Switch, PS4 Pro, Xbox One X: does console war really benefit everyone?

The Nintendo console has achieved a record launch in 2017. PlayStation claims to have fulfilled its end-of-year goals while Microsoft wants to capitalize on its Xbox One X.

And in the end everyone wins? Despite a highly competitive sector, the video game market looks good in France. State of play after the crucial Christmas period, which often accounts for half of the annual turnover.

Playstation wants to capitalize on its number 1 spot in the world. 5.9 million consoles sold at the end of the year, bringing the number of sales to nearly 74 million consoles sold since the launch of the console. "We are largely in our objectives" details Richard Brunois, marketing director Playstation France, "...especially since the PS4 Pro represents about 25% of sales since its release, which is above what we had originally imagined."

 Xbox wants to capitalize on its One X

"The Xbox One X console is the most powerful on the market" they found their audience? To listen to Hugues Ouvrard, director of Xbox France, everything is fine for Microsoft as the company no longer reports the sales figures of its consoles. "Our hardware revenue grew by 14% and our gaming revenue by 8% in the end of the year quarter." The Redmond firm highlights the 4 million players on Xbox at PUGB (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds), "the biggest exclusivity on the video game market".

Nintendo breaks records with Switch

"Here we go" for Nintendo. Like his moustached plumber, Mario, the Japanese video game giant can have it's prize. Nearly one million Switch consoles were sold in France in 2017 (911,000 specifically). "This is the best launch for a console in France" enthuses Philippe Lavoue, general manager of Nintendo France. The Switch performs much better than the Wii (703,000 units) and the PS4 (650,000 units) in the year of their launch. Nintendo exceeds its targets in France by 800,000 consoles sold in 2017. In early December, Nintendo had sold 10 million switches in the world. The Kyoto giant is targeting 100 million switches sold over the lifetime of the console. In Japan, the Kyoto giant has sold 3.3 million copies. In the United States, it's even better with broken records for 4.4 million sales. Nintendo has revised its objectives upwards: the group expects an annual net profit of 85 billion yen (630 million euros).