2. Sony's Not In It For The Money
It seems absurd, but Sony doesn't seem to be chasing green. This is quite the opposite when it comes to Microsoft. By the looks of the direction that Microsoft went with the X1, it's evident that they were more profit-oriented than needed. They were greedy. They, instead of making another great console, changed what its consoles primary function is, to suit a wider demographic. While this makes sense business-wise, when it comes down to which company made a console that was for gamers, Sony wins hands down. Microsoft made the X1 much more multimedia friendly, which is good, but at the cost of gaming. It is rather oddly concentrated on watching TV and surfing the internet, rather than gaming. What this translates to is: 'Microsoft is trying to make non-gamers buy the X1 because non-gamers make up a larger proportion of the demographic'. This, coupled with future additional costs such as Xbox Live subscriptions, and possibly paying for services like 'borrowing' a game from a friend, results in the X1 being chalked up to be a money-making machine rather than a next-gen gaming console. Compare this with Sony, who's announced price for the PS4 is just $399. Sure we now have to pay for a PlayStation Plus account to play online, but we also get discounted games, access to cloud services and beta programs just to name a few perks. And all for less than $5 a month. Clearly Sony has learned from its previous mistakes with the PS3 and have now opted to absorb the initial cost of the new console's release, in hopes that more gamers will be inclined to switch to a PS4. They not only absorbed the initial high costs, they also did not take advantage of consumers by spiking up prices higher. Even if the PS4 retailed at the X1's cost of $499, people would still buy the PS4. It is this care that Sony has given to consumers, and faith that they have put in them, that is definitely going to make the PS4 a better console to invest in.