The PlayStation 5 is vital for Sony
PlayStation5
Assuming that a significant portion of Microsoft's profits from "More Personal Computing" comes from software and the Surface tablets, it becomes clear that the Xbox and its digital ecosystem are by no means decisive for Microsoft's war.
At Sony, however, where in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2019, despite triple-digit million profits through "Games & Network Services", losses in the double-digit million range, the situation is different. A look at the financial reports of the Japanese shows that none of the other business areas in the Is able to compensate for a possible failure of the PlayStation 5.
If, for whatever reason, the PlayStation 5 turns out to be a similar economic failure as the Nintendo Wii U, for whatever reason, Sony would be in dire straits. An updated PlayStation 5.1 or a PlayStation 6 that was added after a few years, which Microsoft could possibly counter with an updated version of the Xbox Series X in the style of the Xbox One X or PlayStation 4 Pro, would be inevitable and initially associated with the corresponding development costs.
We have already seen that Sony can fall on the nose with a PlayStation product with the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita. Both handhelds were unable to seriously harm the mobile top dog Nintendo.
A disaster for gamers?
As explained above, should Sony's gaming division suffer a major failure, the entire company would be in distress. This distress makes it less likely that Sony could respond with a powerful and innovative console and services.
In the worst possible case, Sony could first try to lower costs through cheaper components or by selling development studios. However, this would also affect the competitiveness of a new or revised platform, which could ultimately - at least in theory - usher in a downward spiral for the entire PlayStation brand. Microsoft, on the other hand, has sufficient income to subsidize a possibly loss-making Xbox brand for many years to come.
This departure of Sony as a competitor would be fatal for gamers, regardless of which platform each and every one of them prefers. The Xbox would lose its fierce competitor and Microsoft would probably no longer have any serious competition, since Nintendo has long since dropped out of the race for high-end consoles. No gamer, as long as he is not a completely deluded fanboy, can seriously want this.
The gaming industry is already suffering more than significantly from brands and franchises that appear almost every year with only minimal changes and consistently refuse to develop the medium in any form beyond technical finesse. We all, no matter if PC gamer, Xboxer, Nintendo fan or PlayStation gamer, should hope that our hobby grows and develops, and is not subjected to the control of a few companies.