When Sony announced the pricing and release date for the PlayStation 5 earlier this week, the console wars officially kicked off.
There’s a lot of enthusiasm and excitement in the air right now for both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X and Series S.
Sony announced that it would be matching Xbox’s previously announced price on the Series X, at $499 when the PlayStation 5 releases on November 12. However, the digital edition of the PlayStation 5 will still be $100 more than the Xbox Series S. The digital Sony console will retail for $399, while the Series S will be $299.
Microsoft is beating Sony to the table in terms of release, but only by two days. The Series X and Series S will release worldwide on November 10. The PlayStation 5 releases in North America, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand on November 12 and to the rest of the world on November 19.
If preorders are any indication, the PlayStation 5 is shaping up to be this year’s hard to get holiday gift. Many retailers opened preorders right after the PlayStation 5’s release date was revealed and almost instantly they were completely gone.
Microsoft will open Xbox Series X and Series S preorders on September 22, so it is currently unknown how fast those will move.
However, a recent survey conducted on Twitter by IGN may give us a glimpse into the general mindset of gamers as we head into the holiday season.
“Now that we have more info on some next-gen console prices, which do you think you’re most likely to buy first?” IGN asked.
The results were staggeringly one sided.
Out of 138,045 respondents, a whopping 55.3% of them stated that they were going to buy the PlayStation 5 first.
Only 23.5% said that they were planning on prioritizing the Xbox Series X.
The digital edition of the PlayStation 5 was next, with 12.9%, while the Xbox Series S came in last place with 8.4%.
While this is just one poll, its results are telling. Sony has ended the previous console war as the unquestioned winner. Sales of the PlayStation 4 dwarfed that of the Xbox One.
That’s in part due to Microsoft dropping the ball on the Xbox One early on, trying to make it more of an all in one entertainment device instead of a gaming console. While Microsoft has righted the ship in that regard, it allowed Sony to pull ahead early, which the Xbox never recovered from.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the Xbox Series X and Series S preorders go on sale next week.
