4 ms·

- Confusing naming conventions. Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. Compare to Sony's Playstations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Names matter enormously. There's a re

- Confusing naming conventions. Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. Compare to Sony's Playstations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Names matter enormously. There's a reason why FAANG and FAANG-tier tech firms all have very simple names. While that may be far from the only reason why these companies are so successful, it matters more than one thinks. - Lack of AAA exclusives. Halo is the main one, but Sony has God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, all the Spider Men, The Last of Us, Gran Turismo, and others. - Price. The PS4 was cheaper than the Xbox One by $100, and this mattered to parents who could afford to gift their children a $400-$500 console, but not a $1,500+ gaming PC. This matters less in the North American market, where people have more disposable income, but East Asian and European markets are safely in Sony's pocket. - Controllers? There is a meme that Xbox controllers are designed for large, "American" hands. Regardless of the truth, memes and perceptions shape decisions. - Sony has the Japanese market locked up. Xbox is the dominant console in the US, but its dominance is weak: 53.3% vs. 46.65% for the Playstation.[1] Which begs the question: why hasn't Microsoft crushed the competition in its prime domestic market, but Sony crushed theirs in Japan? [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1044948/market-share-of-console-operating-systems-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1044948/market-share-of-...

mtreis86 3y ago
Sony has Gran Tourismo, Forza is a Microsoft game.
- markdown 3y ago
  Speaking of which, there's a movie coming out. Trailed dropped 4 days ago. Another big win for Sony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPzGBvPrzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPzGBvPrzw
cm2187 3y ago
And in my case the xbox was too thick to fit in my TV stand so I had to switch to the ps5...
- noodlesUK 3y ago
  That’s deeply surprising for me - the Xbox series X is admittedly a weird shape, but the PS5 is way bigger overall. Though the PS5 certainly is a more traditional shape. When you say thick, I assume you were thinking of placing the consoles horizontally? PS5: 15x4x10 inches Xbox Series X: 12x6x6 inches
  - cm2187 3y ago
    the stand looks like something like this (a similar model): https://ikeahackers.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/lack-tv-unit.jpg https://ikeahackers.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/lack-tv-u... The available height of the space underneath is 14.8cm. The xbox series x is a square with a side of 15.1cm. The PS5 is only 10cm thick and fits without a problem.
TMWNN 3y ago
> Confusing naming conventions. Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. Compare to Sony's Playstations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Names matter enormously. It all goes back to Microsoft not naming the 360 "Xbox 3" with some lame excuse for why it did so. Yes, everyone would have laughed, but no one would remember or care today that the "Xbox 5" isn't actually the fifth Xbox.
- jrockway 3y ago
  3, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11 It's just not something they're good at.
  - karmakaze 3y ago
    There was Windows 1.0, 2.0, 286, 386, as well as the 3.11 for Workgroups. And NT 3.1, 3.5, 4.0, 2000 before XP.
  - Doctor_Fegg 3y ago
    > When Adobe finally got around to sprucing up the Macintosh version of Illustrator, they cleverly called the new version Illustrator 88, because it appeared in 1988. You could still buy Illustrator 88 in 1989, though. And in 1990. And even into 1991, when it was finally replaced by Illustrator 3.0. Adobe is not a marketing company. (From https://www.cringely.com/2013/03/14/accidental-empires-chapter-11-font-wars/ https://www.cringely.com/2013/03/14/accidental-empires-chapt... )
  - Aleklart 3y ago
    The famous “You can’t send message because user is offline” Ms Office Communicator aka Lync aka Skype for Business aka Microsoft Teams.
  - throwaway38189 3y ago
    What about Nintendo? Nintendo Entertainment System Super Nintendo Nintendo 64 Gamecube Wii Wii U Switch
    - 3y ago
doodlesdev 3y ago
> Sony has God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, all the Spider Men, The Last of Us, Forza, and others. I imagine you mean Gran Turismo, not Forza.
nordsieck 3y ago
> Controllers? There is a meme that Xbox controllers are designed for large, "American" hands. Regardless of the truth, memes and perceptions shape decisions. A bit out of date, but this was the Penny Arcade about the original XBox controller: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/08/29/you-know-what-they-say https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/08/29/you-know-what-...
- dehrmann 3y ago
  The Duke doesn't get enough love.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    Well, you know what they say about men with big hands. "No." They buy an Xbox.
jameshart 3y ago
> FAANG and FAANG-tier tech firms all have very simple names Erm... really? Let's just take that one at a time, shall we? F - Facebook. Or should we say Meta? Home of the Oculus Rift and the Oculus Quest, if you can remember which of those is which. Sorry, that's now the Meta Quest. A - Amazon. Such clarity of naming. Everyone knows they have a product called 'Alexa', right? And of course, to get that, you need to buy an... Echo. Or an Echo Dot. Or an Echo Studio, or an Echo Show?. Obviously it's clear what a Kindle Oasis is, compared to a Kindle. And then beyond that of course we've got the wonder that is AWS product naming. Aurora, Kinesis, Fargate, InfiniDash, Athena, Elastic Beanstalk, Route53... Clearly a model of clarity. A - Apple. Absolutely, the home of the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the iPhone SE, or the Apple Watches Ultra, SE, Nike and Hermés could never be accused of confusing product naming. N - Netflix. Sure. You know the difference between Netflix Basic, Netflix Standard with Ads, and Netflix Standard, right? G - Google. Right. Google Workspace, Google Docs, G Suite... or Youtube Premium vs Youtube TV... You're right. Not a one of these companies would name product tiers confusingly.
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  Google? Don’t you mean alphabet? That’s the company that has that chat product gchat/hangouts/meet
nemothekid 3y ago
Looking at the current generation is already too late, MSFT had shot themselves in the foot with previous generation. The Xbox One was a disaster and squandered all the inroads they had made with the 360. They spent an entire generation trying to win their own fanbase back after the missteps with Kinect and always-online. The PS4, on the other hand, won a lot of momentum that had lost during the PS3 era.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  > They spent an entire generation trying to win their own fanbase back after the missteps with Kinect and always-online. Another thing that really wrecked the Xbox One was their original intentions of locking discs to consoles to prevent game resale. It was a PR disaster of the highest order that they never recovered from, even after backtracking relatively quickly.
BrotherBisquick 3y ago
I despise all things Microsoft but the 360 and later controllers are excellent designs and are possibly the best standard-issue console controllers ever. I will die on this hill. Sony's stubborn refusal to modify their basic controller shape/layout in the last 28 years isn't admirable and is not endearing them to people with good taste (i.e., me). And yes, I am aware that I just declared myself willing to die on a hill while simultaneously criticizing Sony for dying on a hill.
- Narishma 3y ago
  That's entirely subjective. I vastly prefer the Playstation controller layout myself.
JTbane 3y ago
- Confusing naming conventions It's a Microsoft tradition: see .NET Core, .NET Standard, .NET Desktop, ASP.NET, etc

mtreis86 3y ago

Sony has Gran Tourismo, Forza is a Microsoft game.

markdown 3y ago
Speaking of which, there's a movie coming out. Trailed dropped 4 days ago. Another big win for Sony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPzGBvPrzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVPzGBvPrzw

cm2187 3y ago

And in my case the xbox was too thick to fit in my TV stand so I had to switch to the ps5...

noodlesUK 3y ago
That’s deeply surprising for me - the Xbox series X is admittedly a weird shape, but the PS5 is way bigger overall. Though the PS5 certainly is a more traditional shape. When you say thick, I assume you were thinking of placing the consoles horizontally? PS5: 15x4x10 inches Xbox Series X: 12x6x6 inches
- cm2187 3y ago
  the stand looks like something like this (a similar model): https://ikeahackers.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/lack-tv-unit.jpg https://ikeahackers.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/lack-tv-u... The available height of the space underneath is 14.8cm. The xbox series x is a square with a side of 15.1cm. The PS5 is only 10cm thick and fits without a problem.

TMWNN 3y ago

> Confusing naming conventions. Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. Compare to Sony's Playstations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Names matter enormously. It all goes back to Microsoft not naming the 360 "Xbox 3" with some lame excuse for why it did so. Yes, everyone would have laughed, but no one would remember or care today that the "Xbox 5" isn't actually the fifth Xbox.

jrockway 3y ago
3, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11 It's just not something they're good at.
- karmakaze 3y ago
  There was Windows 1.0, 2.0, 286, 386, as well as the 3.11 for Workgroups. And NT 3.1, 3.5, 4.0, 2000 before XP.
- Doctor_Fegg 3y ago
  > When Adobe finally got around to sprucing up the Macintosh version of Illustrator, they cleverly called the new version Illustrator 88, because it appeared in 1988. You could still buy Illustrator 88 in 1989, though. And in 1990. And even into 1991, when it was finally replaced by Illustrator 3.0. Adobe is not a marketing company. (From https://www.cringely.com/2013/03/14/accidental-empires-chapter-11-font-wars/ https://www.cringely.com/2013/03/14/accidental-empires-chapt... )
- Aleklart 3y ago
  The famous “You can’t send message because user is offline” Ms Office Communicator aka Lync aka Skype for Business aka Microsoft Teams.
- throwaway38189 3y ago
  What about Nintendo? Nintendo Entertainment System Super Nintendo Nintendo 64 Gamecube Wii Wii U Switch
  - 3y ago

doodlesdev 3y ago

> Sony has God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, all the Spider Men, The Last of Us, Forza, and others. I imagine you mean Gran Turismo, not Forza.

nordsieck 3y ago

> Controllers? There is a meme that Xbox controllers are designed for large, "American" hands. Regardless of the truth, memes and perceptions shape decisions. A bit out of date, but this was the Penny Arcade about the original XBox controller: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/08/29/you-know-what-they-say https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/08/29/you-know-what-...

dehrmann 3y ago
The Duke doesn't get enough love.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Well, you know what they say about men with big hands. "No." They buy an Xbox.

jameshart 3y ago

> FAANG and FAANG-tier tech firms all have very simple names Erm... really? Let's just take that one at a time, shall we? F - Facebook. Or should we say Meta? Home of the Oculus Rift and the Oculus Quest, if you can remember which of those is which. Sorry, that's now the Meta Quest. A - Amazon. Such clarity of naming. Everyone knows they have a product called 'Alexa', right? And of course, to get that, you need to buy an... Echo. Or an Echo Dot. Or an Echo Studio, or an Echo Show?. Obviously it's clear what a Kindle Oasis is, compared to a Kindle. And then beyond that of course we've got the wonder that is AWS product naming. Aurora, Kinesis, Fargate, InfiniDash, Athena, Elastic Beanstalk, Route53... Clearly a model of clarity. A - Apple. Absolutely, the home of the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the iPhone SE, or the Apple Watches Ultra, SE, Nike and Hermés could never be accused of confusing product naming. N - Netflix. Sure. You know the difference between Netflix Basic, Netflix Standard with Ads, and Netflix Standard, right? G - Google. Right. Google Workspace, Google Docs, G Suite... or Youtube Premium vs Youtube TV... You're right. Not a one of these companies would name product tiers confusingly.

dghlsakjg 3y ago
Google? Don’t you mean alphabet? That’s the company that has that chat product gchat/hangouts/meet

nemothekid 3y ago

Looking at the current generation is already too late, MSFT had shot themselves in the foot with previous generation. The Xbox One was a disaster and squandered all the inroads they had made with the 360. They spent an entire generation trying to win their own fanbase back after the missteps with Kinect and always-online. The PS4, on the other hand, won a lot of momentum that had lost during the PS3 era.

kitsunesoba 3y ago
> They spent an entire generation trying to win their own fanbase back after the missteps with Kinect and always-online. Another thing that really wrecked the Xbox One was their original intentions of locking discs to consoles to prevent game resale. It was a PR disaster of the highest order that they never recovered from, even after backtracking relatively quickly.

BrotherBisquick 3y ago

I despise all things Microsoft but the 360 and later controllers are excellent designs and are possibly the best standard-issue console controllers ever. I will die on this hill. Sony's stubborn refusal to modify their basic controller shape/layout in the last 28 years isn't admirable and is not endearing them to people with good taste (i.e., me). And yes, I am aware that I just declared myself willing to die on a hill while simultaneously criticizing Sony for dying on a hill.

Narishma 3y ago
That's entirely subjective. I vastly prefer the Playstation controller layout myself.

JTbane 3y ago

- Confusing naming conventions It's a Microsoft tradition: see .NET Core, .NET Standard, .NET Desktop, ASP.NET, etc