The Xbox One has been revealed, and now we know precisely what the next-generation will entail. No more BS rumors about always-online connections, or what each console will be called (Orbis vs. Infinity would have been fun, too!). More than anything, an opportunity for great reward from investment is available, and right now that opportunity seems to be in Sony's court.
Immediately following the Xbox One reveal two things happened: Sony's stock value rose while Microsoft's dipped. Speaking strictly in numbers, Sony's shares have increased from a value of 21 to 22.97 after this morning's announcement, a 9.4% increase. Microsoft wasn't as impacted, but has seen a dip of 0.24 per share, a change of 0.68%.
This isn't directly indicative of how well either company will do when the next-gen begins, of course, but it does give some insight into how much confidence investors have in each company. Sony in particular has reinforced confidence in investors. Its stock value is higher than at any time between March 2012 and now, and is on the rise after coming back from a depressing low of 9.7 per share during December 2012.
The quality of Microsoft's conference is more a matter of perception, but it's hard to shake the feeling that it's focusing on entertainment unrelated to gaming. Kinect, NFL, and Skype took up an enormous chunk of its one-hour demonstration. The console will even require Kinect to be present in order to run, something that could be a headache for consumers. It did announce that there are 15 exclusives planned for the platform, but only a couple were shown with brief gameplay.
In contrast, Sony came out embracing gamers during its press conference. The PS4's hardware is purely designed to complement developers who want to create grand experiences, and the gamers that want to play them. It devoted its time to showing off killer games such as Knack, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Driveclub, Infamous: Second Son, The Witness, Deep Down, and more. For a pre-E3 conference it was as exciting as any gamer could hope for.
Ultimately, both companies are in the business of making money and they're attempting to be successful using two different methodologies. It's up to you to decide which you'll invest in—if not both—but as it stands now investors think the PS4 has the best shot at being king of next-gen.
