The PS4 has all sorts of marketing deals in place for most major multiplatform games (Destiny 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Red Dead Redemption 2), which also come with the PS4 either getting exclusive content for these games, or getting content for these games before the Xbox does. And this has worked towards helping the PS4 maintain its dominance over the Xbox One, right? Especially given the importance of multiplatform games in the present day market?
“Well, it’s a good marketing gimmick,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said in an interview with GamingBolt. “I think it’s kind of like, let’s say the first DLC pack for Call of Duty comes out 30 days early for PS4, well, if you don’t have a PS4, if you have an Xbox, and your friends have Xbox, it doesn’t matter. Because you’re not playing with PS4 people. So you’re all getting it the same day, even if it is 30 days later.
“So I don’t actually think it makes a difference at all, except for people who don’t have a console yet. And yes, there are a lot of people who don’t have a console yet, and they will be influenced by their friends, and so that 2:1 PS4 advantage means that twice as many people will tell their friends to get PS4 as Xbox One. So, I mean, it helps, but I think that ratio is key here.”
According to Pachter, timed exclusive games actually matter more than timed exclusive content for games. One example he cites, which might actually end up making a difference for the console it is on, is hit indie sensation PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which was announced for Xbox One X at E3 earlier this year.
“The one exclusive we have forgotten about, which is also timed, clearly, is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and that will be a big deal,” Pachter said. “I don’t know what it will cost, I think it will be $30 or $40, but I think that will outsell most of those Japanese games on PS4, and that’s Xbox exclusive for a while- probably through the Holiday, and then it gets announced for PS4 next year, but that game will help sell systems. That game is incredible, and I can’t wait for it to hit consoles.”
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will definitely make a difference for Xbox (although how much of a difference it makes remains to be seen; however, it can hardly be denied that the game has essentially gone viral much like DayZ and Minecraft did back in the day). It launches on the Xbox One and Xbox One X later this year.
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