Name

Mr.Smith

Junior ELA

6 November 2023

The console wars

From its first inception, the video game industry has been dominated by two contenders. Sony’s

playstation, and Microsoft’s Xbox. While the playstation predates the Xbox, having been

released in 1994, microsoft’s console has been a strong competitor in the space since its release

in 2001. Still, both consoles harbor their own loyal fanbases. Some prefer Xbox because of their

superior online subscription service and backwards compatibility, while many chose Playstation

for their exclusive titles and sleeker design. While both offer their own respective advantages, it's

clear from empirical data that the Playstation’s unique gaming experience and innovation in its

field offers a superior gaming experience that surpasses its competition.

This struggle for consumers' attention has taken various forms, One example being playstation’s

strategic acquisition of IPs to host exclusively to their hardware, compelling consumers to invest

in their consoles to consume this media. Notable titles in this category encompass industry giants

such as certain installments in the longstanding “final fantasy” series, as well as best sellers like

“god of war”, “gran turismo” and “the last of us”. These investments have proven exceptionally

effective as they continuously outperform xbox’s titles accounting for 6% of total playstation

game sales, at 43.5 million sales. “God of war” itself brought in 11+ million sales, solidifying its

status as the best selling playstation exclusive title. This distinct industry advantage effectively

entices consumers to opt for playstation, ensuring they don’t miss out on these noteworthy

experiences.
Moreover, many fans express favoritism with playstation’s sleek and simplistic user interface and

design in comparison to xbox’s. Their clever design choices make simply traversing through

menus to be all the more appealing and feel more luxurious. Some people simply think the

device itself looks nicer. A reference to this even appears in the popular show, “South park” in an

episode titled “black friday”. In which a character makes a comment about how he was

purchasing the playstation instead of the xbox because, as he quotes, he “likes how the controller

looks more”. The device's clean white case is much more creative and expressive than the xbox’s

simple black box design, which while versatile in its own way, is lacking in innovation or

individuality. In my own personal experience, I find that the sleek design of the playstation

integrates well into almost any space, to the point I found myself treating it more as decor when

finding a place for it.

Though Playstation has the advantage with numbers, its competitor still has a large number of

avid fans, indicating to some that xbox is the superior console. Many people express loyalty

because of Xbox's backwards-compatibility, which many people rightfully claim is an important

and integral part of consumer experience and comfort. The lack of older games available on

newer playstation models is enough of an annoyance to consumers to choose Xbox instead. this,

however, can turn out to be a double-edged sword, as xbox consoles miss out on popular

Playstation exclusive titles. Furthermore, the CEO of Playstation, Jim Ryan said in an interview

with Times Magazine, "When we've dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of

those features that is much requested, but not actually used much," (Ryan) alluding to the

concept that this feature may not truly be as important as the vocal minority of its defenders

insinuate. The numbers of the console’s sales certainly don't give that impression. Another

feature Xbox fans heil is their superior online subscription service. While both platform’s
services are the same price, “xbox live'' is clearly the better financial choice, offering a much

larger variety of games to play. Despite this, the argument can be made that this is no reason to

purchase an xbox console, because of the subscription’s availability on PC. furthermore,

playstation plus comes with many more features for its increased price in comparison to xbox

live. Such as access to online services and access to streaming services like hulu, and also offers

its subscribers discounts on games.

Though fans may present many compelling arguments for their favored device, numbers have

shown that the console war has long been over. Statistics show that the latest xbox console sold

only 18.5 million copies, in comparison to playstations 30 million. This was even echoed by the

CEO of xbox himself, stating in a recent interview, “Xbox has lost the console wars, and its

rivals are positioned to continue to dominate, including by leveraging exclusive content”. Its rare

to see such a sentiment echoed by companies, much less from the mouth of the CEO themself,

which truly submits the glaring undeniable reality of the situation.

In conclusion, the dominance on the market that the Playstation console has becomes evident

when considering its advantage with superior exclusive titles, innovative design and plethora of

other pioneering features. While xbox has its respective strengths, the Playstation has solidified

its position as the leading choice for gamers worldwide, providing a thorough and complete

video gaming experience for consumers. Sony’s dedication to consistently pushing the

boundaries of interactive entertainment has positioned its console as the ultimate destination for

those who seek the best from the industry.

 Works Cited

Parker, Trey. “Console Wars.” South Park, season 17, episode 7, Comedy Central, 13 Nov.

2013.

Smith, Rebecca. “Final Fantasy 16 Becomes Fastest-Selling PS5 Exclusive.” PlayStation

LifeStyle, 28 June 2023,

www.playstationlifestyle.net/2023/06/28/final-fantasy-16-fastest-selling-ps5-exclusive/.

Potter, Will. “Xbox Series X Has a Big Advantage over PS5 for Backwards Compatibility

Right Now.” GameSpot, GameSpot, 17 Mar. 2020,

www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-series-x-has-a-big-advantage-over-ps5-for-bac/1100-64

75003/.

Scullion, Posted byChris. “Xbox Series X/s Has Sold 18.5 Million versus PS5’s 30 Million,

Analysis Firm Estimates.” VGC, 4 Mar. 2023,

www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-series-x-s-has-sold-18-5-million-versus-ps5s-3

0-million-analysis-firm-estimates/.
 Warren, Tom. “Has Xbox Really Lost the Console Wars?” The Verge, 24 June 2023,

www.theverge.com/2023/6/24/23772314/ftc-microsoft-day-two-hearing-summary-xbox-co

nsole-wars-sony-playstation-call-of-duty.

H Argument Essay Rubric

Skill Not Yet Foundational Proficient Advanced

Identifies a basic claim Appears in first Thesis establishes a

Thesis paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a Establishes

topic and a claim counter-argument in
claim

Topic sentences Topic sentences have Topic sentences have

Claims/Reasons contain basic claims clear and distinct clear and distinct
 claims that relate to claims that relate to
the thesis the thesis and make
nuanced points that
consider alternate
perspectives or
counterarguments

Uses some brief Uses multiple pieces Uses a variety of

Evidence examples, or one of evidence (personal evidence (see
example, to support experience, anecdotes, previous column) that
each claim; may all be survey, research etc.) supports each claim;
personal experience to support each claim different types of
evidence in each body
paragraph

Use of reliable outside

sources

Brief explanation of Explains how Provides strong

Analysis how evidence evidence supports explanations of how
supports topic topic sentence/claim evidence supports
sentence of individual of individual topic sentence and the
paragraphs paragraphs and the thesis while also
thesis considering
counterarguments
Includes at least 2
concessions in body Seamlessly mentions
paragraphs concession, and offers
response/rebuttal

Counter- Makes some mention Structure Well-structured and

Argument of opposing argument counter-argument effective
which: counter-argument
Mentions the which:
opposing argument, Establishes an aspect
some mention of how of the opposing
opposing argument argument, clearly and
may be disproven logically disproves the
argument
NY Some elements missing Heading is correctly No errors in MLA
MLA Format or some errors in MLA formatted format
format
Pages are numbered

In-text citations are

correctly formatted (if
sources are used)

Works Cited format:

 hanging indent,
double-spaced,
alphabetized, starts on
a new page (if sources
are used)

Works Cited: each

source entry is in
correct MLA format (if
sources are used)
NY Shows evidence of Quotes are correctly Quotes are correctly
Conventions basic proofreading integrated most of the integrated
time (if sources are
used) Shows evidence of
careful proofreading
Follows essay
organization (claims in Includes fluid
topic sentence; transitions between
evidence; analysis; ideas
concluding sentences)
Eliminates wordiness
Shows evidence of
proofreading

Utilizes mostly simple Some varied sentence Consistently varied

Fluency sentence structures structures sentence structures

Some use of advanced Advanced use of

vocabulary vocabulary; including
use of active verbs