Who’s Going to Win?
Each of the big three has a major selling point to tip the scales in their favour this holiday season: Sony’s huge stable of exclusives and the promise of more shortly to be added to the library. Microsoft’s uber powerful premium Xbox One X console and the launch of PUBG. Nintendo’s replenished stock and fever pitch excitement over Super Mario Odyssey.
There isn’t much separating them, but based on recent NPD hardware trends, and the release of a critically acclaimed entry to the industry’s most beloved and instantly recognizable character, we’d have to give the nod to Nintendo. It has already been revealed that Odyssey sales have been the fastest in Mario history. We saw similarly impressive figures for Breath of the Wild, too, and so you’d have to imagine the consumers that previously weren’t able to get their hands on Switch – of which there were many – are likely to purchase both games. Especially given that Breath of the Wild’s story DLC is soon to be launched, it’s more than likely the spotlight of attention will once again return to Zelda, driving sales in the process.
That all being said, it’s too early to accurately predict the commercial reception to the Xbox One X, which could yet prove our suspicions about its price and lack of exclusive content making it a niche device off the mark. Similarly, PlayStation’s immense brand power and content make it hard to write off. One thing is for sure, Nintendo’s recent resurgence has made this holiday a thrilling and extremely close three horse race.
