This has been said a few times in the past. But as long as the public sees MS, Sony, and Nintendo selling TV-connected game boxes, they will be competitors, regardless of what corporate priorities are.
May be is just me, it always seems like Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo have different market and customers.
Xbox One managed 50 Million sold with literally zero market shares in Japan, and relatively little in other parts of Asia. It is however pretty strong in English Speaking countries.
Playstation 4 sold nearly 110 million worldwide.
Nintendo aims at different market segment. Family, Kids, Casual.
So the three are all doing well in the current generation and previous generation. May be there was never a war in the first place.
Well I think the console war is sadly over because streaming is the next big thing. Clearly MS knows this, Sony is still sticking their heads in the sand.
However, being able to play the latest games with an Xbox subscription will bring many to the platform, instead of buying PS games at full price. In that sense they are still competing.
As a gamer I'm not happy with streaming. I want to run my stuff locally, have the ability to run mods etc. But I doubt we can do much about it. After all, it makes the publishers' wet dream of perfect piracy prevention come to life.
I just don't see this happening anytime soon. Streaming services have gotten impressive and I'm sure they'll see some widespread adoption but consoles will remain a superior experience and viable market for awhile.
Aside - is it even physically possible for a streaming service to have low enough latency for VR gameplay?
Yes, playing VR I think this technology is amazingly undervalued.
A lot of people focus on the negatives. Needing space, being locked off from your surroundings. But being entranced in a PS4 game is a type of locking off as well.
HL:Alyx really showed the potential of the platform and it's amazing. With the rumoured cheaper Oculus Quest and the less social outside world, I do expect these to be on the shopping list of many. https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/1285917195562672130
(PS: He says it's not a cheaper version but it looks to be though. Probably one single LCD display as it has no IPD adjustment, cheaper headstrap.. I do think this is a cheaper version to bring it to the masses, which has been Oculus' goal all along.
