<story><title>Has Xbox lost the console wars?</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/24/23772314/ftc-microsoft-day-two-hearing-summary-xbox-console-wars-sony-playstation-call-of-duty</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>a13o</author><text>The console war argument is around such an outdated definition of the gaming industry. Self-identifying gamers have had their head in the sand for over a decade now.&lt;p&gt;Since 2010 mobile gaming has eclipsed revenue of both console and PC gaming _combined_.&lt;p&gt;Also since 2010, console revenue has stagnated while PC revenue has continued to grow.&lt;p&gt;This is the landscape to evaluate the different gaming brands. Xboxes are nothing more than a user-friendly gaming PC brand. The total addressable market for Microsoft is much larger than what Sony could hope for. Sony is in the worst bind long-term, trapped in consoles without any leg up in PC or mobile. They invested in VR instead which never became a strong category. In terms of revenue, VR is barely competing with Arcades.&lt;p&gt;If you had to stack rank gaming devices, iOS would be winning the console wars, followed by Android. In a distant third would be PlayStation, and then Microsoft and Nintendo neck in neck.&lt;p&gt;If you look at it by company, Tencent would be at the top, then Sony, then Microsoft and Nintendo.&lt;p&gt;Microsoft is definitely in -- at best -- third place no matter how you count it. The FTC trying to restrict the conversation to an era of console war that expired over 13 years ago shows they have no business trying to regulate this space.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jdietrich</author><text>The revenues in mobile gaming overwhelmingly come from predatory in-app item sales. They aren&amp;#x27;t in the business of selling games to people who like playing games, they&amp;#x27;re in the business of psychologically exploiting people who are vulnerable to compulsive behaviours. The industry isn&amp;#x27;t shy about this - they openly brag about their pursuit of &amp;quot;whales&amp;quot; and their use of psychological manipulation. Frankly, everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.blog.udonis.co&amp;#x2F;mobile-marketing&amp;#x2F;mobile-games&amp;#x2F;mobile-games-whales&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.blog.udonis.co&amp;#x2F;mobile-marketing&amp;#x2F;mobile-games&amp;#x2F;mob...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Has Xbox lost the console wars?</title><url>https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/24/23772314/ftc-microsoft-day-two-hearing-summary-xbox-console-wars-sony-playstation-call-of-duty</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>a13o</author><text>The console war argument is around such an outdated definition of the gaming industry. Self-identifying gamers have had their head in the sand for over a decade now.&lt;p&gt;Since 2010 mobile gaming has eclipsed revenue of both console and PC gaming _combined_.&lt;p&gt;Also since 2010, console revenue has stagnated while PC revenue has continued to grow.&lt;p&gt;This is the landscape to evaluate the different gaming brands. Xboxes are nothing more than a user-friendly gaming PC brand. The total addressable market for Microsoft is much larger than what Sony could hope for. Sony is in the worst bind long-term, trapped in consoles without any leg up in PC or mobile. They invested in VR instead which never became a strong category. In terms of revenue, VR is barely competing with Arcades.&lt;p&gt;If you had to stack rank gaming devices, iOS would be winning the console wars, followed by Android. In a distant third would be PlayStation, and then Microsoft and Nintendo neck in neck.&lt;p&gt;If you look at it by company, Tencent would be at the top, then Sony, then Microsoft and Nintendo.&lt;p&gt;Microsoft is definitely in -- at best -- third place no matter how you count it. The FTC trying to restrict the conversation to an era of console war that expired over 13 years ago shows they have no business trying to regulate this space.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>joenot443</author><text>I think it’s important to note the revenue coming from mobile gamers (generally) isn’t the same revenue that Sony&amp;#x2F;MS are after here. Very different customer segments with very different demographics. You’re right though, it seems that the mobile sector is growing and the console one has stagnated.&lt;p&gt;I imagine contingent of people who spend big bucks on mobile games _probably_ wouldn’t be spending that money on AAA PS5 games otherwise.</text></comment>