How far back in history do you want to go? Back in the year 1999-2000 or so, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were worried that Sony's control of the living room could be a threat to Windows if Sony ever tried to extend their dominance in consumers electronics to computers. The original purpose of the "DirectX Box" was to establish a beachhead in the living room and extend the Windows monopoly there to do battle with Sony, thus killing 2 birds with one stone. MS never cared about gaming, they only cared about finding a reason to fight with Sony.
Of course, Sony has never been interested in doing battle with Windows or MS, and in fact Sony instead decided to become a large media conglomerate which has nothing to do with markets MS traditionally occupied. On the other hand, MS has repeatedly attempted to invade consumer electronics. They tried to attack spinning round movie discs when they fought in the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war, a war that forced Sony to enlist literally the entire consumer electronics industry in a never before seen total alliance to fight MS and Toshiba. Microsoft's other ill-fated forays into battlefields beyond their monopoly strongholds include such luminary products like Zune, Surface, and Windows Phone.
Meanwhile, the Xbox brand has become probably the most important consumer-facing brand that MS has, and since nobody likes Windows and Office they have put a lot of resources into Xbox as it's also used to help improve the company's overall consumer image. The failure of Xbox is bad for the company's brand and reputation because without Xbox, MS is just that monopolist who forces everyone on Earth to resentfully use Windows and Office.
MS has spent untold hundreds of billions of US Dollars over the past few decades invading markets they have no genuine financial interest in just because quite frankly they have too much money and nothing to do with it and monopolists like to jump at shadows thinking they are threats. Sony was never a threat to MS, don't fucking care about MS, and would like it if MS fucking just leaves them alone. Meanwhile MS acts like Sony is some existential threat. It beggars belief but that's how monopolists view the world and MS is an exemplary monopolist.
Might be the best post I've read on here in a long time. I tried to tell folks that Microsoft wasn't in this for gaming. That felt particularly true when Greenburg and the like pointed out their "
chalkboard of 3rd party exclusives Sony once had that they were crossing off" during the 360's tenure. It always felt like it wasn't about making a better product, rather sticking it to Sony. It wasn't all bad — XBL was a force to be reckoned with and certainly pushed other companies to improve their infrastructures, but otherwise, they clearly wanted to be "another PlayStation" while not putting in the work specifically for that task (literally got a layup with the 360 and totally squandered with its sequels).
Let's review history. SEGA
truly entered the market with Altered Beast and the Genesis. While a wonderful game, it wasn't the family-friendly mascot that was needed to go head-to-head with Mario. They then did what competition is supposed to do — come up with a competitor. Behold: Sonic The Hedgehog! Oh, there's Final Fight? Cool! Meet Streets of Rage! Street Fighter is the talk of the town? Got it! I raise you Virtua Fighter!
Sony? Let's capitalize on what we have, as the industry is shifting. Yes, we messed up with the PS3, but let's fix it with IPs that should get the train on the tracks again. Tomb Raider? Alright, we raise you Uncharted! Halo? No problem! Check out Killzone! Oh, we got another for that — Resistance! Mario? Sonic? Gucci! Have some Ratchet with a side of Sackboy! Then, like SEGA, they have unchallenged gems like God of War and The Last of Us — industry moving IPs that undoubtedly helped the PS3's second half and preparation for the PS4.
Microsoft and Xbox?
Snagged Bungie (and subsequently) Halo from Apple/Mac. Let's just get that out of the way. Was planned for one platform and ended up with them.....permanently. Cool, cool. They nurtured it and it became theirs. They also introduced XBL off the back of the Dreamcast's online system. In my eyes, this is Xbox's biggest contribution to gaming. Gears of War? Though not initially theirs, it was a watershed moment for Xbox and I'm glad it happened. Not only was it one of the most satisfying 3rd person action series in the industry, but it also helped put Xbox on the map and I wanted to see more of a fight like that from them.
But from there, it has been all downhill. Kinect was the start of this. They doubled down with it on the One and.......... well.......... yeah. Then, putting all of their games on PC day-and-date removed the need for an Xbox significantly. It just feels like the goal was always simply to protect the PC and strike at Sony. Should they continue with hardware, some big changes need to happen. Put up a
real damn fight! You have enough studios to get the job done. Otherwise, we may see them as only a 3rd party pub by 2030.
Snakeeyes646
Sony wouldn't have a monopoly even with Xbox gone, Nintendo is not going anywhere, and Steam exists.
