Microsoft eventually confirmed a Bloomberg article that the company allegedly stopped producing all Xbox One models to focus only on consoles X and S. After all, already when the Xbox X was unveiled, the Redmond company had stopped producing the One X and the digital-only version of the S, while the version with Blu-ray player had been retired without too much fanfare already at the end of 2020.
This choice was born with the idea of diverting resources and manpower towards the production of the current generation consoles, but it is good not to underestimate the capabilities of One X and S, which still represent valid economic alternatives today if you want to play using the Game Pass (things?).
Video games
We bought an Xbox, and it’s amazing how amazing it is
by Emanuele Capone
Sony goes in the opposite direction
The news comes with peculiar timing, because only a few days earlier Sony had confirmed that it had retraced its steps and wanted to put one million PlayStation 4s on the market in 2022, instead of closing production at the end of 2021. According to Sony, the decision was made with the aim of stemming the great demand for the PlayStation 5 and offering an alternative to all the undecided and impatient.
For both companies, in fact, the important thing is to ensure that people enter their ecosystem: those who buy a Ps4 today, who can count on some exclusive titles (here our selection of the 22 most anticipated of 2022), maybe he will be more inclined to switch to PS5 in the future. Instead, without a PlayStation to buffer the anxiety of having a console, the potential customer could turn to Microsoft, buy an Xbox S, which is now quite easily found, and then remain tied to the convenience of the Game Pass, for which Sony would be preparing a counter-offensive code-named Spartacus, a new subscription service to replace PlayStation Plus.
For Sony, therefore, the latest PlayStation 4s would take the place of the Xbox S a bit, a less powerful and cheaper alternative for those who do not seek (or cannot) have the top. Not to mention that, as happened with the historic Ps2, we are talking about a console that has sold well and can still say a lot in secondary markets and developing countries.
Meanwhile, for both Sony and Microsoft, the procurement issue e console availability remains complex (as we told in our post Christmas shopping experience), but slowly being resolved over the course of the year. This can be understood above all from the parallel market, which is slowly lowering prices compared to the crazy ones asked until recently by so-called scalpers, that is, by those who (using bots and other mass purchasing systems), had bought up consoles and then resold them online for figures close to 1000 euros and more.
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