According to PlayStation president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida, competition–like the ongoing battle between the PlayStation and Xbox One–is a good thing for gamers because it forces each company to create better, more feature-complete products.
“Competition is always healthy,” Yoshida told GameSpot in a recent interview. “It’s best for the industry and consumers.”
Yoshida pointed out that the day Microsoft announced it had updated the Xbox One’s YouTube app to allow users to share clips directly to the video site, he was flooded with messages asking him, “When are you going to support YouTube [on PS4]?” [Ed. note: The PS4 still does not have a YouTube app].
This type of back-and-forth between major companies like Microsoft and Sony creates a kind of positive pressure, Yoshida explained. When the two companies compete in a “constructive, healthy manner” it helps make their respective platforms better in the long run, he argues.
“So I don’t want Microsoft or Nintendo to be totally unsuccessful. At the same time, I don’t want them to be totally successful [laughs],” Yoshida said. “So I think we can kind of help each other by healthy competition.”
Our interview with Yoshida also touched upon the always contentious issue of the price difference between the PS4 and Xbox One. Sony’s console may officially retail for $100 below the Xbox One, but this price gap is disappearing, Yoshida said.
When you factor in the numerous and significant offers available for Xbox One shoppers, including the since-ended $450 Titanfall Xbox One bundle, the PS4 and Xbox One are more in line–at least from a price standpoint–than ever before, Yoshida said. [Ed. Note: When this interview was conducted, the $450 Titanfall Xbox One bundle was still available]
“Nowadays, it’s hard to tell how much price difference there is. It used to be $100 [but now] it could be $50 or even the same,” he said.
The PS4 has sold 7 million units to consumers so far, while the only official sales number Microsoft has provided for the Xbox One to date is 3 million. That figure represents the number of Xbox Ones sold to consumers by the end of 2013. Microsoft has shipped 5 million Xbox Ones to retailer so far.
| Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch |
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