Playstation 5: worldwide launch of Sony’s console, the PS5 – Video games – Technology

The battle between Sony and Microsoft entered its decisive phase this Thursday with the launch by the Japanese company of its new PlayStation 5 console, two days after its American rival put the Xbox Series on sale.

Unlike Microsoft, which opted for a single global launch, Sony puts the console on sale in two stages: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Canada and Mexico starting this Thursday. The rest of the world, and in particular Europe, will have to wait until November 19.

Due to the pandemic, purchases will be made online. Sony has warned that no consoles will be sold in stores on launch days. At a store in Sydney, Australia, only a handful of customers who managed to book early online came to pick up the console on Thursday morning, an AFP journalist found.

(It may interest you: From Xbox One to Xbox Series X; a marked change for resolution and FPS)

“With the covid, I imagine that people did not want to crowd in the stores,” commented Theo Pasialis, who went to get his PlayStation 5. “Plus there weren’t enough for everyone. ”

Demand is announced high for the more homelike lifestyle imposed by the pandemic. Copies available for pre-order sold out in record time And analysts predict that it will be very difficult to get a new console before 2021.

Like its rival, the PlayStation 5 will be available in two versions: a ‘premium’, which Sony sells for $ 499, the same price as the Xbox Series X, and a Just as powerful ‘digital edition’ but no disc drive, at $ 399, 100 more than the Xbox Series S.

(Also read: Fall Guys, the video game that dethroned League of Legends)

These digital versions, which only allow you to play downloaded games, are a gold mine for the two manufacturers because they allow them to compensate for the weakness of their margins in console sales. So they can control game prices, eliminating manufacturing and distribution costs, while preventing resale in the second-hand market.

Repeat the success of the PS4

The consoles of the two giants have globally equivalent characteristics. Sony counts to differentiate itself with highly anticipated games like ‘Spider-man: Miles Morales’, ‘Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’ or ‘Horizon: Forbidden West’, some of which are not expected for several months. These games are developed by studios bought by Sony, a way for the manufacturer to ensure the development of exclusive titles for its console and to guarantee its profits in sales.

(Plus: Xbox Series X – How’s it going? Is it worth it?)

The Japanese company has 14 studios. Sony, whose video games represent about a third of sales, hopes to reap its ninth generation of consoles with this generation of consoles, the same success as with the PlayStation 4, launched in 2013 and of which it sold twice as many copies. than the Xbox One.

The Japanese company prevailed with the PS4, says Serkan Toto, an analyst at Kantan Games in Tokyo. “You will want to focus on the western market to make sure you maintain the gap “with Microsofthe told AFP.

(Read also: Video games in the cloud: the future of the industry)

In recent years Sony has, in fact, left the Japanese archipelago, where the market for console games, which has shrunk considerably, is dominated by Nintendo. Sony only sold 8% of its PS4s there. It focused its strategy on the US market, the only territory where its competitor Microsoft is not lagging behind.

In 2016 it moved the PlayStation operations from Tokyo to California and unified its decision-making and production process, led by its American teams. According to most analysts, Sony will again surpass its American rival in the number of consoles sold. However, in the long term, Microsoft could be on its heels thanks to its strategy focused on subscription video games and transmission.