As our title indicates, video game consoles keep rocking. It may be hard to believe, but video game consoles have been around for nearly 50 years. You may not even be familiar with the first home model. According to History.com, in 1972,
Ralph Baer, sometimes referred to as the Father of Video Games, licensed his device to Magnavox. Which sold the system to consumers as the Odyssey, the first video game home console. Over the next few years, the primitive Odyssey console would commercially fizzle and die out.
Since then, game consoles have certainly come a long way. In fact, the Microsoft Xbox currently ranks 65th among the world’s most valuable brands.
Below, we cover two aspects of gaming. First, the all-time popularity of various video game consoles. Second, the new offerings by the game console giants.
All-Time Popularity: Video Game Consoles Keep Rocking
Statista’s Felix Richter reports that:
“As the next generation of video game consoles looms on the horizon, the best-selling console of all time celebrated its 20th birthday this year. On March 4, 2000, Sony released the PlayStation 2 in Japan, before bringing it to eagerly waiting gamers around the world in the fall of the same year. Upon its arrival, the PS2 was an instant hit. And it remained popular for a very long time. Although its successor, surprisingly named PlayStation 3, arrived in 2006, the PlayStation 2 remained in production until 2013 as an affordable entry-level system.”
“According to official figures from Sony, the company sold more than 155 million PS2 units since its launch. That makes it the most successful video game console for the living room by a wide margin. As the following chart shows, Sony has dominated the gaming landscape, claiming four of the top five spots in the gaming hall of fame.”
New Offerings by the Game Console Giants
For the forthcoming 2020 holiday shopping season, the leaders are ramping their game console introductions.
The following observations are from Statista’s Niall McCarthy:
“Sony announced pricing details for its new Playstation 5 console at the end of its September PS5 livestream. The console will be released in North America in November. And it will come in two versions — one with a disc drive costing $499 and a digital edition priced at $399. Those prices were generally in line with predictions made by industry observers though some had expected Sony to undercut Microsoft in a similar fashion to the Playstation 4’s faceoff with the Xbox One in 2013. However, this time the PS5 with a disc drive and the Xbox Series X will have exactly the same price.”
Microsoft has an ace up its sleeve as the Xbox Series S is still the cheapest next generation console on the horizon. Together with the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, it would prove an attractive option for gamers seeking affordable access to the next generation of technology. The affordability does come at a cost. Thus, the Series S comes with weaker components than its beefier and more expensive iteration. In addition, games will play at a lower resolution. Despite the price advantage of the lower specification Xbox, Sony probably feels confident ahead of the holiday season battle due to a library of exclusive titles including Final Fantasy XVI, Gran Turismo 7, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.”
