintain a low production cost during this time of economic uncertainty until fairer market conditions appear. Ultimately, since both Sony and Xbox drives a majority of their profit via the games themselves, and not the consoles, it remains to be seen whether this move will help or hurt Microsoft in the upcoming generation. Having lost the most recent war and a lackluster portfolio of individually-owned studios in comparison to Playstation, Microsoft will have to rely heavily on its one definitive competitive advantage, that is backward compatibility, if it hopes to come out on top this time. It is yet clear whether Sony will accomplish their promise of bringing the top 100 playstation games to PS5 given their poor track record in this arena.
It is without a doubt, however, that Sony blew Microsoft out of the water when it came to launch titles this generation. Bringing back beloved classic characters such as Sackboy, Rachet and Clank to introducing Miles Morales, and later announced Crash Banditcoot. My heart plunged from the excitement of the return of PlayStation’s mascots. My eyes pleased at the incredible processing speed and visually stunning results of Sony’s collection of individual developers, further illustrating the company’s reputation for quality products. It was truly a jaw dropping presentation.
Xbox Series X presentation lags behind in this regard, having only standout, Halo Infinite as the main launch title driver of the console’s sales. To make matter worse for Microsoft, games presented in the Xbox Series X presentation such as Assassin Creed’s Valhalla, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Madden NFL 21, NBA 2k21, Rainbow Six Siege, Destiny 2, and Dirt 5 all noticed later that they will be available on the PS5 as well.
After reviewing the impact of both presentations with regards to individual launch titles and their impact on the video game community, it is undeniable that PlayStation has vaulted ahead of Microsoft in the first few minutes in this brand new generational race with the iconic return of their established mascots. That is not to say Xbox will lose the race. Master Chief is an icon, in and of himself and did single handedly beat down the PS3 for a generation after all.
First Time Game Reviewer 