Not everything related to console wars was reliant on Sony and Microsoft launching their next-gen consoles, and you could argue that the PlayStation 5 maker won the first battle.
According to research conducted by advertising analysis firm MediaRadar, Sony's ad spending on PlayStation 5 has tripled the amount that Microsoft used to advertise Xbox Series X.
Before a single console was sold, Sony was already down $15 million on ads, which accounts for the period from October 19 to November 15, 2020. In the same period, Microsoft only spent $5 million on talking up their next-gen console.
MediaRadar pointed out that out of these figures, Sony spent around $7.3 million up to the day of launch, whereas Microsoft's spending was at $3 million.
According to early reports, PlayStation 5's launch day sales were twice what Xbox Series X managed. And if you think that's one-sided, then consider the Japanese market, which saw four to five PS5 consoles sold for every Xbox Series X.
Unfortunately, the evolution of next-gen consoles, different approaches to fixing the same problems and a vastly different focus has rendered direct comparisons between consoles pretty much useless.
Whereas Sony are likely to keep enticing players with state of the art exclusives built by in-house studios, Microsoft have spread a wider net with Xbox Game Pass. Heck, they've been so focused on it one could argue that their next-gen offering is actually the Game Pass, not Xbox Series X.
MediaRadar suggested that Sony's early PS5 spending may have something to do with them outselling Microsoft's next-gen consoles, but it will take some time until any such analyses can be reliably done.
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