Xbox Series X is everywhere suddenly, unlike PS5

When you go to my Twitter timeline right now, you see a ton of Xbox Series X from Microsoft. People talk about load times, AI-assisted HDR, performance boosts, all the good things Microsoft wants on the air before launch. The reasoning is pretty simple, and it’s not because the entire conversation changed overnight to focus exclusively on Microsoft’s console over Sony’s PS5. It’s because Microsoft has been sending people a ton of consoles and they’re talking about them. In fact, it is quite simple.

We are now in what appears to be the second round of a preview show that has seen Microsoft dispatch consoles to tons of people across the industry – influencers and journalists, who naturally turn to social media to talk about what’s up. seeing. with their shiny new toys. I didn’t get one, okay. But it’s a smart move, especially considering the fact that these two consoles will lean more on older game updates than flashy new exclusives at first. It’s a slightly more complicated argument than usual, and it’s one that manufacturers might need help making.

Sony, on the other hand, has been much more reserved. We’re watching the first hands-on videos from Japanese Youtubers now, and they’re showing a lot of the same things people are raving about Xbox Series X. But there’s a difference between flooding social media with preview units and a single, limited event, and it is primarily scale. By delivering so many consoles, Microsoft is making sure to have a prominent place on social media in these weeks before launch.

Sony had too many advantages to count the last generation: price is probably the main one of them, followed by not completely spoiling its reveal. However, one other thing didn’t hurt: At the beginning of the last generation, Sony was quite liberal with PS4 review units, and many journalists stopped playing most cross-platform games on those consoles. A similar strategy could be even more important this time due to the increase in streamers and other influencers, who have a huge influence on the purchase options of their audience.

At the end of the day, both companies are trying to sell tens of millions of units. The relative cost of shipping a few thousand in these early moments seems to me to be worth it, as long as the user interface and all those other details are ready for players to have free access to. Xbox still faces an uphill battle, but so far it’s making all the right moves.