The launch of “PlayStation 5” fuels the battle between “Sony” and...

  All sales are compulsory via the Internet (Yallam Lee / AFP)
I entered the battle between "Sony" andMicrosoft Its decisive stage was Thursday, with the Japanese company launching its "PlayStation 5" device, two days after Its American rival launched the new "Xbox". 

Unlike “Microsoft”, which wagered on launching its device in the whole world at the same time, “Sony” will put its device on the market in two phases: the first, starting from Thursday, includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the second includes Europe and the rest of the world, starting from 19 November.

And because of The Covid-19 pandemic, All sales are compulsory via the Internet, as Sony announced that it will not sell any of its new devices in days. PlayStation 5 launchShe explained that she made this decision “for the safety of the players and sellers.”

And the agency “Agence France-Presse” noted in a store in the Australian city of Sydney that only a small number of customers came to collect the devices that could be booked online. “I think people are avoiding gathering in front of shops because of the pandemic, and in addition, there was not enough stock for everyone,” said one of them, Theo Patsiales.

The first quantities of devices ran out in record time, as strong demand was registered that helped boost it The lifestyle imposed by the pandemic In terms of people staying more in their homes. Analysts predicted that it would be very difficult to get a PlayStation 5 device before 2021.

And “PlayStation 5”, like its US competitor, will be available in two versions: the first is “premium” and its price will be similar to the price of the “Xbox Series X”, as it will be sold for $ 499, and a “digital copy”, with the same features but without the ability to read CD-ROMs, at a price. $ 399, which is $ 100 more than the Xbox Series S.

These digital copies, which allow playing only for the games that have been downloaded, constitute a gold mine for the two producers, to compensate for their profit margin from the sale of devices. These copies allow the two companies to control the prices of the games, by saving them the cost of producing and distributing discs, and preventing these discs from being resold in the second-hand market.

And because the devices of the two companies are globally equal in terms of performance, the Japanese company will rely on its quest to outperform its US competitor on its highly anticipated games, including “Spiderman: Miles Morales”, “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart” and “Horizon: Forbidden West”. Some of them are not expected to be launched a few months ago.

These games were developed by studios purchased by “Sony”, which ensures that they take over the development of exclusive games on its device and guarantee their profits from sales. Sony currently owns 14 studios.

With the new generation of its devices, which is the ninth in its video game history, Sony, which makes up a third of its sales, will try to replicate the achievement achieved by the “Playstation 4” device after its launch in 2013, as its sales reached double the sales of “Xbox One” on World level.

Serkan Tutu, an analyst from the “Kantan Games” company in Tokyo, told AFP that “Sony” will not lack a way to control the Western market “in order to preserve this difference.” Indeed, in recent years Sony no longer focuses on the Japanese video game market, as the market has shrunk, and Nintendo controls it.

Sony’s sales in the Japanese market did not exceed 8 percent of its previous “PlayStation 4” devices. Sony has refocused its strategy on the US market, and it is the only one in which it does not completely outperform its competitor, Microsoft.

The Japanese company has moved the headquarters of “PlayStation” operations from Tokyo to California, and has consolidated its decision-making and production process, under the leadership of its American work teams.

According to most analysts, Sony still has to outperform its US competitor in the number of devices sold. However, in the long term, Microsoft could catch up with its bigger competitors thanks to its strategy that places more emphasis on subscriptions and game streaming.

(France Brush)