The week that commenced February 12th 2024 looks like being one that either tells us that gaming is in fine health, or that gaming is actually heading toward a worrying decline.
Xbox - Will Rumours be Put to Bed?
Thursday 15th February 2024 sees Xbox supremos Phil Spencer, Matt Booty and Sarah Bond look to set out their future vision for Xbox. The rumours have ranged from the relatively sane - a few games such as Hi Fi Rush being relased on other formats - to the totally deluded, such as Xbox exiting the console market from tomorrow.
The concern amongst the Xbox fans is understandable. If too many exclusives go multi platform, the reason to own an Xbox will diminish further. Even the most optimistic Xbox players, such as myself, can't overlook that console sales are not good.
Putting games into other systems does make sense to a point. It makes Microsoft's gaming arm even more profitable and at the end of the day, whether we like or not, money talks.
Let's hope that the rumours are put to bed and everyone can move on. What is certain, is that Microsoft's profits will only get bigger through gaming. Whether that involves hardware for much longer remains to be seen.
PlayStation 5 Sales Grow But Slow
As Push Square revealed on February 14th, 8.2 million PlayStation 5 consoles were sold during the three month period to December 31st. Sony were aiming for 25 million in the current financial year but have now dropped that to 21 million as sales have slowed.
The sales are still very healthy though and though they have slowed , PlayStation is still selling like hot cakes.
We are likely to see a new Nintendo Switch announced in 2024 and that system continues to sell well, with, Nintendo returning healthy profits, despite the hybrid wonder entering its twilight years.
Yet all is not as it may seem over at Sony on the outside.
Tight Margins Leave Little Room for Manouver
When it comes to profits and financials, it's very easy to see the big numbers and not take time to see the detail.
And when it comes to Sony's latest results for PlayStation, there is an issue and that is that the margins they are dealing with. There is little wiggle room with such tight margins and it suggests that to make PlayStation a success, Sony have been cutting it fine in terms of what they pay out versus what they get in.
It's a dangerous game to be playing. Ask any current football team owners and they will testify to that.
Whilst PlayStation is hardly under threat from Xbox sales, one wrong move from Sony and they could be very quickly in the red. And then we are looking at a different picture altogether.
Gaming Must Be Careful - It Stands On a Precipice of Glory or Glorious Failure
Gaming has been through an incredible journey over the years and we have been spoiled with incredible consoles, amazing games and fabulous creativity. We have seen SEGA leave the console market and focus solely on software. I miss a SEGA console! Xbox came along and with PlayStation and Nintendo, we have been left with a 3 console market.
Nintendo has obliterated the handheld market and the Nintendo Switch has made gaming on the go even more fun than we could have imagined. Yet Nintendo plough their own furrow. There is no talk of Nintendo games going multi platform. Hell will freeze over many times before we see that scenario.
But Xbox and PlayStation seem to be all over the place. PlayStation are talking about cutting margins by looking at multi platform games. Xbox are aiming for cloud gaming domination and having their games playable anywhere and everywhere.
Is hardware coming to its end? Is gaming heading into a decline that can't be stopped or will the current issues just be brief moments of turmoil?
Do you feel that gaming is in great health or edging toward disaster? Leave a comment and don't forget to subscribe!