Video game industry’s resident doom and gloom predictor Michael Pachter has weighed in on the evergreen PS5 vs Xbox Series X debate, arguing that PlayStation as we know it will cease to exist within the next ten years. The Wedbush analyst, who’s no stranger to being wrong, made his remarks in an Xbox fan podcast and claimed that Sony simply can’t keep up with the competition because it’s too far behind. In response to those who pointed out Sony’s overwhelming lead in terms of sales, Pachter tweeted that it took Sony 40 years to discontinue Betamax and accept that it “lost the war” to VHS, implying that PlayStation’s already losing and it’ll be a while before Sony realizes it. Yikes!
PS5 vs Xbox Series X in Pachter’s words
“I think PlaySation is doomed and I think they’re going to cease to exist as we know them in about ten years,” Pachter claimed in the latest episode of the RDX podcast. “They can’t compete. They have no chance of competing. They’re not a couple of years behind, it’s an insurmountable lead.” He referred to Microsoft’s ever-expanding game library, its acquisition of major publishing houses, and the popularity of its Game Pass service.
In 2017, Pachter predicted that console gaming will cease to exist by 2020. And ahead of the PS5’s launch, he seemed convinced that the console would cost around $800. He also thinks Nintendo “isn’t that smart” and should drop the increasingly popular hybrid Switch in favor of the Switch Lite. Suffice to say that PlayStation probably has another 20 years if Pachter assumes 10.
Opinion: PlayStation is expanding at a faster rate than ever before
Zarmena writes… To be fair to Pachter, he did say that PlayStation “as we know it” will cease to exist in ten years, which isn’t entirely wrong. However, the idea that it’s “doomed” is silly, to say the least. In recent years, Sony has expanded PlayStation at a faster rate than ever before, and has gone beyond traditional gaming. Both Microsoft and Sony are on different trajectories and the latter continues to break its own revenue records following the PS5’s launch. Pachter’s crystal ball malfunctions quite a bit, but the games industry wouldn’t be complete without his hot takes.
In other news, Microsoft has edged past Sony to become Metacritic’s top publisher of 2021, and Gotham Knights finally has a release date.
[Source: RDX Podcast via ResetEra]
