The idea of monopolistic competition is two companies that provide similar products but at the same time two very different products. For example the big console wars between Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation both of which have a set fan base and they think that the console is better than the other for the past ten years or so the debate has been going on for which one is superior and which one isn’t. Going back a generation in gaming with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 starting with the Xbox 360 coming out in November of 2005 and with the PlayStation being released one year later.
The pricing of both products determined which one won the last generation with the PlayStation having a starting price of $499-599 with a 20 GB hard drive compared to the Xbox 360 release price being starting at $299-$399 depending if you wanted the one with a backward compatible console or not and both of them had a 20 GB hard drive. Microsoft dominated the North American console wars with many people wanted a cheaper console at the beginning.
Now starting with the debate on why people thought that the Sony ps3 was better than the Microsoft Xbox 360 the PlayStation user will always say that they were better them Xbox user because that they can get to play online for free but with that in mind people had lost their personal information in the 2009-2012, as to the current generation of kids. Talking about the Sony brand back before they got into gaming consoles they made Sony Walkman, a device that made it easy to listen to music on the go.
The Walkman came out in 1979 and with the price tag of about $150. Before the PlayStation even came out they had many products in the market like the Sony Walkman and many other technological advancements such as the cameras and computers. Even today after the PlayStation came out to the market Sony made laptop computers called the Sony Vaio which was one of the best laptop brands in the market at the time. Many adults know Sony as a multiproduct company because of the surround sound equipment, the cameras, media devices, television, gaming, and video recorders.
Too bad that Sony discontinued their laptops the laptops were top of the market ones the best of the best in mostly everything now they have lost a lot of revenue to the decision to discontinue the Sony Vaio laptops. Now even they are coming into the cable industry with their new PlayStation Vue a service that gives cable channels to the people as well as ways to watch older TV shows and to record the newer ones to watch at a later date.
With Microsoft they started out as a software company making software for computers and used the Dos system at first to run Windows 95 the begging of the Microsoft with it running Dos (Disk operating System) and with that Microsoft also added a search engine called Internet explorer which was free to use unlike the other search engines that was up and running. Microsoft’s Windows 95 had a beta run and the software cost $19. 95 back in 1995 which also that the Windows 95 system was the first to implement the task bar the bottom of the screen.
Many people didn’t like it that Microsoft forced them to install internet explorer many people went with AOL instead which ironically enough that AOL was a paid service while Microsoft’s internet explorer was free to use. Just three years after Windows 95 was released Microsoft released Windows 98 into the market, as Microsoft’s second major release to retail in June of 1998 but was short lived as Microsoft quit supporting Windows 98 in 2002 while the last software Windows 95 had its services shut down in 2001 a short 4 year run of windows 98 compared to the 6 year run of windows 95.
Microsoft was a big name in the electronics industry but became bigger with the releases of the original Xbox which didn’t need much space in its hard drive since people would play the games on disks the big thing that put Xbox on the map was a game called Halo. Many people thought it might be a bad game because of its name but until they saw the trailer for the game it all changed.
Talking about when Halo first started the company that produced Halo was Bungie a now big company which made the ever popular Destiny. Halo was so big that bungie mad two extra games for the story line and three other halo games Halo 3 Odst, Halo Wars, and Halo Reach. But what bungie is most known for was the trilogy Halos 1, 2, and 3. Halo was first going to be a pc release but Microsoft bought out bungie in 2000 and made halo a launch title for the Xbox.
In 2001 Halo came out with the Xbox and became popular with the fans which then bungie came out with the sequel Halo 2 which came out in 2004 and this time the game was online multiplayer on the Xbox which made Halo even bigger than ever until the release of one of the biggest games that halo has to offer Halo 3 which came out in 2007 the first halo to include not only multiplayer but coop campaign as well. The game series was so big that not to long later halo 3 ODST and Halo wars came out in 2009 they were good but not as good as the previous three games.
Then in 2010 Bungie made its last Halo Game Halo Reach which was one of the best games gameplay wise not story wise many people loved the new gameplay mechanics with all the new abilities after the game was released they team broke up and now the games are released under the studio 343 industries, a Microsoft partner. Now jumping into the current generation of the Xbox with the Xbox One, with the announcement of that the New Xbox will have no used games being able to be played on different accounts and it also having to be connected to the internet 24/7 plus with them focusing on TV for their first introduction of the Xbox One.
With everything being said many people didn’t like the fact of the Xbox not being able to play used games and with the console having to be connected to the internet and with Microsoft focusing on TV and not gaming made many people go with the new PlayStation. Even after they pulled back most of what they said it was hard to gain the trust of the people they have lost and it didn’t help with them making the Kinect a mandatory part for the system at launch making the system $500.
The system didn’t do well in the first two months of its life selling about 2 million units at $500 per unit not to mention the Xbox live that may have been bought along with the system. Still a great number of units sold after the system being frowned upon for everything that has been said bout the console only being able to work was it having to be connected to the internet, also with the no used games policy as well. To put it simply that Microsoft’s new Xbox was not going over well with the crowd because of what they have said previously at E3 a video game convection.
Last year Microsoft made a statement that the Xbox one sales is doing about the same as the Xbox 360 in the same time period, today they have sold about 19 million units compared to Sony’s ps4 35 million units. As of the console wars is concerned both Xbox and PlayStation are doing great in sales With the PlayStation 4 doing better than the last PlayStation by a landslide because of its pricing better than the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox one.
Both are fighting to get the consumers for the gaming industry and being competitive Microsoft removed the Kinect sensor dropping the price by a hundred dollars, then dropped the price even more just a few months later by another fifty dollars to 350 dollars, not to long after the Xbox one’s release. Sony did notice what Microsoft has done so they did a temporary price drop in the winter of 2015 dropping the price of the PlayStation 4 by $50 dollars to 350 for the Christmas season. This was the first time Microsoft beat Sony in sales for the next generation of gamming.
Just recently Sony has dropped the Price of the PlayStation 4 to 350 dollars in October 2015. Microsoft then added a 1 Tb hard drive to the Xbox one for an extra 50 dollars which was the holiday bundle which came with 35 games in total with rare replays 30 games the Gears of War bundle and Ori. But last year’s holiday bundles benefited the consumers more since they got more for less money but that was only with Microsoft and not Sony because they did come out with a bundle but only with a call of duty bundle which it came with the call of duty black ops 3 game a custom black ops 3 console which had a 1 Tb hard drive all for the price of 429. 9 which it seemed like a good deal but with a price increase of about $70 dollars it was not a good deal, to many people for a little more from Xbox you could have gotten 35 games plus call of duty black ops 3 for 30 dollars for at 460 dollars with the same amount of space in the hard drive. Still the Xbox was a hard sell to make many people wanted to save the money and got with the system that cost 30 dollars less.
Now both companies are giving games to people who have bought the service to play online Microsoft is giving away 4 games a month while Sony will give anywhere from 3-6 games a month on the PlayStation 4, while Xbox will only give two away on the Xbox one and two on the 360. Now comparing the two membership pricing with Microsoft’s Xbox live costing $60 while Sony’s PlayStation Plus membership costing $50 per year. Month to Month memberships cost the about the same at both being around 10 dollars per month for the membership.
Both have console exclusives with both having about 10-15 games exclusive to the console which makes where people may want to get the Xbox or PlayStation because they want to play those games so they might get both consoles because of that one reason. Both companies fight to get people to buy their systems, right now Microsoft is doing a promotion having the Xbox one at a low price of $299 $50 dollars less than the regular price of the system also with the system coming with one game of your choice between 4 games Gears of war remastered collection, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza 6, and Rare Replay.
Sony hasn’t put any promotion up as far as I know of the last one was the fifty dollar price drop from $399 to $349 and that was last October when Sony dropped the price down to be completive with Microsoft. As of this month Microsoft announced that they have sold 20 million Xbox ones but selling to them is what they have shipped to the store and not actually sold but it can go both ways. Now the console wars as many gamers call it looks like it may go Microsoft’s way as of right now since all the promotions they are doing to get the Xbox one sold but Microsoft need to sell about 14 million more units till they catch up
