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- This holiday season, both Microsoft and Sony are launching next-generation game consoles: The Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5, respectively.
- Though the two consoles compete directly, Microsoft is intentionally moving its Xbox business away from direct competition with Sony.
- Instead of focusing on the new Xbox console as a replacement for the current one, like Microsoft and Sony have done in the past, Microsoft is making a different play: A digital game library that works across Xbox devices.
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This holiday season, both Sony and Microsoft plan to launch new, so-called "next-generation" versions of the PlayStation and Xbox.
Goodbye, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One! Hello, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X!
It marks the fourth game console "generation" that Microsoft and Sony consoles have gone head-to-head, starting with the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox around the turn of the century. Nintendo exited direct competition on hardware with both companies years ago, starting with the wildly successful launch of Nintendo Wii in 2006.
These days, the "console wars" are a head-to-head between Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox. But in 2020, it looks like Microsoft is shifting its business strategy in a way that might end them for good.
Here's how Microsoft plans to do it:
