Sony has been in the lead ever since the PlayStation 4 came out and Xbox One, although doing well for itself, is watching the action go down from the back seat.
PlayStation 4’s massive market share attracts third party studios, hence PS4 gets exclusive deals resulting in in-game content, joint promotions etc.
However, Phil Spencer believes that PS4’s market share has nothing to do with this, according to him, Sony is buying third party exclusive deals.
Speaking in an interview, Spencer said:
So, they [Sony] don’t ‘gobble’ the deals up. They buy them. You know, I read the same things you do, and I know some people think it’s somehow less expensive to sign third-party exclusives if you have a bigger market-share. I can tell you, it has nothing to do with market share.
Spencer is in a better position to comment on this but still I would disagree. You can not completely rule out market share in such matters.
Companies like EA, Activision and more would definitely find a console with a bigger install-base more attractive.
Such deals are not limited to Sony, Microsoft follows similar practices as it bought Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusivity, Gears of War for Xbox 360 and more. Xbox also enjoyed a partnership with Activation, which resulted in Xbox getting DLC early, in addition other perks.
Activision deal has now moved to PlayStation.
At the end of the day, it’s pure business and companies need such deals to survive and offer more to its fan-base.
