A recent interview from Venture Beat starring former PlayStation America CEO and President, Jack Tretton, gave us a bit of insight on his theories for next gen competition. While the two studios have recently joined forces to expand their cloud gaming ventures, there’s still expected to be plenty of heated competition in the home console video game industry.
Tretton points out in the interview that Sony has been incredibly successful this generation with their PlayStation 4 (now nearing 100 million units in sales), and he fully expects that success to carry over towards the next gen. However, given the rise in tech and shift in the industry towards cloud and mobile gaming, Tretton expects far more competition from a variety of companies, most notably Microsoft.
“Their business model obviously worked well for them the last time around, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to deviate from that. They’ll be well-positioned. But I do think they’ll face exponentially more competition than they did the last time around.” – Jack Tretton discusses Sony’s next gen competition
However, Tretton also points out that the Xbox brand shouldn’t be Sony’s only concern as far as business competition goes. Nintendo has charmed the industry with their hybrid Switch console and Google is looking to take names with their deep dive into cloud gaming as their streaming platform, Stadia, releases later this year.
“Microsoft should give them a better run for their money, and Stadia is a new wrinkle in the market that didn’t exist in 2013. Nintendo is more relevant this time around. It’s going to be a much more competitive market. There are new players. But they’ve learned some valuable lessons in this generation. It should be great for everyone in the business, whether you’re a developer or a gamer. It’s going to keep everyone on their toes.” – Jack Tretton
With Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all poised to have stellar endeavors into the next generation, things should be much more competitive. Each company now sits with at least three full console generations under their belt, and they’ve all likely learned from previous mistakes that may have bogged down sales performance in the past. Nintendo is killing it with the Switch, Microsoft has a impressive tech on the rise and a plethora of new first party studios creating exclusive titles that will more than likely compete on a larger level with Sony.
And with cloud gaming making strides in the industry leaving the door open for more competitors to try their hand, such as Google and Apple, now doesn’t seem like the time for Sony to take any unnecessary risks and continue doing what’s been working for them. For the time being, at least.
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Source: Venture Beat
