I am one of Sony's biggest fans. I hated MS's focus on Kinect and TV, but bought the X1 at launch for two reasons:
1) I could afford it
2) It had a better launch lineup and had releasing Titanfall right around the corner. KZ Shadowfall was a disappointment and knack was trash and while i ended up hating Ryse, i still respected the production values and their ambition on the narrative front. Cant say the same about knack which was basically a budget game.
I loved Titanfall. Sunset was my GOTY in 2014. I liked both much more than Sony's two exclusives that year, Infamous and DriveClub. Both Sony and MS had weak years, but i was more or less content with their output knowing Halo, Fable, Quantum Break, Coalition's New IP, and Kamiya's games were on the horizon. There were rumors of them partnering with Obsidian for a next gen RPG which kept me from selling the console after a weak 2015 where Halo 5 ended up being a disappointment and nothing else was released.
Instead, Phill cancelled Kamiya's game he had advertised in three trade shows. He cancelled Coalition's new IP he had advertised at the console's first E3. Then he spent a $100 million buying rights to a dead franchise and forced these guys to make it. He then shutdown Lionhead studios and cancelled the fable game he had advertised for two years. Then cancelled the Obsidian game he never revealed. Since 2014, i have only played halo 5, gears and quantum break on my x1. Both ok games, nothing special. Gears was so boring i couldnt finish the first two levels. it feels like a game from 2006. Thats three games in three years.
Now my X1 is worth $65. I cant even trade it in towards an X1X because it would only get me a $100 and cost another $400. My launch X1 doesnt have HDR support unlike the launch PS4s. It has no games i want to play. Sea of thieves and Crackdown look unremarkable and ugly. say what you will about Sony games, but they bring their A game when it comes to graphics. SOTC looks stunning. So do Detroit, Spiderman, and God of War.
When i bought the X1 at launch, i looked at Ryse and thought this shit looks next gen and hoped MS would eventually release the sequel with great gameplay. Instead the cut ties with Crytek. they wasted millions keeping tomb raider off playstation instead of investing that cash in Nioh, Nier, Persona and Yakuza to make sure they appeared on their console. It's bizarre to me that those games are exclusives when Sony didnt appear to have any funding invested in the development of those games. They couldnt spend a few million publishing and distributing these excellent games?
Switch's success boggles my mind, but at the end of the day, its rather simple. Exclusives sell consoles. MS spent billions on acquiring minecraft instead of spending a few hundred million acquiring all the failed studios this gen. say what you will about Don Matrick but hes the one who stepped in to help EA fund Titanfall when it went over budget. He is the one who signed Insomniac to make Sunset. he greenlit Coalition's new IP. Phill came in and spent millions keeping Titanfall off PS4 forever, cancelled new IPs, didnt sign Insomniac to make a sequel or a new IP and shut down studios.
He might have had a big hand in removing kinect requirements but he has been really bad for exclusives.
While I can't confirm any of your financial statistics, and I have completely opposite gaming views (loved Knack, Gears 4, hated Titanfall 1, loved Sunset though), this is a great post.
